Provider comparison
The differences between cryonics providers
There are only a handful of cryonics providers in the world. Each has a different preservation process, funding method, and crucially, approach to long-term storage.
Alcor
Cryonics Institute
Southern Cryonics
Yinfeng Life Extension
Comparison point
Tomorrow.bio
Alcor
Cryonics Institute
Southern Cryonics
Yinfeng Life Extension
Organization and legal structure
Year founded
2020
1972
1976
2012, facility completed in 2023
2015
Legal structure
Hybrid: for-profit German GmbH for operations, plus two non-profit Swiss foundations — EBF for storage and research, Patient Care Foundation for patient funds
Non-profit 501(c)(3)
Member-owned nonprofit cooperative
Non-profit company
Division of a for-profit biotech conglomerate, Yinfeng Biological Group; affiliated with a government-approved charitable foundation, the Shandong Yinfeng Life Science Foundation, that helps fund it
Country of incorporation
Germany and Switzerland
USA, Arizona
USA, Michigan
Australia, NSW
China, Shandong
Headquarters location
Berlin, Germany
Scottsdale, AZ
Clinton Township, MI
Sydney, NSW
Jinan, Shandong
Long-term storage facility location
Rafz, Switzerland
Scottsdale, AZ, same as HQ
Clinton Township, MI, same as HQ
Holbrook, NSW
Jinan, Shandong, same as HQ
Governance and board election method
Three-entity structure: GmbH operating company plus two Swiss foundations, each with a self-perpetuating, unpaid non-profit board. No member vote.
Self-perpetuating, no member vote.
Member-elected, full voting rights.
Board led by founder and Chairman.
Run internally by Yinfeng Group, no member vote.
Board composition
EBF Board of Trustees, 7: Kendziorra, Chair, MD; Burgermeister, molecular biology, biotech VC; Windlin, attorney; Nahm, maths, biology, medicine; Knusel, ex-CryoSuisse; Kilian, linguistics; Hirsch, business
Merkle, O’Neal, Aymeloglu, Seidl, Honiotes, RN; separate Medical and Scientific Advisory Boards
12 Directors: Kowalski, President, paramedic; Zawacki, Secretary and COO; Luyckx, VP Finance; Lepsetz, CPA; Doyle, PhD operations research; Hagen, finance; Kleinsek, PhD biotech and gerontology; Lebel, hospital exec; Ettinger, attorney; Heller, CPA and Treasurer; Kowalsky, Asst. Secretary; Fosco, COO Biostasis Technologies
P Tsolakides, G Tsolakides, Graham Van Der Merwe, Mae Matthews
No named board; external Expert Committee only
Scientists in leadership
1
0 confirmed
1
1
0 confirmed
Doctors in leadership
1
0 confirmed
0 confirmed
0 confirmed
0 confirmed
Statistics
Year of first human cryopreservation
2023
1976
1977
2024
2017
Human patients currently in cryopreservation
~30
~263
~280
7
~20
Pet and animal patients cryopreserved
~10
~100
~300
✕
0
No total disclosed
Current members and subscribers
1,000+
~1,535
~2,040
~80
~300
Growth per year, members, average
~44% per year
~3.6% per year
~7.3% per year, 2010–15 data only
Not computable, figures inconsistent
~16% per year
Staff and employees, FTE
~15
~24 headcount, not confirmed FTE
Exact number not found
~3
Exact number not found
Pricing
Membership enrollment or application fee
✕
✕
✔
Yearly plan $200 initiation, lifetime $1,250 single charge
✕
✕
Recurring membership dues
€50 per month, or €25 per month hardship rate; €500 per year; €15,000 lifetime
Age-based: age × $15 per year
$120 per year on the yearly plan, none for lifetime
AU$350 per year. All join as subscribers and can become members after 5 years, gaining voting rights within Southern Cryonics.
