US GLP-1 price guide
List prices look terrifying. Almost nobody pays them. Here's what Zepbound, Wegovy, the two new pills and the rest really cost right now, whether you're paying cash, using insurance, or on Medicare.
Quick answer: paying cash direct from the manufacturers, most people pay $149 to $449 a month. With commercial insurance and a savings card, as little as $25.
Prices checked October 5, 2026. They've changed several times this year, so confirm on lilly.com or novocare.com before you count on a number. Every price in the table and the sections that follow it links to its source. The quick answer above and the questions at the end repeat those figures without the links.
In the US, tirzepatide for weight loss is Zepbound. Mounjaro is the same molecule, but here it's approved only for type 2 diabetes. (If you've read overseas coverage: what the UK calls Mounjaro for weight loss is Zepbound in America.)[3]
Semaglutide's weight loss brand is Wegovy, as a weekly injection and now a daily pill. (The same molecule is also sold as Ozempic, a weekly injection and, since May 2026, a daily tablet that replaced Rybelsus. Both are type 2 diabetes medications and outside what this page covers.) The Wegovy pill is a 25 mg oral dose approved for weight loss in December 2025.[8]
Foundayo is orforglipron, Lilly's once-daily GLP-1 pill, approved April 1, 2026. It gets confused with retatrutide constantly, and they are different drugs. Retatrutide isn't approved anywhere yet. It's still in trials.[11][24]
Four numbers matter for each drug: the list price (the scary anchor), the manufacturer's direct cash price, what a savings card gets you with commercial insurance, and the new Medicare copay.
| Medication | What it is | List price / month | Direct cash price / month | Commercial insurance + savings card | Medicare GLP-1 Bridge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zepbound (tirzepatide) | Weekly injection, vials or KwikPen | ~$1,086[2] | $299 to $449 via LillyDirect[1] | As low as $25[14] | $50 copay (KwikPen only)[16] |
| Wegovy (semaglutide) | Weekly injection pen | ~$1,349[3] | $349 at 0.25 to 2.4 mg, $399 for 7.2 mg HD; new patients pay $199 for their first two fills[5][7] | As low as $25[15] | $50 copay[16] |
| Wegovy pill (oral semaglutide) | Daily tablet, up to 25 mg | n/a, sold at cash prices | $149 to $299 via NovoCare; GoodRx matches[9][10] | Varies by plan | $50 copay[16] |
| Foundayo (orforglipron) | Daily pill, no food or water restrictions | n/a, launched at cash prices | $149 to $299 via LillyDirect[12] | As low as $25[12] | $50 copay[16] |
Direct cash prices are for a 28-day supply and assume you refill on time. The 45-day refill rule on Lilly's prices is explained below.
Every Zepbound dose, the refill rule and a full year's cost are on one page: what Zepbound costs without insurance.
Since February 23, 2026, LillyDirect sells every Zepbound dose at a flat self-pay price: $299 for 2.5 mg, $399 for 5 mg, and $449 for everything from 7.5 mg to 15 mg. One month means four single-dose vials or one KwikPen, your choice.[1][4]
The catch is the refill window. You keep those prices only if each refill lands within 45 days of the last one. Let it lapse and the higher doses revert to Lilly's standard self-pay rates: $499 a month for 7.5 mg and $699 for 10 mg and up. Worth a calendar reminder.[1]
Foundayo works much the same way: $149 for the 0.8 mg starter, $149 for 2.5 mg and $199 for 5.5 mg (both temporary prices that end December 31, 2026, when they go back to $199 and $299), $299 for 9 mg, and $299 for the top 14.5 and 17.2 mg doses as long as you refill within 45 days under the Self-Pay Journey Program. In the trial behind its label, people on the top dose lost 11.1% of their weight on average at 72 weeks, against 2.1% on placebo.[12][11][13][29]
Zepbound self-pay comes two ways. Single-dose vials are the cheaper-to-make option: you draw each weekly dose up with a supplied syringe, and a month's supply is four vials. The KwikPen is a prefilled auto-injector, one per month. Same drug, same price tiers, different hardware. If needles bother you, note that both new pills exist precisely for you.[1]
Every Wegovy dose, pill and pen, and a full year's cost are on one page: what Wegovy costs without insurance.
