Pricing mechanics
Start price versus maintenance price
The number in the advertisement and the number on your third invoice are frequently different, and the gap is structural rather than accidental. This is how advertised starting prices work, why they persist, and how to read past them.
The mechanic
A GLP-1 titration begins low. Every approved labelling starts below the treatment dose and steps up over weeks. A program can therefore quote a completely truthful price that applies only to the first four weeks, attach the word "from" to it, and never state what the dose you settle at costs.
This site handles that by quoting every figure at the maintenance dose — 10 mg/week for tirzepatide, 2.4 mg/week for semaglutide — and by refusing to rank any program that does not publish one.
The gaps in this database
Among rankable tirzepatide programs that publish both figures, these have the largest distance between the advertised start and the maintenance price:
- Ro (Ro Body) — advertised from $448, maintenance $598, a difference of $150 a month once you titrate.
- LillyDirect (Zepbound) — advertised from $299, maintenance $449, a difference of $150 a month once you titrate.
- Lavender Sky Health — advertised from $225, maintenance $352, a difference of $127 a month once you titrate.
- Enhance MD — advertised from $169, maintenance $280, a difference of $111 a month once you titrate.
- Direct Meds — advertised from $299, maintenance $399, a difference of $100 a month once you titrate.
- ShedRx — advertised from $199, maintenance $289, a difference of $90 a month once you titrate.
The largest gap in the set belongs to Ro (Ro Body): $150 a month, or $1,800 across a year, between the number in the advertisement and the number you settle at.
The programs that publish only a start price
Some programs publish a starting price and nothing else. There are 7 such records in this database, and every one of them is marked unrankable rather than being ranked on its advertised figure.
This is a deliberate and slightly unpopular choice. Ranking a "from $133" program against a program that publishes a real maintenance rate would put the advertised figure at the top of a cheapest list, which is precisely the error the advertised figure is designed to produce. We would rather have a shorter list that means something.
How to read a GLP-1 price advertisement
Three questions answer almost everything. What dose does this price apply to? What does the dose I am likely to settle at cost? And is there a membership, shipping charge or consultation fee that is not in this number? A program that answers all three in writing is being straight with you, whatever the price turns out to be.
A fourth question is worth asking of any promotional rate: what is the standard rate, and when does the promotion end? This site stores both and labels the promotional figure with its published end date, because a twelve-month commitment priced against a rate that expires in six weeks is not the deal it appears to be.
Questions
Why is the price I was quoted lower than what I pay?
Because the quoted price usually applies to the starting dose, which you take for about four weeks before the first increase. On dose-tiered programs the price rises as you titrate. Ask what the maintenance dose costs before you enrol.
What does 'from $X' mean on a GLP-1 site?
It means at least one configuration costs that much — usually the lowest dose, often on the longest prepaid term. It does not describe what a year at your settled dose costs.
Why do you refuse to rank some cheap-looking programs?
Because they publish no maintenance-dose price. Ranking an advertised starting figure against real standing rates would put the least informative number at the top of the list.