Not specified
Payment plan options
Monthly, yearly, one-time lifetime
Yearly, age-based
Yearly or lifetime
Yearly
Not specified
Whole-body cryopreservation price, member or subscriber
€200,000, $220,000 US
$220,000
$28,000 lifetime, $35,000 yearly, excl. SST
AU$200,000, excl. SST
~$375,000
Neuropreservation price, member
€75,000, $115,000 US
$80,000
✕
Not offered
✕
Not offered
✕
Not offered
Non-member or last-minute pricing
€230,000 whole body, €115,000 neuro for non-members
$25k+ third party, $50k+ third party and non-members
Last-minute sign-up fee $20,000
AU$230,000 for a non-subscriber
✕
Not offered
Other surcharges and exclusions
Non-member rate ~15–53% above member rate
$10k+ outside US and Canada; $20k+ surcharge if services are required within the first 180 days of membership
Additional days of standby provided by Suspended Animation $5,000 per day. SST ~AU$60k–80k, handled by a separate organization, CryoPath Ltd
SST ~AU$60k–80k
Price varies by bundled Yinfeng Group services
Funding methods
Term life insurance, whole life insurance, savings, trusts, last will, pre-payment, alternative methods
Life insurance, trusts, refundable and non-refundable prepayment, annuities, alternative funding via real estate, 401k or bequests, beneficiary reallocation, credit card
Life insurance, cash prepayment, in-trust account, Portfolio Funding Rider, Local Help Rider, annuity, loan-funded prepayment
Life insurance, pre-payment, will
None named, application and donation-based
SST-only price
✔
€80,000, on request
✕
Not offered as standalone
✕
Not offered as standalone
✕
Not offered as standalone
✕
Not offered
Services
Whole-body cryopreservation offered
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
Neuropreservation offered
✔
✔
✕
✕
✕
DNA or tissue-only preservation offered
✕
✕
✔
$98 per sample
✕
✔
Default track if not selected for whole-body
SST included in cryopreservation price
✔
✔
✕
✕
✕
Requires relocation to a partner hospital pre-death
Pet cryopreservation offered and pricing basis
✔
€100 fee plus pricing by weight and size, calculator on the website
✔
Pricing by weight and size, no flat fee
✔
Cats $5,800. Dogs $5,800 base rate up to 15 lbs, plus $150 per additional pound. Birds from $1,000, varies by size. DNA-only option $98
✔
By weight, via quote
–
Conducted under research program, no public price list
Aldehyde-stabilized or vitrifixation cryopreservation offered
✔
Under high-ischemic conditions
✕
✕
✕
✕
Contractual guarantee of cryopreservation once enrolled and funded
✔
✔
✔
✔
✕
Subject to annual research-plan selection
Standby, stabilization and transport (SST)
SST-only contracts, procedure without storage
✔
✕
✕
✕
✕
In-house SST team vs third-party
✔
In-house SST team: standby, stabilization, transport
✔
In-house D.A.R.T., Deployment and Recovery Team
✕
No in-house team, external only
✕
No in-house team, CryoPath
✕
No dispatched-team model
Number and location of SST bases
Own fleet: 4 fully outfitted ambulances in Berlin, Germany, 1 in France, 1 in Switzerland, 1 in Florida. Two partners’ ambulances in California and New York.
