This page answers a different question than a leaderboard: not “which vendor is cheapest” but “which route should someone like me even be shopping.” Six routes, ordered by the true monthly cost they typically produce — with the caveat that your insurance card can reorder the whole list.

Route 1: insurance coverage, if you have it

A covered prescription with a manageable copay beats every cash option on this site — which is why our quiz asks about coverage before anything else. Coverage for weight-management indications is inconsistent and prior-authorization is normal; the tactics are in the coverage file. Diabetes and the newer cardiovascular, sleep-apnea, and kidney indications often unlock coverage that “weight loss” alone does not — see the medication files for which label carries which.

Route 2: manufacturer savings cards with commercial insurance

When commercially insured (even if the drug is covered poorly), Lilly’s and Novo’s savings programs can cut brand copays substantially. Terms and caps change; verify on the manufacturers’ pages, and note government-insured patients are typically excluded.

Route 3: manufacturer self-pay channels

LillyDirect’s Zepbound vials and NovoCare’s Wegovy pharmacy reset the cash floor for brand product — real FDA-approved medication at prices far under list, though generally above compounded flat rates. Current tiers change often enough that we won’t print a number here without a dated verification; check the channels directly and run the result through the calculator.

Route 4: verified flat-rate compounded programs

The cheapest recurring figures our ledger has verified are compounded flat rates — currently NexLife’s $119–169 range depending on molecule and term (verified 2026-08-20; disclosed material connection — see strip above). The route carries the compounding legal-lane caveats we document in the status file, and ten competitors’ figures remain queued. Flat structures deserve preference within this route because they make teaser pricing impossible by design.

Route 5: generic liraglutide

Daily, and roughly half the average weight loss of modern weekly agents — but generic, legitimate, and often the lowest absolute cost available. The honest budget fallback: the liraglutide file.

Route 6: employer and clinic programs

Some employers bolt GLP-1 coverage onto wellness vendors; some health systems run obesity-medicine clinics with sliding scales. Worth one HR email and one local search before committing a year of cash anywhere.

The rule that spans all six

Price the maintenance dose across 12 months, all fees in — the arithmetic that exposes teaser pricing lives in the true-cost file.