Tretinoin Price in the US: What a Tube Costs by Strength, Brand vs Generic, and Buying Online

Tretinoin is the prescription retinoid behind Retin-A, Retin-A Micro, Atralin and Altreno, and in the US it is sold as a generic cream or gel in several strengths. Search for its price and you will find numbers that range from a few dollars to several hundred, because the price depends on three things: the form (cream, gel or microsphere gel), the strength, and the size of the tube. This guide puts real numbers on each of those using the federal NADAC survey of what US pharmacies pay, as of 28 October 2026.

It also covers which brand and generic versions the FDA lists as still approved, why tretinoin needs a prescription in the US while adapalene 0.1% gel does not, what the FDA says about ordering medicine from abroad, and what the India-made tretinoin gels we sell cost per tube. We sell those gels, so we have a commercial interest; every figure here comes from a source listed at the end, and our own prices are taken from our price list on 28 October 2026.

The short answer

In the NADAC file of 28 October 2026, US retail pharmacies paid between $0.46 and $3.02 per gram for generic tretinoin cream and standard gel, $4.01 per gram for generic 0.05% gel, and $11.37 per gram for generic microsphere gel 0.08%. In tube terms, the cheapest generic was a 20 g tube of 0.025% cream at about $11.06 to the pharmacy, and the most expensive was a 50 g pump of microsphere gel 0.08% at about $568.39. Creams cost less per gram than gels at every strength, and the 45 g tube cost less per gram than the smaller tube in every pair.

Those are acquisition costs, not the price at the counter. What you pay with a prescription depends on your insurance, the pharmacy's markup and any discount program. Tretinoin is a prescription-only medicine in the US. The India-made tretinoin gels we list cost $4.17 to $15.00 per tube depending on product and pack size, before shipping, and none of them is approved by the FDA.

What NADAC is, and why it is not your shelf price

NADAC stands for National Average Drug Acquisition Cost. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services runs a monthly nationwide survey of the invoice prices that retail community pharmacies (independents and chains) pay to buy covered outpatient drugs, and publishes the averages weekly. State Medicaid programs can use these figures when they set what they reimburse pharmacies.

Three points matter when you read NADAC prices for tretinoin:

• It is what the pharmacy pays, not what you pay. The cash price at the counter adds the pharmacy's dispensing cost and margin, and it is usually higher. With insurance, your cost is set by your plan's copay or coinsurance.
• It is per gram. Tretinoin creams and gels are priced by weight, so a 45 g tube and a 20 g tube of the same product have different per-gram rates. We multiplied each rate by the tube size on the product's label to get a cost per tube.
• It is a dated average. The figures here come from the rows dated 28 October 2026. Most tretinoin rates in that file took effect on 21 October 2026. They change over time.

Tretinoin cost per gram by form and strength

The table lists every generic topical tretinoin row in the 28 October 2026 NADAC file. Package sizes for the creams and gels come from the FDA NDC directory listings and labels of Mylan and Padagis, whose products appear in each price tier; the microsphere pump size is from the Encube and Mayne Pharma NDC listings.

Two things stand out. First, strength does not track price: the 0.05% cream cost more per gram than the 0.1% cream in both tube sizes. Second, the gels cost far more per gram than the creams. The NADAC file records prices, not reasons, so we do not guess at why.

What one tube costs at pharmacy acquisition prices

Multiplying each per-gram rate by the tube size gives the pharmacy's cost for one tube. These figures are our arithmetic from the NADAC rates and are rounded to the cent.

If your prescription allows either size, the 45 g tube is the better buy per gram at every strength sold in two tube sizes in this file. For the 0.025% cream, for example, 45 g cost the pharmacy $20.85 against $11.06 for 20 g, so you get 2.25 times the cream for about 1.9 times the price.

Cream or gel: the per-gram gap

On 28 October 2026 the cheapest generic gel (0.01%, 45 g, $2.14950 per gram) cost the pharmacy more than four times as much per gram as the cheapest cream (0.025%, 45 g, $0.46334 per gram). The choice between cream and gel is for you and your prescriber to make. But if your prescriber is happy with either, asking whether a cream would do is the single biggest cost lever in the data.

