How Much Does Biote Cost in 2026? Real Clinic Prices, the Fees Quotes Hide, and Your Options

By The HRT Index Research Team · Educational only — not medical advice, and not medically reviewed by a clinician · Last verified June 20, 2026 · Biote did not pay for this analysis and is not an affiliate partner. Affiliate disclosure →

Biote doesn’t have one national price — each certified clinic sets its own. At the Biote clinic pages we checked, published women’s prices ran about $395 to $450 per pelleting visit, and most women need a new pellet every 3 to 4 months. At a typical ~$400 visit, that’s roughly $1,200 to $1,600 a yearin procedure fees alone — before the consult, labs, new-patient fee, supplements, or other prescriptions, which the quote often leaves out.

So here’s the thing to settle before you hand over a card: Is your quote actually complete? And is a pellet even the right way for you to do this? We’ll answer both — with real clinic prices, the fees that get left off, what insurance does and doesn’t cover, a Biote pellet recall from January 2026 you should know about, and two online routes that can give you FDA-approved, adjustable hormones if pellets turn out not to be your fit.

The quick answer (women’s menopause pricing)

These are published clinic prices, checked on clinic pages June 19, 2026 — not phone-confirmed personal quotes. A blank fee on a clinic’s page does not mean that fee is free.

How much does Biote cost for women in 2026?

Biote isn’t sold at one set price. It’s a brand and a network of independent certified clinics, and each clinic sets its own fees. At the Biote clinic pages we checked, published women’s prices ran about $395 to $450 per pelleting visit, with the wider market roughly $350 to $600. Most women get a new pellet every 3 to 4 months.

Biote (the company, traded on the Nasdaq as BTMD) trains and certifies independent clinics to insert its hormone pellets. Each pellet is about the size of a grain of rice. A provider numbs a small spot — usually on your upper hip or backside — makes a tiny opening, places one or more pellets in the fat under your skin, and you’re done in about 15 minutes. The pellets release hormones slowly for a few months, then dissolve, and you go back for more.

Because every clinic is its own business, prices vary. Here’s what real clinics published when we checked.

Biote clinic prices we verified (June 2026)

Other Biote clinics publish women’s prices outside this band — some near $350, some up to about $600 — so confirm your local clinic’s current fee. We re-check these prices on a fixed schedule and expand the verified list over time.

Why one clinic’s $395 can cost more than another’s $450

The visit fee is only one line on the bill. Two clinics can advertise a similar pellet price, but the one that bundles your consult and labs can end up cheaper over a year than the one that charges for each separately. A low visit price is not the same as a low first-year cost.That’s the trap — so let’s add up the real number.

How much does Biote cost per month and per year?

At a typical ~$400 visit and 3 to 4 visits a year, Biote’s procedure fees come to about $1,200 to $1,600 a year — roughly $100 to $135 a month when you spread it over twelve months. You don’t actually pay monthly, though: you pay the full visit fee each time, and your first year usually costs more because of the consult and baseline labs.

Your first year tends to be the most expensive, because that’s when the consult, baseline labs, and any new-patient fee all land at once. Which brings us to the fees the headline price leaves out.

What’s included in a Biote quote — and what usually costs extra?

A quoted Biote visit price doesn’t automatically include the consult, lab work, a new-patient fee, follow-up testing, supplements, or other prescriptions. Clinic pricing is inconsistent — some pages bundle selected services, others charge for each separately. To budget honestly, treat every required fee a clinic hasn’t listed as unknown, not as zero.

When women tell us they got “sticker shock,” it’s almost never the pellet price itself. It’s everything that showed up around it. So here is every charge to pin down before you pay.

The 9 fees to nail down

Total your real first-year cost

Here’s the honest reason this matters: most women researching Biote aren’t trying to dodge spending on their health. They just don’t want to be blindsided. A complete number, in writing, before you book — that’s how you walk in calm instead of cornered. Print the checklist above, take it to your consult, and make them fill in every line.

Does insurance cover Biote?

Many clinic pages list the pellet and the pelleting procedure as cash-pay. Whether any part is covered depends on your plan, your network, the billing codes, medical-necessity rules, and the exact service being billed — so no honest page can promise it’s always covered or never covered. Your consult and lab work may be handled separately from the procedure.

