Victoza vs. Ozempic: Daily or Weekly, What Works Better, and What Each Costs in 2026

Victoza or Ozempic: which fits your situation?

Find the line that sounds like you. Most of them match a row in the table above.

• Stable on Victoza and your plan covers it: staying put is a reasonable choice. Generic liraglutide is the same medicine, and nothing forces a switch.
• Your plan covers Ozempic: the savings card can bring it to as little as $25 a month, for one shot a week.
• No insurance: generic liraglutide with a GoodRx coupon is usually the lowest cash price, about $110 to $160 a month at 1.2 mg.
• On Medicare: Part D covers both for type 2 diabetes, and your 2026 drug costs stop at $2,100.
• You want more weight loss: Ozempic lowered weight more than Victoza in the trial that compared them directly.
• You are tired of daily shots: the Ozempic pen is one shot a week.
• You hate needles: the Ozempic pill is a daily tablet, with no injection at all.

What Victoza and Ozempic cost in 2026, option by option

We checked these prices on October 6, 2026. Each Ozempic pen lasts 28 days, so a year of pens is 13 fills. Liraglutide pens and Ozempic pill bottles are counted as 12 monthly fills.

Ozempic with insurance and the savings card

If your work or private plan covers Ozempic for type 2 diabetes, Novo Nordisk's savings card can cut your copay to as little as $25 a month. A copay is the share you pay at the pharmacy.

The card pays at most $100 toward a one-month fill. If your copay is above $125, you pay the rest. People on Medicare, Medicaid or another government plan can't use it. Victoza is not on the card's list of covered drugs.

Generic liraglutide with a GoodRx coupon

Generic liraglutide is Victoza's medicine without the brand name. GoodRx is a free discount coupon, not insurance. With it, two pens cost about $110 to $160 at many pharmacies.

Two pens last a month at 1.2 mg. At 1.8 mg, each pen lasts only 10 days, so you need three. Three pens ran about $145 to $330 in early October, depending on the store.

Compare a few pharmacies before you fill. The same box can cost twice as much a few blocks away.

The Ozempic pill from NovoCare

NovoCare is Novo Nordisk's own self-pay pharmacy. Self-pay means you pay cash and leave insurance out. The Ozempic pill costs about $150 a month at 1.5 mg, $200 at 4 mg and $300 at 9 mg.

This is the only option on the page with no needle. It is the cheapest brand-name semaglutide for a woman paying cash.

The Ozempic pen from NovoCare

New self-pay patients pay about $200 for each of the first two pen fills, at the starter doses. That offer runs through December 31, 2026. After that, the pen costs about $350 a month up to 1 mg and about $500 at 2 mg.

Cash paid this way does not count toward your insurance deductible. That is the amount you pay each year before your plan starts paying.

Medicare Part D

Part D is Medicare's drug coverage. Most plans cover Victoza, generic liraglutide and Ozempic for type 2 diabetes. Your copay depends on your plan, and your 2026 total stops at $2,100.

Novo Nordisk's patient assistance program

Novo Nordisk gives the Ozempic pen free to uninsured people with a household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. The pill is not part of the program. Medicare members with drug coverage can no longer get Ozempic through it.

Brand Victoza at the counter

Brand Victoza is still sold in the US. Three pens cost about $805 with a GoodRx coupon. Without a coupon, the average cash price reaches about $1,440.

The generic is the same drug at a fraction of that. Paying cash for the brand name rarely makes sense.

Ozempic at the pharmacy with no program

Paying cash with no coupon or program costs about $985 to $1,150 a month, depending on the store. That sits close to the list price, the catalog price Novo sets for wholesalers. Novo plans to cut Ozempic's list price to $675 on January 1, 2027.

Almost nobody needs to pay this. Every other Ozempic option on this page costs less.

What a year costs

• Ozempic with the savings card: about $325, if your copay stays within the card's limit
• Generic liraglutide, 2 pens a month: about $1,300 to $1,900
• Generic liraglutide, 3 pens a month: about $1,750 to $4,000
• Medicare Part D: no more than $2,100 out of pocket in 2026
• Ozempic pill, moving to 4 mg after a month: about $2,340
• Ozempic pill, stepping up to 9 mg: about $3,340
• Ozempic pen up to 1 mg: about $4,240, counting two starter fills
• Ozempic pen at 2 mg by the fourth fill: about $5,740
• Brand Victoza, cash: about $9,700 to $17,300
• Ozempic, no program: about $12,800 to $15,000

Is generic Victoza the same drug?

Yes. Generic liraglutide has the same active ingredient, the same pen strength and the same dose steps as Victoza.

Teva launched the first one on June 24, 2024. It was an authorized generic, meaning Victoza itself sold under a generic label. On December 23, 2024, the FDA approved the first standard generic, from Hikma, and other makers have followed.

There is no FDA-approved generic Ozempic in the US. Generic Ozempic explains what exists and what to avoid.

Daily Victoza or weekly Ozempic: how the routine changes

Victoza is one shot a day, at any time, with or without food. If you miss a dose, you skip it and pick up the next day.

The Ozempic pen is one shot a week, on the same day each week. A missed shot can still be taken within five days.

The Ozempic pill is the same tablet once sold as Rybelsus, renamed in the US on May 4, 2026. You take it on an empty stomach with a small sip of water, at least 30 minutes before food, drink or other pills.

Victoza vs. Ozempic for weight loss and A1C: which lowers them more?