The two forms are not identical. The Mylan label for generic Retin-A cream and gel notes that the gel vehicle is 90% alcohol by weight and warns that the gels are flammable. The generic 0.05% gel (the generic of Atralin) contains soluble fish proteins and its label advises caution in people with fish allergy.

Microsphere gel and pump bottles

Microsphere gels hold tretinoin in tiny porous beads. The brand is Retin-A Micro, which Drugs@FDA lists in 0.04%, 0.06%, 0.08% and 0.1% strengths. Generic (ANDA) microsphere gel is listed in 0.06% and 0.08% (Encube, ANDA 215609, sold in the US by Encube and by Mayne Pharma in 50 g pumps), and Amneal holds a separate approval for a 0.08% tretinoin gel. Oceanside Pharmaceuticals also sells authorized generics of Retin-A Micro (the brand's own product without the brand name) at 0.04%, 0.08% and 0.1%, listed in the FDA NDC directory under NDA 020475: 0.04% and 0.1% in 20 g and 45 g tubes and 50 g pumps, 0.08% in 50 g pumps.

The NADAC file has rows for the 0.08% generic microsphere gel from Encube and Mayne Pharma only, at $11.36775 per gram; it has no row for the Oceanside authorized generic. That makes a 50 g pump about $568.39 to the pharmacy, roughly 51 times the cost of a 20 g tube of generic 0.025% cream. If cost is a barrier, a standard cream or gel is the option to raise with your prescriber.

Tretinoin cost without insurance

Without insurance you pay the pharmacy's cash price, and that is not published in any federal dataset. What NADAC does tell you is roughly what the pharmacy itself paid: about $11 for a 20 g tube of generic 0.025% cream and about $99 for a 45 g tube of generic 0.025% gel. A cash quote far above those figures reflects markup and dispensing fees.

Practical steps that follow from the data:

• Ask for the generic, not the brand. Every strength of Retin-A cream and gel has an FDA-rated generic equivalent (see below).
• Ask the pharmacy to price both the 20 g and 45 g tube. The bigger tube was cheaper per gram in every pair.
• Ask whether a cream would suit you if you were prescribed a gel.
• Compare cash prices at more than one pharmacy, and check discount card prices.

Brand-name tretinoin still listed in the US

Drugs@FDA, the FDA's approvals database, lists these single-ingredient brand tretinoin products as approved prescription products (not discontinued) on 28 October 2026:

Mylan also sells an authorized generic of Retin-A cream and gel: the FDA NDC directory lists it under the Retin-A new drug applications, and its label says it is manufactured by Bausch Health in Canada. An authorized generic is the brand's own product sold without the brand name.

Generic tretinoin makers

Drugs@FDA lists generic (ANDA) tretinoin topical products as approved for prescription sale from these companies:

• Cream 0.025%: Padagis, Sun Pharma Canada, Encube, Alembic, Zydus.
• Cream 0.05%: Padagis, Sun Pharma Canada, Encube, Alembic.
• Cream 0.1%: Padagis, Sun Pharma Canada, Encube, Alembic, Zydus.
• Gel 0.01% and 0.025%: Padagis, Aurobindo, Encube.
• Gel 0.05%: Mylan.
• Microsphere gel 0.06% and 0.08%: Encube; gel 0.08%: Amneal.

Each of these generics carries the FDA therapeutic equivalence code AB (AB1 for the 0.05% creams), which means the FDA considers them substitutable for the reference brand. An approval in Drugs@FDA does not guarantee that every product is in stock at every pharmacy.

Authorized generics are not listed separately in Drugs@FDA. The FDA NDC directory lists Mylan's authorized generic of Retin-A cream and gel and Oceanside's authorized generic of Retin-A Micro at 0.04%, 0.08% and 0.1%.

Discontinued tretinoin products

Several tretinoin products you may still see mentioned online are listed as discontinued in Drugs@FDA: Retin-A solution 0.05% and Retin-A swabs, Avita gel 0.025%, Renova 0.05% cream, generic tretinoin solution 0.05% (Teva and Wockhardt), generic microsphere gels 0.04% and 0.1% (Rising), and generic creams at 0.0375% and 0.075% (Allergan) and 0.05% (ZO Skin Health). Oral tretinoin 10 mg capsules are a different product and are not covered here.