The most useful move here is to stop asking “Is Biote covered?” and split the bill into three parts, because they’re billed differently:

1. The consultation — sometimes billable to insurance.
2. The lab tests — sometimes billable, depending on your plan and the codes used.
3. The pellet, insertion, and procedure — commonly cash-pay.

Five questions for your insurer

1. Are the consultation and lab provider in my network?
2. Are the specific lab tests covered under my plan?
3. Is the pelleting procedure excluded as “compounded” or “elective”?
4. Can the clinic give me the diagnosis and procedure codes before I pay?
5. Can I submit an itemized superbill for possible out-of-network reimbursement?

For more on what insurance covers and doesn’t, see our guide: Does insurance cover HRT for menopause?

“HSA accepted” is not the same as “HSA eligible”

A clinic can happily swipe your HSA or FSA card without promising the expense actually qualifies under your plan or the tax rules. A medically necessary treatment may be eligible — but get an itemized receipt and confirm with your plan administrator before you count on it. Supplements face stricter eligibility rules than the treatment itself. (The IRS treats treatment costs and general supplements differently.) See: Can you use your HSA for HRT?

One factual contrast worth knowing: some FDA-approved hormones may be covered under your plan’s pharmacy benefit — subject to your formulary, deductible, copay, and any prior-authorization rules. Compounded pellets usually aren’t billed that way. If coverage is a deciding factor for you, that difference is worth weighing.

Why does Biote pricing vary so much by clinic?

Biote care is delivered through local certified clinics, not one nationwide checkout — so public prices differ based on how each clinic bundles consults, labs, follow-ups, supplements, and new-patient services, plus local costs and your treatment plan. No single national patient price appears on Biote’s own pages.

It helps to see who’s actually charging you. With Biote, several separate parties can be involved: the Biote brand and method, the local clinic that does your visit, the facility that supplies the pellets, the lab that runs your bloodwork, and any pharmacy or supplement charge. Each can carry its own fee.

That’s why a quote needs context. Compare these two:

• Quote A — “$425, pellet only.” Sounds clean. But the consult, labs, follow-up, and supplements are all unknown.
• Quote B — “$650 first-visit package.” Sounds higher. But it spells out the consult, baseline labs, follow-up labs, and the pellet.

Over twelve months, Quote B can easily be the cheaper, clearer choice. And a “starting at $350” price tells you almost nothing until you ask whether it changes with your treatment plan, whether labs are included, and how often you’ll need another visit.

Are Biote pellets FDA-approved — or compounded?

Biote describes its women’s pellets as custom-compounded hormones. That means they’re prepared by a compounding pharmacy or an FDA-registered outsourcing facility and are not FDA-approved finished drugs — a real difference from FDA-approved hormone therapy. “Bioidentical” describes the hormone’s molecular structure, not its approval or safety.

Let’s clear up the language first, because “bioidentical” and “compounded” answer two different questions.

• Compoundedmeans a pharmacy or outsourcing facility prepares the product rather than a drugmaker mass-producing an FDA-approved version. The FDA does not review compounded products for safety, effectiveness, or quality before they’re used.
• Bioidentical just means the hormone has the same molecular structure as the ones your body makes. It does not mean compounded, and it does not mean safer. FDA-approved bioidentical hormones already exist— like estradiol patches, gels, and pills you fill at a regular pharmacy.

So a compounded pellet and an FDA-approved patch can both be “bioidentical.” Only one of them is an FDA-approved, tested, finished product. See: Is compounded HRT safe? and Compounded vs. FDA-approved HRT.

What the major medical groups actually say

A note on testosterone, since Biote pellets often include it: testosterone is a prescription-only, Schedule III controlled substance, and no testosterone product is FDA-approved for women. Any testosterone prescribed for a woman is off-label and requires clinician evaluation and monitoring.

The drawback most women don’t think about until it’s too late

A pellet can’t be dialed down once it’s in. With a pill, patch, gel, or cream, if a dose doesn’t sit right, you and your clinician adjust or stop within days. A pellet keeps releasing until it dissolves — usually 3 to 4 months — and the dose can’t be routinely adjusted in the meantime. Removing one early means a second procedure, and it isn’t always simple. So if your level runs high, the effects can stay until the pellet wears off.

