buying guides

How to choose the best ovulation test

This page contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small amount of money if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our articles and reviews are written independently by the Netmums editorial team.

This article is sponsored by Clearblue

Trying to get pregnant? Here's what to look for when choosing an ovulation test and the best ovulation tests to use

If you’re trying for a baby, the key to conceiving is to make sure you’re having sex during the most fertile period of your menstrual cycle – that is, around the time of ovulation.

Generally, this happens roughly halfway through your cycle, but the more precise you can be about it, the better the chances of getting pregnant. Even if you have regular cycles, there can be variations in the menstrual cycle characteristics, including the day of ovulation, according to research published in the medical journal Current Medical Research and Opinion.

Therefore, the best way to know if you're ovulating is to use an ovulation test, which detects when your body is about to release an egg. That way you'll know the best time to have sex to conceive.

Here, we feature some of the best ovulation tests as well as information about how to choose the right one for you.

One of the UK's most popular ovulation tests is from Clearblue. Used by millions of women, these have a reputation for being reliable and easy to read. Depending on the test you choose, you can even predict 4 or more of your most fertile days every month. (See more details below.)

How do ovulation tests work?

Ovulation tests work by measuring the levels of key fertility hormones, specifically luteinizing hormone (LH), which surges the day before ovulation, indicating that it's imminent.

Some ovulation tests also measure an oestrogen metabolite, estrone-3-glucuronide (E3G). The levels of E3G over the 5 days before ovulation.

These can be over 99% accurate in identifying your most fertile time, with kits that test both hormones being more reliable than those that just check one or the other.

You’re most likely to conceive in the 12 to 36 hours after the hormone surge.

How much should I spend on an ovulation test?

Ovulation predictor kits start from as little as a few pounds for a bumper pack of basic dipstick test strips, like the kind a doctor would use to test your wee for a urine infection. These work like a pregnancy test by testing the levels of hormones in your urine. Coloured lines appear to indicate whether you’re about to ovulate.

Although there’s no real difference in accuracy between these tests, the cheap ones require you to collect a sample of your urine in a clean container first thing in the morning and dip the stick in to test your hormone levels. Discerning the colour of the lines on the tests can also mean they are difficult interpret.

The ovulation sticks are good value if you’re planning to chart your fertile times long term, but can be a bit of a faff to use.

The more expensive branded sticks are more convenient, as you just need to wee on the test – no collecting or cleaning necessary – but costs can obviously mount if you take a while to get pregnant.

Increasing the budget for a digital ovulation monitor means that while you’ll still have to pee on a test stick, the machine will interpret the results for you and tell you clearly when you’re fertile.

You can also store useful information like the details of your past few cycles and the dates on which you had sex, but you’ll need to buy new test sticks each month.

If you spend a little more, you can buy more sophisticated ovulation tests, which work on the same principle but are more like conventional pregnancy tests, where you wee on the stick. These tend to be a little clearer to read, for example showing a smiley face if you’re in your fertile period.

How much you spend depends on how confident you feel reading test strips or whether you'd rather get a straightforward result like a smiley face.

At the upper end of the scale are digital fertility monitors. These cost from around £60, plus about £15 per month for replacement test sticks.

What else do I need to know about ovulation tests?

If you’re using a standard ovulation kit that tests your urine, it’s helpful to know roughly when your fertile period is likely to start, so you don’t waste sticks by testing at times when you’re definitely not fertile.

This is usually around the midpoint of your cycle, but you can find ovulation calculator tools online that will help you work out when to begin testing.

Alternative to ovulation tests

An alternative to urine testing is saliva testing also called fertility ferning test. You place a drop of your saliva on the lens and wait for it to dry before examining it; if the sample looks like blobs, you’re not in a fertile period, but if it looks like ferns, it’s a good time to try for a baby.

For this, you’ll need a microscope: special ones designed for assisting fertility cost around £25. Fertility microscopes are pocket-sized microscopes that look a bit like a lipstick. These take a little more expertise to use, as you don’t get a straightforward yes/no result.

There’s no extra monthly outlay with these, although they can take a bit of time to master. Salivary ferning microscopes aren’t as accurate as urine tests, as the fern pattern sometimes appears at other stages in your cycle.

There is a third way to test for ovulation, which involves taking your temperature daily and plotting it on a chart. A rise in body temperature that lasts 3 days indicates ovulation.

However, this can be affected by many factors, including broken sleep or alcohol, so is less reliable.

The best ovulation tests

Last updated: 24 Nov 2023

'

Checklist

  • Most ovulation tests work by detecting a surge of fertility hormones in your urine, showing when you’re fertile.
  • Ovulation monitors track your fertility over time.
  • Cheaper sticks are just as reliable but more fiddly to use. The more expensive ones are easier to use and read.
  • You can also check for fertile times using a salivary ferning microscope, but the results are harder to interpret and less accurate than urine tests.

Read on:

Related products

Netmums Newsletters

Yes, please! I want the best parenting news around

*By signing up you accept Netmums' Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.