The drugs
What each one is, who it is approved for, and how it differs from the one next to it.
The cheapest GLP-1 we track today is $69/mo at SnagRx, checked October 2026. Every GLP-1 price
The drugsWhat is food noise, and do GLP-1 medicines quiet it? What the studies showFood noise is persistent, unwanted thinking about food: what to eat, when, and how much, intrusive enough to feel like rumination. In a 2026 national survey, 51% of US adults said they experience it at least occasionally and 18% frequently. People taking semaglutide report it drops sharply: in one survey, the median food noise score fell from 13 to 6 out of 20. That evidence is surveys and interviews; no randomised trial has measured food noise as its outcome yet.The drugsWegovy pill vs injection: the same semaglutide, two schedules, two price listsThe Wegovy pill and the Wegovy pen are the same drug, semaglutide. The pill is one tablet a day on an empty stomach with a little water; the pen is one injection a week at any time. Novo's cash price is $149 to $299 a month for the pill by strength and $349 for the pen. In separate placebo trials the top tablet dose and the pen produced similar average weight loss.The drugsWegovy vs Ozempic: the same drug, and why the box still decides what you payWegovy and Ozempic are both semaglutide from Novo Nordisk. The difference is the label: Ozempic is approved for type 2 diabetes and tops out at 2 mg a week; Wegovy is approved for weight loss and goes to 2.4 mg, or 7.2 mg in the HD pen. Both now come as a daily pill as well. The label decides whether a plan pays and what cash costs: direct from Novo, both pens are $349 a month up to 1 mg, and Ozempic 2 mg is $499.The drugsOzempic vs Zepbound: a diabetes drug and a weight-loss drug, compared on label, dose and priceOzempic is semaglutide for type 2 diabetes; Zepbound is tirzepatide for weight. Labels, dose ladders, the head-to-head result and what each costs.The drugsThe best GLP-1 for weight loss, ranked by the evidence and then by the billBy weight lost, the order is settled: tirzepatide (Zepbound) first at 20.2% in the only head-to-head, then semaglutide 7.2 mg (Wegovy HD) at 18.7%, then semaglutide 2.4 mg (Wegovy) at 13.7% to 15.6%, then the pills. By what you pay, the order nearly inverts: compounded semaglutide from $69 a month, the Wegovy tablet from $149, Wegovy pen $349, Zepbound $299 to $699 by dose. The best one is where those two lists meet for your budget and your plan.The drugsCompounded semaglutide vs Wegovy: same molecule, different rules, and what the price gap buysSame molecule, not the same product: Wegovy is FDA-approved and $349/mo from Novo; compounded semaglutide is unreviewed and far cheaper. The gap, live.The drugsFoundayo vs Wegovy pill: two weight-loss tablets, two molecules, the same $149 startFoundayo is orforglipron, the Wegovy pill is semaglutide. Both start at $149 a month self-pay. Foundayo has no food or water rules; that is Lilly's main claim.The drugsTirzepatide vs semaglutide: the head-to-head result, and what the better one costsThey were finally tested against each other. In SURMOUNT-5, 751 adults with obesity took the maximum tolerated dose of one or the other for 72 weeks: tirzepatide lost 20.2% of body weight, semaglutide 13.7%. That gap is real and it is the whole argument for tirzepatide. The other half of the decision is the bill: compounded tirzepatide runs from $85 a month on our board against $69 for semaglutide, and the branded gap is wider still.The drugsZepbound vs Wegovy: the two weight-loss brands, priced every way you can buy themZepbound is tirzepatide and Wegovy is semaglutide, and in the one trial that ran them head-to-head, tirzepatide's molecule lost 20.2% of body weight against 13.7% over 72 weeks. That settles which is stronger. What it does not settle is which you can afford: Zepbound self-pay runs $299 to $699 a month by dose, Wegovy's pen is $349 flat and its new tablet starts at $149, and with a commercial plan that covers either, both fall to $25.The drugsZepbound vs Mounjaro: one molecule, two labels, and why the label sets your priceZepbound and Mounjaro are both tirzepatide, made by Lilly, injected weekly at the same six doses from 2.5 to 15 mg. Mounjaro is approved for type 2 diabetes and Lilly's own site says it is not a weight-loss drug; Zepbound is the same molecule approved for obesity and sleep apnoea. That label decides everything downstream: insurers cover Mounjaro for diabetes and refuse it for weight, Zepbound is the box a plan can cover for weight, and Zepbound's