That matters most with testosterone. Because pellets can push hormone levels above the normal range, some women experience acne or oily skin, unwanted facial hair, thinning scalp hair, or — less often, and usually dose-related — a deeper voice. If you take systemic estrogen and still have your uterus, you generally also need a progestogen to protect the uterine lining.

To be fair to pellets

This isn’t one-sided. A 2024 critical review in the Journal of Clinical Medicineconcluded that subcutaneous estradiol pellets can be an effective option for specific women — for example, those who absorb patches poorly, who’ve had their ovaries removed, or who struggle to keep up with a daily routine — and that the safety problems reported with pellets are mainly tied to excessive dosing, re-implanting too soon, or skipping uterine protection, rather than the pellet route itself. The honest summary: the major bodies recommend FDA-approved options first, but a carefully dosed, well-monitored pellet can be a reasonable choice for the right woman who understands the tradeoffs.

Compounded pellet vs. FDA-approved hormone therapy

If “compounded, not FDA-approved, and you can’t adjust it for months” gives you pause, that instinct is worth listening to. A lot of women want exactly what a pellet can’t offer: an FDA-approved option, the ability to change course, and a cost their insurance can share.

What about the 2026 Asteria Health pellet recall?

We checked this against Biote’s SEC filing, the company’s investor disclosures, and FDA recall information. Here’s what’s confirmed.

• What happened:Asteria Health (legal name F.H. Investments, Inc.) recalled specific lots over possible metal particulate matter, with the FDA’s knowledge. (Biote Corp Form 8-K, filed Jan 26, 2026, sec.gov.)
• What was affected: Per the FDA enforcement record, the recall covered more than 118,000 estradiol pellets(6 mg–37.5 mg) — the type often used for menopause — along with more than 600,000 testosterone and testosterone-combination pellets (12.5 mg–200 mg). Distributed nationwide.
• How serious: On February 11, 2026, the FDA classified it Class II, meaning exposure may cause temporary or medically reversible health effects, with serious harm unlikely.
• What was not established:That every Biote clinic, pellet, or insertion was affected. Biote said it didn’t expect a material impact on its ability to supply pellets to clinics.

Why this belongs on a cost page

Because it’s a real, recent question to put to any clinic before you pay — and a good test of how transparent they are.

Ask before your visit:

1. Which facility supplies my pellets?
2. Can you document the manufacturer and lot number?
3. Was any of this clinic’s inventory part of the January 2026 recall?
4. How did you handle or quarantine any affected inventory?

If you were already treated:contact the clinic that treated you for the manufacturer and lot details and for personal medical guidance. Please don’t try to assess this from an article — including this one.

What we verified: Biote’s January 2026 SEC 8-K, the company’s investor disclosures, and the FDA enforcement record (recall classified Class II on Feb 11, 2026). Check the FDA’s enforcement report for current status. Rechecked June 20, 2026.

Is Biote worth the cost?

Biote can be worth it for a woman who strongly values infrequent dosing, is comfortable with an in-office procedure, understands the compounded status, and can afford the full cash-pay cost. It’s usually a weaker value for someone who wants insurance to help, prefers an FDA-approved medication, or wants to lower or stop her dose quickly.

The honest answer is “it depends what you’re optimizing for.” So match yourself to the right first step.

What women actually say

In menopause forums and published reviews, Biote experiences vary widely. Some women describe real relief in energy, mood, and libido. Others describe sticker shock, prices that crept up at re-pelleting, separate lab bills they didn’t expect, supplement add-ons, and a clinic visit that felt more like a sales pitch than a consult. A few report the androgenic effects above — acne, facial hair, thinning scalp hair. We share these as real shopping experiences, not as proof of how Biote will work for you; experiences are individual and not necessarily typical.

The pattern we see: the people who regret it usually didn’t get the full price, the compounded facts, or the dose-flexibility tradeoff before they paid. You now have all three.

If Biote isn’t your fit: two online routes with FDA-approved, adjustable options

If Biote’s cash price, compounded status, or “can’t adjust it” reality gives you pause, two telehealth providers can prescribe FDA-approved hormones you can change or stop without a procedure: Midi Health (which bills insurance) and Winona (cash-pay, with HSA/FSA). Both also offer some compounded options, clearly labeled. The real trade-off is that neither does pellets or in-person insertion.

