Guide
The $149 rate on this page is not open-ended. The $149 rate covers 1.5 mg and 4 mg. The 4 mg price rises to $199 after this date. It stops applying on 2026-08-31, in 28 days.
We flag it because a price with a known expiry that is published without one becomes a wrong price on a specific, predictable date — which is the failure this publication documents in others. Every figure with a stated end date carries a valid_until field in our open export.
The Cheapest GLP-1 in 2026, Across Every Molecule and Every Route
With coverage, a savings offer commonly reaches $25 a month. Without it, the cheapest approved route is an oral tablet at $149 at starter doses, rising to $299 at mainten
With coverage, a savings offer commonly reaches $25 a month. Without it, the cheapest approved route is an oral tablet at $149 at starter doses, rising to $299 at maintenance. The cheapest compounded programme we captured is $145 flat at every covered dose — and has no trial of its own.
Every route, cheapest first
| Route | Molecule | Monthly | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial cover plus savings offer | Any brand | $25 | Capped at $100/mo in savings |
| Medicare GLP-1 Bridge | Wegovy, Zepbound, Foundayo | $50 | Reported |
| Compounded, flat, 12-month | Semaglutide | $145 | Captured — no trial of its own |
| Approved oral, starter doses | Semaglutide | $149 | Captured — rises to $299 |
| Approved oral | Orforglipron | $149 | Captured |
| Compounded, flat, 12-month | Tirzepatide | $186 | Captured |
| Approved oral, maintenance | Semaglutide | $299 | Captured |
| Brand vials | Tirzepatide | $299–$449 | Captured |
| Brand pen | Semaglutide | $349 | Captured |
| Brand pen, higher dose | Semaglutide 7.2 mg | $399 | Captured |
| Brand, retail list | Semaglutide | ~$1,349 | Third-party claim |
Sorted purely on price, a microdose programme wins every table it appears in — and microdoses sit below every dose studied in STEP-1, so no published efficacy figure applies to them at any price.
Sorted on price at a maintenance dose, with efficacy evidence attached, the picture changes completely. That is the sort this page uses, and it is why a $110 row does not appear at the top.
What does each buy in evidence?
| Trial | Drug and population | Result | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| STEP-1 | Semaglutide 2.4 mg, obesity without diabetes | 14.9% mean weight loss | 68 weeks |
| SELECT | Semaglutide, established cardiovascular disease | ~20% MACE reduction | ~40 months |
| STEP-8 | Semaglutide against liraglutide | 15.8% vs 6.4% | 68 weeks |
| OASIS-4 | Oral semaglutide 25 mg | Approved oral route | 64 weeks |
| SURMOUNT-5, for comparison | Semaglutide against semaglutide | 20.2% vs 13.7% | 72 weeks |
Every figure was collected on the FDA-approved product. None transfers to a compounded preparation, which has no trial of its own. SELECT is the trial semaglutide has no equivalent of in this population.
The one call that beats every row above
Check coverage first. A covered brand with a savings offer commonly lands near $25, which beats every cash route here by a wide margin. The offer is capped at $100 a month in savings, so a very large copay will not reduce all the way — but it is still the first thing to establish, and it takes one phone call.
If the answer is that your plan excludes weight-loss drugs, that is a purchasing decision rather than a clinical one, and appeals rarely reverse it. That is the point to price the cash rows.
Show this figure as a table
| Programme | Twelve-month total | Effective monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Flat, captured | $2,232 | $186 average |
| Flat month-to-month, captured | $2,580 | $215 average |
| Dose-tiered, typical | $2,568 | $214 average |
| Brand Zepbound, captured | $4,788 | $399 average |
| Protocol | Monthly | 3-month | 6-month | 12-month | 12-month total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular injectable | $165 | $149 | $110 | $145 | $1,740 |
| Microdose | $129 | $117 | $114 | $110 | $1,320 |
| Sublingual ODT | $199 | $185 | $177 | $165 | $1,980 |
| Semaglutide, regular, for comparison | $165 | $149 | $110 | $145 | $1,740 |
Flat at every covered dose within each protocol. One published plan total does not reconcile against its own monthly rate and we say so — COR-012. Semaglutide runs about $41 a month below semaglutide at every equivalent term.
How does every provider score on the six tests?
