The short version. There are four realistic routes: an injection, a compounded cream, an approved gel, and an oral troche. The injection is the cheapest by a wide margin, from $28 a month in published medication pricing, and it is also an FDA-approved product. Every needle-free route costs more. The approved gels are the most expensive of all, with a wholesale cost above $500 a month for the brand, while the cheap needle-free options, cream and troche, are compounded preparations with no approved label. So the format decision most men make on comfort is also, invisibly, a decision about whether they are taking an approved medicine or not. And at almost every provider the medication price is not the bill: a membership sits on top of it.
01 / 06The routes, and what each asks of you
Injection. Testosterone cypionate or enanthate, usually weekly or twice weekly, self-administered. It is the oldest route, the most studied, and the one insurance is most likely to recognise. It asks you to be willing to use a needle at home.
Compounded cream. Applied daily to the skin. No needle, and the dose can be tuned by the compounding pharmacy, which is the point of compounding. It asks for daily application and care about transfer to partners and children, which is the reason the approved gels carry a boxed warning about exactly that.
Approved gel. The same idea as the cream but as an FDA-approved manufactured product. Same transfer caution, considerably higher price.
Troche or oral dissolving tablet. A lozenge held in the mouth. Convenient, and the newest of the four in common telehealth use, which also means the least published about it.
02 / 06What the providers publish
One difficulty dominates this comparison, and it is the same one we found across compounded telehealth generally: only one of these six publishes a price per format.
| Provider | Injection | Cream | Troche | Membership, separate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hone Health | from $28 / mo | from $60 / mo | from $60 / mo | $135 or $155 / mo |
 Maximus | not published | not published | not published | protocol based |
 Defy Medical | not published | not published | not published | clinic model, labs separate |
| not published | not published | not published | labs-first coaching model | |
 Henry Meds | not published | not published | not published | not stated on the page read |
 Ro | not published | not published | not published | supplement support, not TRT pricing |
Read from each provider’s own live pages on 22 September 2026. Where a provider does not publish a figure on the pages we could reach, we say so rather than substituting an estimate. Hone Health is credited throughout this page because it is the only provider in this set that publishes medication pricing broken out by delivery format.
03 / 06The needle is the cheap route, again
Within one provider, holding everything else constant, the direction is unambiguous. At Hone Health the injection starts at $28 a month and the troche starts at $60. That is a 2.1x premium for not using a needle, on the same hormone, from the same company, in the same month.
Hone also publishes its own read of the wider market on that page, which is worth repeating as theirs rather than ours: injections around $40 to $100 a month, cream $200 to $600, and pellets $650 to $2,000 per treatment.
We have now seen this pattern twice in one category of medicine. On compounded GLP-1 the oral formats also carry a premium over the injection of the same molecule. Different drug, different providers, same direction. ⭐ Needle-free is consistently the more expensive choice, and it is sold as the more convenient one, which is true but is not the same thing.
Injection
Cheapest published medication cost and an FDA-approved product. The trade is the needle and a supply of syringes.
Cream or troche
No needle, roughly double the medication cost, and compounded, which means no approved label stands behind the preparation.
Approved gel
Approved and needle-free, and the dearest of the four. Brand wholesale cost runs above $500 a month before any copay assistance.
04 / 06Approved and cheap overlap in exactly one place
Testosterone is not like enclomiphene. There are FDA-approved testosterone products, and they include both injectable esters and transdermal gels, so an approved option genuinely exists in more than one format. Our TRT protocol piece goes through what approved testosterone looks like in the federal record.
Here is the part that decides things. Lay the approval status over the price and the two only meet once:
| Route | Approved product exists | Relative cost | What that combination means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Injection | yes | lowest | the only route that is both |
| Gel | yes | highest | approved, and priced accordingly |
| Compounded cream | no | low to middle | affordable because it is compounded |
| Troche | no | middle | convenience at a compounded-product premium |
A man who says “I would rather not inject” and then picks the cheapest remaining option has, without being told, moved from an approved medicine to a compounded one. That is a legitimate thing to do, with a prescriber who has explained it. It is not a legitimate thing to have happen to you silently, and the pricing pages are where it happens silently.
05 / 06The number that is never on the banner
Every medication figure on this page is a medication figure. At Hone Health the membership is $135 a month on the Plus plan or $155 on Premium, stated separately from the drug, and it covers appointments, testing across more than 50 biomarkers, expedited shipping and injection supplies. The hormone assessment is a further $65.
So the honest arithmetic on the cheapest route is not $28. It is $28 plus $135, which is $163 a month, and that is the number to compare against anyone quoting an all-inclusive figure. ⚠️ A medication price and an all-in price are different products wearing the same dollar sign, and this category mixes them constantly.
06 / 06What this means for your decision
If cost is the binding constraint and you are willing to inject, that route is both the cheapest published and the one with an approved product behind it, and nothing else on this page competes on either axis.
If you will not inject, you are choosing between an approved gel at a high price and a compounded cream or troche at a lower one, and that is the trade to make deliberately rather than by default. Ask three questions of any provider: what the medication costs by format, what the membership costs on top of it, and whether the preparation they are proposing is an approved product or a compounded one. The third question is the one almost nobody asks and the one that changes what you are actually taking.
- Hone Health. TRT cost per month. Per-format medication pricing, membership tiers and their own stated market ranges, read 22 September 2026.
- Maximus. maximustribe.com. Read 22 September 2026; no per-format price published on the page we could reach.
- Defy Medical. defymedical.com. Clinic model, read 22 September 2026.
- Marek Health. marekhealth.com. Labs-first model, read 22 September 2026.
- Henry Meds. TRT, and Ro, testosterone support. Read 22 September 2026.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Drugs@FDA and the National Drug Code Directory. Approved testosterone dosage forms.
Which testosterone format is cheapest?
The injection, and not narrowly. Published medication pricing starts at $28 a month for injections against $60 for cream or troche at the same provider. Approved brand gels are the most expensive route of all.
Is compounded testosterone cream FDA-approved?
No. Compounded preparations are made by a pharmacy for a specific patient and do not carry an FDA approval. Approved testosterone products do exist, including injectable esters and transdermal gels, so an approved option is available in more than one format if that matters to you.
Why is the troche more expensive than the injection?
Because you are paying for the delivery rather than the hormone. We found the same direction on compounded GLP-1, where oral formats also cost more than the injection of the same molecule. Needle-free is consistently the pricier choice.
Does the advertised price include everything?
Usually not. At Hone Health the medication price is separate from a membership of $135 or $155 a month, and the initial hormone assessment is $65 on top. Always ask which of the three a quoted figure covers.
What should I ask before choosing a format?
What the medication costs by format, what the membership costs separately, and whether the specific preparation is an approved product or a compounded one. The last question is the one that changes what you are taking rather than what you are paying.