Cheapest GLP-1 without insurance: cash prices by drug and dose

The cheapest GLP-1 without insurance is $149 a month, but that price buys a starting dose. The cheapest drug to stay on is a different question, and the answer is a pill at $299 or less. Every major brand now has a cash price set by its maker, and those prices, not the four-figure list prices, are what someone without insurance actually pays. All prices below were checked on the manufacturers’ own pages on November 2, 2026. The GLP-1 price tracker keeps the month-by-month history and a downloadable CSV.

GLP-1 cash prices by drug

These are monthly prices for a person paying cash with a valid prescription. “Approved for” is the FDA indication, and using a diabetes drug for weight loss is off-label.

Three things the table does not show. A month means 28 days for Lilly’s injectables, a box of 4 pens for Wegovy or 1 pen for Ozempic, and 30 tablets for the pills. Vials and KwikPens need syringes or pen needles bought separately. And every price is a program the company says it can change or end at any time.

What is the cheapest GLP-1 to stay on?

The Wegovy pill 25 mg and Foundayo at its higher doses are the cheapest standard prices at $299 a month. The $149 figures are real, but the labels move people up: the Wegovy pill goes from 1.5 mg through 4 mg and 9 mg to 25 mg by day 91, and the Zepbound label starts at 2.5 mg for 4 weeks and says that dose “is not approved as a maintenance dosage.” So compare the price at the dose a prescriber is likely to land on:

Price should not make this choice alone. The trials behind each drug produced different average weight loss, and the dose depends on response and side effects. The semaglutide vs tirzepatide comparison and the tirzepatide dosage chart show how far apart they are.

To see the real yearly cost, count boxes. A Wegovy box holds 4 weekly pens, so a full year takes 13 boxes, or $4,537 at $349. A 12-month subscription at $249 a month is $2,988, if the plan bills 12 equal months. Ask how your plan counts them.

Legitimate ways to pay less

Wegovy subscriptions. Novo announced 3-, 6- and 12-month plans on March 31, 2026, sold through select telehealth providers. Pens are $329, $299 or $249 a month. The 9 mg and 25 mg pills are $289, $269 or $249. Wegovy HD was not included at launch. Terms vary by platform, so ask for the total cost, including any membership or visit fee, before you commit.

New-patient pen offers. Wegovy and Ozempic pens are $199 for the first two monthly fills of the 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg doses, through December 31, 2026. Novo says pricing will be updated after that date.

Temporary Foundayo prices. Foundayo 2.5 mg is $149 and 5.5 mg is $199 through December 31, 2026. After that, Lilly lists $199 and $299.

FSA and HSA funds. NovoCare home delivery takes them, and LillyDirect lists Zepbound and Mounjaro as eligible, though eligibility may vary by plan.

A 90-day supply. NovoCare home delivery offers one if your prescriber writes for it. It lists no lower price for doing so.

The 45-day refill rule

Lilly’s lower prices on its higher doses come with a condition. For Zepbound 7.5 mg and up, and for Foundayo 14.5 mg and 17.2 mg, the discounted price applies to the first purchase and to each refill completed within 45 days of the previous delivery. Miss that window and Zepbound 10, 12.5 and 15 mg go from $449 to $699 a month, and Foundayo’s top doses from $299 to $349. The NovoCare pages show no refill-timing condition on Novo’s self-pay prices.

Savings cards: only for commercial insurance

The “$25 a month” offers advertised for every brand are copay cards, and they are a different program from self-pay:

• Who qualifies: people with commercial (employer or marketplace) insurance. Every card excludes government beneficiaries: Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, the VA and state programs.
• Zepbound card: as little as $25 for single-dose pens when the plan covers Zepbound, with savings capped at $100 a month and $1,300 a year, expiring December 31, 2026. If the plan excludes Zepbound, the card brings single-dose pens to $499 a month.
• Wegovy and Ozempic cards: as little as $25, with savings capped at $100 a month; government beneficiaries excluded.
• Foundayo card: as little as $25 with coverage, savings capped at $100 a month and $1,000 a year, expiring December 31, 2026.

A $100 cap means the card takes $100 off, whatever the copay. A $200 copay becomes $100, and only a copay of $125 or less reaches the $25 headline.

Self-pay is the route for everyone else. Lilly’s self-pay card is for cash-paying patients and, unlike the copay card, does not exclude people with government coverage, but the purchase cannot be billed to any insurer. NovoCare says the same: government-insured patients may self-pay outside their insurance, and the purchase does not count toward a deductible or out-of-pocket maximum.

