GLP-1 programs compared, and what to do the other 25 days
By Emerge LabsFacts verified August 20269 programs compared
No affiliate links on this page. We earn no commission from any program listed, nobody paid to appear here, and the order is not for sale.
Every program on this page does the same core thing: a clinician reviews you, writes a prescription, and adjusts the dose over time. What separates them in 2026 is no longer branding. It is whether the medication is FDA-approved and branded or compounded, whether insurance is in the picture, and how much contact you get between prescriptions.
That last one is the reason this page exists. Most of these programs schedule a clinician check-in about once a month. The medicine works continuously; the support does not. Whatever happens on day nine happens to you, alone, with a search bar: the nausea, the fatigue, the question you would feel silly sending a message about.
Emerge Health AI is built for that gap and nothing else. It does not prescribe, diagnose, or suggest a dose, because it is not a medical device and does not pretend to be. It answers with sources you can open, keeps the log your prescriber actually wants to see, and it is there at 11pm.
These are numbered, not ranked. Each entry leads with the one thing it is factually best at. We do not score these programs on the quality of their clinical care.
01
Best for insurance navigation
Ro
A branded-only program with a dedicated insurance team, where the membership and the medication are billed as two separate things.
Unlimited provider messaging plus 1:1 health coaching
Side-effect management and titration support built in
Weight tracking and dose logging inside the programme
A dedicated team that works your insurance for you
What it leaves to you
The membership and the medication are two separate bills, so your real monthly total depends on which medication you are approved for and what your insurance does with it.
Ro publishes "ongoing check-ins" without committing to a fixed interval, so how much scheduled clinician contact you get is not knowable before you sign up.
Ro includes weight tracking and dose logging inside its own program. Anything outside weight and dose is yours to keep track of: blood pressure, sleep, how a given week actually felt.
02
Best for lowest insured cost
Hims & Hers
Branded-only since its March 2026 settlement with Novo Nordisk, with the lowest reported out-of-pocket cost when commercial insurance and a manufacturer savings card both apply.
Brand-name, FDA-approved semaglutide and tirzepatide, with no compounded route to opt out of
Oral and injectable formats both offered
Insurance and a manufacturer savings card applied together
Asynchronous messaging with the care team
What it leaves to you
The $0–$25 figure depends entirely on your specific plan and on a manufacturer savings card. What you actually pay is not knowable until your own coverage is checked.
Hims & Hers moved off compounded medication during 2026, so guidance written before that change may no longer describe the program you are joining.
Contact is primarily asynchronous messaging rather than a scheduled visit, which means the initiative to raise something is yours.
On 29 July 2026 the FTC, joined by the State of Utah and the County of Los Angeles, filed a complaint in the Northern District of California alleging that the company shared consumers’ health information with third-party advertising platforms including Meta and Snap, and used deceptive subscription billing and cancellation practices. Hims & Hers denies the allegations and has said it intends to defend itself. The case is unresolved, and nothing here is a finding of wrongdoing. But if the privacy of your health data matters to you, it is a public filing worth reading before you sign up.
03
Simplest all-in monthly price
Henry Meds
One monthly payment covering the visit, the medication and the supplies, with insurance deliberately left out of the picture entirely.
One payment covering the visit, the medication and the supplies together
No insurance paperwork at any point in the process
Ongoing care included rather than billed per visit
Predictable monthly cost, lower again on a prepaid plan
What it leaves to you
Because insurance is not involved, the monthly cost is entirely out of pocket: simple to predict, and not offset by any coverage you may already have.
Lab work is generally not bundled into the subscription, so any bloodwork is arranged and paid for separately.
Compounded medications are prepared by a pharmacy rather than reviewed by the FDA for safety, effectiveness or quality before sale. In February 2026 the FDA sent warning letters to 30 telehealth companies over how compounded GLP-1s are advertised, following more than 100 letters in 2025. This is worth understanding before you choose a compounded program, and worth raising with a clinician who knows your history.
04
Most dosing flexibility
Remedy Meds
Compounded semaglutide, tirzepatide and a half-dose microdose plan, with a monthly clinician check-in and unlimited messaging in between.