1 owned base, Scottsdale, plus contracted partners, SA and ICE
0 owned, relies on SA, ICE and volunteer groups
0 owned, CryoPath, Australia-wide
0 owned, relocation to Jinan required
Cryoprotectant or vitrification solution used, and rationale
Tomorrow VM-1, described as a proprietary cryoprotectant under ongoing R&D
M22, since 2005
CI-VM-1, in-house, ~70% concentration
VM1, either CI or Tomorrow.bio solutions
Self-developed YF-series, v3.0 for whole organism
SST team composition
6-person team, at least 1 doctor, certified team members in 5 positions: lead, surgical assistant, perfusion, support, logistics support, remote support
Nurses, paramedics, ex-military in D.A.R.T.; contracted surgeons and perfusionists for wider cases
Licensed funeral directors, not in-house medical staff
External doctors and perfusionists via CryoPath
In-house Clinical Response Center, led by Aaron Drake, paramedic
24/7 standby readiness
✔
✔
✕
External, case-by-case
✕
Relies on CryoPath
✕
Requires advance hospital transfer
Field cryoprotection offered
✔
Standard
✔
For distant or delayed cases
✔
Newly offered 2025
–
Handled by CryoPath pre-transport
✕
Region served with teams
Europe and US
US, international members accepted
US, international members accepted
Australia, Southern Hemisphere
China
Standby or response capability outside home country
✔
Active teams in Europe and the US
✔
Plus Canada and Europe programs in development
–
Relies on local funeral-director partners
✕
CryoPath is Australia-based only
✕
Requires relocation to Jinan
Practical need to relocate near a facility
Recommended, not mandatory
Explicitly recommended by Alcor
Effectively implied, no in-house SST
Effectively implied outside CryoPath coverage
Mandatory, explicit prerequisite
Technical procedure
Perfusion approach
Field cryoprotection performed in-ambulance by Tomorrow.bio’s own medical and surgical staff, using heart-lung-machine-type equipment, gradually replacing blood with cryoprotectant
Circulated at ~0°C over several hours via major vessels
Bilateral carotid perfusion, jugular drainage
Managed by CryoPath and external clinicians
Minimally invasive dual access, jugular and femoral, ECMO-based
Storage temperature and medium
Liquid nitrogen, −196°C
Liquid nitrogen, −196°C
Liquid nitrogen, as low as −192°C
Liquid nitrogen, −196°C
Liquid nitrogen, −196°C
Storage vessel and technology, immersion vs ITS
Cryogenic storage dewar; 4 pods inside; full immersion; whole-body ITS in development
Bigfoot dewars, whole body, full immersion, plus Neurodewar, neuro ITS ~−140°C, ~14-patient pilot unit, 2008
Cryostats, not dewars — fiberglass, soft vacuum plus perlite backup. Full immersion only
Standard stainless-steel dewar plus separate cooldown box, built by Yinfeng. Full immersion only
Self-developed dewar-based system plus own cooldown box. Full immersion only
Research and innovation
Research focus
Brain
Kidney
Unclear
Suspension and storage
Unclear
Published multi-year R&D roadmap
✔
tomorrow.bio/r-d-roadmap
✔
alcor.org/research-development
✕
✕
–
General milestones timeline, not a roadmap
Quality metrics for cryopreservation
Median and full distribution of pronouncement-to-cooling interval; warm and cold ischemic times per case; terminal CPA concentration at venous return, refractive index; share of cases fully perfused vs partial vs straight-frozen; share of members lost entirely despite membership; autopsy rate; unattended-death rate; cooling curves logged and published; post-preservation CT or other imaging; fracture assessment; any standardized case-quality score
In-house CT scanning since 2011, standard on every patient as of 2025; color-coded vitrification scoring
Case reports detailed enough for outside ischemia-time analysis; no CT scanning
✕
No public program found
✕
No public program found
In-house R&D department
✔
Yes, no separately named dept.
✔
Dedicated in-house research and engineering dept.
