Best SimplePractice alternatives for therapists in 2026
If you're looking for SimplePractice alternatives, you have probably already made up your mind. The price increases, the add-on billing, the sense that you are paying more and getting less: these are the reasons therapists are leaving in growing numbers.
This guide covers the best SimplePractice alternatives for private practice therapists in 2026. Each option is compared on what actually matters: AI notes, pricing, telehealth, billing, and how easy it is to switch without losing your client data.
TL;DR
- The best SimplePractice alternative for most private practice therapists is Upheal, which includes AI session notes, scheduling, and telehealth at $1 per session with no seat fee, plus insurance billing at $0.30 per claim.
- TherapyNotes is the main alternative if you prioritize insurance billing depth over AI notes.
- Practice Better works well for wellness and coaching practices that bill privately.
- Upheal's Assistant runs the switch from SimplePractice itself, carrying across your notes, templates, forms, and chart files. For an individual provider it takes around an hour.
- All platforms listed are HIPAA compliant.
Why therapists are leaving SimplePractice right now
SimplePractice describes itself as the leading platform for independent mental health practitioners. That position has come with consequences: price increases, feature fragmentation, and a billing structure that charges separately for things most therapists expect to be included.
Four things are driving the current wave of exits:
The October 2026 claim fees. From October 1, SimplePractice charges $0.39 for every insurance claim on every plan, and the free claims that came with Essential (10 a month) and Plus (35 a month) are removed. Subscription prices don't change. For practices that bill insurance, this is a straight increase, and it lands about a month after it was announced.
Starter users actually pay less, around 22% less, because their old rate was $0.50. Everyone else pays more, and the volume tiers never close the gap: even at 10,000 claims a month the blended rate is $0.334, still above the old Plus rate of $0.25. We broke the whole change down plan by plan in our analysis of SimplePractice's new insurance pricing.
Price increases. In March 2025 SimplePractice restructured its plans and moved Starter to $49 a month. Therapists who were on the old Starter plan report paying $29 before, a 69% increase.
Add-on pricing for AI. SimplePractice charges $35/month per clinician for AI note-taking. Care Aide, which launched in 2026, bundles Note Taker with SimplePractice's other AI features for $59/month for the account owner and $49/month for each additional clinician. AI documentation is not included in any base plan. Both add-ons come with a 30-day free trial. Before turning either on, it's worth knowing what SimplePractice's Note Taker does with your session transcripts.
AI as an afterthought. SimplePractice built its core workflow before AI documentation existed, and it shows in how the AI works. Care Aide's features each fire at a defined point: a summary when a client completes intake, prompts during a telehealth session, a treatment plan draft afterward. They're useful, but they're generators you trigger. Platforms built more recently started with AI as the foundation, which is what makes an assistant you can simply ask a question possible.
None of this is speculation about how therapists feel: the r/SimplePractice community filled up with it within hours of the October announcement (thread, thread), with the free claims and the one-month notice period the two complaints that come up most, and several people naming the platforms they're evaluating instead.
If any of these sound familiar, the platforms below are worth a serious look.
What to look for in a SimplePractice alternative
Before comparing options, it helps to know what you actually need. The most important factors for most private practice therapists are:
- AI session notes included by default. The biggest time savings comes from AI that writes your progress notes during or after a session. Look for platforms where this is built in, not an add-on.
- Scheduling, billing, and telehealth in one place. Every tool you add is another login, another subscription, and another data silo. The best platforms handle all of this under one roof.
- Transparent pricing you can predict. A per-session or flat monthly fee is easier to plan for than tiered plans with feature gates, and easier to check against your own numbers when it changes.
- Insurance billing you can price. If you bill payers, look at the per-claim fee and whether there's a monthly billing charge on top. That line moves, and it moves without much notice.
- HIPAA-compliant by default. Every platform on this list meets this requirement. Verify before using any tool not on this list.
- Mobile apps for you and your clients. You should be able to run the practice from your phone, and clients should be able to book, pay, and join sessions from theirs.
- Secure messaging that works like messaging. Attachments, and conversations that can include a client's parent, partner, or care team rather than just one-to-one.
- Client data migration. You should be able to export your SimplePractice records and import them into a new platform without starting from scratch.
The best SimplePractice alternatives for therapists in 2026
The best SimplePractice alternative for most private practice therapists is Upheal. It includes AI session notes, scheduling, and telehealth at $1 per session, with insurance billing at $0.30 per claim, all in one place.
Here is how the main options compare:
Competitor pricing read on each vendor's own pricing page or help center on September 23, 2026; TherapyNotes re-checked October 21, 2026 at its October 2026 rates, which existing TherapyNotes customers move to from December 1, 2026. Prices in this category move quickly; if a figure here does not match what you see, trust the vendor's page.
