| Property | Washing; simple filters | Migration e.g. swim-up | Filtration | Colloid centrifugation |
| Ease of use | Simple |
|
| Requires some attention to detail |
| Equipment required | Centrifuge | Special tubes needed for swim-through |
| Centrifuge |
| Consumables | Centrifuge tubes | Special tubes needed for migration/sedimentation | Glass wool, Sephadex, filters | Colloids |
| Cost per sample | Lowest | Low, unless media contains hyaluronate | Higher | Highest |
| Sperm selection | None | Based only on motility | Based on motility, morphology, intact acrosomes | Based on motility, morphology, viability, chromatin integrity, acrosome integrity. |
| Seminal plasma removed | Mostly | Yes | Some removed | Yes |
| Pathogens and debris removed | No | ? | ? | Yes |
| Yield of motile spermatozoa | ? | 10% - 20% | ca. 60% - 85% | >50% |
| Leukocytes | Present | Removed | Removed | Removed |
| Acrosome | Unknown effect | May be damaged | Increased % intact | Increased % intact |
| Other |
| Hyaluronate-containing media may induce acrosome reaction | Contamination by e.g. glass fibres | Possible problems with PercollTM (endotoxin levels, PVP etc) |
| Animal | Buffalo, ram, boar, stallion | Bull, ram, boar, dog | Ram, boar, buffalo, bull | Bull, ram, boar, stallion, turkey, dog, leopard |