One practical result: on 28 October 2026 there was no ANDA generic at 0.04% or 0.1%; those strengths are sold as Retin-A Micro and its authorized generic. No standard (non-microsphere) 0.1% gel has ever been listed.

Brand vs generic price

NADAC is the cleanest public source for comparing brand and generic acquisition costs, but the 28 October 2026 file had no rows for Retin-A, Retin-A Micro, Atralin or Altreno. We checked by searching the file for each brand name. So we cannot give you a federal survey figure for the brands, and we do not quote list prices we cannot verify.

What we can say is that every Retin-A cream and gel strength has generic and authorized generic versions priced in the table above, and a generic of Atralin gel 0.05% exists (Mylan). For Altreno lotion, Drugs@FDA lists no generic. If you are prescribed a brand and cost is the problem, ask the prescriber whether the generic of the same form and strength is acceptable.

Is tretinoin prescription-only in the US?

Yes. Every topical tretinoin product in Drugs@FDA that is not discontinued carries the marketing status "Prescription", and the Mylan generic cream and gel cartons are marked "Rx only". US labels list one approved use for the standard creams and gels: the topical treatment of acne vulgaris. Renova 0.02% cream has its own label and is not covered by the acne figures here; tretinoin for skin aging is covered in our tretinoin vs retinol for anti-aging guide.

A prescription can come from an in-person visit or from a licensed telehealth prescriber. Either way, the prescriber chooses the form and strength, so cost questions (cream or gel, brand or generic, tube size) are worth raising at that point.

Adapalene 0.1%: the retinoid sold over the counter

If you want a retinoid for acne without a prescription in the US, the option is adapalene 0.1% gel. The FDA approved Differin Gel 0.1% for over-the-counter use on 8 July 2016, for acne in adults and children 12 years and older, and Drugs@FDA lists its marketing status as over-the-counter. In 2026 Drugs@FDA also lists an over-the-counter adapalene 0.1% and benzoyl peroxide 2.5% gel (Differin Epiduo Acne Gel, NDA 220736, approved 22 May 2026). Adapalene 0.3% gel remains prescription only. Our acne hub sets out the other acne treatments by severity.

Generic adapalene 0.1% gel is in the NADAC file flagged as an over-the-counter product, at $0.30803 to $0.43842 per gram on 28 October 2026. How adapalene compares with tretinoin in trials is covered in adapalene vs tretinoin, and strength equivalents are in our retinoid strength chart.

Buying tretinoin online from outside the US: what the FDA says

Many people searching "buy tretinoin online" find overseas pharmacies, including ours. Before you order, read the FDA's own personal importation page. Its answer for US citizens begins:

"In most circumstances, it is illegal for individuals to import drugs or devices into the U.S. for personal use because these products purchased from other countries often have not been approved by the FDA for use and sale in the U.S. If a drug is approved for use in another country but is an unapproved new drug in the U.S. it is illegal to import."

The page adds that the FDA cannot vouch for the safety and effectiveness of medicine bought over the internet from foreign sources, and that it "recommends only obtaining medicines from legal sources in the U.S." It then lists situations in which FDA staff "may consider a more permissive decision": a product that "is not for treatment of a serious condition and there is no known significant health risk", or a product for a serious condition that meets a list of conditions, including a quantity of generally not more than a three-month supply and either the name and address of the US-licensed doctor responsible for treatment or evidence that the treatment began in another country. Another of the serious-condition criteria is that "There is no known commercialization or promotion of the product to persons residing in the U.S." Sellers outside the US, including us, do market to US buyers. These are discretionary decisions, not rights. The page also lists reasons the FDA refuses a personal importation, including a product on an import alert or a shipment that appears intended for commercial distribution.

The India-made tretinoin gels we sell are not FDA-approved. Whether a parcel can enter the US is decided at the border, case by case. You must check your own situation against the FDA page before you buy, and we cannot tell you that an import is allowed.

What SafeRxPills sells and what it costs

The plain tretinoin gels below are made in India. Prices are from our price list on 28 October 2026, before shipping.

Shipping, from our shipping page on 28 October 2026: standard registered shipping is a $25 flat rate with a tracking number, free on orders of $149 or more, with a stated delivery time of 7 to 14 business days to the USA and Canada. Delivery times are estimates and can be longer if a parcel is held at customs.

