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Medically reviewed by, Russell Braun RPH

Thinking about trying the GoodRx app or prescription discount card? Are you looking for an honest GoodRx app review that isn’t another page from the GoodRx website? What about the GoodRx competitors? Well, you found the right place.

Far too many people can relate to your story. You just saw your doctor and they wrote another prescription for you to take. In the back of your mind you wonder how much this one will cost. The budget is getting strained already by all the medications you are taking.

Sound familiar?

If so, you are not alone. Good news, the ability to save a bunch of money on medications can be right in the palm of your hand. Money saving apps like GoodRx have been reviewed in a lot of news stories touting the 80% off much like they are sales people for GoodRx. However, they often miss the key features and things you need to know about the app and website along with how they stack up to competitors.

News media, friends and neighbors probably don’t understand exactly how the GoodRx app and website work. Pharmacist get asked about pharmacy prescription discount cards all the time. The drug experts can give you the low down on these programs and here at BestRxforSavings, we are dedicated to helping you save money on medication.

The questions in your mind

Did you see an ad on television, online, get a flyer at the pharmacy or receive a GoodRx card in the mail? Does an offer like this claiming to be a FREE way to save up to 80% on medications seem to good to be true?

1. What is the GoodRx pharmacy prescription drug discount savings card?

GoodRx is a company that offers a free (more on this below) prescription discount card. It claims to save you up to 80% on prescription medications. They have a website and mobile app that allow you to search for prices at pharmacies near you on your medication. The GoodRx app is also free to download.

GoodRx contracts with pharmacies to get discounts on prescription medications. It is important to remember this is NOT insurance. The size of the discount will vary drug by drug and pharmacy by pharmacy. While these discount cards do save money, the average savings is normally much less than 80%.

You can get information on medication prices by simply going to the website and searching based on the drug name and dosage. After that, results with prices will display from several pharmacies. Select the one you want and then you can print, text or email yourself the discount coupon. Finally, you can use the app and just pull it out at the pharmacy to obtain the savings.

Below is what the website with a basic search box for your medication looks like.

At the pharmacy, they will use the numbers on the GoodRx prescription card when filling your script and give you the price you saw on the website. Making the process very simple.

Certain services are offered by GoodRx in addition to prescription savings. This includes items listed below.

• See an online doctor today allows you to compare telehealth companies and shows the cost.
• Places near you to order lab tests or order them online.
• GoodRx Gold their paid membership, more on this below.
• InsideRx where GoodRx partners with Express Scripts, a major pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) to bring discounts on certain branded drugs.
• Hey doctor allows you to search for doctors by specialty and obtain an appointment.
• GoodRx for pets, which helps you find common drugs used in pets that people pharmacies may have.

2. What types of drugs are included?

The GoodRx app and website allow you to search by individual drug, drug class, condition being treated, or most popular drugs.

Like other pharmacy prescription discount card programs, GoodRx offers savings on any drug you have a prescription for. That means if you take a drug that is Over The Counter (OTC) you will not be able to search and find it. Therefore, you will not be able to receive a discount in those cases.

Keep in mind that some drugs sold as OTC’s do have prescription strengths. In those cases you would be able to find the prescription strength versions. Similarly, some human medications can be used for pets. In those cases you can also use your GoodRx discount for pet medications.

Dietary supplements, vitamins, herbal products will not be available for discounts via GoodRx app or website.

3. What pharmacies show up in the GoodRx app?

GoodRx claims to work at 70,000 pharmacies across the U.S. That number correlates to roughly all pharmacies in the U.S. and Puerto Rico and is likely a little inflated. Major chain pharmacies that are included would honor GoodRx discounts at all of their stores. The table below lists some of the largest pharmacies that accept GoodRx.

Smaller local chains or independent pharmacies may not accept GoodRx. They have to offer discounts and some of those pharmacies can’t compete in that game like the larger chains can. If you use one of these pharmacies ask them to price match without using GoodRx. Many times to keep your business they will do that!

4. Do pharmacies lose money with GoodRx?

GoodRx is “free” so how do they make money, is there a catch?

There are different types of discount cards and they make money in slightly different ways. GoodRx is free to the user because they make money off of the data they collect. Marketing of data is big business! While they may not share your personal details with marketers or pharmaceutical manufacturers, rest assured they can get paid for the rest of the information collected.

They also offer the advantage of working directly with a pharmacy to get a discounted price. Therefore, the insurance middleman who run some discount programs don’t get a cut of the savings. GoodRx also keeps part of the discount the pharmacy is offering in exchange for driving traffic to them.

Therefore, it really is free to you! Just keep in mind these details from their terms of use.

