LevelsPro
Partner with Us

Comparison · for employers, health plans and benefits consultants

Levels vs Virta Health

Levels is a metabolic health benefit for your whole population, with a GLP-1 companion program for members on medication, backed by an IRB study of 62,236 members. Virta Health is a virtual clinic for members with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes or obesity, built on a low-carb nutrition protocol and its own prescribers, on fully at-risk fees.

Talk with LevelsExplore the evidence

Decide in 20 seconds

A benefit every member can use
Levels
Personalized to each member, not one diet
Levels
Works with your existing GLP-1 coverage
Levels
A written 0% GLP-1 trend guarantee
Virta

The short answer

Virta puts diagnosed members on one protocol. Levels shows every member their own.

Virta Health enrolls members with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes or obesity who clear a BMI threshold into a virtual clinic: a fingerstick meter and scale, a provider and a coach, a nutritional ketosis protocol, and GLP-1s prescribed, paired or tapered by its own clinicians, on fees fully at risk. Its evidence is the deepest in the category, and about 5 to 10% of eligibles enroll. Levels gives every member CGM, labs, food logging and personalized guidance, adds a companion program for anyone on a GLP-1, and publishes the study behind it, limitations included. One asks members to follow a diet. The other shows each member which foods work for them.

Levels fits when

You want results that outlast the prescription

  • You already cover GLP-1s through your PBM and don't want a second prescriber. You want members who finish the year and keep the weight off.
  • You want something the whole population can use, including the 90% who never enroll in a clinic and members who won't commit to a low-carb protocol.
  • You want to see the evidence. Ours is a 62,236-member IRB study, and every cohort size is on the page.
  • You need to see GLP-1 eligibility, participation and spend at renewal, in your own numbers.

Virta Health fits when

You want a clinic with a contractual ceiling

  • Your target is diagnosed type 2 diabetes, especially members on insulin, and you want a provider team to own deprescribing with five-year data behind it.
  • You want fees fully at risk and a written cap of 0% year-over-year GLP-1 utilization growth, with the 300-member minimums that come with it.
  • You want audited third-party credentials: HITRUST, a Validation Institute savings review and a favorable PHTI mention.
  • You're fine funding a program for the 5 to 10% of eligibles who enroll and can hold a nutritional ketosis diet.

At a glance

What each one hands you.

Functionality first, price last. Virta entries come from their own public materials and peer-reviewed papers, and we say so where they publish nothing. Levels entries come from the study behind the program.

Who it covers

Levels
Every member. A wellness benefit for the whole population, plus a companion program for anyone on a GLP-1.
Virta Health
Adults with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes or obesity above a BMI threshold your plan sets, from 25 to 30. Roughly 5 to 10% of eligibles enroll, per outside estimates.

Devices and data

Levels
CGM, lab panels, food logging, and sleep and activity from the member's own wearables, in the Levels app
Virta Health
Connected scale and a fingerstick glucose and ketone meter in a starter kit, plus an HbA1c lab. No CGM. Virta says its app does not integrate CGM data.

Care team

Levels
Guidance from the care team, turned into next steps in the app. GLP-1 members also get side-effect support.
Virta Health
A medical provider and a health coach per member, 1:1, by in-app message with calls as needed. Providers review data daily and adjust medications.

GLP-1 approach

Levels
A companion program that runs alongside your existing coverage, from first dose through discontinuation. Education, nutrition and movement support, plus side-effect guidance.
Virta Health
"Responsible Prescribing": a drug-free path, a combination path or a supported exit, all nutrition-first. Reports cutting ongoing GLP-1 use by over 50% among members already on one (n>2,000, 90 days). Company-reported.

Who prescribes

Levels
Your PBM and your members' clinicians. Levels doesn't prescribe or manage medication.
Virta Health
Virta's own providers prescribe, titrate and deprescribe. Fulfillment through your PBM, direct to employer or direct to consumer.

Published evidence

Levels
IRB-approved longitudinal study: 62,236 consented members, 1.15B glucose readings across 3.5 years. Cohort sizes and limitations published.
Virta Health
Peer-reviewed, non-randomized trial at Indiana University Health: 262 members vs 87 usual care, followed to five years. A deprescribing study of 154 matched pairs. No randomized trial of the program.

Biomarker outcomes

Levels
Among members who started out of range: 81% improved HbA1c (n=894), 79% fasting insulin (n=164), 84% triglycerides (n=370). Observational, no control arm.
Virta Health
At one year, HbA1c fell 1.3 points and weight 12% among trial completers. At five years, 122 of 262 remained, and 20% of them were in remission. Peer-reviewed, Virta-authored.

Below GLP-1 thresholds

Levels
At one year, 22% of members starting at BMI 30+ (n=1,102) and 33% starting at BMI 27+ with a risk factor (n=948) fell below prescribing thresholds
Virta Health
13% weight loss at one year without medication, and 85% of lost weight held after discontinuation, from Virta's marketing. No BMI-threshold figure published.

Independent validation

Levels
IRB-approved design, clinical review by Robert Lustig, MD. Not yet independently validated.
Virta Health
PHTI's 2024 review called Virta "one promising solution," if members hold the diet. Validation Institute savings validation. Milliman reviewed its claims-savings methodology.

Security and privacy

Levels
HIPAA and SOC 2 Type 2, independently assessed
Virta Health
SOC 2 Type II with HIPAA and HITRUST r2, audited by A-LIGN

Reporting to you

Levels
GLP-1 eligibility, participation and spend in one view, with participation reporting you can act on at renewal
Virta Health
ROI guarantee measured against your medical and pharmacy claims. Dashboards and report cadence not described publicly.

