If you have good insurance that covers weight-loss drugs, your GLP-1 cost with insurance can be as low as $0 to $25 per month. If you don’t, you’re looking at anywhere from $149 to over $1,000 a month, depending on the brand, the dose, and where you buy it. There’s no single “GLP-1 price.” There’s a price for your situation. Let’s find yours.
Quick verdict box
Best if you have commercial insurance: Go straight to NovoCare (Wegovy) or LillyDirect (Zepbound). Their savings cards can bring your cost down to $25 a month, and no telehealth membership fee is added on top of it.
Best if you’re paying cash and want the lowest total: NovoCare or LillyDirect direct, again. You skip the membership fee that Hims, Ro, Noom, and WeightWatchers all charge on top of the cost of medication.
Best if you want coaching and support built in: Noom or WeightWatchers Clinic. You’ll pay more some months, but you’re also getting a program, not just a prescription.
Skip if: You’re on Medicare or Medicaid and hoping for a cheap cash-pay option. Most of these self-pay programs, including NovoCare and LillyDirect, explicitly exclude government insurance beneficiaries from their lowest prices.
Prices below are what I found on each brand’s own site, checked today.
How much does a GLP-1 cost with insurance?
Here’s the honest answer: with good commercial insurance, the cost of a GLP-1 with insurance usually ranges from $0 to $25 per month. That’s the number Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly both advertise on their official savings pages for Wegovy and Zepbound. But that low number only applies if your specific plan actually covers the weight-loss drug, which many plans still don’t. If your insurance doesn’t cover it, you’re paying self-pay prices, and that’s where the real range shows up.
Government insurance is a different story. Medicare doesn’t cover GLP-1s for weight loss in most cases, and Medicaid coverage depends entirely on your state. So “with insurance” doesn’t automatically mean cheap. It means cheap if your plan says yes.
How much does a GLP-1 cost without insurance?
Without insurance, you’re basically choosing between two paths. Path one is to buy the actual brand-name drug directly through the manufacturer’s cash-pay program. Path two is going through a telehealth company that adds its own membership fee on top of the medication cost.
Retail list price for these drugs, if you walk into a regular pharmacy with no coupon and no program, is brutal. Wegovy costs around $1,349 a month. Zepbound lists for around $1,086 a month. Nobody should be paying that. Every option below beats it by a wide margin.
Brand reviews: what you’ll actually pay
Hims & Hers
Hims lists its weight loss membership at $39 for the first month on its site right now, then it renews at $149 a month. That membership fee does not include medication. It’s billed separately.
Here’s the thing about Hims in 2026: it’s not the cheap, compounded-semaglutide shop it used to be. After a legal settlement with Novo Nordisk earlier this year, Hims moved to selling FDA-approved branded drugs, Wegovy, Zepbound, and a newer pill called Foundayo, plus off-label Ozempic and Mounjaro for patients who qualify. According to Hims’ own cost page, medication prices range from $149 to $1,899 a month, depending on which drug and dose you’re prescribed. They also list oral medication kits starting at $69 a month if you pay for a 10-month plan upfront.
Sign-up is a survey,and then a provider reviews it within about 24 hours. If approved, they mail the prescription to your door. You can cancel anytime, but canceling the membership also cancels your active medication plan.
Common complaint I’d flag: the $149-to-$1,899 range is so wide it’s basically useless until you actually sign up and get a plan. That’s frustrating if you’re trying to budget ahead of time.
Who it’s for: People who want branded, FDA-approved GLP-1s without dealing with insurance paperwork, and who are comfortable with a two-part membership-plus-medication bill.
Who should skip it: Anyone hoping for the old, cheap, compounded semaglutide plan. That’s gone for new patients.
Ro (Ro Body)
Ro’s official pricing page shows $39 to get started, and membership can drop to as low as $74 a month if you prepay for a full year. I’ll be honest, Ro’s site doesn’t clearly show the standard month-to-month membership price if you don’t prepay, so don’t assume it stays at $39 forever. That’s a bit annoying, and you should ask before you commit.
Medication is billed on top of that. Right now, Ro lists the Wegovy pill at $149 for the first month, then $199 to $299 after. The Wegovy pen starts at $199 the first month, then $199 to $399. Zepbound KwikPen starts at $299 the first month, then $399 to $449. Foundayo pill pricing matches that of the Wegovy pill. Ozempic, if you don’t have insurance, runs $900 to $1,100 a month through a regular pharmacy pickup, which is steep since it’s not really built for cash-pay use.
Ro’s big selling point is the insurance concierge. They’ll check your coverage for free and fight for prior authorization, which can turn a $400 medication bill into just a copay. Ro operates in all 50 states plus DC.
Who it’s for: People with commercial insurance who want help navigating coverage, or people who want brand-name drugs and don’t mind the membership layer.
Who should skip it: Budget shoppers who want the single lowest number. You’ll do better going directly to NovoCare or LillyDirect.
Noom Med
Gonna be honest here, Noom’s pricing page is confusing. They run several tiers at once. The Microdose GLP-1Rx program starts at $79 and moves to $199 a month, billed quarterly, and this price includes the compounded medication. Their standard GLP-1Rx program (also compounded) starts around $129 and can run $249 to $299 a month, depending on the tier, again with medication included in that number, which is actually one thing I like about Noom compared to Hims and Ro. There’s also a Weight-Loss Pill plan (metformin) at $99 a month, and a telehealth option for branded drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound that starts at $69 a month in membership fees, with medication billed separately at whatever NovoCare or LillyDirect charges.
What sets Noom apart is the coaching. You get psychology-based lessons and habit tracking alongside the medication, which some people genuinely need, and others find like paying for an app they never open.
