Online Birth Control Companies That Will Save You Stress, Time, and Money

For Sexual Health Needs: Hers

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Key Specs

• Cost: $0 for a consult; plans start at $12/month plus the cost of prescription
• Medical Consultation Required? Yes
• Accepts Insurance? No

Why We Chose It 

Hers is a one-stop shop for your sexual health needs, with a large selection of birth control pills, condoms, lube, and sex toys. 

Pros & Cons

It’s always useful to have one online store where you can get everything for one aspect of your life, right? Hers is the perfect example of such a store for sexual wellness. Aside from a plethora of generic birth control pill options, it has a healthy selection of condoms, lube, and sex toys.  

Hers was launched in 2018 to help people who menstruate. If you’re in New York City or Minneapolis it has same-day shipping available. Otherwise, it’s about five to 10 days after approval. 

You’ll fill out an online health questionnaire to get started and then have a consultation with a healthcare provider, which is free of charge. Once you've decided on a medication, your provider will write that prescription, which can be filled through the company. You just need to sign up for Hers’ subscription service, which costs $12 a month and gets you free shipping, auto-refills for a year, and follow-up appointments should you have any questions or concerns about your birth control. A couple of caveats: you can only get generic birth control pills on Hers, so if you need a brand-name pill, this is not the service for you. It also doesn’t appear to offer emergency contraception, such as the morning-after pill.

For Ease of Use: Nurx

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Key Specs

• Cost: $25 for initial consult, $15+ for Rx without insurance; $3/month fee for refills
• Medical Consultation Required? Yes
• Accepts Insurance? Yes

Why We Chose It 

It’s easy to get your birth control questions answered at any time via Nurx’s app, or you can call its service line Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET.

Pros & Cons

Nurx has served over one million patients since the company opened in 2015, and with its intuitive app that allows you to message a medical team who can answer your questions during business hours, it’s easy to see why.  

The $25 fee for an initial medical consultation with Nurx providers includes access to its medical team via online messaging as well as follow-up consultations with a provider to address any questions you may have. For example, you can discuss any side effects that may have cropped up since you started the medication and chat about whether you should continue using that type or try a different one. 

After you have your initial consultation, you can get a three-month supply of your prescription (a 30-day supply starts at $15) delivered to your door for free. As of February, however, Nurx started charging a $3 per month support fee every time a refill goes out.

Nurx also has home STI test kits (depending on the state you live in), mental health services, and prescriptions for migraines, allergies, eyelash growth, and hair loss if you need more than your birth control sent through the mail.

With Insurance: Twentyeight Health

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Key Specs

• Cost: $20 doctor evaluation annually; $16/pack without insurance
• Medical Consultation Required? No
• Accepts Insurance? Yes

Why We Chose It

Twentyeight Health is focused on supporting the reproductive health of people who menstruate, and helps make birth control affordable for all by accepting most major insurance plans and offering low out-of-pocket costs.

Pros & Cons

The cost of birth control can be an obstacle for people who need it. If you don’t have insurance, that monthly expense can mount up, but the cost of not taking it could be detrimental to your health, especially if you have a condition like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).  Twentyeight Health aims to address this by accepting most major insurance carriers, and offering a out-of-pocket cost for birth control that’s lower than most other companies we reviewed. 

After answering an interactive medical questionnaire, a doctor will suggest a birth control method that’s best for your needs via a message through the patient portal or a video call. If you’re paying with insurance, Twentyeight Health has over 100 brands to choose from that only cost your co-pay amount (which is often $0 for most major insurance companies). If you are paying out of pocket, there are over 60 brands available at $16/month. The company also accepts Medicaid if you live in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. 

In addition to daily birth control, Twentyeight Health also offers an emergency contraception pill — New Day — which is equivalent to Plan B One-Step®. The pill can easily be added to any birth control delivery delivery you already have scheduled so you have it on hand should you ever need it. It usually costs $0 with insurance or $15 without. 

In addition to birth control, Twentyeight Health can prescribe prescriptions for genital warts, herpes, prenatal vitamins, COVID-19 tests and, if you live in California or New York, the abortion pill. With every prescription filled that’s sent to a customer’s door, the company donates 2% to the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) and Bedsider (by Power to Decide) — nonprofit organizations that work to improve access to reproductive and sexual health care. 

Most Affordable Without Insurance: GoodRx

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Key Specs

• Cost: $19+ consult fee with membership, $49 without; $7+ for prescriptions
• Medical Consultation Required? Yes
• Accepts Insurance? Yes

Why We Chose It

You can get your prescription filled for a year after your first visit with a GoodRx prescriber, and birth control prescriptions start at the extremely budget-friendly out-of-pocket cost of $7. 

Pros & Cons

If you don’t have insurance and want to find affordable birth control online, GoodRx (which was started in 2010 when the founder realized how difficult it was to find the lowest prescription price at various pharmacies) might be a good bet. 

