Botox typically costs between $10 and $25 per unit in the United States, with most people paying somewhere in the $12 to $18 range. Since a single treatment session uses anywhere from 20 to 60+ units depending on the areas treated, your total bill usually lands between $350 and $900.
That wide range exists because several factors shift the price: where you live, who injects you, and how many areas you want treated. Here’s how to estimate what you’ll actually pay.
What Determines Your Per-Unit Price
Geography is the biggest price driver. In coastal and metropolitan areas like New York, Los Angeles, and Miami, per-unit costs typically range from $15 to $25. The combination of higher demand, more competition for premium providers, and a generally higher cost of living pushes prices up. In rural or less densely populated states, pricing often falls between $10 and $15 per unit. That $5 to $10 gap per unit adds up fast when you’re buying 30 or 40 units at a time.
Your provider type also matters. Board-certified dermatologists and plastic surgeons generally charge more per unit than nurse injectors at medspas. A common example: $20 per unit at a dermatologist’s office versus $15 per unit at a nearby medspa for the same product. On 25 units, that’s a $125 difference for what is technically the same injection. Whether the premium is worth it depends on your comfort level, the provider’s experience, and the complexity of what you’re having done.
Most clinics offer free consultations where you’ll get a personalized unit estimate and cost breakdown before committing to anything. Some practices charge per area (a flat fee for “forehead lines,” for example) rather than per unit, so always ask how pricing is structured before you book.
How Many Units Each Treatment Area Needs
The per-unit price only tells half the story. What really determines your bill is how many units your treatment requires. Here are the standard ranges for the most common areas:
- Horizontal forehead lines: 15 to 30 units
- Frown lines (the “11s” between your brows): Up to 40 units, with men often needing doses at the higher end due to stronger facial muscles
- Crow’s feet: 6 to 10 units per side, up to 20 units total
Someone treating just their forehead lines might need 20 units, putting the total cost at $200 to $500 depending on the per-unit rate. Someone treating all three areas could need 60 to 80 units, landing closer to $600 to $1,600. Your injector will assess your muscle strength, the depth of your lines, and your goals to recommend a specific number.
First-time patients sometimes receive a conservative dose to see how they respond, with a touch-up two weeks later if needed. That follow-up is sometimes complimentary and sometimes billed as additional units, so clarify this upfront.
How Botox Compares to Other Brands
Botox isn’t the only option. Three competitors use similar muscle-relaxing compounds, and their pricing looks quite different on paper. The catch is that “units” aren’t interchangeable across brands.
- Botox: $10 to $15 per unit, roughly 20 units for frown lines
- Xeomin: $10 to $15 per unit, roughly 20 units for frown lines (essentially the same dosing as Botox)
- Dysport: $4 to $8 per unit, but requires 50 to 60 units for frown lines
- Daxxify: $15 to $20 per unit, requires about 40 units for frown lines
Dysport looks cheaper per unit, but you need roughly 2.5 to 3 times as many units. When you do the math for frown lines, Dysport runs $200 to $480 versus Botox at $200 to $300 for the same area. Daxxify is the most expensive per session ($600 to $800 for frown lines), but it lasts up to six months compared to Botox’s typical three to four, which could mean fewer appointments per year. Your total annual spend may end up similar across brands depending on how often you need touch-ups.
Ways to Lower Your Cost
Allergan, the company behind Botox, runs a loyalty program called Allē that offers real savings. You earn 200 points per Botox treatment, and every 100 points can be redeemed for $10 off a future visit. That’s an automatic $20 back on every session, plus periodic bonus offers and promotions that can add up to significantly more over time. The program is free to join and works at any participating provider.
Beyond loyalty programs, a few other strategies can reduce what you pay. Many medspas offer membership plans where you pay a monthly fee in exchange for a lower per-unit rate. Some clinics run seasonal promotions, particularly around the holidays or in slower months like January. Buying a higher number of units sometimes unlocks a volume discount. And if you’re flexible on brand, asking your provider whether Dysport or Xeomin would be a good fit could shift your per-session cost without changing results.
Estimating Your Total Annual Cost
Botox results typically last three to four months, meaning most people schedule three to four sessions per year to maintain their results. If you’re treating forehead lines and frown lines with around 40 units per visit at $14 per unit, that’s roughly $560 per session and $1,680 to $2,240 per year. Treating all three major areas (forehead, frown lines, and crow’s feet) at 60 units per visit puts the annual range closer to $2,500 to $3,600.
Some people find they can stretch sessions further once they’ve been getting Botox consistently for a year or more, as the targeted muscles gradually weaken with repeated treatment. Going from four sessions to three per year saves a full treatment’s worth of cost without necessarily losing your results.