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.
Ro GLP-1
You are trying to work out what this will cost you per month.
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.
Ro sells GLP-1 treatment as a membership rather than as a product, and that single structural fact is what makes its price hard to compare against anything else. A pharmacy quotes you the cost of a drug. A membership quotes you the cost of an arrangement — the prescriber visit, the follow-ups, the logistics — with the medication somewhere inside it. Those two numbers can be similar and still mean completely different things.
Comparing Ro against other routes
What to establish before the number means anything.
- What Ro is
- Telehealth service. A telehealth platform selling GLP-1 care as a membership that bundles the prescriber visit.
- What the fee includesMembership models usually bundle the prescriber consultation, ongoing check-ins and the medication. A pharmacy quote covers the drug only, so the two are not directly comparable until the visit cost is added in.
- Brand or compoundedThese are structurally different products at structurally different prices, and availability of compounded preparations has narrowed sharply. Confirm which one a quote refers to.
- Which dose the price assumesIntroductory pricing is often quoted at the starting step. Monthly consumption rises with each escalation, so ask what the figure becomes at maintenance.
- Commitment lengthQuarterly or annual prepayment lowers the headline monthly figure but removes the option to leave if the medication does not suit you.
I do not publish Ro’s prices here because telehealth pricing changes faster than any page can track. Get the current figure from them, then put it into the calculator to see what it works out to per milligram at your dose.
The question that actually resolves it is whether the figure you were quoted changes when your dose goes up. Titration is not optional — every approved schedule steps upward over months. If a platform's price is tied to the amount of drug you take, the number you were quoted at the starting dose is not the number you will be paying at maintenance. If it genuinely does not change, then it is comparable across the whole schedule, which is a materially better position to be in.
Zepbound titration schedule
Tirzepatide · once weekly · subcutaneous injection · as published in the prescribing information
| Step | Dose | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1–4 | 2.5 mg | Starting dose — not intended for weight loss effect |
| Weeks 5–8 | 5 mg | — |
| Weeks 9–12 | 7.5 mg | — |
| Weeks 13–16 | 10 mg | — |
| Weeks 17–20 | 12.5 mg | — |
| Week 21+ | 15 mg | Maximum dose |
This is the labelled default. Holding at a step longer than shown is common practice and is a decision for your prescriber. Transcribed from the Zepbound prescribing information (label revised 6 May 2026); checked against that label on 7 August 2026.
Work out your own figure by taking whatever they quote you and dividing by the milligrams you will actually be on. That is the only unit in which a membership, a cash pharmacy price and a manufacturer self-pay programme are the same kind of number.
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.
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 |
Common questions
- Is the medication included in the membership fee?
- This is the first thing to establish with any membership-model platform, and the answer varies between them. Ask specifically whether the quoted figure covers the drug itself or only the clinical service around it.
- Does the price change as I titrate up?
- Ask before starting rather than after. Dose-linked pricing and flat pricing produce very different totals over the six months it takes to reach a maintenance dose, and the difference is invisible at the starting dose.
- Is it brand-name or compounded?
- These are structurally different products at structurally different prices. Compounded preparations are not FDA-approved and are not evaluated for safety, efficacy or quality the way approved products are. Which one you are being offered should be stated plainly.
- Why does this site not list their price?
- Telehealth pricing changes faster than any page can honestly track, and a stale number is worse than no number. The calculator above turns whatever figure you are quoted today into cost per milligram, which is the comparison that survives the price changing.
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
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.
- Zepbound (Tirzepatide) prescribing information — Eli Lilly, label revised 6 May 2026, checked 7 August 2026
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.