Compare GLP-1 medicines

The molecules behind the brands

Many GLP-1 brand names lead back to a few molecules. An FDA safety notice from 2024 lists the approved GLP-1 receptor agonists. The list starts with Byetta (exenatide) in 2005 and runs through Victoza and Saxenda (liraglutide), Trulicity (dulaglutide), Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy (semaglutide), and Mounjaro and Zepbound (tirzepatide).¹ These drugs mimic GLP-1, a hormone from the intestine, to trigger insulin release and lower blood sugar after a meal.¹ Tirzepatide also activates a second hormone receptor, the GIP receptor.⁵ Since that list, FDA has approved Foundayo (orforglipron), a daily tablet from Eli Lilly, on April 1, 2026, and Wegovy now also comes as a tablet.¹⁰³

Brand against its own ingredient

Four pages compare a brand with the molecule inside it: Ozempic vs semaglutide, Mounjaro vs tirzepatide, semaglutide vs Wegovy and Rybelsus vs semaglutide. In each pair the brand contains the molecule it is set against, so the active ingredient is the same. What changes is the approved product and its label: the same tirzepatide is approved for type 2 diabetes as Mounjaro, and for weight reduction and sleep apnea as Zepbound.⁵⁶ Several of these pages also explain what the brand name does not cover, such as compounded or counterfeit products.

GLP-1 against a single drug

Two pages start from the hormone itself. GLP-1 vs semaglutide covers a drug that shares 94% of its sequence with human GLP-1 yet has a half-life of about one week.² GLP-1 vs Mounjaro answers whether Mounjaro counts as a GLP-1 drug at all, since tirzepatide's label names two targets, the GIP and GLP-1 receptors.⁵ For the class as a whole, read What is GLP-1?.

Same molecule, different brands

Ozempic vs Wegovy and Ozempic vs Rybelsus compare products that all contain semaglutide. The differences are approved uses, doses and forms. Ozempic injections top out at 2 mg a week,² while Wegovy injection's usual maintenance dose is 2.4 mg a week, with a label maximum of 7.2 mg.³ Rybelsus is a once-daily tablet of 3, 7 or 14 mg, and it is not interchangeable milligram for milligram with Ozempic tablets.⁴

Different molecules

Mounjaro vs Ozempic, Mounjaro vs Wegovy, Ozempic vs tirzepatide and Mounjaro vs semaglutide set tirzepatide against semaglutide. Two head-to-head trials anchor them. In SURPASS-2, 1,879 adults with type 2 diabetes took weekly tirzepatide (5, 10 or 15 mg) or semaglutide 1 mg for 40 weeks; HbA1c fell 2.01 to 2.30 percentage points on tirzepatide vs 1.86 on semaglutide.¹¹ In SURMOUNT-5, 751 adults with obesity and no type 2 diabetes took tirzepatide 10 or 15 mg or semaglutide 1.7 or 2.4 mg for 72 weeks; average weight change was -20.2% vs -13.7%.¹²

Victoza and Saxenda

Liraglutide is an older GLP-1 drug that Novo Nordisk markets under two names, Victoza (approved 2010) and Saxenda (approved 2014).¹⁸⁷ The split mirrors the newer drugs. Victoza is injected once a day; for adults the label starts at 0.6 mg for a week, then 1.2 mg, with a maximum of 1.8 mg.⁸ It is approved for type 2 diabetes in adults and children 10 and older, and to lower the risk of major cardiovascular events in adults with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease.⁸ For adults, Saxenda steps up each week from 0.6 mg to 3 mg a day from week 5.⁷ It is approved for long-term weight reduction in adults and children 12 and older who weigh more than 60 kg and have obesity, and in adults with overweight and at least one weight-related condition.⁷

Liraglutide has no comparison page of its own, but it appears in two trials covered elsewhere on this site. In STEP 8, a 68-week trial of 338 adults with overweight or obesity and no diabetes, weekly semaglutide 2.4 mg led to more weight loss than daily liraglutide 3.0 mg: -15.8% vs -6.4%.¹³ In a 26-week trial of 711 adults with type 2 diabetes, semaglutide tablets 14 mg (a Rybelsus strength) lowered HbA1c by 1.2 percentage points vs 1.1 for liraglutide 1.8 mg, a result the label calls non-inferior.⁴

How to read these comparisons

Each comparison opens with a table: what the product is, its active ingredient, maker, form, approved uses, dosing schedule and first US approval, with a citation in every cell. Label facts come from the FDA labels cited on each page, as checked in October 2026. Trial numbers are averages from named studies. A head-to-head trial, where both drugs were tested in one study under the same rules, says more than numbers from two separate trials, and the pages point out which is which. Doses shown are label schedules for prescription products, and the prescriber sets the dose for each patient.