A single birth control shot costs anywhere from $0 to $150, depending on your insurance, where you live, and which clinic you visit. You need four shots per year (one every 13 weeks), so the annual cost without insurance can range from roughly $100 to $600. With most insurance plans, you’ll pay nothing.
Cost Per Shot Without Insurance
The medication itself is the biggest variable. The brand-name version runs about $59 per dose, while the generic costs between $26 and $43 per dose. On top of that, your clinic charges a visit fee for a nurse or provider to administer the injection. Combined, each follow-up visit typically falls in the $0 to $150 range.
Your first visit tends to cost more because most clinics require an initial exam before starting you on the shot. That exam can add $0 to $250 to the price of your first injection, depending on the provider. After that first appointment, you’re looking at just the shot and a brief office visit every three months.
Cost With Insurance
Under the Affordable Care Act, most marketplace and employer-sponsored insurance plans must cover FDA-approved contraceptive methods with no copay, no coinsurance, and no deductible, as long as you use an in-network provider. That means the shot, the office visit, and any related counseling should all be $0 out of pocket for most insured patients.
The key detail is “in-network.” If you go to an out-of-network clinic, your plan can charge you the full price. Some grandfathered plans and certain employer plans with religious exemptions also don’t have to follow the ACA contraceptive mandate, so it’s worth confirming coverage with your insurer before your appointment.
Brand Name vs. Generic
The brand-name shot (Depo-Provera) contains the same active ingredient as the generic version. The difference is price: roughly $59 per dose for the brand versus $26 to $43 for the generic. If you’re paying out of pocket, asking your clinic or pharmacy for the generic can save you $15 to $33 per injection, which adds up to $60 to $130 over a full year of shots.
Sliding Scale and Low-Cost Options
If you don’t have insurance, community health centers and Planned Parenthood clinics offer sliding scale pricing based on your household size and income. At some locations, the lowest income tier qualifies for a $0 shot. Higher tiers at one Planned Parenthood affiliate, for example, charge $88 for the initial visit and $38 for follow-up shots, scaling up to $220 and $94 at the highest income bracket. Fees vary by location, but the principle is the same: you pay what you can afford, and no one is turned away.
Title X family planning clinics operate similarly, providing contraception on a sliding fee scale across all 50 states. You can search for one near you through the Office of Population Affairs website.
Annual Cost Breakdown
Since you need four shots per year, here’s what the math looks like:
- With ACA-compliant insurance (in-network): $0 per year
- Without insurance, generic, at a low-cost clinic: roughly $100 to $250 per year
- Without insurance, brand name, at a private provider: roughly $350 to $600 per year, plus an initial exam fee of up to $250
Compared to other methods, the shot falls in a moderate price range. It costs more per year than generic birth control pills (often $20 to $50 per month without insurance) but far less upfront than an IUD, which can run $500 to $1,300 before insurance.
The Self-Injection Option
A subcutaneous version of the shot can be prescribed for self-injection at home. This eliminates the office visit fee for follow-up appointments, since you administer the shot yourself every three months. While this use is technically off-label in the U.S., it’s widely practiced internationally and increasingly offered by U.S. providers. Insurance coverage for the subcutaneous version varies, so check with your plan. Even without coverage, skipping four office visits per year can meaningfully reduce your total annual cost.
Hidden Costs to Know About
If you wait longer than 15 weeks between shots, your provider will likely require a pregnancy test before giving you the next one, which adds a small fee. You’ll also need to use backup contraception for seven days after a late shot, so keeping your appointments on a strict 13-week schedule avoids both the extra cost and the gap in protection.
Long-term use of the shot is linked to temporary decreases in bone density. Some providers recommend increasing calcium intake, but routine bone density scans are not considered necessary for healthy patients using the shot. In other words, you shouldn’t expect additional monitoring costs just because you’re on this method.
How Effective It Is for the Price
With perfect use, the shot is 99.8% effective. With typical use, which accounts for people who occasionally get their shots late, effectiveness drops to about 94%. That 6% typical-use failure rate is higher than IUDs or implants but comparable to the pill. The convenience of only needing to think about contraception four times a year, rather than daily, is a real advantage for people who struggle with pill schedules.