How much does Ozempic cost?

As of August 2026, Novo Nordisk publishes Ozempic self-pay prices from $149 to $499 a month depending on the form and dose, and commercially insured patients whose plan covers Ozempic can pay as little as $25 a month with the savings offer, capped at $100 in savings per month¹. The number that surprises people is not on that list. Ozempic is semaglutide labeled for type 2 diabetes, and that label — not the molecule — is what decides whether insurance pays.

The label is the price lever

Ozempic and Wegovy are the same active ingredient sold under different FDA approvals. Novo Nordisk describes the split directly: it has approved medicines with indications for adults with obesity (Wegovy), type 2 diabetes (Ozempic), type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease (Ozempic injection), and comorbid cardiovascular disease for both⁵. Ozempic.com states that insurance generally covers Ozempic when it is prescribed for those approved diabetes and cardiovascular indications, and adds that coverage turns on your plan's formulary and whether the prescription is for an approved indication, "not typically off-label for weight loss alone"².

That is the whole difference in one sentence. A drug prescribed for diabetes usually has a covered path through a plan's formulary; the same molecule prescribed to lose weight often does not. Which is why people who assume Ozempic must be cheaper than Wegovy because it is "the diabetes one" are reading the wrong variable: the self-pay prices are nearly identical, and it is the coverage decision that moves the bill. Our GLP-1 insurance coverage guide walks through how a plan makes that call.

Ozempic self-pay prices, dose by dose

There are now two Ozempics as well. Drugs@FDA lists Ozempic tablets at 1.5 mg, 4 mg and 9 mg on NDA 213051 — the same application that carries Rybelsus 3 mg, 7 mg and 14 mg⁹. Ozempic injection sits on its own application, NDA 209637, originally approved in December 2017⁸. How the oral versions differ from the weekly shot is covered in oral GLP-1 pills explained. Novo Nordisk's price guide, dated May 2026, prices both¹.

For the **Ozempic pill**, a month is one bottle of 30 tablets: $149 a month at 1.5 mg, $199 a month at 4 mg, and $299 a month at 9 mg¹. Ozempic.com frames those as the new-patient and existing-patient prices for each dose². No introductory offer is published for the pill.

For the **Ozempic pen**, a month is one box holding a single pen: $349 a month at 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg and 1 mg, and $499 a month at 2 mg¹. Patients new to the Ozempic savings offer or to NovoCare Pharmacy pay $199 a month for the first two monthly fills at 0.25 mg or 0.5 mg, an offer Novo Nordisk dates to December 31, 2026, after which the standard prices apply². The 2 mg step is the one that catches people out — moving up one dose adds $150 a month, the largest single jump on either brand's price sheet. Self-pay pricing is available for local pharmacy pickup with a savings offer or for home delivery through NovoCare Pharmacy, and government beneficiaries are excluded from the self-pay offer¹².

With commercial insurance: $25, capped at $100

With commercial insurance that covers Ozempic, the savings offer takes the copay to as little as $25 for any dose of pen or pill, for up to a 3-month prescription². The cap is the part to read: savings max out at $100 a month, and the offer is valid for up to 48 months². So $25 is your price when the plan's own copay is $125 or less; a $250 specialty-tier copay leaves you paying $150. Novo Nordisk's guide notes the copay price is only available for local pharmacy pickup with a savings offer, and that government beneficiaries are excluded¹.

Medicare pays for Ozempic — and that shuts a door

Ozempic.com states that most Medicare Part D plans cover Ozempic, with the exact cost varying from plan to plan; no dollar figure is published, because the number is set by each plan's formulary tier and your deductible status². NovoCare says the same and adds a consequence: Medicare beneficiaries with prescription drug coverage are no longer eligible to receive Ozempic through the Novo Nordisk Patient Assistance Program³. Uninsured patients still can, if household income is at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level³.

The sharper contrast is with the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, the CMS demonstration that gives eligible Part D beneficiaries a $50 monthly copay on certain GLP-1 drugs between July 1, 2026 and December 31, 2027⁷. Ozempic is not on it. Medicare's fact sheet names three covered drugs — Foundayo tablets, Wegovy injection or tablet, and the Zepbound KwikPen only — and then disqualifies anyone who has type 2 diabetes, moderate-to-severe sleep apnea or fatty liver disease, on the reasoning that a plan may already cover a GLP-1 for those conditions⁶. A Medicare enrollee with type 2 diabetes is therefore outside the $50 program by design, and inside ordinary Part D coverage instead.

List price, and the two things that change on January 1, 2027

Novo Nordisk does not publish a current Ozempic-only list price. CMS does publish a group figure: for the selected drug it calls "Ozempic; Rybelsus; Wegovy," the CY2024 wholesale acquisition cost for a 30-day supply was $959, against 2,282,000 Part D enrollees who used it that year⁴.

Then two separate changes land together. Novo Nordisk announced on February 24, 2026 that effective January 1, 2027 it will lower the list price of Ozempic injection 0.5 mg, 1 mg and 2 mg — along with Wegovy and Rybelsus — to $675 a month, a cut of roughly 35 percent for Ozempic, and stated that this does not affect direct-to-patient self-pay prices⁵. On the same date, Medicare's negotiated maximum fair price for the semaglutide group takes effect at $274 for a 30-day supply, a 71 percent discount from the 2024 list price, with a single 4 mg/3 mL Ozempic pen package priced at $276.78⁴. The negotiated price governs Medicare, not the cash counter.

What to check before you fill

Confirm which form you were prescribed, since the pill and the pen are priced on different ladders and share a brand name¹. Ask for the price at your target dose rather than the starting dose — the pen's $199 intro rate covers two fills, and 2 mg is $499². Check whether your prescription is written for an approved diabetes or cardiovascular indication, because that is what a formulary reads. And note that rybelsus.com is still live for 7 mg and 14 mg tablets while pointing patients toward newly available doses of semaglutide tablets, so a pharmacy quote may be for a different product than the one you asked about¹⁰. For the same breakdown across every semaglutide product, see how much semaglutide costs. Figures here reflect manufacturer and government pricing published as of August 2026; this is cost information, not medical advice.