NovoCare Pharmacy sells the Wegovy injection at $349 a month across all standard doses (0.25 to 2.4 mg weekly), and $399 for the higher-dose 7.2 mg Wegovy HD. There's an introductory $199 a month on the first two fills of starter doses, running through December 31, 2026.[5][6][7]
The Wegovy pill launched in January 2026. It costs $149 a month for the 1.5 mg starter, $199 for 4 mg, and $299 for 9 mg and the 25 mg maintenance dose. GoodRx has agreed to match Novo's cash price at retail pharmacies.[9][6][10]
Is the pill as good as the shot? Close. In the trial behind its label, people on 25 mg lost 13.6% of their weight on average at 64 weeks (2.4% on placebo), against 14.9% at 68 weeks for the Wegovy injection.[8][30]
If your commercial plan covers the drug, manufacturer savings cards do the heavy lifting: Zepbound, Wegovy and Foundayo as little as $25 a month. The Zepbound and Wegovy cards save at most $100 a month (Zepbound's also stops at $1,300 a year), so a big copay can still leave you a bill.[14][15][12]
Who qualifies for each card, and how to get it, step by step: the Zepbound savings card and the Wegovy savings card.
One rule people miss: savings cards are for commercial insurance only. If you're on Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE, you legally can't use them.[14]
Getting covered in the first place is the real fight. Many plans still exclude weight loss drugs outright, and the ones that cover them usually want prior authorization, sometimes step therapy, before they pay. If your plan says no, the direct cash prices above are your fallback, and they're now low enough that plenty of insured people just pay cash.
The list prices you see quoted ($1,086 for Zepbound, $1,349 for Wegovy) are mostly a negotiating anchor at this point. Novo has already announced Wegovy's list price drops to about $675 from January 1, 2027.[2][25]
This is the big 2026 change. Medicare Part D has excluded weight loss drugs by law for decades, and technically still does. But from July 1, 2026 through December 31, 2027, the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge lets eligible Part D enrollees get Wegovy (injection or pill), Foundayo, or the Zepbound KwikPen for a flat $50 a month, with the manufacturers supplying the drugs at a negotiated $245 net price.[16][18]
Two fine-print points. The $50 copays don't count toward your Part D deductible or the $2,100 annual out-of-pocket cap. And Zepbound vials aren't included, only the KwikPen.[16] Our Medicare GLP-1 Bridge guide has who qualifies, the prior authorization form and what to do at open enrollment.
The broader BALANCE model was postponed for Medicare after too few Part D plans signed up, but it launched in Medicaid on May 1, 2026, and states had until July 31, 2026 to apply. Medicaid coverage of GLP-1s for obesity is otherwise still a state-by-state patchwork, and most states don't cover it.[17]
You may also see TrumpRx mentioned. It's a government referral site that points you to the manufacturers' own direct-to-consumer prices, the ones already listed on this page. It came out of the November 2025 White House deals with Lilly and Novo.[18]
If you got cheap compounded semaglutide or tirzepatide in 2024, that era is over. The FDA declared the tirzepatide shortage resolved in December 2024 and semaglutide in February 2025. Once the wind-down deadlines passed in spring 2025, mass-produced copies became unlawful for compounding pharmacies, and the industry's lawsuits failed to stop it.[19]
In May 2026 the FDA went further and proposed permanently removing semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide from the 503B bulk compounding list, shortage or no shortage. Narrow exceptions survive for genuine individual need, like a documented allergy to an inactive ingredient.[20]
The cautionary tale: Hims & Hers announced a $49 compounded copy of the Wegovy pill in February 2026, pulled it within days under legal and regulatory pressure, and got sued by Novo Nordisk anyway. By March, Novo had dropped the suit as part of a deal that has Hims selling branded Wegovy instead. With branded cash prices at $149 to $449, compounding's price advantage has mostly evaporated anyway.[21]
The telehealth channel flipped from compounding to branded distribution. Novo Nordisk cut deals putting Wegovy through Hims & Hers, Ro and LifeMD at NovoCare cash prices.[22]
The pattern across all of them: you pay a subscription or visit fee for the prescribing, and the medication itself comes at the manufacturer's cash price. Nobody has a secret cheaper supply anymore.
Retatrutide: not yet approved, still in trials. Lilly's triple agonist posted around 28.3% average weight loss at 80 weeks on the top 12 mg dose in the Phase 3 TRIUMPH-1 trial, reported in May 2026. Those headlines are why people keep asking if it's out. It isn't. It is not approved anywhere, no application had been filed with the FDA as of October 2026, and Lilly has said it plans to file in early 2027, so it can't be approved before then. If you saw news about an approved Lilly weight loss pill, that was Foundayo (orforglipron), a different drug. Anything sold online as retatrutide today is unapproved research-grade material. Don't buy it.[28][24][23][31]
On price, the direction is down: Wegovy's list price falls to about $675 in January 2027, the Medicare Bridge runs through the end of 2027, and two oral pills now compete with the injections at $149 to $299 cash.[25][16]
Every price and regulatory claim in the table and the sections above is numbered against this list. The quick answer at the top and the frequently asked questions repeat figures from those sections without numbers. Checked October 5, 2026. Manufacturer pages are the primary source for current prices; news reporting covers the launches and policy changes.
This page is general pricing information, not medical or insurance advice. Doses, eligibility and coverage are decisions for you, your clinician and your plan.