Manufacturer direct-pay program
Both Lilly and Novo Nordisk run self-pay programs for people without coverage. Pricing tiers change frequently — check the official program page for current rates.
GLP-1 coupon
You are trying to work out what this will cost you per month.
Reference and calculator, not medical advice. This page explains how something works; it does not tell you what to take. Last reviewed August 2026.
"Coupon" covers three different things in this category, and they work in ways that have almost nothing in common. Sorting out which one you are looking at is most of the work, because two of them are usually unavailable to the people who search hardest for them.
Common questions
- Manufacturer savings cards
- Run by the drug company for people who already have commercial insurance covering the drug, reducing the copay. They are generally not available if you are uninsured or on Medicare or Medicaid — which is precisely the situation most people are in when they search for a coupon. Eligibility is set by the manufacturer and changes.
- Retail discount cards
- Cards and apps that negotiate a cash price with pharmacies. They apply whether or not you have insurance, but they work against retail cash prices, which for GLP-1s are high to begin with. Worth checking; rarely decisive on its own.
- Telehealth promotional codes
- Discounts on a programme fee rather than on the medication. These reduce the first month or two and then the standard price resumes, so the number that matters is what you pay at month six, not month one.
Where the price comes from
The routes people actually pay through, and what determines the number in each.
Through insurance (copay)
If your plan covers the drug for your indication, your cost is the plan copay. Coverage for weight-loss indications is far less common than for type 2 diabetes.
Telehealth platform (brand drug)
Online clinics bundle a prescriber visit with brand-name medication. Membership fee is usually separate from drug cost.
Compounded semaglutide / tirzepatide
Compounded versions are prepared by pharmacies rather than the original manufacturer. Availability and legality depend on FDA shortage status, which has changed several times — verify current status before relying on this route.
Retail pharmacy cash price
List price without insurance, sometimes reduced by discount cards.
The structural point worth taking away: a coupon changes the price of a route you have already chosen, while the route itself usually makes a far bigger difference. Working out which supply structure you are eligible for comes first; optimising within it comes second.
Cost comparison calculator
Enter the quotes you have actually been given. Everything is normalised to cost per month and cost per milligram so the options are comparable.
Monthly requirement21.65 mg4.33 doses/month × 5 mg
| Option | Per month | Per year | Per mg | One unit lasts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Option A | — | — | — | — |
| Option B | — | — | — | 2.0 weeks |
Whatever discount applies, run the resulting figure through the calculator at your maintenance dose rather than your starting dose. A discount applied to a starting-dose quote can disappear entirely by the time consumption triples.
Common questions
- Why do quoted GLP-1 prices vary so much?
- Because the quotes are not measuring the same thing. A membership fee, a per-vial price, and a per-pen price all describe different quantities, and the dose you are on determines how long that quantity lasts. Converting everything to cost per milligram is the only way to compare them directly.
- Does insurance usually cover this?
- Coverage is far more common for type 2 diabetes indications than for weight management. Whether your specific plan covers your specific indication is something only your plan documents can answer.
Sources and last review
This page is general reference rather than a dosing table, so it quotes no figures from a label. Nothing here is reviewed by a clinician, and this site does not employ one — which is exactly why what I do publish stays traceable to its source.
- This page carries no product-specific dosing figures. The labels behind everything on this site are listed on the sources page, and the originals live on DailyMed.
Transcribed from the labels above and checked by me — Gavin, who builds this site, takes a GLP-1, and is not a clinician. Last reviewed August 2026. Found an error? [email protected] — I treat corrections as bugs. How this site is built and funded.
Also searched as: glp-1 coupon