Our prices per gram, where the tube size is stated

Two of our listings state the tube size. A Ret Gel 0.05% comes in 20 g tubes, and Supatret is listed as a 20 g gel. That gives these per-gram prices before shipping:

We do not give per-gram prices for the other four gels because our listings do not state their tube size. Our prices are retail prices for products that are not FDA-approved, plus shipping; NADAC figures are acquisition costs for FDA-approved generics before any pharmacy markup. They measure different things, so treat any comparison between them with care.

How our gels compare with US strengths

• 0.025% gel (A Ret Gel 0.025%): same strength as Retin-A gel 0.025% and its generics.
• 0.05% gel (A Ret Gel 0.05%): same strength as Atralin and the Mylan generic 0.05% gel. Ingredients other than tretinoin may differ.
• 0.1% gel (A Ret Gel 0.1%, MacRet): in the US 0.1% gel is sold as Retin-A Micro, a microsphere gel, and its authorized generic; a generic 0.1% microsphere gel (Rising) is discontinued, and no standard (non-microsphere) 0.1% gel has ever been listed.
• 0.04% gel (Supatret, Mytret Micro): in the US 0.04% is sold as Retin-A Micro and its authorized generic; there is no ANDA generic at 0.04% (Rising's 0.04% microsphere gel is discontinued).

None of these six brand names appears in Drugs@FDA. Same strength does not mean the products are interchangeable: the vehicle (the cream or gel base) changes how the medicine feels, how irritating it is and, in the case of microsphere gels, how the tretinoin is released. For product-level detail, see our tretinoin cream guide.

Label safety points to know before you buy

These come from two US labels: the Mylan tretinoin cream and gel label (the authorized generic of Retin-A) and the Mylan tretinoin gel 0.05% label.

• Sun. Exposure to sunlight, including sunlamps, should be minimized. People with sunburn should not use the product until fully recovered. The 0.05% gel label recommends sunscreen of at least SPF 15 and protective clothing when exposure cannot be avoided. In mice, tretinoin increased the tumor-causing effect of UV light; the label says the meaning for humans is not clear.
• Irritation. Tretinoin "may induce severe local erythema and peeling at the site of application" and has been reported to cause severe irritation on eczematous skin, so it "should be used with utmost caution" in people with eczema. If irritation is severe, the label says to use it less often, stop temporarily or stop altogether.
• Where not to apply. Keep it away from the eyes, mouth, angles of the nose and mucous membranes.
• Other products. Use medicated or abrasive soaps, drying cosmetics, products high in alcohol, astringents, spices or lime with caution, and take particular caution with products containing sulfur, resorcinol or salicylic acid; the 0.05% gel label adds benzoyl peroxide.
• Allergy. The Mylan cream and gel label says to stop if hypersensitivity to any ingredient is noted. The 0.05% gel contains fish proteins and should be used with caution in people with fish allergy.
• Fire. The alcohol-based gels are flammable: keep away from heat and flame.

Side effects in the 0.05% gel trials

The tretinoin gel 0.05% label reports two 12-week acne trials with 674 people on tretinoin gel and 487 on the same gel without tretinoin (vehicle). Half of those on tretinoin gel (50%) reported at least one adverse reaction and 30% reported reactions judged treatment-related, against 29% and 5% on vehicle. No serious treatment-related reactions were reported.

The label notes that most skin reactions start in the first two weeks and peak around the second and third week, and in some people they last through treatment. The older Mylan cream and gel label adds that an apparent worsening of inflamed spots can occur in the early weeks; our tretinoin purge guide explains that phase, and tretinoin before and after covers the timeline of results.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding: what the US labels say

Both US labels we used say there are no well-controlled studies in pregnant women, and both say tretinoin "should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus." The 0.05% gel label places it in Pregnancy Category C. Oral tretinoin causes birth defects in animals, and topical tretinoin has given mixed results in animal studies. The Mylan cream and gel label also reports 30 human cases of birth defects linked in time to tretinoin use over two decades, five of them holoprosencephaly, with no causal link established.

For breastfeeding, both labels say it is not known whether tretinoin passes into human milk and that caution should be exercised. If you are pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding, talk to a doctor before buying or using tretinoin.

