Wegovy costs $349 a month for the pen and $149 to $299 for the pill as of October 2026 if you pay cash through NovoCare, with a $199 intro price for the first two months on the pen. Covered commercial insurance can cut it to $25; eligible Medicare patients pay $50. List price is about $1,349.
Like every GLP-1, Wegovy has more than one price, and the gap between them is enormous. The thousand-dollar figure in the headlines is a list price; what an actual person pays depends on their insurance, Novo Nordisk’s direct self-pay program, and whether a savings offer applies. Here is the current breakdown, checked against Novo’s own pages in October 2026. For the mechanics of why GLP-1 prices vary so wildly, see our explainer on GLP-1 cost and insurance coverage.
~$1,349
List price per month
Novo Nordisk, 2026
$149–$399
Self-pay per month (pill to HD pen)
NovoCare, Oct 2026
as low as $25
Copay with covered insurance
Savings offer
What is Wegovy’s list price, and what do people actually pay?
Wegovy’s monthly list price is approximately $1,349 across all five pen doses.[1] Novo has announced it will lower the list price of Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus to $675 a month at every dose on January 1, 2027, and says the change does not affect its self-pay prices.[5] As with every drug in this class, that sticker is largely theoretical: people pay through insurance or through Novo’s self-pay program, and both land far below list. The right question isn’t “what does Wegovy cost?” but “what does it cost through my route?”
How much does Wegovy cost without insurance?
For people paying cash, Novo’s NovoCare program prices the injectable pen at $199/month for the first two months (the 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg starting doses, an intro offer running through December 31, 2026), then $349/month for standard doses.[2] The higher-strength Wegovy HD 7.2 mg pen is $399/month. The newer oral pill is priced by dose: $149/month for 1.5 mg, $199 for 4 mg, and $299 for the 9 mg and 25 mg tablets (a month is one bottle of 30).[2] Note that the widely-repeated “$499 a month” figure is now out of date — Novo restructured its self-pay pricing downward, and these lower tiers supersede it.
- Oral pill (from)149 $/mo
- Oral pill (9 mg, 25 mg)299 $/mo
- Pen (standard dose)349 $/mo
- HD 7.2 mg pen399 $/mo
Can you get Wegovy for $25 a month?
If you have commercial insurance that covers Wegovy, Novo’s savings offer can bring your copay to as little as $25 a month for the pen or the pill, with a maximum savings of $100 per month.[2] As with every manufacturer card, the deepest help goes to people whose plans already cover the drug; the offer reduces a copay, it doesn’t conjure coverage where there is none.
Is compounded semaglutide still a cheaper legal option?
Through the shortage, compounded semaglutide was a common cash workaround. That pathway has largely closed. The FDA declared the semaglutide shortage resolved in early 2025, ending the broad compounding exceptions. In February 2026 the FDA announced it intends to restrict GLP-1 ingredients meant for mass-marketed, non-approved compounded copies,[7] and on April 30, 2026 it proposed to exclude semaglutide (along with tirzepatide and liraglutide) from the list of bulk substances outsourcing facilities may compound.[3] A “compounded semaglutide” offer in 2026 is operating in a shrinking, legally contested space — not a settled, cheaper version of Wegovy.
Why cost is a clinical variable
Affordability isn’t separate from whether Wegovy works, because semaglutide only keeps working while you keep taking it. Real-world studies of why people discontinue GLP-1 therapy find cost and loss of coverage among the leading reasons, alongside side effects.[4] Because stopping reverses much of the weight loss, a price you can’t sustain is a clinical problem, not just a financial one — the plan you can keep paying for usually beats a marginally cheaper one you can’t.
The honest bottom line
With commercial insurance that covers Wegovy, the savings offer likely puts you near $25 a month. Paying cash, you’re looking at $199/month for the first two months on the pen and $349 after, or $149 to $299 for the oral pill by dose. On Medicare, the savings offer doesn’t apply, but the GLP-1 Bridge sets a $50 monthly price for eligible patients through 2027; Medicaid coverage is plan-dependent. Compounded semaglutide is no longer a reliable or clearly legal discount. These prices move frequently — and several carry hard expiration dates — so confirm the current figure on Novo’s site before budgeting. To weigh it against the higher-potency alternative, see Zepbound cost and Ozempic vs Wegovy; for the routes to a prescription, our guide to GLP-1 providers.