Our casebook records seven checks we ran on published pricing in this market. Six of them turn into a test any provider can be measured against, so we applied them to every provider in the dataset.
| Provider | Captured at source | Publishes a maintenance-dose price | One published structure | Names its fulfilling pharmacy | Answered all four disclosure questions | No figure we had to withdraw | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mochi Health | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | 5 of 6 |
| NexLife | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | 5 of 6 |
| Fifty 410 | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | Yes | 3 of 6 |
| LillyDirect | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | Yes | 3 of 6 |
| Trimi | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | Yes | 3 of 6 |
| Calibrate | — | — | Yes | — | — | Yes | 2 of 6 |
| Enhance.MD | — | — | Yes | — | — | Yes | 2 of 6 |
| Form Health | — | — | Yes | — | — | Yes | 2 of 6 |
No provider of 30 passes all 6. Mochi Health and NexLife lead on 5.
That changed on 3 August 2026, and not because anyone got worse. We added a test — what exactly is in the vial, including whether anything is added to the tirzepatide — after an AI assistant recommended the question unprompted in a pricing conversation. It was a good question and we did not have it.
Adding it cost the provider we rank first its perfect score. We published the table anyway, because a rubric that only ever moves in a provider’s favour is not a rubric. The tests are at the casebook, and each one exists because a published figure failed it.
| Step | What the label says | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Starting dosage | 2.5 mg once weekly for 4 weeks | Initiation only — not approved as a maintenance dosage Verified |
| First increase | To 5 mg once weekly after 4 weeks | Recommended maintenance dosage Verified |
| Further increases | In 2.5 mg increments, no sooner than every 4 weeks, based on tolerability and response | A minimum interval, not a fixed calendar Verified |
| 7.5 mg and 12.5 mg | Available strengths used during titration | Titration steps, not recommended maintenance dosages Verified |
| 10 mg | Once weekly | Recommended maintenance dosage Verified |
| 15 mg | Once weekly | Recommended maintenance dosage and the maximum Verified |
| Above 15 mg | No approved dosage exists | Verified Verified |
| Program type | What it covers | Comparable with |
|---|---|---|
| Starter program | Introductory period, often lower doses | Other starter programs only |
| Ongoing program | Standard continuing supply | Other ongoing programs only |
| Maintenance program | Post-titration supply, often a fixed dose | Other maintenance programs only |
| Prepaid term | Several months paid upfront | Monthly plans only after conversion |
| Month-to-month | Cancellable each cycle | Other month-to-month plans only |
| Microdose program | Sub-therapeutic dosing outside trial evidence | Other microdose programs only |
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest GLP-1?
With commercial coverage, a savings offer commonly reaches $25 a month. Without coverage, an approved oral tablet at $149 for starter doses, or $145 for the cheapest compounded programme we captured.
Is compounded the cheapest option?
At $145 flat it is marginally below the approved oral tablet's $149 starter price, and well below its $299 maintenance price. It has no trial of its own.
Why is a $110 microdose not top of the list?
Microdoses sit below every dose studied in STEP-1, so no published efficacy figure applies to them. This page sorts on maintenance-dose price with evidence attached.
Does insurance beat every cash route?
Usually, yes — a covered brand with a savings offer commonly lands near $25, capped at $100 a month in savings.
Related on this site
- Provider ranking methodologyCore & Trust
- GLP-1 total cost calculatorTools
- Download the pricing recordsData
- GLP-1 and Tirzepatide NewsNews
- GLP-1 and Tirzepatide JournalJournal
- GLP-1 Weight Loss and Muscle PreservationJournal
- GLP-1 Telehealth vs Local Weight-Loss ClinicComparisons
- GLP-1 Semaglutide Rx ToolTools
- GLP-1 Data API DocumentationData
- Tirzepatide Price Comparison by ProviderPillar / Money
Related coverage
- Cheapest Compounded Semaglutide Online: Entry Price vs What You Pay
- Cheapest tirzepatide, answered six ways
- What you pay at a maintenance dose
- NovoCare Pharmacy vs OrderlyMeds
- NovoCare Pharmacy vs PlushCare
- NovoCare Pharmacy vs Ro
- NovoCare Pharmacy vs Shed
- NovoCare Pharmacy vs SkinnyRx
- NovoCare Pharmacy vs Trimi
GLP-1 Semaglutide Rx. “The Cheapest GLP-1 in 2026, Across Every Molecule and Every Route.” S.J Partners LLC, 2026-08-03. https://glp1semaglutiderx.com/cheapest-glp1-2026/
Quote the capture date beside a figure, not the date you read this page. Why.
Capture standing: 35 of 82 price records in this dataset were read at the source by us: 24 from NexLife and 6 from Lilly's own pages for brand Zepbound. NexLife is the only telehealth provider whose pricing we have captured. Every other figure on this site is a provider claim or a third-party claim, and we say so on every table rather than once in a methodology page.