Who the labels say it has not been tested in

The Mylan cream and gel label says safety and effectiveness have not been established in children under 12; the 0.05% gel label sets the line at under 10, and its trials included 381 people aged 10 to 16. Neither label established safety and effectiveness in people aged 65 and over.

How to choose a strength

Strength is a prescriber's choice, and a higher number is not automatically better. The Mylan label states that applying more than directed will not give faster or better results and can cause marked redness, peeling or discomfort. The label also says any change of vehicle, concentration or frequency should be closely monitored, and the patient leaflet notes that a doctor may advise starting every other night if your skin is sensitive. Our how to use tretinoin guide walks through the label's application steps and starting strengths, and the retinoid strength chart compares tretinoin strengths with adapalene and retinol.

Cost and strength interact in the NADAC data in a way that is easy to miss: the 0.1% cream cost US pharmacies less per gram than the 0.05% cream. If your prescriber is choosing between those two, the price difference may not run the way you expect.

How long a tube lasts

The label directions are for a thin layer once a day at bedtime, using about half an inch or less from the tube for the whole face. The label does not convert that into grams, so we cannot tell you exactly how many weeks a 20 g or 45 g tube lasts. Using more than the label amount wastes medicine without adding benefit. The label says results should be noticed after 2 to 3 weeks but that more than 6 weeks of therapy may be needed, and the patient leaflet says many users see improvement by 12 weeks, which is worth keeping in mind when you choose a pack size.

Five ways to pay less for tretinoin in the US

1. Use the generic. Every Retin-A cream and gel strength has AB-rated generics.
2. Buy the 45 g tube. It cost less per gram than the smaller tube in every pair in the NADAC file.
3. Consider cream over gel if your prescriber agrees: creams cost a fraction of gels per gram.
4. Avoid microsphere gel unless you need it: at $11.37 per gram it is the most expensive form in the file.
5. Compare cash prices between pharmacies and discount programs, using the NADAC figures as a guide to what the pharmacy itself paid.

Related guides

• How to use tretinoin: the label's step by step method
• Retinoid strength chart: adapalene, tretinoin, tazarotene and retinol
• Adapalene vs tretinoin: what the head to head trials show
• Tretinoin purge: what it is and why it happens
• Tretinoin before and after: the trial timeline
• Tretinoin cream guide
• Buying tretinoin in the UK
• Isotretinoin for acne

Sources

1. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC), 2026 dataset (data.medicaid.gov), rows as of 28 October 2026 for tretinoin and adapalene; searched for Retin-A, Atralin and Altreno (no rows).
2. Medicaid.gov. Retail Price Survey and Pharmacy Pricing pages (NADAC method and weekly updates), accessed 28 October 2026.
3. Tretinoin cream and gel (authorized generic of Retin-A), US prescribing information and patient instructions, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, manufactured by Bausch Health, revised 02/2024 (DailyMed setid ba377a5e-e48a-4bd9-9d76-929d70793396).
4. Tretinoin Gel USP 0.05%, US prescribing information, Mylan Pharmaceuticals (DailyMed setid ce5f4f14-5e60-4cc1-bcb3-1fa9b8aa9cd5): sections 1, 2, 4, 5, 6.1, 8, 14, 16.
5. US Food and Drug Administration. Drugs@FDA via openFDA, all applications containing tretinoin, and NDA 020380, NDA 021753 and NDA 220736 (adapalene), accessed 28 October 2026.
6. US Food and Drug Administration. NDC directory via openFDA: product NDCs 0378-8082 to 0378-8086, 0378-8090, 0574-2225, 21922-043 and 68308-777, accessed 28 October 2026.
7. US Food and Drug Administration. Supplement approval letter, NDA 020380/S-010, Differin Gel (adapalene) 0.1% for over-the-counter use, 8 July 2016.
8. US Food and Drug Administration. Personal Importation, fda.gov/industry/import-basics/personal-importation, accessed 28 October 2026.
9. SafeRxPills product price list and shipping page, 28 October 2026.

This guide is for information and does not replace advice from a doctor or pharmacist. Tretinoin is a prescription medicine in the US; talk to a prescriber about whether it suits you and which strength to use.