Prices shown are estimates only. Always verify with your pharmacy. Not medical advice. Full disclaimer

Prescription Cost Calculator

Enter all your medications to see your true monthly and annual drug costs — and find out how much you could save.

Calculator Settings

Your Medications

Cost Breakdown by Medication

Medication Per Fill Monthly Annual

Cash vs. Insurance Comparison

Scenario Monthly Cost Annual Cost vs. Cash

* Insurance estimate uses the average copay you entered above. Actual insurance costs vary by plan. Always check your specific plan's formulary.

How This Calculator Works

This tool adds up what you'd pay for every medication on your list — first at the cash price you enter per fill, then again using an average insurance copay — so you can compare your real annual cost both ways. It doesn't look up live prices for you; every number in the results comes directly from what you typed into the Cost Calculator settings and the medication rows above.

How Cash Pharmacy Pricing Works

"Cash price" is what a pharmacy charges someone paying out of pocket, without running the purchase through insurance. Many pharmacies also offer their own store-specific discount pricing, and free discount-card programs (the GoodRx-style model) negotiate separate, often lower, rates with pharmacies for a wide range of generic drugs. Because these prices aren't set by any single insurance plan's formulary, they can vary noticeably between pharmacies and change over time — the price you're quoted at the counter is always the one that governs, not an estimate from this or any other calculator.

Why the Cash Price Can Beat Your Copay

Insurance copays are usually set as flat tiers across an entire plan (for example, a fixed dollar amount for any generic), not negotiated drug by drug. Cash and discount-card pricing, by contrast, is negotiated per medication. For many common, inexpensive generics, that per-drug cash rate can land below your plan's flat copay — a pattern that's well documented for older, widely available generics in particular. It is not universal: expensive brand-name drugs and specialty medications are usually cheaper through insurance, which is exactly why this calculator compares both paths per medication rather than assuming one is always better.

Reading Your Results

The four summary cards show your total cash cost per month and per year, your estimated insurance cost per year at the copay you entered, and the potential savings between whichever path is cheaper. The "Cost Breakdown by Medication" table shows each drug's individual contribution to that cash total, and the "Cash vs. Insurance Comparison" table lays the two totals side by side. Because the insurance figure is built from a single average copay rather than your plan's actual formulary, treat it as a directional estimate — your plan's real behavior for a specific drug should always be confirmed with your insurer or pharmacist before you decide how to fill a prescription.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this calculator giving me medical advice?
No. This tool only does arithmetic on the prices, refill counts, and copay amount you enter — it does not evaluate your health, your prescriptions, or whether a medication is right for you. Always talk to your doctor or pharmacist about your treatment, and never change a dosage or stop a medication based on a cost estimate.
How accurate are the cost estimates?
They're only as accurate as the numbers you enter. If you type in real prices from your pharmacy or a discount card, the math is exact; if you use the pre-filled sample prices, treat them as a rough starting point, since real cash prices vary by pharmacy, location, and change over time. Always confirm the actual price at the register or with your pharmacist before treating a number here as final.
Why is the cash price sometimes cheaper than my insurance copay?
Insurance copays are negotiated for the plan as a whole, not priced per drug, so a common generic can have a cash price below what your plan charges you as a copay — especially at pharmacies running their own discount programs. This is well documented for many older generics; it is not true for every drug, particularly expensive brand-name or specialty medications, so it's worth checking both ways for each prescription rather than assuming.
What's the difference between the two tables in my results?
The Cost Breakdown table shows what each medication costs you individually at the cash price you entered. The Cash vs. Insurance table takes that same total and compares it against what you'd pay using the average copay you entered in Calculator Settings, so you can see which path is cheaper across your whole medication list.
Does this calculator store or sell my medication list?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type into the medication fields is sent to a server or saved anywhere. See our Privacy Promise page for the full policy.
Should I only pay cash, or only use insurance, going forward?
Neither, automatically. Cash pricing can beat a copay for some generics, but insurance still matters for expensive or specialty drugs, and paying cash on an insured plan usually won't count toward your deductible. Use this calculator per medication, per refill, and re-check periodically, since pharmacy pricing and plan copays both change.