Online pharmacies are pharmacies which run over the net. Many such pharmacies are, in some ways, comparable to community pharmacies; the principal difference is the method which the meds are ordered and received. Some customers consider this to be more useful than going to a community drugstore.

While lots internet pharmacies sell prescription drugs only with a prescription, some do not ask for a pre-written prescription. In some countries, this is because prescriptions are not required. Some customers buy drugs from such pharmacies to refrain from the annoyance of visiting a doctor or to buy meds which their medics were unwilling to prescribe. People living in the US may prefer online pharmacies because health care and prescription drugs can be prohibitively expensive. Many of these websites employ their own in house physicians to review the medication request and write a prescription accordingly. Some websites provide drugs without a prescription or a physician review.

In the United States, there has been a press to legalize importation of meds from Canada and several European countries, in order to decrease consumer costs. Many times Americans gain lower-cost foreign meds by driving to Canadian pharmacies, buying their medications when traveling abroad on vacation, or, buying from Canadian pharmacies that ship their orders via mail.