Mounjaro vs Saxenda: Two Generations Apart
Mounjaro (tirzepatide, Eli Lilly) vs Saxenda (liraglutide, Novo Nordisk)
Last verified May 2026
The verdict
Tirzepatide weekly against liraglutide daily. Mounjaro reported −7% to −12% across the SURPASS diabetes trials and, as Zepbound, −20.9% in SURMOUNT-1; Saxenda reported −8.0% at 56 weeks in SCALE Obesity. Neither has a manufacturer cash-pay tier under its own label — about $1,069 against $1,349 — so for a cash payer the realistic comparison is not these two but Zepbound's LillyDirect pricing, or the compounded market below.
Side-by-side comparison
| Field | Mounjaro | Saxenda |
|---|---|---|
| FDA-approved indication | Type 2 diabetes mellitus (adults) | Chronic weight management (adults BMI ≥30 or ≥27 + comorbidity; pediatric 12+ ≥60 kg) |
| Manufacturer | Eli Lilly | Novo Nordisk |
| How it works | Hits two receptors, GIP and GLP-1 | Hits one, GLP-1 |
| How often you inject | Once a week, under the skin | Every day, under the skin |
| How long it stays in you | About five days | About 13 hours |
| Weight lost | -7% to -12% in the diabetes trials; the same molecule under its weight brand reached -20.9% over 72 weeks | -8.0% over 56 weeks (SCALE Obesity) |
| Whether a trial proved it prevents heart attacks and strokes | None yet. SURPASS-CVOT does not report until 2027 | LEADER cut major cardiac events 13% — at the 1.8 mg diabetes dose, not this 3.0 mg one |
| What it costs if you pay cash | About $1,069/mo list. The savings card needs commercial insurance plus a diabetes diagnosis | About $1,349/mo retail, with no manufacturer cash program at all |
| Youngest approved age | Not approved for children | 12 and over, at 60 kg or more, with a BMI matching the adult obesity threshold |
What each one costs in the compounded market
Standing monthly cash prices from the 556 sellers on this register. These are compounded preparations, not the approved products compared above.
Mounjaro — tirzepatide
from $99 /mo
253 sellers publish a standing price; the median is $240 a month.
Saxenda — liraglutide
from $160 /mo
3 sellers publish a standing price; the median is $214 a month.
⚠ A compounded preparation is not the approved product. No agency has reviewed that specific preparation for safety, effectiveness or manufacturing quality, and the legal ground under compounding these molecules narrowed when the shortages closed. The price gap is real, and so is the difference in oversight. Every seller, with its price record.
Frequently asked questions
Are Mounjaro and Saxenda the same drug?
No. Mounjaro is tirzepatide and Saxenda is liraglutide — different molecules. Results with one do not predict results with the other.
Is Mounjaro or Saxenda cheaper?
On the manufacturers' own cash pricing: Mounjaro at About $1,069/mo list. The savings card needs commercial insurance plus a diabetes diagnosis, Saxenda at About $1,349/mo retail, with no manufacturer cash program at all. ⚠ That is the list-price comparison, and it is not what most people pay. What you actually pay depends on whether your plan covers it, which formulary tier it sits in, and whether you have met your deductible — and for many people the honest comparison is between an insured copay and a cash-pay compounded alternative rather than between these two figures.
What does a compounded version of each actually cost?
Across the 556 sellers in this register, the cheapest standing monthly cash prices we hold are tirzepatide from $99 a month and liraglutide from $160 a month. ⛔ A compounded preparation is not the approved product: no agency has reviewed that specific preparation for safety, effectiveness or manufacturing quality, and the legal ground under compounding these molecules narrowed once the shortages closed. The price gap is real and so is the difference in oversight.
Can I switch from Mounjaro to Saxenda?
Yes, with a prescriber. Expect to re-titrate from the bottom of the new drug's ladder rather than starting where you left off: these are different molecules and tolerance to one does not transfer to the other. Both the old drug's washout and the new drug's schedule apply.
Which one should I ask for?
That is a prescriber's call, and anyone answering it from a table is guessing. What a page like this can do is tell you what the trials measured, what the manufacturers charge, and where the evidence is still missing, so the conversation starts from the record rather than from an advertisement.
References
- 1.Pi-Sunyer X, Astrup A, Fujioka K, Greenway F, Halpern A, et al. A Randomized, Controlled Trial of 3.0 mg of Liraglutide in Weight Management (SCALE Obesity and Prediabetes). N Engl J Med. 2015. PMID: 26132939.
- 2.Frías JP, Davies MJ, Rosenstock J, Pérez Manghi FC, Fernández Landó L, et al. Tirzepatide versus Semaglutide Once Weekly in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes (SURPASS-2). N Engl J Med. 2021. PMID: 34170647.
- 3.Marso SP, Daniels GH, Brown-Frandsen K, Kristensen P, Mann JFE, et al. Liraglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes (LEADER). N Engl J Med. 2016. PMID: 27295427.
- 4.Jastreboff AM, Aronne LJ, Ahmad NN, Wharton S, Connery L, et al. Tirzepatide Once Weekly for the Treatment of Obesity (SURMOUNT-1). N Engl J Med. 2022. PMID: 35658024.
- 5.Eli Lilly and Company. MOUNJARO (tirzepatide) injection — FDA prescribing information. DailyMed (NIH/NLM). 2025. https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=d2d7da5d-ad07-4228-955f-cf7e355c8cc0
- 6.Novo Nordisk. SAXENDA (liraglutide) injection — FDA prescribing information. DailyMed (NIH/NLM). 2025. https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=3946d389-0926-4f77-a708-0acb8153b143
- 7.Eli Lilly and Company. Mounjaro savings card eligibility — commercially insured patients with type 2 diabetes. LillyDirect. 2026. https://www.lillydirect.lilly.com/pharmacy/mounjaro
Related comparisons
- Wegovy vs Zepbound
- Ozempic vs Mounjaro
- Semaglutide vs Tirzepatide
- Rybelsus vs Ozempic
- Mounjaro vs Zepbound
- Foundayo vs Rybelsus
See the full drug-vs-drug verdict index or provider rankings.