✕
✕
✔
Full research institute
Innovation posture, relative
Youngest major provider; built protocols and equipment from scratch since 2020
Historic vitrification research leader; first in-house R&D team
Relies more on external and contracted technical delivery
Newest facility, 2024; relies on external partners
Most institutionally resourced R&D, but broader cryobiomedicine focus, not cryonics-specific
Transparency and patient-care funding
Case reports published
✔
Every year, numbered CR-XX, announced with a livestream
✔
Less systematic and numbered than Tomorrow.bio
✔
Referenced on site
✔
Narrative, per-patient news updates
✕
Separate legal fund or trust for patient care
✔
Tomorrow Patient Care Foundation, CH
✔
Patient Care Trust, 1997, plus Care Trust Supporting Org, 2016/18
✕
✕
✕
Amount allocated per patient
€120,000 whole body, €15,000 neuro
$135,000 whole body, $25,000 neuro
$20,000
Informal ~AU$100,000, assumption
Not disclosed
Investment approach for patient-care funds
Bonds plus fixed deposits, targets 1–2% above inflation
Cash, CDs, govt securities, US equities; ~2% per year draw
Mostly equities and index funds; negative return in 2022
Bank deposits currently; plans to shift to index funds
Not disclosed
Publishes independently audited financial statements
✔
Annually, EBF, since ~2022
✔
Annual review plus full audit every 3 years
–
From FY2022 onward; none found for 2020–21
✕
Not yet, as of last info found
✕
Not identified as public
Facility safety and risk
Storage safety and facility engineering
Underground, concrete, no visitors allowed.
Above-ground; hardened Patient Care Bay, bullet and bombproof.
Above-ground, owned building; no hardening claims found.
Above-ground; site picked for low fire, flood and quake risk.
Inside industrial biotech park; infrared and remote alarms plus power failover; no seismic or blast details found.
Storage or contract duration guarantee
Indefinite, tied to Patient Care Foundation
Indefinite, tied to Patient Care Trust
Indefinite, perpetual
Indefinite, for centuries if necessary
20-year term reported, matches cord-blood contract terms
Regulatory framework in home jurisdiction
Swiss foundation law plus German company law
US Uniform Anatomical Gift Act plus AZ nonprofit law
Michigan nonprofit corporation law
Australian and NSW corporate and health law
Chinese Red Cross body-donation regulations
Continuity plan if organization ceases operations
✔
Patients unaffected, funds sit with a separate non-profit
✔
Patient Care Trust designed to continue independent of Alcor
✕
No distinct mechanism, funds not legally separated
✕
No distinct mechanism identified
✕
No mechanism identified
Stability of country of storage
Switzerland, GPI rank 3rd of 163, 2026. Chosen for its security, socio-economic stability, strict oversight of non-profits, and low risk of natural disasters.
USA, GPI rank 134th of 163, 2026. Arizona for low disaster risk plus good airport access
USA, GPI rank 134th of 163
Australia, GPI rank 20th of 163, 2026. Southern Cryonics’ founder cites the same disaster-risk logic for Holbrook
China, GPI rank 118th of 163, 2026
Additional services and member-facing
Additional or bundled services offered
Lifespan Extension program for members
Archival storage, Kansas facility, charter jet option
DNA and tissue preservation, Portfolio Funding Rider
✕
Stem-cell storage, genetic testing, whole-genome sequencing, cancer treatment, via wider Yinfeng Group
Apps, Google Play and App Store
✔
Tomorrow.bio, an emergency and monitoring app, interfaces with Google Fit and Apple Health for check-in-style monitoring rather than being a fully standalone app.
✕
✔
Cryonics Institute Check-In, a simple timer and alarm-based check-in system, no call-center integration, per a third-party comparison review.
✕
✕
Membership-fee refund and cancellation policy
Monthly plan cancellable anytime, not refundable
Non-refundable
Non-refundable
Members and subscribers may cancel the suspension agreement with 60 days written notice. No refund of the yearly subscription fees.
N/A, donation-based
Customer-facing languages
English, German, Italian, French, Spanish
English, French
English
English
Chinese, English
Public education and outreach
Blog, YouTube, conferences, Discord, social media
Podcast, newsletter, on-site museum, magazine, social media
Magazine, Annual General Meeting
News blog, social media
Forums and summits, WeChat, academic conferences
✔
Offered
✕
Not offered
–
Partly, with conditions
Last verified August 2026. Tell us if something here is out of date.
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