Who writes GLP-1 rankings, and how to read one

Many “best GLP-1 program” lists are written by someone who makes money when you sign up: a publisher paid a commission for each new patient, or a program ranking itself against its rivals. That can be legal, but the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sets rules for how the money has to be disclosed, and a few checks will tell you how much to trust a list.

Three kinds of ranking you will run into

A program ranks itself. Some telehealth companies publish comparison lists that include their own service. Under the FTC’s rule on reviews, a business may not misrepresent that a website it controls gives independent reviews of a category that includes its own products [1]. A list like that is not automatically wrong, but it is advertising.

A publisher is paid per sign-up. This is affiliate marketing. The FTC says the publisher should disclose the relationship clearly and conspicuously, so readers can decide how much weight to give the recommendation [2], and the closer the disclosure sits to the recommendation, the better [3]. The words “affiliate link” on their own, or a “buy now” button, may not tell people the site gets paid [4]; “paid link” right next to the link should be enough [5].

A publisher is paid by advertisers. The FTC says a site that sells ad space has nothing extra to disclose only if the ads are obvious and the ad money does not affect which products it reviews, what it says, or where and how prominently reviews appear [6]. The same logic appears elsewhere in the FTC’s guidance: a maker that links to every authorized seller and gives no preference to the ones paying referral fees does not need a disclosure [7]. The test is whether money buys position.

Why this matters for a GLP-1 list

The FTC’s basic rule is that endorsements must be honest and not misleading [8], and an ad counts as deceptive if it misleads a significant minority of people [9]. A line saying “we may earn a commission” tells you money is involved. It does not tell you whether the order of the list follows price and quality or follows which program pays more. That second question is the one to answer before you pick a program from a ranked list.

Six checks before you trust a GLP-1 ranking

1. Who runs the site? If the publisher also sells GLP-1 prescriptions, treat its list as marketing.
2. Is the disclosure plain and close to the links? Look for words like “paid link” or “we earn a commission”, not a vague footer.
3. Is the ranking method written down? It should say what decides the order and that payment does not.
4. Which price is being compared? An introductory first-month price and the price at the dose you stay on can be very different. Check when prices were last read.
5. Are compounded products mixed in with FDA-approved drugs? The FDA says compounded drugs are not FDA-approved and are not reviewed for safety, effectiveness or quality before they are sold [10].
6. Does it rank companies the FDA has warned? In March 2026 the FDA announced 30 warning letters to telehealth companies over false or misleading claims about compounded GLP-1 products [11].

Watch the reviews too. The FTC’s rule bans businesses from creating or selling fake reviews [12] and from paying for reviews that must say something positive or negative [13].

How GLPLens handles this

We hold ourselves to the same checks. Our affiliate disclosure lists which programs, if any, currently pay us, and our outbound buttons are marked as sponsored links. Our methodology explains the ranking: the price table is sorted by the total published cost of the first year at the starting dose, lowest first, and programs that pay us get no extra placement. We leave out compounded drugs and programs whose company has an unresolved FDA warning letter about GLP-1 products, and for every price we keep the exact sentence it came from, the page address and the date we read it, so you can open a row and check.

That method has a limit worth knowing: ranking by the starting dose can put programs in a different order than ranking by the dose you stay on. Each program’s page in all programs and prices shows its prices dose by dose, and our research-based reviews cover cancellation terms and other details a price table leaves out.