How to read a GLP-1 price

The monthly figure a company puts on its homepage can differ from the amount that leaves your account in the first month. Across the 419 entries where both numbers could be computed, 82 charge more up front than the rate they advertise. The difference can come from prepayment, required fees and the conditions attached to an offer.

Research by Treatment Registry · Our method

Published September 2026 · Updated October 2026

Observation window: August 2026–October 2026. The newest reading does not mean every program was checked then.

1. The headline figure is a starting point
2. Per month and charged today are different numbers
3. Sometimes the cheapest number is available once
4. What sits outside the medication price
5. The same molecule, very different money
6. What to ask before you commit

The headline figure is a starting point

A headline price may appear beside words like from or starting at. It may apply only to a longer commitment, a particular dose or an introductory offer. Check those conditions before comparing it with another program.

Comparing each program’s advertised rate against what its own pages say the first month costs, 82 of 419 priced entries come out higher than advertised. The median difference is $129. Nothing here is hidden — each figure was read from the company’s own page — but the two numbers are printed in different places, and only one of them is in the headline.

82 matched · 419 priced entries assessed · 720 not yet checked · 1139 entries in the register

Per month and charged today are different numbers

A plan quoted at a lower monthly rate is often a plan paid for in advance. The register records both figures where the source establishes them, because they answer different questions: one is what the treatment costs you over time, the other is what your card is charged on the day you sign up.

99 of 103 assessed programs have a lower monthly equivalent on the longer term. The recorded upfront amount is a separate comparison; a lower rate does not promise a lower initial bill. Check cancellation and refund terms before prepaying, and use the change log to see documented changes rather than assuming a current price will remain available.

Sometimes the cheapest number is available once

No introductory-month-only alternative appears in this comparison group. That does not establish that every provider has no introductory offer.

An introductory offer, a four-week package and a recurring calendar-month plan answer different pricing questions. The register excludes explicitly identified introductory, conditional and nonmonthly offers from monthly price comparisons; individual records preserve those offers and their limitations. A separate longer-term offer does not establish an automatic renewal price after an introduction.

What sits outside the medication price

Two charges commonly sit beside the medication rather than inside it: a membership that must be held to buy at all, and a one-time charge for the consultation. Both are disclosed by the companies that levy them, and neither usually appears in the headline figure.

Of the 836 entries whose membership terms have been read, 152 require one to be held separately. Of the 817 whose consultation terms have been read, 99 disclose an additional charge for the visit. Included consultation amounts are not counted as extra fees. Those denominators matter more than the counts. Membership and consultation terms are the thinnest fields in the register, so these figures describe the entries that have been checked and say nothing about the 303 that have not.

152 matched · 836 entries assessed · 303 not yet checked · 1139 entries in the register

The charge that most changes the arithmetic is the one where a company sells a membership and the manufacturer bills for the drug. A low monthly figure in that arrangement is the price of the service, not of the treatment, and the two are easy to read as one. Where the register has found it, the entry says so in its own words.

The same molecule, very different money

The widest spreads in this market are not between molecules. They are between companies selling the same molecule.

Among 6 molecules with at least five priced programs, 6 have a highest recorded price at least twice the lowest.

The widest of these is Brand semaglutide, where 14 programs run from $149 to $1,999 a month. These are advertised program rates, not identical treatment packages. Dose, included services, medication charges and billing commitments can differ. The recorded prices alone do not establish why one company charges more than another.

What to ask before you commit

None of this is an argument for or against any company, and this record names no preference among them. It is an argument for reading four things off the page before you enter a card number.

1. Is this figure per month, or the whole term? If it is a term, what is charged today?
2. Does this rate continue, or is it a first month? If it is a first month, what is the rate from month two?
3. Does the price include the medication? A membership plus a separately-billed drug is a different product from an all-in monthly rate.
4. Does the price change with the dose? Some programs hold one rate at every dose and say so; others step up as the dose does.

Every figure above is computed from the 1139 entries in this register when this page is built, across 436 companies. Each entry carries the company’s own sentence, the address it was read from, and the date, so any of it can be checked without taking our word for it. The full data set is downloadable.

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