Yes, in the trial that tested them directly. SUSTAIN 10 followed 577 adults with type 2 diabetes for 30 weeks. Half took weekly semaglutide 1 mg and half took daily liraglutide 1.2 mg, on top of their diabetes pills.

A1C is your average blood sugar over about three months. From a start near 8.2%, it fell 1.7 points on semaglutide and 1.0 point on liraglutide.

Weight fell about 13 pounds on semaglutide and about 4 pounds on liraglutide. Everyone knew which drug they took, and Victoza was given at its middle dose, not its 1.8 mg top dose.

The pill was tested against Victoza at its top dose. In PIONEER 4, 711 adults took oral semaglutide 14 mg, liraglutide 1.8 mg or a placebo. That 14 mg tablet matches today's 9 mg Ozempic pill.

At 26 weeks, A1C fell 1.2 points on the pill, 1.1 on liraglutide and 0.2 on placebo. Weight fell about 10 pounds on the pill, about 7 on liraglutide and about 1 on placebo. The pill matched Victoza on blood sugar and beat it on weight.

You may see STEP 8 quoted for this question. It tested Wegovy against Saxenda, the higher weight-loss doses, in adults without diabetes. Over 68 weeks, weight fell 15.8% on Wegovy, 6.4% on Saxenda and 1.9% on placebo. Saxenda vs. Wegovy covers that comparison.

Victoza vs. Ozempic side effects

Both drugs cause the same kind of stomach trouble, because they act on the same hormone. Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and constipation are the most common. They tend to be worst while the dose is going up.

• Victoza label: nausea in 18% of people at 1.2 mg and 20% at 1.8 mg, against 5% on placebo.
• Ozempic label: nausea in about 16% at 0.5 mg and 20% at 1 mg, against 6% on placebo.
• SUSTAIN 10: stomach side effects in 43.9% on semaglutide and 38.3% on liraglutide. Side effects made 11.4% stop semaglutide and 6.6% stop liraglutide.

Both labels carry the same boxed warning, the FDA's strongest. Both drugs caused thyroid C-cell tumors in rodents. Neither should be used by anyone with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer or MEN 2, a rare inherited gland disorder.

Both labels also warn about pancreatitis, gallbladder problems and low blood sugar when taken with insulin or sulfonylureas. Ozempic's label adds a warning about diabetic eye disease getting worse, seen in a two-year trial.

You may have read about more hip and pelvic fractures in women. That finding is on the Wegovy label, from a heart trial at the weight-loss dose. It is not in Ozempic's current label. Ozempic side effects goes through the full list.

Switching from Victoza to Ozempic: how it usually works

Your prescriber writes a new prescription. Whatever Victoza dose you were on, the Ozempic label starts everyone at 0.25 mg a week for four weeks, then 0.5 mg.

Victoza leaves the body quickly, so prescribers commonly start the first weekly shot the day after the last daily one. Ozempic stays much longer, about five weeks after a last dose. Stomach side effects often return for a few weeks while the new dose climbs.

If you plan to use the savings card, activate it before the first fill. Moving to the pill instead follows the same idea, starting at 1.5 mg.

Heart and kidney protection: Victoza vs. Ozempic

Both drugs are approved to lower the risk of heart attack, stroke and heart death in adults with type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Only Ozempic also has a kidney approval.

• [LEADER](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/27295427), Victoza: 9,340 adults, followed for a median 3.8 years. Major heart events hit 13.0% on liraglutide and 14.9% on placebo.
• [SUSTAIN 6](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/27633186), Ozempic: 3,297 adults over two years. Major heart events hit 6.6% on semaglutide and 8.9% on placebo.
• [FLOW](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/38785209), Ozempic: 3,533 adults with diabetes and kidney disease, for a median 3.4 years. Serious kidney events hit about 18.7% on semaglutide and 23.2% on placebo.

These were separate trials against placebo, not against each other. If you already have kidney disease, Ozempic is the one with a label for it.

Victoza, Saxenda, Ozempic, Wegovy: sorting out the names

• Victoza: liraglutide up to 1.8 mg a day, for type 2 diabetes in adults and children 10 and older.
• Saxenda: the same liraglutide up to 3 mg a day, for weight management. Novo Nordisk is discontinuing it, with last shipments to wholesalers in late January 2027.
• Ozempic: semaglutide for type 2 diabetes, as a weekly pen or a daily pill.
• Wegovy: semaglutide for weight management, as a weekly pen or a daily pill.

Victoza is not being discontinued in the US. Novo Nordisk is pulling it from the European Union by the end of 2026, which explains the headlines.

Insurance and Medicare for Victoza and Ozempic

With work or private insurance, your plan's drug list decides what you pay. That list is called a formulary. Many plans ask your prescriber for a prior authorization, a form confirming type 2 diabetes, before they pay for either drug.

On Medicare, most Part D plans cover both drugs for type 2 diabetes. Neither is covered for weight loss alone. Your out-of-pocket drug costs stop at $2,100 in 2026.

Medicare's GLP-1 Bridge, running from July 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027, offers weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound for $50 a month. Ozempic and Victoza are not part of it.

From January 1, 2027, Medicare's negotiated price for Ozempic is $274 for a month's supply. That is what Medicare pays, not your copay, which still follows your plan.

Victoza or Ozempic in perimenopause and menopause

Neither drug was studied in a menopause group, so there is no menopause-specific winner. The same results, side effects and prices apply to you.

One detail matters in perimenopause, when pregnancy is still possible. Ozempic's label says to stop it at least two months before a planned pregnancy, because it stays in the body so long. In label studies, semaglutide did not change levels of a common birth control pill.