Starting prices are the wrong number to compare, because AI notes and telehealth are add-ons almost everywhere. Here is what a solo therapist actually pays each month with AI notes turned on, on the cheapest plan from each vendor that includes telehealth, secure messaging, and insurance claims:
Solo therapist, 50 sessions a month, AI notes on. Cheaper setups exist but leave something out: SimplePractice Starter with Note Taker is $84, with no appointment reminders or secure messaging, and TheraNest Essentials with telehealth and AI is $76, with no secure messaging or insurance claims. Competitor pricing read on each vendor's own pages on September 23, 2026.
The gap between the headline price and the real price is widest on SimplePractice and TheraNest. $49 and $29 get you in, but the plan most therapists would run, with AI notes added, comes to $114 and $94. On both, AI is extra on every tier, including the top one.
Upheal: best overall SimplePractice alternative for private practice therapists
Upheal is an AI-native mental health EHR. Unlike SimplePractice, which added AI on top of an existing platform, Upheal built AI into the core from day one.
What you get at $1 per session, with no seat fee:
- AI session notes in multiple formats (SOAP, DAP, GIRP, BIRP, and others)
- Treatment plan generation
- A compliance checker that flags documentation issues before they become billing problems
- Scheduling and client portal, with no-show and late-cancellation fees
- HIPAA-compliant telehealth
- Practice forms
- The Upheal for Clinicians app, plus a client app
- Free Biller and Practice Manager seats with no clinical access, where SimplePractice charges $39 a month for a practice manager, on Plus only
- Payments at 2.9% + $0.30, and insurance billing at $0.30 per claim and $0.15 per eligibility check with no monthly billing fee. A rejected claim that you fix and resubmit is not charged again
- The AI Assistant's free tier, on every plan
Documentation is where the time goes. A survey of nearly 500 therapists by Barbara Griswold found clinicians seeing 18 clients a week spend about two and a half hours a week writing notes. In Upheal's Provider Experience Survey, published in The Session Comes First: Mental Health Practice AI Impact Report 2026, 90% of 996 active Upheal users said the time saved goes back into their clinical work (self-reported, surveyed in product).
A therapist seeing 12 clients a week pays about $50 a month, and a quieter month costs less rather than the same.
The Assistant is where Upheal differs most from what you're used to. Rather than a set of AI features that run at fixed points, it's something you ask: about a client, your schedule, your outstanding balances, in your own words, and it answers from your own records and then acts on the answer. Assistant Pro, at $39/month, removes the monthly limits, including on routines that run whole workflows for you.
Upheal is best for private practice therapists who want AI built into their EHR from the start, with AI notes included in the price of every session rather than a $35/month add-on on top of the subscription.
See how Upheal works for individual providers
TherapyNotes: strong choice for documentation-heavy practices
TherapyNotes has a long track record in insurance billing and clinical documentation. It is a reliable platform for practices where billing workflows are complex and insurance panel management is a priority. On claim fees it was effectively level with Upheal until its October 2026 price change: $0.25 per electronic claim plus $0.09 per ERA now comes to $0.34 for a claim and its remittance, against $0.30 on Upheal (re-checked 21 October 2026; existing TherapyNotes customers move to the new rates from 1 December 2026). The bigger difference between the two platforms is still the subscription around it.
AI notes are available through TherapyFuel, a paid add-on. If AI documentation is central to your practice, this means an additional cost on top of the base subscription.
- Starting price: $69/month for a solo clinician; $89 plus $60 per clinician for group practices
- Telehealth: basic included; Premium Telehealth is $15/month
- AI notes: TherapyFuel, $40/month per clinician
- Insurance billing: $0.25 per claim plus $0.09 per ERA, and $0.14 per eligibility check (October 2026 rates)
Practice Better: best for wellness and coaching practices
Practice Better is popular with health coaches, nutritionists, and wellness practitioners. If you are a licensed therapist who bills insurance, it is not the most direct fit: claims run through a third-party Claim.MD integration rather than native submission. If you run a cash-pay coaching practice, it is worth considering.
- Starting price: $35/month for Starter, or $25 billed annually, for up to 10 clients; Professional is $69/month, or $62 billed annually, for up to 300
- Telehealth: included
- AI notes: AI Charting Assistant, an add-on on Professional and up, from $10/month for 20 hours of sessions; 60 hours is $20 and 120 hours is $40, then 2 cents a minute
- Insurance billing: via Claim.MD integration
TheraNest (Ensora Health): low entry price, AI extra
TheraNest, the mental health EHR from Ensora Health, is one of the lower-cost entry points for solo practitioners. AI session notes come from Ensai Session Assistant, a $35/month per-provider add-on on every tier, including the top one, so the headline price is not the price you'll pay if you want AI notes. The $29 Essentials plan also leaves out secure messaging, online booking, and insurance claims; those start on Advanced at $59, which includes telehealth. It works for practices that are price-sensitive and do not prioritize documentation speed.
