Saxenda vs Ozempic: Liraglutide Against Semaglutide
Saxenda (liraglutide, Novo Nordisk) vs Ozempic (semaglutide, Novo Nordisk)
Last verified May 2026
The verdict
The molecule comparison matters more than the label one here, and STEP-8 ran it directly: semaglutide 2.4 mg −15.8% against liraglutide 3.0 mg −6.4%. Saxenda is approved for weight management and Ozempic is not, so Ozempic's use for weight is off-label with roughly 6–7% reported in non-diabetic use and no obesity RCT of its own. Neither has a cash-pay program worth the name — about $1,349 and $998 retail.
Side-by-side comparison
| Field | Saxenda | Ozempic |
|---|---|---|
| What it is approved to treat | Long-term weight management | Type 2 diabetes, plus reducing cardiac risk in diabetes with established heart disease |
| What is in it, and how it works | Liraglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist that lasts about half a day | Semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist that lasts about a week |
| How you take it | An injection under the skin every day, climbing to 3.0 mg | An injection under the skin once a week, climbing from 0.25 to 2 mg |
| Weight lost | -8.0% over 56 weeks at 3.0 mg (SCALE Obesity) | Roughly 6-7% when used off-label without diabetes; no obesity trial exists for this product |
| The two molecules measured against each other | -6.4% on daily liraglutide 3.0 mg | -15.8% on weekly semaglutide 2.4 mg — the weight-labeled dose, not the dose in Ozempic |
| Whether a trial proved it prevents heart attacks and strokes | LEADER cut major cardiac events 13% — but at the 1.8 mg diabetes dose, not this 3.0 mg one | SUSTAIN-6 cut them 26% in type 2 diabetes |
| What it costs if you pay cash | About $1,349/mo retail, with no manufacturer cash program | About $998/mo retail; the savings card needs commercial insurance and a diabetes diagnosis |
| What it takes to get it covered | An obesity benefit plus a BMI of 30, or 27 with a related condition — and plenty of plans exclude the category outright | A diabetes diagnosis, an A1c of 6.5% or above and usually a metformin trial. Widely covered |
| Youngest approved age | 12 and over, since December 2020 | Adults only, 18 and over |
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.
Saxenda — liraglutide
from $160 /mo
3 sellers publish a standing price; the median is $214 a month.
Ozempic — semaglutide
from $79 /mo
283 sellers publish a standing price; the median is $174 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 Saxenda and Ozempic the same drug?
No. Saxenda is liraglutide and Ozempic is semaglutide — different molecules. Results with one do not predict results with the other.
Is Saxenda or Ozempic cheaper?
On the manufacturers' own cash pricing: Saxenda at About $1,349/mo retail, with no manufacturer cash program, Ozempic at About $998/mo retail; the savings card needs commercial insurance and a diabetes diagnosis. ⚠ 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 liraglutide from $160 a month and semaglutide from $79 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 Saxenda to Ozempic?
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.Marso SP, Bain SC, Consoli A, Eliaschewitz FG, Jódar E, et al. Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes (SUSTAIN-6). N Engl J Med. 2016. PMID: 27633186.
- 3.Rubino DM, Greenway FL, Khalid U, O'Neil PM, Rosenstock J, et al. Effect of Weekly Subcutaneous Semaglutide vs Daily Liraglutide on Body Weight in Adults With Overweight or Obesity Without Diabetes: The STEP 8 Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2022. PMID: 35015037.
- 4.Marso SP, Daniels GH, Brown-Frandsen K, Kristensen P, Mann JF, et al. Liraglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes (LEADER). N Engl J Med. 2016. PMID: 27295427.
- 5.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
- 6.Novo Nordisk. OZEMPIC (semaglutide) injection — FDA prescribing information. DailyMed (NIH/NLM). 2025. https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=adec4fd2-6858-4c99-91d4-531f5f2a2d79
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.