How picks work

The short version: a provider makes the shortlist when it clears six rules. Picks are ordered by what matters to you: a clear price, real clinical care, a good fit for your goal and whether they serve your state. Partners and non-partners go through the same rules and the same order. Being a partner can't buy a spot on a list.

The six rules

Every one has to hold. They come from the provider's own website, plans and terms.

1. A clinician sees you first. A licensed clinician reviews your intake, by video, phone or in writing, before any prescription ships.
2. The price shows before you pay. You can see the monthly price on the provider's site, or after the intake questions, without entering a card.
3. A licensed US pharmacy fills it. The provider names its pharmacy or says a licensed US pharmacy dispenses your order.
4. Care, not research chemicals. Nothing is sold "for research use only", and the provider doesn't prescribe compounds that pharmacies can't legally compound right now, like BPC-157 or ipamorelin.
5. There's a clear way out. Cancellation and refund terms are published where you can read them.
6. You can actually sign up. The intake works and the provider serves at least one named state.

Clear all six: In. Miss any: Not yet, and the one-line why says which rule it missed. A provider whose site stops taking patients comes off the lists entirely.

How a list is ordered

On each goal list, the providers that are In are ordered by four things:

Price clarity

One all-in monthly price on a public page beats a price you only see after questions.

Care

Labs that are part of the program, a live visit option, and ongoing follow-up with a clinician.

Fit for your goal

More than one form of the main treatment (say, injections and a nasal spray), or more than one treatment that matches the goal.

Reach

How many states the provider serves.

Ties go to the lower true monthly cost, then to the plan with fewer required extras, then alphabetical.

The first provider on a goal list gets the Top pick sticker. That sticker means "first in this order" and nothing else.

Where partners fit

Some providers are partners: if you join through our link, we may earn a fee. That status is shown with a small Partner tag on the card. It isn't an input to the order. A partner that misses a rule moves to Not yet like anyone else, and non-partners make the lists all the time. The full picture of how we earn is on How we earn.

What we don't publish

No scores out of 100, no stars, no overall winner. You get the verdict, the reason and the price. If a provider has an FDA warning letter addressed to it, that letter is shown on its own pick page, next to the button, so you see it before you click.

How the price works

The price on a pick is the month-to-month rate a new patient pays on the provider's own site, with any required membership folded in. A first-month promo isn't the price; the month-two price is. When a plan bills every four weeks, that's 13 charges a year, and the monthly figure reflects it. Every price on a pick page is dated in the byline month.

When things change

Prices and terms for every pick are re-read at least every 60 days, and sooner when a reader tells us something moved. If a pick stops meeting a rule, it moves to Not yet at that re-read. If we got a fact wrong, it goes on the fixes log.

What the quiz does

The 30-second match starts from the same order and filters it by your answers: goal, needles, labs, budget and state. Your last answer can re-sort the result by monthly cost or clinician time. Partner status plays no part, and the quiz never adds a provider that isn't In.