5. GoodRx terms and conditions

Below are some important points you need to know about how GoodRx uses your data. Some are directly from their terms and conditions. These are not a reason not to use GoodRx prescription discount card, but be aware how your data could be used.

1. “GoodRx may allow users to request and receive pricing information, coupons and marketing messages via communications including but not limited to text messaging and email. By consenting to receive pricing information and coupons from GoodRx, you are consenting to be contacted with prescription-related information. You acknowledge that there may be some risk that the information in the communication(s) could be read by a third party“

2. “If you provide us with your information, you agree to let us use such personal information in order to provide services to you, to run our business (including for the purposes of internal business operations and analytics, to provide, change, market or optimize our services and products) and to communicate and market to you (directly or via third parties).”

3. Below are the following types of data GoodRx may collect from you:

• Geo-location
• IP address
• Cookies
• Marketing technology, examples include Google and Facebook. This is where GoodRx allows third parties to collect your information.
• Web beacons
• Mobile device information including your browsing history.

4. GoodRx was recently targeted in an article by consumer reports stating the company shares data with Facebook, Google and many more companies. GoodRx actually wrote an apology post and stated a new data privacy officer would be dedicated to protecting privacy in the future.

6. Is GoodRx better than insurance?

You can NOT combine any pharmacy prescription drug discount card with insurance. GoodRx is no exception to this rule.

However, it is important to remember you should ALWAYS look at prices of medications that are covered by your insurance using the GoodRx pricing tool. Why?

The answer is simple but shocking to most people. Your insurance copay does not guarantee you the best price! In many cases the GoodRx prescription discount card will be cheaper than your copay. See the example below.

Comparison shopping using the GoodRx prescription discount card is a great way to save money! In addition to retail pharmacies they offer a mail order option as well. GoodRx partners with HealthWarehouse to provide mail order services if you would rather have your medications delivered to your home.

What about drugs not covered by insurance?

When insurance is not going to foot the bill for your drug, you should always shop around using a pharmacy prescription drug discount app like GoodRx.

Some examples of this include:

1. Have a high deductible health plan (HDHP)?

• The pharmacy is not going to offer up the discounted price to you, instead you need to know that this is available and search for the best price.
• Keep in mind that any time GoodRx app prescription discount card is used that will NOT apply toward your deductible.

If you use a discount card to pay for your medication during the coverage gap in Medicare it doesn’t count toward your out of pocket  (TROOP) expenses either. However, if you don’t expect to get out of the coverage gap and into the catastrophic phase then saving all that you can with a prescription discount card is the way to go. This would reduce your overall money out of pocket until everything resets on January 1st.  

2. Drugs that Medicare and commercial insurance commonly do not cover are used to treat the following health problems.

• For these medications pharmacy prescription drug discount cards may be the only way to get money off of the full cash price!

7. GoodRx Gold membership

In addition to the basic drug price searching features GoodRx offers, they also have a membership option. GoodRx Gold is a monthly membership that costs $5.99/month for one person or $9.99/month for a family (up to 5 people).

The membership offers you larger savings amounts than you would find by just searching the GoodRx app discounted price. GoodRx gold claims to save you up to 90% off of retail prices for certain medications.

How does it work?

GoodRx Gold is able to provide the deeper discounts with membership in a few ways:

1. Fewer pharmacies are available. GoodRx contracts deeper discounts with certain pharmacies who are willing to take a larger cut to the amount they make on the drug. In many cases the pharmacies may actually be losing money in hopes you will buy other goods while you are in the store.

2. The increased savings are mostly for generic drugs.

2. GoodRx is able to capture more data on you when you sign up for the membership.

Is membership worth it?

Some people may benefit by signing up for a GoodRx Gold membership. It will come down to how many medications you take and how much your insurance copayment is.

GoodRx Gold offers a 30 day free trial so you could sign up and compare prices to see if it would make sense for you.

8. Is GoodRx.com legitimate?

Yes, GoodRx is a legitimate prescription discount card. Let me provide you with some facts to back up that statement.

• GoodRx has been in business for 8 years.
• They have a customer service phone number you can call that is available 8am-7pm 7 days a week.
• Accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) since October of 2016.
• Received an A+ rating from the BBB
• They received 4.5 stars on reviews on the BBB website.
• GoodRx.com is listed as a safe website by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP). They are the organization that regulates pharmacy laws state by state. Their safe website verification is intended to help patients know if they can trust online pharmacies.
• Legitscript.com has certified GoodRx for legality, safety and transparency.

How does GoodRx set their price?

