How the GLP-1 Price Index Works: Reading the Numbers
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The GLP-1 Price Index tracks the median effective monthly cost of a defined category, sets a baseline period to 100, and expresses current prices relative to it. It keeps categories separate so incomparable options are never merged.
- The index tracks median effective monthly cost per defined category.
- Baseline period is set to 100; current value shows movement relative to it.
- Median (not mean) is used; each program is weighted equally.
- Categories stay separate — brand, compounded, semaglutide, tirzepatide never merged.
What the index measures
The GLP-1 Price Index is a reproducible measure of what a category of GLP-1 program costs over time. For each category — for example, compounded semaglutide standard injection — it takes every eligible program's effective monthly cost and computes the median.
Effective monthly cost is total mandatory payments for the treatment period divided by months supplied, so the index reflects real cost, not headline price.
The result is a single number that describes the category's typical price, which can be tracked as it changes.
Baseline and index value
The index expresses current prices relative to a baseline period, whose median is set to 100. The current index value is the current median divided by the baseline median, times 100. A value of 110 means the category median is 10% above baseline; 90 means 10% below.
The first snapshot necessarily reads 100, because it defines the baseline. Movement only appears once a second snapshot exists, which is why our current index is honestly labeled a mixed-status baseline snapshot rather than a series with trends.
This is standard index construction, the same logic used for price indices in other fields.
| Step | Detail |
|---|---|
| 1. Effective cost | Total mandatory payments ÷ months |
| 2. Category median | Median across eligible programs |
| 3. Baseline = 100 | Baseline-period median anchored to 100 |
| 4. Index value | (Current median ÷ baseline) × 100 |
The rules that keep it honest
Three rules protect the index from distortion. It uses the median rather than the mean, so one very cheap or expensive program does not skew it. It weights every eligible program equally, never by affiliate status, revenue, or traffic. And it excludes programs with conflicting or missing pricing rather than assigning a favorable placeholder.
Every snapshot publishes its sample size, eligible-program list, verification cutoff, and methodology version, so the number is reproducible from the underlying data.
Provider-reported figures are included but flagged; only first-party captures are labeled Verified.
Why categories stay separate
There is deliberately no single 'GLP-1 price.' Compounded semaglutide, compounded tirzepatide, sublingual ODT, microdose programs, and brand medications occupy different clinical and commercial categories with different cost structures.
Averaging a $145 compounded program with a $1,086 brand list price would produce a number describing no real patient's decision. Each category carries its own index, baseline, and sample.
This separation is the difference between an honest index and a misleading headline figure.
| Is | Isn't |
|---|---|
| Category median cost signal | A single 'GLP-1 price' |
| Reproducible from data | A marketing label |
| Equal-weighted | Weighted by affiliate status |
The bottom line
The GLP-1 Price Index takes the median effective monthly cost of a defined category, anchors it to a baseline of 100, and tracks movement over time, using rules that prevent distortion.
Currently it is a mixed-status baseline snapshot: one category, mostly provider-reported inputs, one verified input, and no history yet. It becomes a fuller index as more categories, verified inputs, and snapshots accumulate.
Read the index as a category-level cost signal, not a substitute for comparing specific programs at your dose.
Frequently asked questions
What does the index value mean?
It shows current category prices relative to a baseline of 100. 110 means 10% above baseline; 90 means 10% below.
Why is the current value 100?
Because it is the first snapshot, which defines the baseline. Movement appears once a second snapshot exists.
Why not one average GLP-1 price?
Because brand and compounded, semaglutide and tirzepatide have different cost structures. Averaging them would mislead. Each category has its own index.
Is the index verified?
Currently it is a mixed-status snapshot with one verified input and mostly provider-reported ones. It strengthens as first-party captures accumulate.
Sources
- FDA — drug labels and compounding status (Drugs@FDA, fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding).
- Provider pricing and manufacturer sources, September 2026.
- Forbes Health, U.S. News reviews, July 2026.
- Evidence policy: evidence policy.
The numbers behind this page
Checking the figures in this entry
Every price quoted in this entry comes from the programme's own pricing page and carries the date it was captured. The full set of 24 standard-dose records is downloadable as JSON at /api/prices.json, with molecule and dose class stated on every record. Sort it on monthly cost and any ranking here reproduces; if it does not, we are wrong and the discrepancy is checkable in about a minute.
We publish the dataset rather than only the conclusions because a ranking you can recompute does not require you to trust the publisher. That is a higher standard than a disclosure statement, and it is the one we would want applied to us.
Reading the price against the market
Where this sits in the market
The figures in this entry sit inside a market with a measurable shape, and that shape is what makes any single price readable.
21 programmes print a price for both molecules on their own pages. Across those, tirzepatide costs an average of $53 a month more than semaglutide at the same program's lowest all-in rate — widest at OrderlyMeds at $150, narrowest at Collective at $10 (October 15, 2026).
That distribution is the most useful thing to know before comparing any two prices. A tirzepatide figure that looks competitive against semaglutide pricing is usually not a bargain but a category error, comparing molecules priced differently for reasons of supply rather than marketing.
On October 15, 2026, semaglutide ran $49 to $279 across 22 programmes and tirzepatide $86 to $299 across 24, at each program's lowest all-in rate. Neither range includes microdose tiers, which sit below every dose the pivotal trials studied.
Questions this page answers
Where do these prices come from?
Each is read from the program's own pricing page and carries its read date. The October 15, 2026 file at /api/prices.json holds 106 records, 49 of them verified standard-dose prices, with molecule, dose class and evidence status on every record.
Which tracked programs charge less than NexLife?
Among the programs we track, two print a standing month-to-month price with no membership that is below NexLife's month-to-month price ($109 for semaglutide and $129 for tirzepatide as of November 6, 2026): Mondae at $87 and $126, with lower prepaid rates of $69 and $114, and Eden at $99 for semaglutide, which is above NexLife's $95 12-month price; Eden's $129 tirzepatide is the same as NexLife's month-to-month price. Competitor prices were read on October 15, 2026. Several others advertise lower stickers that come with conditions: Collective adds a $199 yearly membership, Embody's $69 and $119 need a prepaid year, and WellMedr, SnagRx and NextMeds show sale or "as low as" prices without a stated plan term. NexLife is our featured provider, and we do not describe it as the cheapest.
Are compounded GLP-1 medicines FDA-approved?
No. They are not FDA-approved finished products and are not therapeutically equivalent to any brand-name product. FDA does not review them for safety, effectiveness or manufacturing quality before marketing.
Why do the same programmes quote two different prices?
Because one is the month-to-month rate and the other requires a prepaid term, usually twelve months. We compare programs on their lowest all-in monthly price and print the plan term beside every figure, so a rate that needs a commitment is labelled as one.