Financial model

Levels
Not published. Scoped to your population in consultation. No outcomes guarantee published.
Virta Health
Fees fully at risk on A1c, weight, prescription reductions and GLP-1 trend. No charge for non-participants. Guarantees require 300+ members enrolled six months.

Virta Health entries come from virtahealth.com and its employer, FAQ, research and security pages, plus its peer-reviewed publications, read September 2026. They describe what Virta publishes. Where they publish nothing we say "not published" rather than claim the product can't do it. Virta's GLP-1 reduction and savings figures are its own reporting. Levels figures come from our IRB-approved study at levels.com/pro/outcomes, which is observational, participant-funded and has no control arm. The cohort size sits next to every number. If a row is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.

What it costs

Where the money goes, and who carries the risk.

Neither company publishes employer pricing. Virta charges only for enrolled members, with fees at risk. What you can compare is the shape of the deal: who it covers, what the fee rides on, and what each vendor's own numbers say about reach.

Levels · population benefit

62,236

consented members in the study behind the program. 1.15B glucose readings across 3.5 years.

  • One benefit for the whole population, with the GLP-1 companion program included for anyone on medication, at whatever coverage level you set.
  • Works with the prescribers and PBM you already have. No second clinic, no medication decisions handed to a vendor.
  • Pricing is scoped to your population in consultation. The study is public before you ask.

Virta Health · fully at risk

Not published

for the fee. Charged per enrolled member only.

  • Fees ride on clinical outcomes for the members who enroll. Outside estimates put enrollment at 5 to 10% of eligibles, and the savings figures are per enrolled member.
  • $6,000 in annual savings per enrolled member, an actuarial model built on the 2018 trial and trended forward, from Virta's health-plan page.
  • A 0% GLP-1 utilization growth guarantee, measured on prescription volume, with a 300-member, six-month enrollment minimum before it applies.

The bill you already pay

Half of it stops early.

About half of members stop GLP-1 therapy within the first year, and most of the lost weight comes back. That's from the Peterson Health Technology Institute's December 2025 report and the STEP 1 trial extension, not from us. Careful prescribing changes who starts. Changing daily behavior changes who finishes, and what's left a year after the last dose.

Being fair

Where Virta Health is the better call.

Three situations where we wouldn't recommend Levels over Virta Health. Better you hear it here than mid-RFP.

Your problem is insulin.

If the goal is moving diagnosed type 2 diabetics off insulin and glucose-lowering drugs under a provider's supervision, Virta has five-year peer-reviewed data on exactly that. Levels doesn't prescribe or de-prescribe.

You need the trend guarantee in writing.

Virta will contract to 0% year-over-year GLP-1 utilization growth and a claims-based ROI, with fees fully at risk. If your RFP requires that, ask us how we contract. We don't publish it, so don't assume either way.

Validation has to be third-party.

Virta has HITRUST, a Validation Institute savings review, a Milliman-reviewed methodology and a favorable PHTI mention. Our study is IRB-approved and clinically reviewed, but not yet independently validated.

If one of those is you, take the Virta meeting. Come back when you want something the whole population can use, without a diet to stay on, and a study your consultant can pull apart.

Working alongside

You can run both. Many populations should.

Virta is scoped to members who clear a diagnosis and commit to its protocol. Levels is scoped to everyone. Nothing here asks you to cancel a clinical program. The open question is what the other 90% of your population gets, and what happens to GLP-1 members once they stop.

  1. 01

    Start with the members Virta doesn't cover

    Launch the Levels wellness benefit to all eligible members. Anyone enrolled in a clinical program stays exactly where they are.

  2. 02

    Wrap the GLP-1 members you already pay for

    Add the companion program alongside your PBM coverage, from first dose through discontinuation.

  3. 03

    Read the participation report at renewal

    Eligibility, participation and spend in one view. Decide on your own numbers.

Questions we get

Four straight answers.

Is Levels a replacement for Virta Health?
Not one for one. Virta is a virtual clinic that prescribes and runs a nutrition protocol. Levels is a population benefit that works with the prescribers you have. Many employers need the second even if they buy the first, because Virta covers the diagnosed who enroll and Levels covers everyone.
Does Levels prescribe GLP-1s?
No. Your PBM and your members' clinicians do. Levels works before medication, with CGM, labs and guidance, and alongside it, with nutrition, movement and side-effect support. The point is what's still true a year after the last dose.
How does the evidence compare?
Ours is an IRB-approved longitudinal study of 62,236 consented members and 1.15 billion glucose readings over 3.5 years. Cohort sizes, methods and limitations are at levels.com/pro/outcomes. Virta's core evidence is a peer-reviewed, non-randomized trial of 262 members followed to five years, with 122 completing. Read both. Neither is a randomized trial, and we say so on the page.
What does Virta Health cost?
They don't publish it. Fees are charged per enrolled member, fully at risk against outcomes, and negotiated per account. Outside estimates range from $900 to $2,800 per enrolled member per year by program. The guarantees require at least 300 members enrolled for six months. Get the definitions behind them in writing.

More comparisons for employers

Also on your shortlist?

See all 13 comparisons

Buying for a practice instead?See the Levels Pro comparisons

See the evidence next to the pitch.

Bring your GLP-1 utilization and population size. We'll show you what our study says, what it doesn't, and what a plan built around your members looks like.

Talk with Levels

30 minutes. No deck.