cash price runs $299 to $699 by dose, while LillyDirect sells Mounjaro from $499 a month at every strength, against a list price of $1,112.16 per fill.The drugsSwitching between Wegovy and Zepbound, and who is really decidingMost people searching this did not choose to switch. A formulary chose for them. CVS Caremark removed Zepbound in July 2025 and told members they would have to try and fail Wegovy first, then said it would add Zepbound back as a preferred option on 1 October 2026, so a lot of people are being pushed one way and invited back the other inside fourteen months. Here is what your plan will ask for when you switch in either direction, and what each side costs today.The drugsMounjaro vs Ozempic, and the trial everyone quotes about itMounjaro is tirzepatide and Ozempic is semaglutide: different molecules, not two brands of the same drug. Both are approved for type 2 diabetes, and the weight-loss versions are Zepbound and Wegovy. In the one head-to-head trial, SURMOUNT-5, tirzepatide produced 20.2% mean body-weight loss at 72 weeks against semaglutide's 13.7%. The detail almost every page omits: that trial dosed semaglutide to 2.4 mg in people without diabetes, which is the Wegovy range. Ozempic tops out at 2 mg. The famous result did not test Ozempic's dose range.The drugsRybelsus for type 2 diabetes, and the Ozempic pill replacing itRybelsus is oral semaglutide for adults with type 2 diabetes, taken as a 3, 7 or 14 mg tablet, and Novo Nordisk now says it is being replaced by the Ozempic pill. The Ozempic tablets come at 1.5, 4 and 9 mg, need a new prescription, and get the same coverage as Rybelsus. Paying cash, Novo's own pharmacy sells the Ozempic pill from $149 a month and does not sell Rybelsus at all.The drugsMounjaro vs Rybelsus: a weekly shot against a pill Novo is replacingMounjaro is tirzepatide, a once-weekly injection; Rybelsus is semaglutide, a once-daily tablet. Both are type 2 diabetes drugs, and they have never been tested against each other. The bigger news for anyone choosing: Novo Nordisk says Rybelsus is being replaced by the Ozempic pill, which needs a new prescription. Paying cash, Mounjaro starts at $499 a month at LillyDirect, and Novo sells the Ozempic pill, not Rybelsus, at $149 to $299 a month.The drugsRetatrutide: up to 28.3% weight loss in trials, no FDA approval yet, and no legal way to buy it todayRetatrutide is Eli Lilly's experimental weekly injection that acts on three hormone receptors (GIP, GLP-1 and glucagon). In the phase 3 TRIUMPH-1 trial, people on the 12 mg dose lost 28.3% of their weight at 80 weeks by Lilly's efficacy measure (25.0% counting everyone randomized). It is not FDA-approved, has no price, and cannot legally be sold. Lilly plans to file with FDA in Q1 2027. Tirzepatide is the closest thing you can buy now, compounded from $85 a month on our board.The drugsCagriSema: FDA decision due by the end of 2026, no price yet, and how it compares with Zepbound and WegovyCagriSema is not FDA-approved and has no price yet. Novo Nordisk filed it with the FDA on December 18, 2025 and expects a decision in the fourth quarter of 2026, with a full US launch at the start of 2027. In REDEFINE 1 it cut weight by 20.4% at 68 weeks, but head to head it trailed tirzepatide, 20.2% against 23.6%. Until it launches, compounded semaglutide starts at $69 a month on our board.The drugsFoundayo: the GLP-1 pill where buying direct is the cheap routeLilly's oral GLP-1 was approved on 1 April 2026, and it does something no other weight-loss pill does: you take it any time of day, with or without food. The pricing is the surprising part. Lilly self-pay starts at $149 a month, and the one telehealth program on our board selling it, Sesame Care, charges $208 once its membership fee is counted. That reverses the usual arithmetic in this market, and the reason is simple: orforglipron is a new small molecule under patent, so there is no compounded version to undercut it.The drugsWhat is GLP-1? The hormone, how the drugs work, and every GLP-1 medication on the marketGLP-1 stands for glucagon-like peptide-1, a hormone your gut releases after you eat. It tells the pancreas to release insulin when blood sugar is high, holds back glucagon, slows how fast the stomach empties, and acts on the parts of the brain that regulate appetite. GLP-1 drugs copy that hormone but last far longer: a week for the injections, a day for the pills. Seven brands are on the US market, from Ozempic and Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes to Wegovy, Zepbound and Foundayo for weight