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Which GLP-1 has the least side effects

You are dealing with a symptom and want to know if it is expected.

Reference and calculator, not medical advice. Dosing figures below are transcribed from FDA-approved prescribing information and link back to it. Last reviewed August 2026.

There is no ranking to give you, and the reason is worth understanding before you accept one from somewhere else. Each product's adverse reaction rates come out of its own trials — different populations, different durations, different dose ranges, different definitions of what counted as an event. Those percentages were never measured against one another, so subtracting one label's number from another's produces a comparison that does not exist. No head-to-head trial designed to compare tolerability across these products has been published.

Listed in the prescribing information

Common adverse reactions listed for GLP-1 receptor agonists as a class.

These products carry a boxed warning regarding thyroid C-cell tumours observed in rodent studies, and are contraindicated in people with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN 2. Read the full prescribing information for your specific product and discuss it with your prescriber — this summary is not complete and is not a substitute for that document.

Side-by-side

Structural facts from each product’s prescribing information.

ProductActive ingredientIndicationFrequencyStartMax labelledSteps to max
Zepbound
Eli Lilly		TirzepatideWeight managementWeekly2.5 mg15 mg6
Mounjaro
Eli Lilly		TirzepatideType 2 diabetesWeekly2.5 mg15 mg6
Wegovy
Novo Nordisk		SemaglutideWeight managementWeekly0.25 mg2.4 mg5
Ozempic
Novo Nordisk		SemaglutideType 2 diabetesWeekly0.25 mg2 mg4
Saxenda
Novo Nordisk		LiraglutideWeight managementDaily0.6 mg3 mg5
Trulicity
Eli Lilly		DulaglutideType 2 diabetesWeekly0.75 mg4.5 mg4

What does differ in a way the labelling actually supports is route and schedule, not tolerability ranking. Injection site reactions apply only to injectable products. Gastrointestinal effects are described across the class as associated with dose increases, which is why every one of these products steps its dose rather than starting at maintenance. A product that escalates more slowly is a different question from a product that is better tolerated.

Sources and last review

Every dosing figure on this page is transcribed from an FDA-approved label and links back to it. Conversions are arithmetic you can repeat by hand. 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.

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.

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