- Starting price: $29 (Essentials), $59 (Advanced), or $89 (Premier) per therapist per month
- Telehealth: $12/month add-on on Essentials, included from Advanced
- AI notes: Ensai Session Assistant, $35/month per provider, on every plan; every plan also includes an AI tool that polishes notes you write yourself
- All-in for a solo therapist wanting AI: $94/month on Advanced, or $76 on Essentials without messaging or claims
How to switch from SimplePractice without losing your data
The most common concern therapists have about switching platforms is losing client records. On Upheal, the switch is run by the Upheal Assistant rather than a data-import service. You start it yourself, it rebuilds your practice from your SimplePractice export, and for an individual provider it takes around an hour. No onboarding call required.
Here is how it works:
- Start the migration from Upheal. Click Home in the left menu, then click Switch from SimplePractice. This starts the Assistant-led migration.
- Export three files from SimplePractice. The Assistant walks you through downloading your client demographics, client details, and full practice data export from SimplePractice, with exact instructions for where to find each one.
- Upload and match your records. Upload each file into Upheal. The Assistant uses AI to match your SimplePractice clients and providers to the right profiles in Upheal. Anything it is unsure about is surfaced for you to confirm rather than guessed.
The Assistant recreates more than the client list: notes, session history, contracts, your note templates, your intake and consent forms, and every chart file, filed to the right client, all come across, so you're not rebuilding them by hand in week one.
For the full step-by-step walkthrough, see Moving your records from SimplePractice to Upheal in the Upheal support center.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the best free SimplePractice alternative?
The best free SimplePractice alternative is Upheal's free plan, which includes unlimited AI session notes and HIPAA-compliant telehealth with no credit card required. It is the only free option on this list that includes built-in AI documentation.
Is Upheal a good SimplePractice alternative?
Yes, particularly for therapists who want AI session notes built into their EHR. Upheal includes AI notes, scheduling, telehealth, and treatment plans at $1 per session with no seat fee, so a therapist seeing 50 sessions a month pays $50, plus $0.30 per insurance claim if they bill insurance. For a detailed comparison, see Upheal vs SimplePractice.
Can I import my SimplePractice data into Upheal?
Yes. The Upheal Assistant runs the migration. In Upheal, click Home, then Switch from SimplePractice. The Assistant walks you through exporting your records from SimplePractice and uploading them into Upheal, then uses AI to match every client and provider to the right profile. Notes, session history, contracts, note templates, intake and consent forms, and chart files all come across, and for an individual provider the whole switch takes around an hour. For the full guide, see Moving your records from SimplePractice to Upheal.
Why are therapists leaving SimplePractice?
The most common reasons are recurring price increases, add-on pricing for features like AI notes, and the sense that the platform has become more complex without becoming more useful. The October 2026 insurance change is the current trigger: from October 1, every plan pays $0.39 per claim and the free claims end, while subscription prices stay the same.
How much are SimplePractice's insurance claim fees in 2026?
From October 1, 2026, SimplePractice charges $0.39 per claim on the first 250 claims a month, stepping down to $0.37, $0.35, and $0.33 at higher volumes. The 10 free claims on Essential and 35 on Plus are removed. Insurance status checks are $0.15 on Starter and Essential, and stay free on Plus through March 31, 2027. Insurance Navigator, an optional upgrade available from October 1, replaces the per-claim rate with $1.79 and adds AI claim checks and access to insurance specialists.
Does SimplePractice have an AI assistant?
SimplePractice sells Care Aide, a $59/month bundle that includes Note Taker, Intake Summaries, Session prep, an in-session Session Sidekick, Client Summaries, a Treatment Planner, and Note Checker for pre-licensed supervisees. Each runs at a defined point in the workflow rather than being something you can ask a question. Upheal's Assistant is conversational and agentic, with a free tier on every plan and an optional $39/month Pro tier.
Is Upheal HIPAA compliant?
Yes. Upheal is HIPAA, PHIPA, PIPEDA, GDPR, and DPA compliant, has completed a SOC 2 Type II audit, and is continuously externally tested. Upheal signs a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with every practice. Audio is deleted by default after note generation, client data is never sold, and Upheal does not train AI on your data without explicit consent. Current control status is published at trust.upheal.io.
The bottom line
The right SimplePractice alternative depends on what is driving you to switch. If documentation time is the issue and you want AI built into your workflow from day one, Upheal is the clear choice. If you are primarily driven by insurance billing complexity, TherapyNotes is worth evaluating; its claim fees are now slightly above Upheal's, and the bigger difference is the $109 a month it takes to get AI notes alongside them. If you run a cash-pay wellness practice, Practice Better fits.
For most private practice therapists, the combination of built-in AI notes, usage-based pricing, and all-in-one functionality makes Upheal the most direct upgrade from SimplePractice.