loss.The drugsWhat is Zepbound? Tirzepatide explained: what it treats, how it works, and what it costsZepbound is Eli Lilly's brand of tirzepatide, a once-weekly injection that acts on two hormone receptors, GIP and GLP-1. The FDA label approves it, with diet and exercise, for weight reduction in adults with obesity or overweight plus a weight-related condition, and for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity. In the SURMOUNT-5 trial it produced 20.2% average weight loss at 72 weeks against 13.7% for semaglutide. Lilly sells it self-pay from $299 a month.The drugsZepbound for sleep apnea: what the label approves, what SURMOUNT-OSA found, and who pays for itZepbound is the only GLP-1 approved to treat moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, in adults with obesity, alongside diet and exercise. In the two 52-week SURMOUNT-OSA trials, breathing interruptions fell by about 25 to 29 events an hour on Zepbound against about 5 on placebo. The label's OSA maintenance dose is 10 mg or 15 mg a week. Because sleep apnea is a medical indication, Medicare's GLP-1 Bridge excludes it and points people to their Part D plan, which may cover it.The drugsEvery GLP-1 pill you can actually get, and what each one costsFour swallowable GLP-1s exist now, and three of them launched in 2026. Rybelsus, the Wegovy pill and the Ozempic pill are all semaglutide in a tablet but are approved for different things; Foundayo is a different molecule entirely and the only one with no food or timing rules. Two are for weight, two are for type 2 diabetes, and the cheapest thing on most rankings is not any of them. Here is the whole landscape, with what each actually costs.The drugsGLP-1 vs GLP-2 vs GLP-3: what the names mean, and which ones you can actually buyGLP-1 drugs such as semaglutide act on one receptor. "GLP-2" is used online for tirzepatide (Zepbound, Mounjaro), which acts on two, GIP and GLP-1, and "GLP-3" for retatrutide, which adds the glucagon receptor. Neither nickname is the real name: GLP-2 is a separate gut hormone whose drug, Gattex, treats short bowel syndrome. Retatrutide produced 28.3% mean weight loss at 80 weeks in its phase 3 trial but is not FDA-approved; Lilly plans to file in Q1 2027. Tirzepatide is the strongest option you can buy today.The drugsSemaglutide for weight loss: which version, and what each costsSemaglutide is the molecule. For weight loss the FDA-approved version is Wegovy, sold as a weekly pen and a daily tablet. Ozempic is the same molecule approved for type 2 diabetes, so using it for weight is off-label. Compounded semaglutide is the same molecule from a compounding pharmacy, is not FDA-approved, and is what most cash buyers actually take because it costs a fraction of the brand. All three produce the same side effects. What differs is the approval, the oversight and the price.The drugsOzempic for weight loss, and where the ladder runs outOzempic is approved for type 2 diabetes, not for weight loss. Taking it to lose weight is off-label, which is legal, extremely common, and a prescriber's decision. The consequence nobody mentions is the ceiling: Ozempic's doses stop at 2 mg while Wegovy, the same molecule approved for weight, goes to 2.4 mg with a 7.2 mg strength above that. Someone using Ozempic for weight eventually runs out of ladder, and switching brand is the usual answer.The drugsOzempic for type 2 diabetes: the on-label one, and what it costsOzempic is approved for adults with type 2 diabetes, to improve blood sugar alongside diet and exercise. That is the indication it was built and priced for, and if you have type 2 diabetes you are in the group the drug is actually for. Doses run 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2 mg. Novo's published self-pay price is $349 a month up to 1 mg and $499 at 2 mg, with a savings card that can bring an insured copay down to as little as $25, capped at $100 of savings a month. If you are covered, your formulary beats every cash price on this page.The drugsMounjaro for weight loss, and why Zepbound existsMounjaro is tirzepatide approved for type 2 diabetes. Zepbound is the same molecule from the same maker, approved for weight management, and it goes to the same 15 mg. So unlike Ozempic and Wegovy, there is no dose ceiling pushing you from one to the other: the reason people move is coverage and cash price, not strength. Using Mounjaro for weight is off-label and a prescriber's decision. In the one head-to-head trial, tirzepatide beat semaglutide, 20.2% mean body-weight loss at 72 weeks against 13.7%.
