Methodology v1.0.0
Our ranking is computed from data, by rules published here in full. The same rules apply to every agency, and the numbers below are the exact ones used for the current ranking, published .
No agency can pay to be ranked or listed. Surrogacy Central sells no placement, sponsorship or affiliate links, and agencies have no say in their score.
| Factor | Weight for intended parents | Weight for surrogates | What it measures |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reputation | 30% | 25% | Average review rating, adjusted for how many reviews there are: every agency's average is pulled toward the site-wide average by 10 average-rated reviews, so a 5.0 from three reviews can't beat a 4.8 from 200. Reviews written by people in your role count double, and forum and review-site posts without stars count half.Source: Google and Yelp star ratings on listings we verified, plus forum, Yelp and Trustpilot posts |
| Review depth | 10% | 10% | How many reviews an agency has relative to its size (reviews per staff member, log-scaled and capped), so a large agency isn't rewarded for size alone.Source: Review counts and estimated staff size |
| Experience | 15% | 10% | Years in operation, log-scaled and capped at 25 years.Source: Founding year from the agency, the BBB and other directories |
| Transparency | 15% | 15% | Whether the agency publishes its fees, its fee amounts and its surrogate compensation, and how completely it states its surrogate requirements. A requirement the agency says it doesn't have counts as stated; one it never mentions counts against it.Source: The agency's own website |
| Compliance & accountability | 20% | 15% | BBB letter grade and accreditation, a verified state license where one exists, and unanswered BBB complaints (which count against an agency). Court records are shown as flags but never change the score.Source: Better Business Bureau, state licensing records |
| Surrogate support & compensation | 10% | 25% | Published base compensation for surrogates and what surrogates say about the support they received.Source: The agency's published compensation and surrogate reviews |
We combine the star ratings on each agency's verified Google and Yelp listings. Each agency's average is pulled toward the average across all agencies (4.54 stars in this edition) as if it had 10 extra average reviews — so a few perfect reviews can't outrank hundreds of strong ones.
Where a review makes clear who wrote it, reviews from people in the ranking's audience count 2×. Forum, Yelp and Trustpilot posts without stars count 0.5× each, converted from their tone (negative to positive) onto the 1-5 star scale.
The adjusted rating is mapped onto 0-100 between 3.5 and 5 stars.
Reviews (star ratings plus forum mentions) per estimated staff member, on a log scale that reaches 100 at 10 reviews per staff member. When we don't have a staff estimate, this factor counts as missing.
Years since the agency was founded, on a log scale that reaches 100 at 25 years.
Fee transparency (40%): fees published scores full marks, quote-only partial, unclear or never stated none. Publishing an agency fee amount (20%) and surrogate compensation (20%) each count, as does how many standard surrogate requirements the agency states (20%).
A requirement the agency says it doesn't have counts as stated. One it never mentions counts against it.
Based on the Better Business Bureau letter grade (A+ = 100 down to F = 0), with a bonus for BBB accreditation and for a verified state license. Most states don't license surrogacy agencies, so a missing license never counts against one.
An unanswered BBB complaint subtracts 30 points. When an agency has no BBB grade, accreditation or license on record, this factor counts as missing rather than zero.
Half published base compensation (scaled from $40,000 to $65,000 and above) and half what surrogates say about the support they received.
Categories reuse the same scores — they never add points. A category is shown only when at least 3 ranked agencies qualify; the top three are listed.
