For decades, watching your blood sugar move in real time required a prescription, a finger prick or both. That barrier is gone. Stelo, Lingo and Levels are now available to adults who want to see how food, sleep, stress and exercise shape their metabolic health, and any honest OTC CGM comparison has to start with what each one actually does.
The stakes are practical. Continuous glucose monitors were built for people with diabetes, but they can also benefit people with prediabetes, obesity, certain glycogen storage diseases and insulinoma. Now they’re being marketed to a much wider audience — which makes choosing carefully more important, not less.
How a CGM OTC Sensor Actually Works
A continuous glucose monitor is a wearable device that constantly tracks your glucose levels through a small sensor placed just under the skin. Instead of a fingerstick snapshot, it measures glucose in interstitial fluid around the clock and streams that data to an app on your phone, which displays your current level and trends. Some CGMs can also connect with insulin pumps.
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What to Know About Stelo: The Dexcom OTC CGM
The Stelo Glucose Biosensor System is, per the website, “an over-the-counter (OTC) integrated Continuous Glucose Monitor (iCGM) intended to continuously measure, record, analyze and display glucose values in people 18 years and older not on insulin.” It’s designed to help users detect normal and dysglycemic ranges and “better understand how lifestyle and behavior modification, including diet and exercise, impact glucose excursion.”
Stelo doesn’t require a prescription. It has a wear time of up to 15 days, with a 12-hour grace period, and is commonly used to track how specific foods, exercise, stress, sleep or fasting affect glucose responses.
Everything to Know About Lingo and Levels: Different Pitches, Same Goal
Lingo leans on speed. “The Lingo biosensor is a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) that measures your glucose response to food, exercise and stress, then streams the data to your phone 24/7,” the website says. “Where some sensors refresh every 15 minutes, the Lingo biosensor streams real-time updates every minute of every day.” It’s discreet, water resistant, lasts up to 14 days and doesn’t require charging. The Lingo app pairs glucose data with science-backed tips aimed at building healthier habits over time.
Levels takes a wider angle. “Levels helps you understand how diet and lifestyle affect your body, so you can make changes that improve energy, appetite and long-term metabolic health,” per the website. Users can bring their own CGM or get one through Levels. The company combines CGM data with lifestyle inputs and biomarker testing to surface patterns in glucose spikes, variability and insulin sensitivity.
For a side-by-side breakdown, the AACE has mapped out a detailed CGM device comparison.
What an OTC CGM Monitor Can — and Can’t — Do for You
According to the American Diabetes Association, CGMs can “help avoid or delay serious, short- and long-term diabetes complications,” potentially save money through better management and fewer hypoglycemia emergencies, and “provide biofeedback in real time, which allows people with diabetes to modify their dietary pattern or insulin dose based on trends, as directed by their health care professional.”
None of these sensors alone replace medical guidance, and the wellness-focused marketing around OTC devices can blur that line for users who aren’t diabetic.
How to Choose Between the CGM Models
The ADA advises users to “take the time to investigate both options and talk to your doctor and diabetes educator, who can provide valuable guidance and insights about the type of CGM system that may be right for you. They can also help you make the transition to a CGM and provide training to help you learn how to interpret and use your data to make appropriate treatment decisions and achieve your blood sugar goals.”