Whether either costs less than Biote depends on your exact regimen and coverage — we won’t promise “cheaper,” because for some plans it isn’t. What they reliably give you that a pellet can’t: FDA-approved options, a dose you control, and no procedure.

Biote vs. Midi vs. Winona

Midi and Winona details checked June 19, 2026; confirm current pricing and state availability before you rely on them.

Midi Health — when you want insurance and FDA-approved care

If your real wish is “I want this done right, covered, and changeable,” Midi is the closest match. It’s a menopause-focused telehealth practice with clinicians who specialize in midlife hormones. It prescribes FDA-approved hormone therapy, bills insurance like a regular medical practice (in-network with most PPO plans; not Medicare or Medicaid), and accepts HSA/FSA. Self-pay is $250 for a first visit and $150 for follow-upsif you don’t use insurance.

Here’s a detail that should give you confidence: Midi’s clinicians won’t prescribe pellets at all.In their own words, pellets release hormones in amounts that can’t be controlled and can’t be adjusted once implanted — so they stick to low-dose therapy you can pause or change anytime. When even a provider that could sell you something refuses the pellet route for that exact reason, it tells you the tradeoff is real. See our full Midi Health review.

Winona — FDA-approved or compounded, shipped to your door

Some women want care that comes to them, on a simple cash-pay basis. That’s Winona. It’s an online menopause service with board-certified physicians. Its estrogen patches, estrogen tablets, and progesterone capsules are FDA-approved; it also offers compoundedestrogen/progesterone creams (the creams aren’t FDA-approved, though they’re made with FDA-approved ingredients). It doesn’t bill insurance directly, but it accepts HSA/FSA and lets you submit receipts for possible reimbursement. You can adjust or stop with your clinician — no procedure to change course. See our full Winona review.

One honest note: Winona doesn’t prescribe testosterone; it uses DHEA, a supplement the body can convert. And its pricing is per product, so your cost depends on your regimen — confirm the current price of yours before you start.

Still set on pellets?

Totally fair — they work well for some women. If that’s you, don’t go in blind. Get the all-in annual price in writing. Ask how the clinic avoids over-dosing and how it handles side effects you can’t quickly reverse. Confirm uterine protection if you take systemic estrogen and have a uterus. And ask which facility supplies your pellets and about the January 2026 recall.

How does Biote compare to a patch, pill, gel, or vaginal estrogen?

Biote uses a recurring procedure-fee model that’s usually cash-pay. FDA-approved patches, pills, gels, sprays, rings, and vaginal estrogen usually pair a clinician visit with a pharmacy fill, and they’re more often covered by insurance. Which is cheaper depends on your coverage, your formulation, and your symptoms — not the sticker price of one prescription.

Compare the care model before you compare the price tags.

Two honest cautions:

• Don’t compare unlike things.Vaginal estrogen (for dryness or painful sex) isn’t a replacement for full-body therapy if your problem is hot flashes and night sweats. They solve different jobs. See: Vaginal vs. systemic estrogen.
• Count both sides fully.A pellet’s price isn’t just the pellet, and a prescription’s price isn’t just the copay. Include the clinical care on both sides — and if you take systemic estrogen and have a uterus, your full regimen may include progesterone.

One question most comparisons skip: what does it cost you to change your mind? With a pellet, a dose change usually means waiting it out or paying for another procedure. With a pill, patch, gel, or cream, you adjust at your next refill. If you’re not 100% sure what you need yet, that flexibility has real value.

How do I compare two Biote clinic quotes?

Put both quotes on the same timeline — ideally the first 12 months — and treat any required fee a clinic hasn’t published as unknown, not zero. The better quote is the one with the clearest complete cost and sensible follow-up, not automatically the lowest visit price.

Ask each clinic the same twelve questions, then line up the answers:

1. Is this price for the first visit, a repeat visit, or both?
2. Does it include the pellet and the procedure?
3. Is the consultation separate?
4. Which initial labs are required?
5. Are follow-up labs required, and when?
6. Are annual labs separate?
7. Are supplements mandatory or optional?
8. Is progesterone or any other prescription separate?
9. What visit interval are you assuming for my yearly estimate?
10. What does a follow-up or “boost” cost?
11. Which facility or manufacturer supplies the pellet?
12. What are your refund, cancellation, and complication-follow-up policies?

A simple side-by-side you can fill in:

How do I find a Biote provider near me and get a complete quote?

