Annual or monthly?
Annual plans carry the best rates and the worst exit terms. How to work out whether the discount is worth it.
Updated 2026-09-18 · every price checked by hand
How we make money: one company on this page — Coreage Rx — pays us a commission when a reader signs up through our link. It buys them nothing else: not a better score, not a higher place in the table, not the removal of a single criticism. Our scoring method and full disclosure are both public.
Most programmes offer a discount for paying up front. The discount is usually real. The question is what happens if you stop.
At Coreage Rx, tirzepatide is $149 a month on the annual plan and $199 month-to-month — a saving of about $600 a year. At Henry Meds, three months of oral semaglutide is $747, or $537 paid in full, which is $210 saved on a single quarter.
What the discount is really paying for
Your commitment. A company that has your year in hand has no acquisition cost and no churn risk, and it shares some of that back. That is a fair trade if you are confident you will stay.
The three questions to ask first
- If I stop in month three, what happens to the rest? Some programmes refund unused months, some credit them, some keep them. This is the whole risk.
- Does the price hold if my dose changes? If the annual rate only covers low doses, the saving evaporates the moment you titrate up.
- What happens if the medication becomes unavailable? The compounding rules are moving — see is compounded still legal. Ask what a supply interruption does to a prepaid year.
A reasonable rule
Start month-to-month. GLP-1s have a real dropout rate in the first eight weeks, mostly from side effects, and you do not yet know whether you are in that group. Once you have tolerated a couple of dose increases and know the programme suits you, switch to annual and take the discount then. You give up a month or two of savings and remove almost all of the risk.
Where the annual saving is biggest
| Programme | Per month | Per year | Extra vs cheapest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coreage Rx Cheapest no membership fee | $199 | $2,388 | +$888 |
| Trimi no membership fee | $125 | $1,500 | — |
| PlexusDx no membership fee | $189 | $2,268 | +$768 |
| Ivím Health no membership fee | $199 | $2,388 | +$888 |
| Zealthy no membership fee | $216 | $2,592 | +$1,092 |
| Hims & Hers incl. $39 monthly fee | $238 | $2,856 | +$1,356 |
Full tables: cheapest tirzepatide and cheapest semaglutide.