Paying cash vs using insurance
How much does metformin cost?
Glucophage · the usual first tablet for type 2 diabetes. Example fill: 90 × metformin hcl 500 mg tablet.
Metformin is generic Glucophage, and it is one of the cheapest prescriptions you can still overpay for. 500 mg immediate-release tablets cost pharmacies about a penny and a half each. Ninety tablets of the drug itself is well under $2. Cash is mostly a dispensing fee. A $47 copay on a high-deductible plan is not in the same league.
If you take two a day, 90 tablets is 45 days, not 90. Enter the count you actually pick up. 1,000 mg tablets, 850 mg, and extended-release (ER) are different products. ER is still often cheap, but it is not the 500 mg IR price. Do not crush ER because regular tablets looked cheaper.
Many stores still put metformin on a $4 generic list. If yours does, take it. If the copay is high and there is no list, ask for cash or look at mail (Cost Plus and others). Coupons at chains cut a high cash price; they rarely beat a $4 list or mail on this drug.
Stomach side effects and dose changes are for your clinician. Paying cash vs insurance is the only comparison this page makes. See cash vs copay, Cost Plus vs a chain, and RxCompare.app.
Estimated cash for 90 tablets or capsules
If your copay is $47, paying about $4.47 cash instead would save about $42.53 on this 90-day fill — if the register matches. These are estimates from public pharmacy acquisition cost (CMS NADAC as of 2026-09-02), not a coupon and not a guaranteed price. The coupon column is an estimate for chain cash only.
| Where you might fill | Est. cash | Est. chain coupon |
|---|---|---|
| Cost Plus · often cheapest | $4.47 | — |
| Costco | $6.72 | — |
| Amazon Pharmacy | $6.79 | — |
| Stop & Shop | $7.98 | — |
| Walmart | $11.17 | $9.83 |
| CVS | $15.07 | $13.26 |
| Walgreens | $15.19 | $13.37 |
Other strengths of metformin
Price the strength on your bottle. These are different products.
- metformin er 1,000 mg gastr-tb
- metformin er 1,000 mg osm-tab
- metformin er 500 mg gastrc-tb
- metformin er 500 mg osmotic tb
- metformin hcl 1,000 mg tablet
- metformin hcl 500 mg/5 ml soln
- metformin hcl 625 mg tablet
- metformin hcl 750 mg tablet
FAQ
Is metformin ER as cheap as regular 500 mg?
Often still inexpensive, but get a price for ER if that is what you take. Do not assume it matches IR.
I take 2,000 mg a day. How do I compare cost?
Use the number of tablets on the prescription (for example 120 × 1,000 mg), not the milligram total.