How to save money on over-the-counter medicines
What you pay for over-the-counter medicines and supplements depends less on the price of one pack than on how you buy: what goes into the basket, which brand is on the box and what the delivery costs. These six checks take a few minutes before you pay. This blog serves readers in the UK and South Africa; where the rules differ, we name the country.
1. Compare the whole basket, delivery included
Each online pharmacy sets its own prices, its own delivery charge and its own free-delivery threshold. The pharmacy with the cheapest painkiller can be the dearest once you add lozenges, vitamin D and delivery, and a pharmacy with slightly higher prices can win the basket because its delivery is cheaper. Splitting an order across two pharmacies to catch each lowest price means two delivery charges, unless both orders reach free delivery.
So the number to compare is the total for everything you need, with delivery. Our article on the cheapest basket rather than the cheapest medicine works through an example, and the page on the cheapest online pharmacy for your basket shows why the answer changes from one basket to the next.
2. Compare the active substance, not the brand
A branded pack and a pharmacy own-brand can contain the same active substance, at the same strength, in the same form and the same number of tablets. The label tells you whether they match; if they do, what is left to compare is the price. Our article on generics and brand-name medicines explains how these products are approved. If you are unsure whether two products are interchangeable for you, ask a pharmacist.
3. Pay only for the ingredients you need
Combination products bundle several ingredients: a cold and flu capsule may hold paracetamol, a decongestant and caffeine. If you only need something for aches and a temperature, a plain painkiller does that job and costs less. Combinations also make it easy to take paracetamol twice, which is a safety problem as well as a cost. Our guide to cold and flu tablets goes through a typical label.
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Compare prices4. Work out the price per dose
For supplements you take every day, divide the pack price by the number of daily doses, and compare the same dose with the same dose: a 10 microgram vitamin D tablet is not a 25 microgram one. Our cheap vitamin D page compares prices per capsule.
Painkillers are different in the UK. Paracetamol is sold in packs of up to 16 tablets in shops and up to 32 in pharmacies, and the medicines regulator (MHRA) discourages offers that push buyers towards more than one pack. One pack at home is enough; the saving comes from the basket and the delivery, not from volume.
5. Know how prices are set in your country
In the UK, pharmacies set their own prices for over-the-counter medicines, so the same pack can cost different amounts in different places.
In South Africa, the law sets a single exit price at which each medicine leaves the manufacturer, and pharmacies add a dispensing fee capped by regulation. For medicines, the differences between pharmacies come mostly from that fee and from delivery. Comparing the basket total with delivery is how you see the difference that remains.
6. Buy before you need it, in one order
The most expensive way to buy a cold remedy is one product at a time, on the day you fall ill, with the fastest delivery. Before the season starts, buy the basics you know you will use in one order and pay for one delivery. Our winter medicine cabinet checklist keeps that list short, so nothing expires unopened.
A free-delivery threshold is worth reaching with things you would buy anyway. Adding products you do not need only to save the delivery charge costs more than the charge.
Where CheaperForDrug fits
CheaperForDrug is a price comparison, not a pharmacy: we sell and ship nothing. You add the medicines and supplements you need, and the comparison shows the total with delivery at online pharmacies in your country. The order of results is always set by the basket price including delivery. Comparing is free, with no account and no limit, and prices are checked at the moment you compare. If you want to start from a need rather than a product name, our page on cheap non-prescription medicines groups them by need.
If you buy the same things every month, Premium lets you know when your basket is cheaper than usual and shows its price over the whole year. It is a yearly subscription that renews automatically, and you have 30 days to get your money back. Comparing stays free without it; details are on the pricing page.
Put your list in one basket and compare the total with delivery.
Sources
- MHRA: Best practice guidance on the sale of medicines for pain relief (March 2025)
- Medicines and Related Substances Act 101 of 1965, section 22G (single exit price and dispensing fee)
- NHS: Common cold (page reviewed 22 March 2024)
Updated 10 October 2026. Prices of Premium as of 10 October 2026. This article is general information, not medical advice; ask a pharmacist before changing a medicine you take.