Three dosing routes: standard semaglutide, tirzepatide, or a half-dose microdose
Unlimited video calls and messaging between the monthly check-ins
Free shipping, recipes and meal plans, and monthly live expert sessions
A 365-day money-back guarantee, and HSA/FSA accepted
What it leaves to you
The check-in is monthly by design, which means roughly 28 days pass between scheduled clinical contacts. Messaging is available in between, but the scheduled review happens once.
Insurance is not accepted, so the monthly cost is out of pocket aside from HSA/FSA use.
Compounded medications are prepared by a pharmacy rather than reviewed by the FDA for safety, effectiveness or quality before sale. In February 2026 the FDA sent warning letters to 30 telehealth companies over how compounded GLP-1s are advertised, following more than 100 letters in 2025. This is worth understanding before you choose a compounded program, and worth raising with a clinician who knows your history.
05
Best for brand-name direct from the maker
WeightWatchers Med+
A membership that routes brand-name medication straight from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, wrapped around the behaviour programme WeightWatchers has run for decades.
Brand-name medication direct from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk where eligible
The behaviour programme WeightWatchers has run for decades, included
A published cost estimator to check your coverage before joining
Clinician visits bundled into the membership
What it leaves to you
The membership and the medication are separate costs, so the headline monthly figure is not what you will actually pay.
The lowest membership price requires an annual commitment, which is a full-year decision made in your first week on the programme.
The behaviour programme supplies structure and group support, not a clinician on call. Anything between visits is still yours to notice and raise.
06
Best for the branded semaglutide subscription route
LifeMD
A manufacturer telehealth subscription partner, structured so self-pay patients get brand-name semaglutide at a published monthly price rather than a pharmacy lottery.
Brand-name semaglutide through a manufacturer telehealth partnership
Published self-pay pricing rather than pharmacy roulette
Oral and injectable routes both available
Structured savings for multi-month enrolment
What it leaves to you
The price steps up when you move from a starter dose to a maintenance dose, so the cost you sign up at is not the cost you settle at.
The savings are structured around multi-month enrolment, which means the cheapest version asks you to commit before you know how you respond.
No fixed visit interval is published, so the rhythm of checking in is set by you rather than by a calendar.
07
Lowest branded-track membership
Noom Med
The psychology-first app extended into prescribing, with the cheapest ongoing membership of any branded track here and a separate, lower-cost compounded tier.
The lowest ongoing membership of any branded track in this comparison
A compounded tier and a microdose tier for a lower all-in cost
The Noom behaviour app bundled with the clinical programme
Clinical visits included in the subscription
What it leaves to you
The cheap headline tiers are the compounded ones. If you want branded semaglutide or tirzepatide, the membership is low but the medication is a separate bill on top.
Compounded medications are prepared by a pharmacy rather than reviewed by the FDA for safety, effectiveness or quality before sale. In February 2026 the FDA sent warning letters to 30 telehealth companies over how compounded GLP-1s are advertised, following more than 100 letters in 2025. Worth understanding before choosing a compounded tier, and worth raising with a clinician who knows your history.
The programme is built around daily app engagement. What it asks of you is consistency, every day, which is the part that decides whether the rest works.
08
Widest range of medication options
Found
The broadest menu in this comparison: compounded GLP-1s, branded GLP-1s, and non-GLP-1 medication routes for people who do not want or cannot take one.
Compounded, branded and non-GLP-1 routes all inside one programme
Non-GLP-1 plans from about $49/month for people who cannot take a GLP-1
Insurance navigation offered alongside direct-pay
Flat pricing as your dose increases on compounded plans
What it leaves to you
Membership plus medication typically lands around $349/month or more at maintenance, so the entry price and the steady-state price are different numbers.
The lowest per-month rates require 6 or 12-month plans, committing you well before you know how you respond.
With the widest menu comes the widest range of possible experiences. What a compounded tirzepatide month feels like and what a branded semaglutide month feels like are not the same, and only you are present for both.
09
Lowest entry price
Zealthy
The cheapest way onto this list, with a dual-pathway structure: an insurance-supported membership from about $25/month and a cash-pay compounded route from about $39/month.
