Elective 3D and 4D ultrasound is one of the purest cash markets in health care. There is no insurer, no network, no claim, and no diagnosis code. A studio posts a menu, you pick a package, and you pay at the counter. That makes prices unusually easy to compare, and it makes the whole category behave more like photography than medicine.
This guide covers what keepsake scans actually cost, using price menus that five studios in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Florida published as of September 5, 2026. It also covers what the FDA and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine say about non-medical fetal imaging, and how the pricing compares with a medically ordered scan. For the diagnostic version of this service, our ultrasound cost without insurance guide is the hub.
What Does a 3D Ultrasound Cost Without Insurance?
Across those five menus, a single elective session runs $65 to $200. The spread within any one studio is driven almost entirely by minutes of scan time and how many images and video clips you take home. Cherished Image in St. Johns, Florida runs $65 for a 5 to 13 week early scan up to $199 for its top package. Peek A Bootique in Dearborn and Ann Arbor runs $75 for a 10 minute 2D scan to $200 for a 25 minute HD session. Babies and Bellies in Warwick, Rhode Island runs $105 to $199 per session, or $449 for a four-visit bundle it prices against a $654 a la carte value.
| Service | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early heartbeat or 2D peace-of-mind scan | $65 | $89 | $105 |
| Gender determination session | $95 | $109 | $135 |
| DNA-based gender test (blood draw, 6+ weeks) | $149 | n/a | $159 |
| 3D/4D/HD session, 10 to 15 minutes | $119 | $139 | $169 |
| 3D/4D/HD session, 20 to 25 minutes | $179 | $199 | $200 |
| Multi-visit bundle (4 sessions) | n/a | $449 | $499 (twins) |
| HD or 8K rendered image add-on | n/a | $35 | n/a |
| Heartbeat plush animal | $30 | $40 | $45 |
| Video clip package add-on | $20 | $35 | n/a |
| Twins surcharge | $25 | n/a | $50 |
| Diagnostic OB ultrasound, cash at a studio | $140 | $170 | $245 |
| Detailed anatomy scan (CPT 76811), avg billed charge in an office | n/a | $664.54 | n/a |
| 3D rendering add-on (76376 / 76377), Medicare allowed | $19.88 | n/a | $64.68 |
Elective figures come from the five studio menus named in the sources, read September 5, 2026. The diagnostic cash row is Cherished Image’s separately published radiologist-read menu. The last two rows come from CMS Medicare Physician and Other Practitioners data for calendar year 2024, released in 2026.
The pattern holds across metros. A short gender scan clusters near $95 to $109, a mid-length HD session near $135 to $169, and the flagship long session near $199. Nothing in this market resembles the four-figure pricing you see in hospital imaging departments, because none of these studios are billing a facility fee to an insurer.
What Drives the Price
Minutes of scan time. This is the dominant variable. Peek A Bootique charges $135 for a 10 minute 4D/5D/HD session, $165 for 15 minutes, and $200 for 25 minutes of the same imaging. A Tiny Perspective in Glastonbury charges $99 for 10 minutes, $169 for 15 to 20 minutes, and $199 for 20 to 25 minutes. You are buying time, not technology.
What is bundled versus sold at the counter. Two studios can post $169 and mean very different things. Cherished Image’s $169 Gold package includes 10 black and white photos, two printed color 4x6 prints, emailed images, and one 8K rendered image, while the same 8K image is a $35 add-on to cheaper packages. Babies and Bellies sells HD Live imaging as a $35 add-on and runs weekday specials that waive it. Compare the included list, not the headline.
Gestational age and what you are trying to see. Early scans are short and cheap, gender scans open at 14 to 16 weeks, and studios steer the flagship 3D/4D session to roughly 24 to 32 weeks when facial detail is best. Booking the wrong week is the most common way to pay twice.
DNA gender testing, which is a different product. Several studios also sell a blood-draw gender test at $149 to $159, sometimes bundled with a short scan for $199. That is a lab test, not imaging, and it is priced accordingly. If you are weighing prenatal screening more broadly, our NIPT test cost guide covers the medical version.
Multiples and repeat visits. Twins add $25 at most studios and up to $50 on premium packages. Return-visit pricing is common: A Tiny Perspective repeats its package for $99 within the same pregnancy, and Cherished Image gives returning clients 10%.
Safety, Credentials, and What Regulators Say
The FDA’s position is stated plainly on its ultrasound imaging page: the use of ultrasound solely for non-medical purposes such as obtaining fetal keepsake videos has been discouraged, and keepsake images or videos are reasonable if they are produced during a medically indicated exam and no additional exposure is required. The FDA also notes that while ultrasound is generally considered safe, risks may increase with unnecessary prolonged exposure to ultrasound energy or when untrained users operate the device, and it separately cautions expectant parents about over-the-counter fetal heartbeat monitors, which it says should only be used by trained health care providers when medically necessary.