Who it’s for: People who want structured behavioral coaching bundled with a lower-dose or compounded GLP-1 option, and who don’t mind quarterly billing.
Who should skip it: Anyone who just wants a straight number without comparing five different plan tiers first.
WeightWatchers Clinic (Med+)
WeightWatchers’ official site currently shows $25 a month for the first two months, then $74 a month for the rest of a 12-month commitment plan. That’s genuinely one of the lower membership fees in this whole guide. The catch, and it’s a real one: this is a 12-month contract. If you sign up and quit after three months, WeightWatchers’ own terms say you’re still on the hook for the remaining months.
Medication isn’t shipped by WeightWatchers directly. Providers write prescriptions for Wegovy, Saxenda, or Zepbound, and you fill them through a pharmacy or insurance, so your medication cost depends entirely on your coverage and which drug you’re prescribed.
Who it’s for: People who want the lowest membership fee and are fine with committing to a full year.
Who should skip it: Anyone who wants to try a program for a month or two and bail if it’s not working. The contract makes it expensive.
NovoCare (Wegovy, direct from Novo Nordisk)
This is the manufacturer’s own cash-pay pharmacy, and it’s currently the best deal in this whole guide if you don’t have coverage. NovoCare lists the Wegovy pill at $149 a month for the 1.5 mg and 4 mg doses right now (the 4 mg price holds through August 31, 2026, then moves to $199). The Wegovy pen is $199 a month for your first two fills at the starter doses, then jumps to $349 a month at standard maintenance doses, and $399 a month for the higher HD dose. If you have commercial insurance and qualify for the savings card, Novo Nordisk says you can pay as little as $25 a month.
There’s no separate membership fee here. What you see is what you pay for: the drug itself.
Who it’s for: Pretty much anyone without insurance coverage. This beats every telehealth membership-plus-medication combo I checked.
Who should skip it: Medicare, Medicaid, and other government beneficiaries, who are excluded from the cash-pay program and the savings card.
LillyDirect (Zepbound, direct from Eli Lilly)
Same idea as NovoCare, but for Zepbound. Lilly’s own site currently prices the self-pay vials at $299 a month for the 2.5 mg starter dose, $399 a month for 5 mg, and $449 a month for every dose from 7.5 mg up to 15 mg. That top tier has a catch: you have to refill within 45 days of your last delivery to keep the $449 price, or it jumps back up. You can pick up at Walmart pharmacies now, too, not just home delivery.
Who it’s for: Anyone without insurance who wants Zepbound specifically and doesn’t need coaching or a membership wrapped around it.
Who should skip it: Anyone with insurance that already covers Zepbound. Your copay through insurance and the savings card will almost always beat $299.
Comparison: telehealth membership vs going direct
| Hims & Hers | $39 first month, then $149/mo | $149 to $1,899/mo |
| Ro Body | $39 to start, as low as $74/mo prepaid | $149 to $449/mo |
| Noom Med | $69 to $129 to start, up to $299/mo | Included in most tiers |
| WeightWatchers Clinic | $25/mo first 2 months, then $74/mo (12-mo contract) | Billed separately, varies |
| NovoCare (Wegovy direct) | None | $149 to $399/mo |
| LillyDirect (Zepbound direct) | None | $299 to $449/mo |
Pick NovoCare or LillyDirect if you just want the lowest possible number and you’re comfortable managing your own prescription without coaching or an insurance concierge.
Pick Ro or Noom if you want someone else fighting your insurance company for you, or you want structured support alongside the prescription.
Pick WeightWatchers if the low membership fee matters most to you and you’re fine locking into a year.
Sounds simple when it’s laid out like that, right? Well, hold on, because your actual price still depends on your dose, your state, and whether your insurance says yes or no. [link: Best GLP-1 Programs page] [link: GLP-1 Insurance Coverage Guide] [link: How to Get Prior Authorization for Wegovy]
FAQ
Is Ozempic cheaper than Wegovy for weight loss? Sometimes, but Ozempic isn’t FDA-approved for weight loss; it’s approved for type 2 diabetes. Insurance usually won’t cover it for weight loss specifically, so you could end up paying the full self-pay price, which, through a regular pharmacy without a program, can run $900 to $1,100 a month.
Why do GLP-1 telehealth companies charge a separate membership fee? That fee covers the provider visits, dose adjustments, and ongoing support. The medication itself is a separate line item because pharmacies, not the telehealth company, actually dispense the drug.
Can I use my HSA or FSA for GLP-1 medication? Often, yes, for the medication itself, when it’s prescribed for a medical condition like obesity. Check with your HSA or FSA administrator, since this varies by plan.
What happens to my price if I miss a refill window? On some manufacturer programs, like LillyDirect’s higher Zepbound doses, missing the 45-day refill window bumps you off the discounted price and back to a higher rate. Set a reminder.
Do Medicaid or Medicare cover GLP-1s for weight loss? Medicare generally doesn’t cover them for weight loss, though some plans now cover Wegovy for its heart-health approval. Medicaid coverage depends entirely on your state. [link: State by State Medicaid GLP-1 Coverage]
My honest take
If you’ve got insurance that covers it, don’t overthink this: go straight to NovoCare or LillyDirect, use the manufacturer’s savings card, and you’re probably looking at $25 a month. If you don’t have coverage, I’d start at those same manufacturer sites before adding a telehealth membership fee on top. The coaching and insurance help from Ro, Noom, and WeightWatchers is worth something, sure, but only if you’ll actually use it. If all you need is the prescription, paying an extra $74 to $149 a month for a membership you barely touch isn’t worth it.