Medicare and the $50 Bridge

Medicare Part D members who meet clinical criteria can get Wegovy (injection or tablet), Foundayo or the Zepbound KwikPen for weight management for $50 a month through the temporary Medicare GLP-1 Bridge. It began July 1, 2026 and runs through December 31, 2027, per CMS.

You must be 18 or older and have a BMI of 35 or more, a BMI of 30 or more with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, uncontrolled high blood pressure or stage 3a or worse chronic kidney disease, or a BMI of 27 or more with prediabetes, a prior heart attack or stroke, or symptomatic peripheral artery disease. People with type 2 diabetes, moderate-to-severe sleep apnea or fatty liver disease are not eligible, because their Part D plan may cover a GLP-1 for those conditions. The $50 does not count toward your Part D deductible or out-of-pocket limit. The tirzepatide cost guide covers how that applies to Zepbound.

TrumpRx: a directory, not a discount of its own

TrumpRx.gov, the federal site launched February 5, 2026, showed four GLP-1 products on its homepage on November 2, 2026: the Wegovy pill from $149, Wegovy and Ozempic pens from $199, and Zepbound from $299 a month. Those match the starting self-pay prices on NovoCare and LillyDirect. The Associated Press reported at launch that the site does not sell drugs; it sends buyers to each drugmaker’s direct-to-consumer site. The page we checked did not show Foundayo or Mounjaro.

Will GLP-1 prices drop in 2027?

List prices for semaglutide will. Novo says all doses of Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus drop to a $675 monthly list price on January 1, 2027, from about $1,349 for Wegovy and $1,028 for Ozempic, and that this does not affect self-pay prices. So a person paying cash should not expect that change to lower the prices in the table. What happens to the December 31 offers is not yet published.

Generic liraglutide

Liraglutide is an older, once-daily GLP-1 injection, and the only one with generics. The FDA approved the first generic referencing Victoza (for type 2 diabetes) on December 23, 2024, and Teva launched the first generic referencing Saxenda (for weight management) in August 2025. Generic makers do not publish a national cash price the way Lilly and Novo Nordisk do, so the cost depends on the pharmacy and any discount card. It is also a less potent drug: in a 52-week phase 2 trial that ran both, liraglutide 3.0 mg daily produced 7.8% average weight loss against 11.2% to 13.8% for the three highest semaglutide doses. And it is injected every day rather than every week. Whether a possible lower price is worth that trade is a question for your prescriber.

What to avoid: compounded copies and research vials

Compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide were widely sold while the brands were on the FDA shortage list. The FDA declared the tirzepatide shortage resolved on December 19, 2024 and the semaglutide shortage resolved on February 21, 2025. Since the grace periods ended, a pharmacy can lawfully compound a copy only when a prescriber documents a clinical difference for a specific patient. On February 6, 2026 the FDA announced it would act against mass-marketed compounded GLP-1 products and said companies cannot claim those products are generics, the same as approved drugs, or clinically proven.

On price, the gap has narrowed. A compounded program’s advertised monthly rate often excludes membership, consultation and shipping fees, while the approved products now start at $149 to $299 a month in cash. The FDA does not review compounded drugs for safety, effectiveness or quality, and as of May 31, 2026 it had logged 990 adverse event reports tied to compounded semaglutide and more than 730 tied to compounded tirzepatide. The compounded tirzepatide guide and the compounded semaglutide guide cover the rules in detail.

Products sold online as “for research use only” or “not for human consumption” are a separate category. They are not compounded medicines and not legal to use on people. The FDA has sent warning letters to sellers of semaglutide, tirzepatide and retatrutide labeled this way and urges consumers not to purchase them, however low the price looks.

What to check before paying

• The dose, not just the drug. Compare the price at the dose your prescriber expects you to reach, using the second table above.
• The month definition. 28 days for Lilly injectables, 30 days for the pills.
• Supplies. Vials and KwikPens need syringes or pen needles; single-dose pens include the needle.
• Expiry dates. Several of the lowest prices (Foundayo 2.5 mg and 5.5 mg, the $199 Novo pen offer, the Lilly savings cards) end December 31, 2026.
• Total cost. Add any telehealth membership or visit fee to the drug price.
• Who dispenses. A legitimate route always involves a prescription from a licensed clinician and a state-licensed pharmacy. The box below lists what to look for.

Prices here were checked on November 2, 2026, and they describe what each program charges. Which drug and dose fits is for you and your prescriber to work out.