Keeps is worth it for many men, but whether it’s worth it for you depends on how early you’re catching your hair loss, how much convenience matters to you, and whether you’re willing to save money by getting generic medications elsewhere. The treatments Keeps sells (finasteride and minoxidil) are the same FDA-approved medications prescribed everywhere for male pattern hair loss, and they genuinely work. What you’re paying for beyond the drugs themselves is the telehealth consultation, the bundled subscription, and the convenience of home delivery.
What Keeps Actually Sells
Keeps isn’t a proprietary formula or a supplement. It’s a telehealth platform that connects you with a licensed provider who can prescribe two well-established hair loss medications: oral finasteride (1 mg tablets) and topical minoxidil (5% foam or solution). These are the same drugs you’d get from a dermatologist or a local pharmacy. Keeps also sells a 2% ketoconazole shampoo, which can help with scalp health and is sometimes used alongside the core treatments.
The consultation is free. You answer some health questions, upload photos of your hair, and a provider reviews everything before writing a prescription. Treatments ship to your door every 3, 6, or 12 months depending on your plan. If you want ongoing access to a medical professional through the app, that’s an additional $10 per month.
Do the Treatments Work?
Yes. Finasteride and minoxidil are the two most effective non-surgical options for male pattern baldness, and the clinical evidence behind them is extensive.
Finasteride works by blocking the hormone responsible for shrinking hair follicles. In clinical studies, roughly 80 to 90 percent of men who take it see their hair loss stabilize, and a significant portion experience regrowth. One study found improved hair thickness in about 82% of patients and improved hair density in nearly 69%. Results vary, but the drug consistently outperforms placebo by a wide margin.
Minoxidil works differently. Applied directly to the scalp, it stimulates blood flow to hair follicles and extends the growth phase of each hair. The 5% concentration that Keeps uses (the stronger of the two available strengths) produced 45% more hair regrowth than the 2% version in a 48-week clinical trial, and men using the 5% formula saw results sooner.
Using both together is more effective than either one alone. That’s why most providers, including Keeps, recommend the combination for men with noticeable thinning.
How Long Before You See Results
This is where patience matters. Most men notice early improvements like reduced shedding and better hair texture within 3 to 6 months. More significant, visible regrowth typically takes 6 to 12 months. Some men actually experience increased shedding in the first few weeks as weaker hairs fall out and are replaced by stronger ones. That’s normal, and it’s not a sign the treatment is failing.
If you stop taking the medications, any hair you regrew or maintained will gradually thin again. These treatments work only as long as you use them, which is why the subscription model exists in the first place.
Side Effects Are Uncommon
The most common concern with finasteride is sexual side effects, particularly reduced libido or erectile dysfunction. In a large real-world analysis of over 600,000 men using a topical finasteride and minoxidil combination, sexual side effects were reported by 0.002% of users. That’s roughly 1 in 50,000. Overall, only about 2.7% of users reported any side effects at all.
The most frequently reported issues were scalp irritation (common with any topical product), dizziness, and increased heart rate, each affecting fewer than 0.01% of users. Depression, anxiety, and cognitive concerns were each reported by about 0.002% of patients. These numbers come from a real-world telehealth dataset, which tends to capture a broader picture than controlled clinical trials.
That said, individual responses vary. If you notice anything unusual, your provider can adjust your treatment.
What Keeps Costs
Keeps uses a subscription model with discounts for first-time subscribers. Here’s what a 3-month supply costs at regular pricing:
- Finasteride (oral): $80
- Minoxidil solution: $33
- Minoxidil foam: $50
- Finasteride + minoxidil foam bundle: $130
- Finasteride + minoxidil solution bundle: $113
- Topical finasteride and minoxidil gel: $180
- Ketoconazole shampoo: $33
First-time subscribers pay roughly half. The finasteride and minoxidil solution bundle, for example, drops to $62 for your first 3-month order. If you go with the most popular combo (oral finasteride plus minoxidil), you’re looking at roughly $37 to $43 per month at regular prices.
Keeps vs. Getting a Generic Prescription
This is the real question behind “is Keeps worth it.” A 30-day supply of generic finasteride 1 mg at a local pharmacy costs about $45 at retail, but with a GoodRx coupon, it can drop to under $5. That’s a dramatic difference. If you already have a prescription from your doctor or dermatologist, buying generic finasteride at a pharmacy is significantly cheaper than going through Keeps.
Minoxidil doesn’t require a prescription at all. You can buy 5% minoxidil foam or solution over the counter at any drugstore or online for roughly the same price or less than what Keeps charges.
What Keeps offers in exchange for the price premium is convenience: the telehealth visit, the bundled prescriptions, and automatic refills shipped to your door. For someone who doesn’t have a regular dermatologist, doesn’t want to schedule an office visit, or simply values the ease of a one-stop subscription, that convenience has real value. But if you’re comfortable managing your own prescriptions, you can get identical medications for considerably less.
Keeps vs. Hims and Roman
Keeps isn’t the only telehealth hair loss platform. Hims and Roman offer the same core medications with slightly different pricing and features.
Keeps tends to be the least expensive of the three for finasteride and minoxidil, while Hims is generally the most expensive. Hims does offer the widest product range, including a topical finasteride combined with 6% minoxidil, biotin gummies, and thickening shampoo. Roman keeps things simpler with generic finasteride and solution-based minoxidil only (no foam option).
All three offer free initial consultations. Roman stands out by including free unlimited follow-ups, while Keeps charges $10 per month for ongoing provider access through their app. Keeps is also the only one of the three that sells ketoconazole shampoo, which some men find helpful for dandruff and scalp inflammation that can accompany hair loss.
The differences are mostly about convenience preferences rather than treatment quality. The medications themselves are identical across all three platforms.
Who Gets the Most Value From Keeps
Keeps makes the most sense for men who are in the early to moderate stages of hair loss. Finasteride and minoxidil are far more effective at maintaining existing hair and regrowing recently lost hair than at restoring areas that have been completely bald for years. If your hairline is just starting to recede or your crown is thinning, starting treatment now gives you the best chance of keeping what you have.
If you’re looking for the cheapest possible way to treat hair loss, Keeps isn’t it. A dermatologist visit plus generic medications from a pharmacy with a discount coupon will cost less over time. But if you want a streamlined process where everything from the consultation to the prescription to the delivery is handled in one place, Keeps delivers that reliably and at a lower price than most of its direct competitors.