Use Biote’s official provider locator to build a local shortlist, then ask at least two clinics for a complete first-year estimate. Compare clinical qualifications, pellet sourcing, monitoring, fee transparency, and follow-up — not just the visit price.

Start with the official locator at biote.com. Being listed there confirms a clinic is in Biote’s network — it isn’t an endorsement of any individual practice by us, so still do your homework.

Red flags worth walking away from:

• Claims that the compounded pellet is FDA-approved
• Claims that “natural” means safer
• Guaranteed results
• Refusal to name the supplying facility
• No written fee breakdown
• Pressure to pay before a real assessment
• No clear answer about the January 2026 recall

What we actually verified

For this page, The HRT Index gathered published prices from Biote clinic pages, recorded the fees they listed, and checked official Biote, FDA, ACOG, The Menopause Society, and IRS sources, plus Biote’s SEC filings on the 2026 recall. We treated published clinic prices as published prices — not phone-confirmed personal quotes.

We review providers using The HRT Index Verification Standard— our documented process of reading every published price, separating FDA-approved from compounded, verifying state availability and insurance, and re-checking on a fixed schedule. We evaluate on five things, always in this order: clinical legitimacy, care quality, medication fit, price transparency, and access.We don’t assign or invent numeric scores. See our full methodology.

What we checked:

• Published women’s Biote prices at the clinics named above, with dates and source pages
• How clinics describe consult, lab, and other fees
• Biote’s own description of its pellets as custom-compounded
• FDA, ACOG, and Menopause Society positions on compounded therapy and pellets
• The January 2026 Asteria Health recall, via Biote’s SEC filing and the FDA enforcement record
• Current Midi and Winona pricing, insurance, medication status, and state availability

What we did not verify (confirm these yourself):

• A phone quote from every clinic
• Your personal dose, candidacy, or insurance reimbursement
• Whether a fee a clinic didn’t publish is actually zero
• Which exact lot or facility a specific clinic uses today
• That every price is unchanged at checkout

Found something out of date? Tell us and we’ll fix it. Submit a correction →

Biote cost FAQs

The most common follow-up questions are about the visit price, the yearly total, lab charges, insurance, whether pellets are FDA-approved, how often you need them, whether the dose changes the price, and cheaper alternatives.

The bottom line

Biote’s published women’s prices run about $395 to $450 per pelleting visit (roughly $350 to $600 across the wider market), every 3 to 4 months— but the visit fee is rarely enough to predict your real first-year cost. Before you pay: get the complete 12-month price in writing, confirm what’s compounded, ask about dose flexibility, ask which facility supplies your pellets (and about the 2026 recall), and make sure the care model fits your insurance and your life. Pellets are right for some women. For many others, an FDA-approved, adjustable route ends up being the better fit — and now you can tell which one is you.

Also see our full Biote review for side effects, the verdict, and expert guidance.

Affiliate disclosure:Biote did not pay for this analysis and is not an affiliate partner. Some links to alternative care providers (Midi, Winona) are affiliate links — we may earn a commission if you start care through them, at no extra cost to you. Compensation never determines our conclusions, our placement, or the facts we verify. Full disclosure →

Sources

• ACOG, Compounded Bioidentical Menopausal Hormone Therapy, Clinical Consensus No. 6 (2023) — acog.org
• The Menopause Society (formerly NAMS), 2022 Hormone Therapy Position Statement
• U.S. FDA — human drug compounding Q&A; menopause / compounded “bioidentical” hormone consumer guidance
• Journal of Clinical Medicine (2024) critical narrative review of subcutaneous estradiol pellets
• Biote Corp Form 8-K (Jan 26, 2026), SEC; Biote investor disclosures; FDA enforcement record (recall classified Class II, Feb 11, 2026)
• Biote clinic pages (checked Jun 19, 2026 unless noted): Cleveland Health Group; Robinson Wellness (listed Sept 2025); Pazona MD
• Midi Health — pricing & insurance page and testosterone page (joinmidi.com), checked Jun 19, 2026
• Winona — hormone therapy page (bywinona.com), checked Jun 19, 2026
• IRS — medical-expense guidance (treatment vs. general supplements)
• Voice-of-customer: menopause community discussions and published reviews (used as shopping-experience context only, not medical evidence)