The website and free app (available on iOS and Android) allows you to search for discounted drugs or find coupons to use at your local pharmacy. GoodRx also allows you to book a medical consultation chat online with one of its medical professionals and — once the birth control order is approved — get refills for up to one year from that one visit. 

You will need to sign up for an account (though it offers a 30-day free trial) and fill out a health and medical history questionnaire first. But you can request specific prescriptions if you know a particular birth control has worked well for you in the past, such as a brand of pills, the patch, or rings. Emergency contraception is available in generic form.

The medical consultations start at $19 if you sign up for GoodRx’s Gold membership (plus $10 a month for the actual membership); they are $49 if you don’t want the membership. As a Gold member, you can connect with a medical professional at any time via the app using the messaging feature.

GoodRx is accepted at thousands of pharmacies around the country so if you want your order filled right away, you can likely get it that same day by picking it up. If you want it shipped to you, you need to be a Gold member, and it may take up to 10 days for your prescription to arrive. It is, however, important to note that there have been reports that GoodRx shared customers’ data with Facebook and other websites so they could target users with ads. 

For Fast Shipping: Amazon Pharmacy

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Key Specs

• Cost: Most prescriptions are $0 with insurance, and some are as low as $4/month without insurance; Prime members pay $5/month for RxPass
• Medical Consultation Required? No
• Accepts Insurance? Yes

Why We Chose It

Amazon Pharmacy is available in all 50 states and, if you’re a Prime member, you can get prescriptions filled with free two-day shipping.

Pros & Cons

If you’re already using Amazon to get your favorite necessities delivered quickly to your home, consider using Amazon Pharmacy for your hormonal contraceptive needs. Just like everything else on Amazon, Prime members get free two-day shipping on birth control.  

If you have a prescription from your physician, you can simply upload it to Amazon’s Pharmacy site via E-scribe (a software service that allows pharmacists, patients and doctors to all have access to prescription information) and get it filled. Some prescriptions are free with insurance, and others are discounted if you’re an Amazon Prime member. (Amazon Prime members who don't have insurance can get all their generic prescriptions filled and delivered for a flat fee of $5 with RxPass). Amazon Pharmacy has over 50 generic birth control medications available (with birth control pills in one-month supplies priced as low as $4 without insurance), including generic forms of the birth control shot and vaginal ring. It also has the generic form of the morning-after pill available.

You can connect with Amazon’s pharmacists 24/7 via phone or chat on the website to ask questions about your prescription and side effects. That said, Amazon doesn’t have nurse practitioners or medical doctors on staff, so you may not get a super comprehensive response.

For PCOS: Sesame Inc.

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Key Specs

• Cost: $35+ for a consultation without membership, $11 monthly or $99 annual membership, $5+ generic prescriptions
• Medical Consultation Required? Yes
• Accepts Insurance? No; accepts HSA/FSA payments and will provide superbill for potential insurance reimbursement

Why We Chose It 

Combination birth control pills can help people with PCOS manage their symptoms as well as avoid pregnancy. Sesame immediately connects you to medical professionals, such as endocrinologists. who have often have same-day availability, and can answer your questions via the phone or a video call.

Pros & Cons

Combined hormonal birth control pills (that contain both progestin and estrogen) can be used for treating PCOS by helping to regulate the hormone imbalance that comes with this condition. Sesame, also known as Sesame Care, has a large roster of medical professionals, including endocrinologists, available for immediate appointments. They can prescribe the right birth control pills for your condition after analyzing your health history. “Since PCOS is a spectrum of symptoms, if someone wants to be more specific to their needs, a consultation with a physician is best,” says Staci Tanouye, MD, FACOG, a gynecologist in Jacksonville, Florida.

If you subscribe to its membership SesamePlus, which starts at $11 per month, you’ll have ongoing access to medical professionals who can help you manage your PCOS symptoms and answer any questions you may have along the way. Birth control pills are typically generic and can cost as little as $5 per 30-day supply. The generic form of the morning-after pill is also available, but pricing for it depends on the provider and your insurance.

At Sesame, the cost of your telehealth consultation usually starts at $35 but varies depending on the provider. We like that you can choose from thousands of doctors, read their reviews, and see the times they’re available via the site. If you want to schedule an in-person consultation in one of the nine states where that’s available, you can see which MDs have openings as early as the next day near where you live.

For Simple Prescriptions Refilling: Lemonaid Health

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Key Specs

• Cost: Free or $25 consult, then $15+ for a 30-day supply
• Medical Consultation Required? Yes
• Accepts Insurance? Yes

Why We Chose It 

Lemonaid Health makes it easy to get refills on existing prescriptions or to fill a new hormonal birth control prescription by providing a free virtual consultation with a healthcare provider.

Pros & Cons

If you suddenly notice your birth control prescription is running out and it’s been a year since you saw your gynecologist, Lemonaid Health has you covered. Launched it 2013, it is a nationally available telehealth service that has doctors and nurses readily available for a virtual consultation so you can get a new prescription, and your medication, ASAP.