Knowing how prices are set before you go to the pharmacy can save you from heartache and frustration. Prices pharmacies pay to acquire drugs changes very frequently, like several times per day! Keep these things in mind before you go to the pharmacy.

1. GoodRx prices come from many sources such as:

• Published price lists
• Claims of prescriptions that have been filled in the past
• Price data provided by pharmacies

2. GoodRx prices can change at any time.

3. No prices are gauranteed, they are estimates.

4. Most of the savings with discount programs comes from generic drugs, which can have many different manufacturers making generics of the same medication.

• Therefore, if GoodRx uses one manufacturer but the pharmacy has pills from a different one the prices will not match.

9. Pros of GoodRx prescription discount card:

1. It is free to use, just remember your data is being shared.

2. No problems that you run into with insurance such as:

• Prior authorization
• Formulary problems
• Drug not being covered
• Quantity being limited
• Step therapy required

3. No eligibility requirements for use.

4. Membership option that could save you even more.

5. Save on pet medications when your vet writes a prescription for a human medication that is used for your animal companion.

6. They have a mail order pharmacy option called HealthWarehouse that can allow home delivery of many popular drugs.

7. In the results of a search they show an option asking if you need a prescription for that medication. Selecting that would lead you right into an online appointment where you could obtain the prescription.

8. Doctor visits via telehealth with discounted prices are just one click away to compare prices.

10. Cons of GoodRx prescription discount card:

1. Prices can change unexpectedly.

2. Prices may change between refills.

3. Over the counter drugs are not able to be searched and priced. Only medications that are prescription strength.

4. Most results will be large chain pharmacies. Local pharmacies and independents can’t afford to offer large discounts required to be offered on the GoodRx app.

5. When you pay with a GoodRx prescription discount card the amount you pay after the discount DOES NOT APPLY TO YOUR DEDUCTIBLE for insurance or toward out of pocket maximum amounts.

11. What do the customer reviews say?

The Better Business Bureau website has over 283 patient reviews on GoodRx. However, like with any review keep in mind most reviews are left by people who had some kind of issue or problem.

You can click here to view the BBB page for GoodRx. You will notice they also have over 30 complaints. That may make you think twice about using GoodRx. However, 30 complaints is not that many when you think about how often GoodRx is being used. In addition, the majority of complaints center around a price discrepancy.

Let’s face it, medications can be confusing. Strange strengths, dosage forms, quantities can lead even someone familiar with medication to pick a variable that is not correct. When that happens and the patient thinks they have the right price, only to find out it doesn’t match, naturally they get angry. Several of the reviews on the BBB site appear to be related to this type of situation.

Helpful tips from the reviews

• The price quoted may change day to day or even within a few hours.
• Make sure you print the coupon and take it with you, or have it available on your phone.
• Quoted prices do not always match, GoodRx customer service says that prices are estimated and final price comes from the pharmacy.

12. What is similar to GoodRx and is there anything better?

GoodRx is similar to other pharmacy prescription discount card programs. Most offer websites and apps or the option to print off a physical card that can be taken to the pharmacy. In addition, they most make there money the same way. Here are some of the most common GoodRx competitors:

• SingleCare
• Blink Health
• WellRx
• US Pharmacy Card
• Drug Discount Network
• Script Relief

Read my overview on pharmacy prescription discount cards for more details.

The main difference(s) between GoodRx and it’s competitors include:

• Discount amounts
• Medical services
• Scheduling services
• Home delivery options
• Medical supplies
• Paid memberships

13. What is the best Rx discount card?

This question is going to depend on what prescriptions you take and what area of the country you live in. The GoodRx app has more pharmacies and probably a bigger discount overall for most medications.

There is not a one size fits all approach to pharmacy prescription discount cards!

Therefore, the BestRxforSavings best practice is to put all the drugs you take in a medication list and then spend some time comparing prices utilizing all the drug discount card apps or websites.

Some may offer price match guarantees as well. That way you don’t have to drive all over town to different pharmacies or always use different discount apps.

Below is a table showing how GoodRx stacks up against SingleCare and Blink Health for the top 10 prescription medications (by number filled). Keep in mind this is for a midwestern U.S. location and drug prices change frequently.

How to get the GoodRx app

As you can see in the picture below you can get the GoodRx app by simply providing your phone number in the website and they will text you a link to click and download it. Or if you are more tech savvy you can always just search GoodRx in the app store or in google play.

Click here to get Dr. Jason Reed’s exclusive list of medication questions you MUST ask your doctor, for FREE!

Share your story

Have you tried using the GoodRx app, website or discount card? Also, please share how much it saved you. Chime in below with your comments and thoughts.

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