Comparison

If you will not inject

Two FDA-approved pills launched in 2026, plus the compounded providers offering tablets and sublingual drops.

Updated 2026-09-18

Disclosure: one company on this page — Coreage Rx — pays us a commission when a reader signs up through our link. It does not buy a better score, a higher ranking, or the removal of any criticism. The scoring rubric and the full disclosure are both published.

For a lot of people the needle is the whole barrier, and until recently the alternatives were compounded sublingual products of varying quality. That changed in 2026.

Two oral GLP-1s are now FDA-approved and start at $149 a month self-pay — less than a large share of the compounded injection programmes we track. They deserve consideration before any compounded oral product.

Inclusion criteria

Offers an oral tablet or sublingual formulation alongside or instead of injections.
The FDA-approved oral options are covered separately at the top of the page.
Ranked on the full rubric.

5 of the 21 providers we track qualify. Pricing verified 2026-09-18 and re-checked periodically.

The list

#	Provider	Per month	Per year	Score
1	PlexusDx	$189	$2,268	4.4
2	Hims & Hers	$238	$2,856	3.5
3	LifeMD	$149	$1,788	3.5
4	Henry Meds	$449	$5,388	3
5	MEDVi	$399	$4,788	2.8

Cheapest qualifying option: LifeMD at $149 a month. Our featured partner is pinned to the top of the list where it qualifies — see how we rate for who scores higher.

1. PlexusDx — Pharmacy transparency and genetic testing

$189 a month, no membership fee. Prescription GLP-1 and peptide programmes with no membership fee, built around genetic testing, using independent clinicians and a publicly listed set of 503A pharmacies.

The advertised "from $129" is the programme floor. Budget $189/month for the compounded injection tier. Read the full PlexusDx review.

2. Hims & Hers — Widest range of formats

$238 a month, including the $39 fee. Large publicly traded telehealth platform. Sells oral kits, compounded injections and branded Zepbound side by side, with a membership required across the board.

The advertised entry prices and the membership are separate charges. Add $39/month to whatever medication figure you were quoted. Read the full Hims & Hers review.

3. LifeMD — Insurance coordination

$149 a month, no membership fee. Physician-led telehealth group with a weight-management programme built around insurance coordination and branded prescriptions.

If your insurer declines, the $149/month programme fee still applies and the medication is extra. Read the full LifeMD review.

4. Henry Meds — Sublingual and oral formats

$449 a month, no membership fee. Compounded GLP-1 provider with a strong oral and sublingual line alongside weekly injections, sold in monthly and prepaid multi-month blocks.

The advertised "starts at $179" is the sublingual tier. Weekly injectable tirzepatide renews at $449/month. Read the full Henry Meds review.

Frequently asked

Are oral GLP-1s as effective as injections?

The approved oral products have their own trial data and are genuinely effective, but injectable tirzepatide still produced the largest average weight loss of any option in head-to-head testing. Compounded sublingual products do not have equivalent trial evidence.

What are the approved pills?

The Wegovy pill (oral semaglutide), approved in late 2025 and launched January 2026, and Foundayo (orforglipron), approved 1 April 2026. Both start around $149 a month self-pay.

What the price does not tell you

Compounded preparations are not FDA-approved. Two approved oral GLP-1s now start around $149 a month, and from 1 July 2026 eligible Medicare beneficiaries can access certain GLP-1s for $50 a month — both of which beat a large part of this market. See the approved pills and the Medicare programme.

In SURMOUNT-1, adults with obesity lost an average of 19.5% of body weight on 10 mg and 20.9% on 15 mg over 72 weeks. That figure comes from a controlled trial of the active ingredient, not from any particular seller's product.