Medical consultations are $25 if you haven’t used Lemonaid Health before, or free if you have and you’ve simply run out of refills. With over 100 hormonal birth control pills, the ring, and the patch available, as well as the morning-after pill, you should be able to find what you’re looking for. Prices start around $15 for a monthly prescription if you don’t have insurance. (The company also has a number of health services if you need prescriptions for mental health, general health, skin care treatments, or STI testing too.)

After you’re approved for birth control, you can get a three-month supply all at once shipped for free to your home. We love this feature so we don’t have to think “when is my birth control arriving?” each month. This aspect makes it great for travelers to have an extra pack on hand, too.

With a Subscription: Blink Health

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Key Specs

• Cost: $10 monthly subscription fee; many pills start at $10
• Medical Consultation Required? Not always; in some cases and states
• Accepts Insurance? Yes

Why We Chose It 

With a Blink Health subscription, you get access to unlimited messaging with licensed healthcare providers, plus auto-refills and affordable prescriptions compared to other companies we reviewed.

Pros & Cons

While signing up for another subscription service might not sound like a good idea at first, Blink Health makes it worth it, especially if you don’t already have an active birth control prescription. 

Blink Health was founded in 2014 to connect Americans with affordable prescriptions — no matter their insurance status. If you already have a prescription and prefer not to use the subscription service, you can simply upload your prescription, and the company will shop around for discounts. Once you approve the Rx price, you can simply go pick it up at your local pharmacy. Emergency contraception is also available with a prescription.

After you submit a request for birth control via the website, a provider will follow up within 24 hours for a virtual consultation. Once your chosen medication is approved and prescribed, it will be shipped to you in three to five business days. Blink Health prescriptions are also accepted at over 35,000 pharmacies around the U.S. if you’d rather go and pick up your prescription in person. Blink Health also has pharmacists you can connect with on the app at any time if you have questions.

For Medical Support: HealthTap

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Key Specs

• Cost: $45 for three months of membership
• Medical Consultation Required? Yes
• Accepts Insurance? Yes

Why We Chose It 

HealthTap prescriptions are written by a U.S.-based HealthTap doctor who is board-certified and has undergone rigorous training to be part of the company’s team.

Pros & Cons

One major benefit of getting your birth control from your gynecologist or GP is knowing you’ll have the same doctor every time, which is not often the case when getting prescriptions online. HealthTap, however, allows you to work with the same U.S. board-certified doctor when you sign up for a membership. 

You subscribe for $15 per month and are billed for three months at a time. A video consultation with a doctor costs $44 or less. While the company takes insurance, how much of the visit, subscription costs, or medication costs are covered depends on your plan.

Keeping the same doctor means you’ll be working with someone who’s familiar with your medical history and concerns for the length of your membership, which can be a great comfort when dealing with sexual health. It’s also much easier than having to explain your medical history to a new doc every time you have a concern. The company guarantees responses to follow-up questions and clarifications with your doctor within one business day. If you need a response faster than that, find or post any question in the app for quick text answers from a network of 90,000 doctors. 

The birth control options HealthTap providers can prescribe include birth control pills, contraceptives, emergency contraception, and spermicides. The company doesn’t send prescriptions to your doorstep, but it will work with a local pharmacy so you can pick them up quickly. The doctors on the platform treat a number of other sexual health conditions as well, such as UTIs, STDs and STIs, PMS, and PCOS. The app also offers an “anytime urgent care” option for $59 or less. 

For Education: Pandia Health

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Key Specs

• Cost: $25 for the initial consult; prescriptions start as low as $7 without insurance
• Medical Consultation Required? Yes
• Accepts Insurance? Yes

Why We Chose It 

Pandia Health is a doctor-founded and doctor-led online birth control company that has a lot of content available to read or watch about birth control options on its website. 

Pros & Cons

Someone who is shopping for online birth control might have a lot of questions, so it’s nice to be able to work with a company that was founded by someone who menstruates and answers FAQs about reproductive health in articles and videos on the site. Pandia Health was founded by Dr. Sophia Yen, an established ob/gyn who has a YouTube channel that offers tons of information about reproductive health. 

If you already have an active prescription from your doctor, Pandia Health provides free delivery of your birth control (including emergency contraception) to all 50 states. Your physician will send an e-prescription to one of Pandia’s partner pharmacies and it will take care of the shipping. Prescriptions start as low as $7 per month if you don’t have insurance. Many of the birth control options Pandia offers are covered by insurance, though.

We like that the site answers many questions you may have about birth control on its blog, resources, and video pages, which have been reviewed by a medical doctor if not written by one. If you prefer to watch videos, Dr. Yen has a robust YouTube channel with some of the more popular videos appearing on Pandia Health’s site, covering topics such as “managing cramps" and “how to skip your period naturally.”

Of note: If you need a new prescription, Pandia Health only provides online doctor visits for prescriptions to those residing in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, or Wyoming (as of March 2023).