Highlights
- Roman and Hims are both online subscription-based ED drug providers.
- Roman vs. Hims: Hims offers a slightly broader selection of ED medications than Roman.
- Both sites offer generic drugs that are much cheaper than their brand-name versions, while containing the same active substances.
- At eDrugstore, you can buy the ED drugs you need without committing to a long-term plan.
Two subscription-based telehealth services, Roman, and Hims (formerly ForHims), are relative latecomers to the telemedicine market. They both offer brand-name and generic erectile dysfunction medications. What’s the outcome of a Roman vs. Hims comparison?
Roman vs. Hims
Hims and Roman, two online marketers of men’s health medications — most notably erectile dysfunction drugs — were founded on the realization that men generally are hesitant to discuss intimate matters with their doctors. On top of that, many men avoid doctors no matter what their health problems might be.
To reach that reluctant male consumer, both Hims (hims.com) and Roman (ro.com) invite men with symptoms of ED or other sensitive health problems to take advantage of low-cost online consultations with licensed U.S. doctors to determine if ED drugs are appropriate for them. In this respect, the two are direct competitors.
This novel form of telemedicine is hardly new and has been available for years from eDrugstore.com, which has been in business since the late 1990s. Such services allow men reluctant to discuss their sex lives face to face with their regular doctors to broach these matters online in a less embarrassing manner.
However, they all stress the need for their customers to keep their regular doctors apprised of any medication changes they make.
Roman vs. Hims: What Do They Have in Common?
Roman vs. Hims is a battle between two subscription-based ED drug providers. What does that mean for you?
Hims and Roman, as well as eDrugstore.com, headline ED drugs as their primary products. All three services also stock a variety of other lifestyle medications and products. These include:
- Hair-loss treatments
- Antiviral drugs to combat cold sores, genital herpes, and other infections caused by the herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2
- Vitamins
- Skincare products
- Smoking cessation aids
However, Hims and Roman differ dramatically from eDrugstore in that they are subscription services. If you place an initial order for a month’s or quarter’s supply of medication, you will automatically receive monthly or quarterly shipments until you cancel your subscription.
What’s more, we found it very difficult to get prices from both websites. While it’s relatively easy to find “as low as” prices, to get your actual options, including how many you need to buy to benefit from quantity discounts, you need to fill out forms to “Get Started.”
At eDrugstore, on the other hand, a simple search for the medication you want will give you easy-to-find, transparent prices.
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ED Drug Options at Hims
Getting Started
To get ED drugs from Hims, you must open an account. Before opening an account, you must answer a questionnaire about your symptoms and ED medications you may have taken. Hims establishes whether you can access its services based on your location.
To complete your online account, the site requires you to submit your brief medical history and government-issued ID.
Hims Pricing
The basic ED treatment starting package consists of four 25 milligram generic sildenafil pills, starting from $4 each. The monthly package costs $16.
Those who need higher doses can get four 50 milligram sildenafil pills for $6 each per month. The cost of this package is $24 for 30 days.
The highest-dose option is four 100 milligram sildenafil pills for $10 each; the total for a month’s supply is $40.
Patients who want brand-name Viagra can get four 50 milligram tablets for $555 per 30 days, or $18.50 per tablet.
For brand-name Cialis users, the Hims price is $958 per month, for a per-tablet price of $31.94. Generic tadalafil costs just $82 per month, or $2.74 per pill for either 2.5 for daily use or 5 milligrams for the on-demand version.
Vardenafil is available from $7 per tablet, and brand-name Levitra is $60 per tablet.
Hims carries 100 milligram Stendra at a cost of $236 per month, or $7.87 per pill. They do not carry a generic version of Stendra.
Hims also offers a unique, chewable ED mint that combines sildenafil (generic Viagra) and tadalafil (generic Cialis) into one product.
- Four tablets of 10 milligrams of sildenafil with 8 milligrams of tadalafil cost $32, or $8 per tablet.
- Four tablets of 10 milligrams of sildenafil with 18 milligrams of tadalafil will set you back $48 per month, or $12 per tablet.
Hims does not identify the manufacturers of its generic drugs.
ED Drug Options at Roman
Getting Started
Over at Roman.com, to create an account, the prospective customer must provide a government-issued ID, a medical history, and a blood pressure reading. To gain access to ED drugs, users must go through a video chat-based appointment and evaluation. They may also have to submit medical tests. Only after jumping through these safety hoops can users get a prescription.
Roman Pricing
Roman carries sildenafil in 25, 50, and 100 milligram dose strengths. Per-pill costs are $4, $6, and $10, respectively.
Those who want brand-name Viagra will pay $90 per tablet for the 25 milligram, 50 milligram, and 100 milligram pills. The price is the same for all three dose strengths.
Generic tadalafil cost comes out to $11 per 5 milligram pill and $44 for the 10 milligram and 20 milligram tablets.
Generic tadalafil for daily use will set you back by $8 per 2.5 milligram and 5 milligram pills.
Tadalafil under the brand name Cialis costs $20 per 5 milligram tablet. The 10 milligram and 20 milligram versions both cost $80. By committing to 6- or 12-month plans, users can benefit from discounts.
Like Hims, Roman does not identify the manufacturer of their generic ED medications.
Getting Started With eDrugstore
Unlike Hims and Roman, eDrugstore has no subscription plans, so customers can order as many or as few doses as they expect to need in the near future. The fact that there is no need to commit to a month’s worth of medication at a time also makes it easy to try several medications to find the one that works best for you.
Based in Tempe, Arizona, eDrugstore.com has been in business for more than two decades. It sells the full range of ED medications, including all brand-name and generic products that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for sale in the United States.
eDrugstore Medication Options
When you shop at eDrugstore, you have more options. We offer all FDA-approved ED medications, including brand-name drugs Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, Staxyn, and Stendra. We also let you know who manufacturers the generic drugs we carry. For example, we carry two generic alternatives to Viagra (sildenafil) and one each for Cialis (tadalafil) and Levitra (vardenafil).
The generic Viagra equivalents are manufactured by Teva USA and Greenstone LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pfizer, which developed Viagra in the 1990s. Tadalafil is produced by Prasco, while vardenafil is manufactured by Zygus USA.
Because these ED medications and several other lifestyle drugs sold by eDrugstore are available only by prescription, eDrugstore offers complimentary online consultations with licensed U.S. physicians to customers who don’t yet have a prescription.
These consultations save a significant amount of time and money. With all first orders, eDrugstore includes a free pill splitter, which can help consumers save even more.
Roman vs Hims Summary
As previously noted, both Hims and Roman are subscription plans available on a monthly or quarterly basis. Those who opt for the quarterly shipments can realize slight savings over the monthly subscription. In both cases, these subscription plans can be canceled at any time.
With eDrugstore, you can buy as little or as much as you need; you don’t need to buy into an automatic shipment program.
When it comes to product selection among ED drugs, eDrugstore has both Hims and Roman beat with the broadest selection of medications and competitive prices.
eDrugstore Helps You Fight ED
Our in-house doctors can help you establish an optimal treatment for erectile dysfunction. They can also provide you with the prescription you need to get FDA-approved ED medications. Order your ED medication now and return the spice to your sex life.
Editorial Standards
At eDrugstore, we hold our health content to the highest standards of accuracy and reliability. This article was created and reviewed with information from trusted medical sources, including peer-reviewed journals, reputable research institutions, and established health organizations.
James West is a seasoned health and wellness writer with a focus on topics related to physiology, sleep, and men’s health. He has contributed articles on a range of subjects, from erectile dysfunction treatments and sleep aids to hair loss, providing well-researched insights to help readers make informed health decisions.