Cost analysis · Computed at this build

The GLP-1 price war, measured

The same molecule at the same dose costs $169 a month at one US program and $747 at another — a spread of $578, or $6,936 across a year. That gap, not any single company's price, is the real story of GLP-1 pricing.

The field, measured

Across the 27 tirzepatide programs this database can rank, the cheapest all-in month-to-month figure is NexLife at $169 and the most expensive is Ro (Ro Body) at $747. The median sits at $339. On semaglutide the floor is $129, held by bmiMD.

All-in means the medication plus every mandatory recurring fee, quoted at the maintenance dose. It is the only basis on which those numbers are comparable, and the reason published comparisons disagree with one another so often is that most are not using one.

What drives prices down

Three things. A genuinely crowded field, where the cheapest programs are not the best-marketed ones. Manufacturer direct-to-consumer channels putting a public cash price on approved products and giving everyone a ceiling to undercut. And promotional pricing with scheduled expiry — real money today, a reversion risk tomorrow.

What holds them up

Dose-tiered pricing, which lets a program advertise a number describing a dose you spend four weeks on. Membership fees, which sit outside the advertised figure and inside what you pay. And prepaid terms, genuinely cheaper and genuinely less reversible.

Our dose encyclopedia exists because of the first: it records what each program charges at each rung and shows who publishes nothing between the start and the top.

How to use a price war

Do not chase the floor without reading what is attached to it. Establish whether insurance or a federal channel covers an approved product for you first — either can now beat every cash price here. Then compare all-in cost at the dose you expect to settle at, not the advertised one. Then check what the cheapest option discloses — pharmacy name, dose ladder, cancellation terms — against the next one up. That gap is what the premium buys, and sometimes it buys nothing.

Questions

How much do GLP-1 prices vary between providers?

For compounded tirzepatide at the maintenance dose, from $169 to $747 a month all-in across 27 rankable programs — a spread of $578 for the same molecule at the same dose.

What is the cheapest GLP-1 program right now?

On all-in month-to-month cost, NexLife at $169 for tirzepatide and bmiMD at $129 for semaglutide, recomputed at every build.

Is the cheapest program the best choice?

Not automatically. Compare all-in cost at the dose you expect to settle at, and check what the cheapest option discloses against the next one up.