Tirzepatide vs Semaglutide

Both molecules, same platform

Mochi Health charges $178 a month for semaglutide and $278 for tirzepatide at a 10 mg maintenance dose, a difference of $100 a month, or $1,200 across a year. Both are billed on the same flat structure. Captured 2026-08-05.

MEDVi charges $134 a month for semaglutide and $399 for tirzepatide at a 10 mg maintenance dose, a difference of $265 a month, or $3,180 across a year. Both are billed on the same flat structure. Captured 2026-08-05.

NexLife charges $145 a month for semaglutide and $215 for tirzepatide at a 10 mg maintenance dose, a difference of $70 a month, or $840 across a year. Both are billed on the same flat structure. Captured 2026-08-05.

Yucca Health charges $146 a month for semaglutide and $258 for tirzepatide at a 10 mg maintenance dose, a difference of $112 a month, or $1,344 across a year. Both are billed on the same flat structure. Captured 2026-08-05.

Henry Meds charges $149 a month for semaglutide and $349 for tirzepatide at a 10 mg maintenance dose, a difference of $200 a month, or $2,400 across a year. Both are billed on the same flat structure. Captured 2026-08-05.

IVIM Health charges $224 a month for semaglutide and $278 for tirzepatide at a 10 mg maintenance dose, a difference of $54 a month, or $648 across a year. Both are billed on the same scaled structure. Captured 2026-08-05.

Lavender Sky Health charges $174 a month for semaglutide and $352 for tirzepatide at a 10 mg maintenance dose, a difference of $178 a month, or $2,136 across a year. Both are billed on the same scaled structure. Captured 2026-08-05.

Eden charges $278 a month for semaglutide and $408 for tirzepatide at a 10 mg maintenance dose, a difference of $130 a month, or $1,560 across a year. Both are billed on the same scaled structure. Captured 2026-08-05.

TrimRx charges $199 a month for semaglutide and $349 for tirzepatide at a 10 mg maintenance dose, a difference of $150 a month, or $1,800 across a year. Both are billed on the same flat structure. Captured 2026-08-05.

SkinnyRx charges $199 a month for semaglutide and $299 for tirzepatide at a 10 mg maintenance dose, a difference of $100 a month, or $1,200 across a year. Both are billed on the same flat structure. Captured 2026-08-05.

Amble Health charges $225 a month for semaglutide and $300 for tirzepatide at a 10 mg maintenance dose, a difference of $75 a month, or $900 across a year. Both are billed on the same flat structure. Captured 2026-08-05.

Join Fridays charges $249 a month for semaglutide and $359 for tirzepatide at a 10 mg maintenance dose, a difference of $110 a month, or $1,320 across a year. Both are billed on the same flat structure. Captured 2026-08-05.

How semaglutide is priced at these programmes

Semaglutide runs $99 to $299 a month across the 14 programmes in our dataset that carry both molecules. The cheapest we verify is Mochi Health at $99 a month. Tirzepatide at the same programmes runs consistently higher, and the gap is structural rather than promotional.

Semaglutide is a shorter peptide with a longer manufacturing history and more compounding pharmacies equipped to produce it. Tirzepatide is longer, harder to synthesise, and its active ingredient sells at a premium. That difference in input cost is most of the price gap you see between the two columns.

Semaglutide titrates 0.25, 0.5, 1, 1.7 and 2.4 mg weekly, with four weeks at each step, so reaching a semaglutide maintenance dose takes roughly sixteen weeks against eight to twelve for tirzepatide. On a dose-scaled programme that longer ladder means more months at intermediate pricing, which partly offsets the lower headline figure.

What the head-to-head evidence supports

SURMOUNT-5 randomised adults with obesity to tirzepatide or semaglutide and reported a larger mean reduction in body weight on tirzepatide over 72 weeks. It is the strongest direct comparison between the two molecules and it is the reason tirzepatide sustains a premium in a market that otherwise competes hard on price.

The caveats matter. A mean is not a prediction for an individual and the distribution around it is wide; a substantial number of semaglutide participants did better than a substantial number of tirzepatide participants. Trial participants received structured support most telehealth programmes do not replicate. And the comparison was at maximum tolerated doses, which is a different question from what any given person will tolerate.

Semaglutide also carries the larger cardiovascular outcomes evidence base, which is a genuine advantage for some patients and is not captured by a weight-loss endpoint. Neither molecule is simply better than the other; they are differently evidenced.

Where semaglutide is the better buy

Semaglutide wins on three counts and it is worth stating them plainly on a site that leads with the other molecule. It is cheaper at every dual-molecule programme in our dataset. It has the larger cardiovascular outcomes evidence base, which matters for patients whose risk profile makes that endpoint relevant. And more compounding pharmacies produce it, which means supply disruption is less likely to interrupt a titration.

For someone paying cash whose goal is a sustainable course rather than a maximum result, the cheaper molecule they can afford for three years is frequently the better clinical bet than the more effective one they can afford for eight months. Discontinuation is the expensive outcome in this drug class, because the withdrawal evidence is consistent: weight returns when the drug stops, since it suppresses appetite while taken rather than resetting a set point.

Semaglutide is also the more forgiving starting point for people who are uncertain about tolerating an incretin at all. Starting cheaper, establishing tolerability and moving up later costs a second titration, but it risks less money against the possibility that neither molecule suits you.

Where tirzepatide justifies the premium

The head-to-head result is the whole case, and it is a strong one. On average, tirzepatide produced more weight reduction than semaglutide in a randomised comparison at maximum tolerated doses. For someone who has already completed a semaglutide titration and found the result insufficient, that evidence is directly relevant and the premium is defensible.

Tirzepatide also reaches maintenance faster. Its ladder runs 2.5 to 15 mg in 2.5 mg steps against semaglutide's 0.25 to 2.4 mg across five steps, which in practice means eight to twelve weeks to a maintenance dose against roughly sixteen. On a dose-scaled programme, the shorter ladder recovers part of the price difference.

What does not justify the premium is switching from an incomplete semaglutide course. If the dose was never optimised, the comparison being made is not between two molecules but between a finished course and an unfinished one.

Switching between the molecules

Moving from semaglutide to tirzepatide is not a dose conversion. There is no equivalence table between the two, and the standard approach is to restart tirzepatide at 2.5 mg and titrate from the bottom regardless of the semaglutide dose reached. That means paying for another titration period and tolerating another round of the gastrointestinal effects that cluster after each increase.

Priced honestly, a switch costs the titration months again. On a flat programme that is invisible because the price does not move by dose. On a dose-scaled one it can mean several months at intermediate pricing before reaching the dose you actually want.

The practical question is whether your current molecule has genuinely underperformed or whether the dose was never optimised. Switching from an under-titrated semaglutide course to a fresh tirzepatide titration frequently buys a result that a completed semaglutide titration would have produced more cheaply.