How much does Cialis cost without insurance?

Without insurance, brand-name Cialis cost from $29 a dose at Rex MD on October 18, 2026, and $958 a month taken daily at Hims. Generic tadalafil, the FDA-approved generic, cost a fraction of that: daily plans started at $40 a month, and as-needed tablets cost $3 to $7.25 each at the online providers we checked.

Cialis is sold two ways, as needed and once daily, and the price works differently for each. Here is what each costs, how the daily option compares, and when insurance pays.

Two ways to take it

The Cialis label approves tadalafil for ED as needed or once daily:

• As needed: 10 mg before sex for most men, adjusted to 5 mg or 20 mg, at most once a day. One dose improved erectile function for up to 36 hours.
• Once daily: 2.5 mg at about the same time each day, raised to 5 mg if needed, with no timing around sex.

The 5 mg daily dose is also approved for symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and for ED and BPH together. Tadalafil can be taken with or without food. Drugs@FDA lists Cialis, made by Eli Lilly, as approved on November 21, 2003.

Brand-name Cialis prices

Neither provider publishes a price for each strength. At $29 a dose, four as-needed doses a month would cost $116 at Rex MD. The Hims daily price works out to about $32 a day over 30 days.

Generic tadalafil prices

Generic tadalafil tablets are FDA-approved for the same uses at the same strengths. Prices on October 18, 2026:

Lemonaid Health listed Cialis Daily (tadalafil) at $30 for the first monthly shipment, without a regular monthly price. Hone Health lists tadalafil from $25 a month on top of a membership, $180 a month with its $155 Premium tier; its ED page doesn’t say whether the $25 Basic tier covers ED medication. Our guide to where generic tadalafil is cheapest compares the terms behind each price.

Brand vs generic over a year

The generic saves more than $10,000 a year against daily brand-name Cialis at Hims’s price.

Daily or as needed: the break-even

Whether daily tadalafil costs less than as-needed doses depends on how often you have sex. Using the published generic prices:

• At Hims, daily tadalafil starts at $40 a month and as-needed tadalafil at $6 a use, so the daily plan costs less once you would take seven or more as-needed doses a month.
• At Strut Health, 10 as-needed doses of 5 mg cost $30 a month, $60 at 10 mg and $120 at 20 mg. If you need 20 mg, each occasion costs $12.
• At TRT Nation, 30 tablets of 20 mg cost $99.99, about $3.33 each, but you buy them 30 at a time.

The daily dose is also a different treatment, not just a different price. It keeps a steady level in your body, it is approved for BPH symptoms, and its side effects were less common in trials. Talk through how often you would use it with your clinician before you pick a plan.

How well it works

In a label trial of 348 men taking 20 mg, 61% had successful sex 22 to 26 hours after a dose and 64% at 33 to 39 hours, against 37% on placebo at both times. Tadalafil reaches its peak level in the blood in a median of 2 hours, and its half-life is 17.5 hours, which is why it lasts longer than sildenafil. Daily tadalafil was studied at 2.5 mg to 10 mg in trials of 853 men.

Side effects are mostly mild. With as-needed use, headache affected 11% to 15% of men on 10 mg or 20 mg (5% on placebo), indigestion 8% to 10% (1%), and back pain 5% to 6% (3%). They were less common on the daily 2.5 mg and 5 mg doses. Our tadalafil page covers safety in full.

Insurance and Medicare

Federal law excludes from Medicare Part D drugs used for sexual or erectile dysfunction, unless the drug is used for another condition the FDA has approved it for. Tadalafil is approved for BPH symptoms, so a Part D or private plan can cover it when it is prescribed for BPH, usually as the 5 mg daily dose. For ED alone, expect to pay cash. Online ED providers don’t bill insurance.

Chewables and capsules

Compounded tadalafil chewables cost $4.47 a tablet at BlueChew, and from $30 a month at Hims and $59 a month at MangoRx. Happy Head sells a daily compounded capsule that combines tadalafil 5 mg with finasteride for hair loss at $71.20 a month. These are compounded: they are not Cialis, not a generic of it, and not FDA-approved. We leave out products that combine tadalafil with another ED drug such as sildenafil, because the Cialis label tells patients not to take it with other drugs of this type.

Ways to pay less

• Ask for generic tadalafil rather than brand-name Cialis.
• If you have sex only a few times a month, compare as-needed prices before signing up for a daily plan.
• If you have BPH symptoms too, ask whether daily 5 mg is right for you and whether your plan covers it for BPH.
• Check whether the consult and shipping are included, and how often you are billed.
• Watch for sale prices: Rex MD’s $2 daily tablet price was part of a fall sale with no end date stated.

Tadalafil must never be taken with nitrates or riociguat, and the label warns that 5 or more alcoholic drinks with tadalafil can lower blood pressure.

The bottom line

As of October 2026, brand-name Cialis cost from $29 a dose, or $958 a month taken daily, at the online providers that publish a price. Generic tadalafil started at $40 a month daily and cost $3 to $7.25 a tablet as needed. Unless you have BPH and coverage for it, the generic is the cheaper route. Compare providers in our daily tadalafil rankings and read about Cialis.