The lowest entry price in this comparison
Two pathways: insurance-supported, or cash-pay compounded
Refills and dose changes handled by a medical provider over time
A bundled plan option covering the provider and the medication together
What it leaves to you
The $25 and $39 figures are membership, not medication. The number that matters is the two added together, and that depends on which pathway you qualify for.
Promotional first-month pricing is common here, so the price you join at is not the price you stay at.
Compounded medications are prepared by a pharmacy rather than reviewed by the FDA for safety, effectiveness or quality before sale. In February 2026 the FDA sent warning letters to 30 telehealth companies over how compounded GLP-1s are advertised, following more than 100 letters in 2025. Worth understanding before choosing the cash-pay pathway, and worth raising with a clinician who knows your history.
Common questions
Can Emerge Health AI prescribe a GLP-1?
No. Emerge Health AI is a wellness app, not a medical device. It does not diagnose, prescribe, or give dosing advice, and it defers to a qualified clinician for medical decisions. The programs on this page are the ones that prescribe.
Does Emerge work alongside any GLP-1 program?
Yes. Emerge is independent of every program listed here and has no partnership with any of them. It tracks your medications, blood pressure, sleep, activity, steps and water, and answers health questions with cited sources, whichever program wrote your prescription.
Which GLP-1 programs use compounded medication rather than branded?
As of August 2026, Henry Meds and Remedy Meds supply compounded medication, while Ro, Hims & Hers, WeightWatchers Med+ and LifeMD supply FDA-approved branded medication only. Noom Med, Found and Zealthy offer both routes. Compounded medications are prepared by a pharmacy rather than reviewed by the FDA for safety, effectiveness or quality before sale.
What is worth tracking between monthly check-ins?
The things your prescriber will ask about and you will struggle to recall: which doses you took and when, your blood pressure over time, sleep, activity, and how each week actually felt. A log across several weeks is far more useful at an appointment than a single reading taken that morning.
Are the programs on this page ranked, or are these paid placements?
Neither. There are no affiliate links on this page, we earn no commission from any program listed, and nobody paid to appear. The entries are numbered for navigation, not ranked, and each leads with the one thing it is factually best at.
How we compare
The roster is the set of GLP-1 providers Forbes Health covers in its 2026 roundups. We did not pick who makes the list, because a list you assemble yourself is a list you can quietly shape. One provider that appears in that coverage is not included here.
Programs are compared only on facts that can be verified in public: what kind of medication they supply, what they charge, whether insurance is accepted, and how often a clinician is scheduled to see you.
We do not rank these programs on the quality of their clinical care. We are not a clinical reviewer, we have no access to their outcomes, and a star rating on someone else’s medical practice is not a claim we are willing to make.
Every figure is marked on the provider’s own page here for how it was checked. A filled marker means it was read off that company’s public page. A hollow marker means it came from a dated third-party review, because the company does not publish that figure anywhere we could read directly.
Prices and program terms in this category change frequently. Everything here was checked in the month shown, and we re-check quarterly. If something is out of date or wrong, tell us at hello@getemergeapp.com and we will correct it.
Where Emerge fits, on any of them
Emerge is not an alternative to any program on this page. You cannot get a prescription from it, and it will tell you so. It is the layer underneath whichever one you choose.
Log every dose in the medication tracker, so your titration history lives somewhere other than your memory.
Ask what a symptom means at 11pm and get an answer that cites Mayo Clinic, NIH or MedlinePlus, with the link, so you can read the source yourself.
Track blood pressure, sleep, activity, steps and water, so your next check-in starts from a record instead of a guess.
Keep a private journal of how each week actually felt, which is the part no tracker captures and every clinician asks about.
All of it encrypted on your phone. Conversations run through a stateless system that keeps no logs.
Emerge Labs LLC is an independent company and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Ro, Hims & Hers, Henry Meds, Remedy Meds, WeightWatchers Med+, LifeMD, Noom Med, Found and Zealthy. All product and company names are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to identify the services described. Program details change often, so confirm current terms with the provider before making any decision. Emerge Health AI is a wellness app, not a medical device: it does not diagnose, prescribe, or give dosing advice, and it always defers to your clinician.
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