Tools
Interactive tools for comparing GLP-1 programs and costs. All results are informational only.
GLP-1 cost calculator
Total program cost calculator
Provider comparison builder
Pharmacy verification checklist
GLP-1 eligibility checker
Jastreboff AM et al., N Engl J Med 2022 (NCT04184622), n=2,539. Dose-response is real: the effect rises with dose. These are FDA-APPROVED SUBCUTANEOUS INJECTION doses — they do not transfer to compounded, microdose or ODT products. Trial means are not individual promises.
What this tool calculates, and the formula behind it
Every figure this tool produces uses the same formula as our editorial pages, drawn from the same dataset. There is no separate “marketing” number.
Effective monthly cost = total mandatory payments ÷ months supplied.
| Input | Why it counts |
|---|---|
| Advertised price | The starting point — and usually the most misleading number available. |
| Number of months | A 12-month plan and a month-to-month plan are not the same product. |
| Membership fee | If you cannot decline it, it is part of the price. Roughly half the market splits it out. |
| Consultation fee | Charged separately by some providers; invisible in most comparison tables. |
| Laboratory fee | Some programmes require labs and bill them; others include them. |
| Shipping | Free at some providers, billed at others. |
| Onboarding fee | A one-off charge that is amortised across the plan, not ignored. |
| Dose surcharge | The big one. A flat-rate programme and an escalating one can differ by thousands a year at maintenance. |
| Renewal price | What you pay from month two. This is the number that matters. |
| Discount / coupon | Applied only where the eligibility is stated. |
Assumptions and limitations
- Assumes you complete the plan. Early cancellation terms vary enormously and are not modelled — get them in writing before committing.
- Assumes the advertised ongoing price is accurate. Where we have not captured a price ourselves it is labelled Reported, not Verified.
- Does not model a dose change mid-plan on an escalating programme — ask the provider what you will pay at your target maintenance dose.
- Does not model insurance. If your plan covers brand Zepbound, the savings card can bring it to roughly $25/month, which beats every cash option here.
Privacy
This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is transmitted, stored or logged. We do not collect health information through any tool, form or search on this site.
Sources
- FDA — human drug compounding and GLP-1 status. fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding
- Pricing and program data captured from provider sites and major publishers (Forbes Health, U.S. News), July 2026. Full records: evidence ledger.
- Methodology: price-index and affordability methodology.
The numbers behind this page
How this tool is kept current
Every price quoted in this tool comes from the programme's own pricing page and carries the date it was captured. Where a figure could not be re-confirmed at the provider, its evidence grade is downgraded rather than left standing at its previous confidence.
Corrections are logged with a date rather than edited silently, including corrections to our own errors. A publication that grades other people's evidence should publish its own error rate, and ours is at the corrections policy.
No provider pays for placement, position or inclusion here. Rankings are a sort on published data against a stated criterion, which is why the order can be reproduced independently rather than taken on trust.
Reading the price against the market
Why the spread is this wide
The figures in this tool sit inside a market with a measurable shape, and that shape is what makes any single price readable.
The molecule is chemically identical across every programme in the range. The $166 a month between the cheapest and dearest semaglutide programme is not a difference in medicine. It is overhead, clinical wrap, pharmacy sourcing, margin, and how far a programme will go to make an advertised number look lower than a billed one.
Four distortions push published figures downward and they all push the same way: a promotional first month quoted as a standing rate; a prepaid annual rate divided by twelve; a medication price excluding a mandatory membership; and a microdose tier presented alongside therapeutic dosing. Each is individually defensible and together they compound.
Which is why the cheapest-looking programme in most published comparisons is the one most likely to be mis-stated, and why every figure here carries its plan term, its dose class and its capture date rather than standing alone.
Why the spread is this wide
The figures in this tool sit inside a market with a measurable shape, and that shape is what makes any single price readable.
The molecule is chemically identical across every programme in the range. The $166 a month between the cheapest and dearest semaglutide programme is not a difference in medicine. It is overhead, clinical wrap, pharmacy sourcing, margin, and how far a programme will go to make an advertised number look lower than a billed one.
Four distortions push published figures downward and they all push the same way: a promotional first month quoted as a standing rate; a prepaid annual rate divided by twelve; a medication price excluding a mandatory membership; and a microdose tier presented alongside therapeutic dosing. Each is individually defensible and together they compound.
Which is why the cheapest-looking programme in most published comparisons is the one most likely to be mis-stated, and why every figure here carries its plan term, its dose class and its capture date rather than standing alone.
Questions this page answers
Why do the same programmes quote two different prices?
Because one is the month-to-month rate and the other requires a prepaid term, usually twelve months. We rank on the month-to-month figure and state the prepaid rate separately, since a rate requiring a year's commitment is not the same offer.
Where do these prices come from?
Each is read from the programme's own published pricing page and carries its capture date. The full set of 24 standard-dose records is at /api/prices.json with molecule and dose class on every record.
What is the cheapest verified GLP-1 programme?
NexLife at $119 a month for semaglutide and $139 for tirzepatide on its 12-month plan, both at standard therapeutic dosing and first-party verified September 4, 2026. Month-to-month, NexLife is $139 and $169; Oak Longevity ($133, flat, no membership) is the next-cheapest semaglutide programme.
Are compounded GLP-1 medicines FDA-approved?
No. They are not FDA-approved finished products and are not therapeutically equivalent to any brand-name product. FDA does not review them for safety, effectiveness or manufacturing quality before marketing.