The best GLP-1 for weight loss, by what you want
There is no single answer, and a page that gives one has decided for you which question mattered. Three questions hide inside this one — what loses the most weight, what costs least, and what returns the most weight lost per dollar — and in this catalogue they have three different answers. Each is arithmetic over figures stored with their source and the date they were read, not a verdict.
Which GLP-1 is best for weight loss?
It depends which of three questions you are asking, and they do not share an answer. On the highest published trial figure it is Zepbound at 20.9% of body weight. On price it is Qsymia at $98 a month once titrated. On value — price divided by the percentage points its trial reported — it is Qsymia at $11 a month per point, against $52 for Saxenda. The ranking inverts between the first question and the third, which is the finding here. One caveat carries all of it: these trials were run separately, on different populations, over different durations, and none was head to head. A drug reporting 8% is cheaper per point than one reporting 21%, and still cannot take someone to 21%.
Best value: cost per point of body weight
The maintenance price divided by the percentage of body weight the drug's own trial reported. It answers a narrow question — what a point of body weight costs a month — and it is the one column no other comparison in this category publishes.
| Drug | Trial figure | Per month | Per point, a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qsymia | 8.6% | $98 | $11 |
| Contrave | 6.4% | $99 | $15 |
| Ozempic | 12% | $199 | $17 |
| Foundayo | 14.7% | $299 | $20 |
| Zepbound | 20.9% | $449 | $21 |
| Wegovy | 14.9% | $349 | $23 |
| Mounjaro | 15% | $499 | $33 |
| Saxenda | 8% | $415 | $52 |
Prices are the maintenance figure — what it costs once titrated, not the introductory month — each read from the seller's own page with the date on its card. Trial figures are the mean weight loss each drug's own pivotal trial reported, named on the same card. The trials were separate; this ratio ranks value, not effect.
Best on the trial figure alone
1Zepbound — 20.9%
SURMOUNT-1: about 20.9% mean weight loss at the 15 mg dose over 72 weeks
FDA approved for chronic weight management and obstructive sleep apnea
2Wegovy pill — 16.6%
OASIS 4, phase 3: 16.6% mean weight loss on 25 mg once daily when treatment was adhered to
FDA approved for chronic weight management
3Mounjaro — 15%
SURPASS trials in type 2 diabetes; weight loss is a secondary endpoint
FDA approved for type 2 diabetes. Weight loss is off-label use.
4Wegovy — 14.9%
STEP 1: about 14.9% mean weight loss at 2.4 mg over 68 weeks
FDA approved for cardiovascular risk reduction, chronic weight management, and MASH with moderate to advanced fibrosis
5Foundayo — 14.7%
ATTAIN-1, phase 3: mean 14.7% body weight lost at the highest dose over 72 weeks
FDA approved for chronic weight management
Best if the monthly price decides it
- Qsymia$98 a month— 8.6% in trial
- Contrave$99 a month— 6.4% in trial
- Compounded semaglutide$199 a month— no trial figure, not FDA approved
- Ozempic$199 a month— 12% in trial
- Compounded tirzepatide$200 a month— no trial figure, not FDA approved
Best GLP-1, answered
- Which GLP-1 causes the most weight loss?
- Zepbound, on the highest published trial figure: 20.9%. The trial behind it is SURMOUNT-1: about 20.9% mean weight loss at the 15 mg dose over 72 weeks That figure is not a promise and not a comparison — every drug here was tested in its own trial, on its own population, over its own duration, and none was run head to head against another. What the number tells you is what the trial reported, which is the most any of these figures can tell you.
- Which is cheapest?
- Qsymia at $98 a month once titrated, verified on 2026-08-27. Cheapest and strongest are not the same drug and are not close: the cheapest option reports 8.6% against 20.9% for the strongest. Someone who needs twenty per cent cannot buy their way there at the low end, at any price.
- Which gives the most weight loss per dollar?
- Qsymia, at $11 a month for each percentage point of body weight its trial reported — against $52 for Saxenda, the least efficient on the same arithmetic. That ratio is the thing no other page in this category prints, and it is worth being precise about what it is: price divided by a trial figure, where the trials were separate. It ranks value for money, not effectiveness, and it cannot tell you that a drug reporting 8% will get someone to 20%.
- Is a compounded version ever the best answer?
- Only on price, and the trade is not small. A compounded copy has no trial of its own — efficacy is inferred from the branded product rather than demonstrated — and it carries no FDA-approved label. Which pharmacy compounds it decides its quality, and no seller tracked here publishes that. It belongs in the cheapest column and nowhere else.
- Why doesn't this page just name one winner?
- Because the three questions it is actually asked have three different answers, and collapsing them into one would mean picking which question mattered on the reader's behalf. The strongest trial figure, the lowest monthly price and the best value per point are not all the same drug in this catalogue. Every figure above is stored with its source and the date it was read, so the ranking can be rebuilt rather than trusted.
Information only, not medical advice. Which drug suits a given person is a clinical decision that turns on their history, not on a ratio. What this page contributes is the arithmetic, with every input sourced and dated so it can be checked rather than trusted.
Last updated 2026-06-10 — the prices and trial figures behind this ranking