The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine goes further. In its statement on prudent use in pregnancy, AIUM says it advocates responsible use of diagnostic ultrasound and strongly discourages non-medical use, and that using ultrasound without a medical indication to view the fetus, obtain images, or identify fetal external genitalia is inappropriate and contrary to responsible medical practice. AIUM recommends that all fetal ultrasound examinations be performed by appropriately trained and credentialed professionals with specialized training in fetal imaging, and it encourages patients to confirm that the practitioner has that formal training.
Both of those are reported here as consumer information, not as our advice about whether to book a scan. What they do give you is a specific question worth asking any studio before you pay: who is holding the probe, and what is their credential? Several studios answer it up front. A Tiny Perspective requires documentation from your provider and that you have already had a diagnostic ultrasound before it will scan you at all, and states that its session never replaces a complete diagnostic exam. Cherished Image separates its elective menu from a diagnostic menu whose exams are read and signed by board-certified radiologists.
Cash Price vs. Insurance
There is no insurance price for a keepsake scan. Without a medical indication there is no billable code, so studios operate on cash, card, and sometimes gift certificates. That cuts both ways: you will never get reimbursed, and you will also never get a surprise bill, a facility fee, or a separate radiologist charge weeks later.
The medically ordered path is priced in a different universe. A routine obstetric ultrasound after 14 weeks is CPT 76805, a detailed fetal anatomic examination is 76811, and a follow-up scan is 76816. Crucially, 3D rendering is not part of any of those. It is a separate add-on code, 76376 for rendering without an independent workstation and 76377 with one.
CMS’s Medicare Physician and Other Practitioners data for 2024, released in 2026, shows how thinly that add-on is valued. In the office setting, the average submitted charge nationally was $664.54 for 76811 with $152.60 allowed, $387.30 for 76805 with $114.65 allowed, and $339.49 for 76816 with $92.10 allowed. The 3D rendering codes allowed just $19.88 (76376) and $64.68 (76377). Note that this is Medicare data with low obstetric volume and that the Physician Fee Schedule resets every January 1, so treat these as relative benchmarks rather than a price you would be charged.
The practical takeaway: the 3D rendering itself is a cheap piece of software work. What a studio sells for $199 is a private room, a big screen, unhurried time, and a photo package. A quick sanity check on any medical imaging quote is available in our fair price checker.
How to Pay Less
1. Book one well-timed session instead of several short ones. The flagship 3D/4D window is roughly 24 to 32 weeks. A single $169 to $199 session in that window beats two $99 sessions that arrive too early for facial detail.
2. Compare what is included, not the headline price. Ask whether the digital gallery, video clips, HD or 8K rendering, and printed photos are in the package or sold separately. A $135 package plus $35 HD plus $35 video is a $205 package.
3. Take the discounts studios already publish. Weekday specials, returning-client discounts of about 10%, and military, veteran, and first responder discounts of about 10% are all posted openly at the studios cited here. Ask, because none of them apply automatically.
4. Skip the props if the budget is tight. Gender reveal cannons, balls, and extinguishers are $10 to $25 each and heartbeat animals are $30 to $45. They are the highest-margin items on the menu and none of them affect the scan.
5. Ask your OB what you are already getting. Many practices capture and share 3D images during a medically indicated anatomy scan at no extra charge, which is exactly the scenario the FDA describes as reasonable. Our prenatal care cost guide covers what a standard schedule of visits and scans includes.
6. Keep elective and medical spending separate. If a scan is medically ordered, it is shoppable in a completely different way, including hospital cash prices you can look up before you book. See our hospital price transparency guide, and if a medical imaging bill has already landed, start with negotiating medical bills or, for income-based help, free clinics and sliding-scale care.
The Bottom Line
Expect to pay $65 to $200 for an elective 3D or 4D ultrasound session in 2026, with $95 to $135 the going rate for a gender scan and $179 to $200 for a full-length HD session. Multi-visit bundles land near $449 and only pay off if you were genuinely going to book four times.
Treat it as a purchase, not a medical service, because that is exactly what it is. Compare what each package includes, ask who is performing the scan and what their training is, and read the FDA and AIUM positions before you decide how many sessions to book. If what you actually need is a diagnostic scan, start at our ultrasound cost without insurance guide, and if you are budgeting the whole pregnancy, see childbirth cost without insurance and birth center cost.