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, telehealth, and billing at $1 per session with no seat fee.
- 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 self-serve migration tool imports your SimplePractice records in a day or two.
- All platforms listed are HIPAA compliant.
Why therapists are leaving SimplePractice right now
SimplePractice has the largest market share among private practice therapists in the US. 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. SimplePractice has raised subscription prices multiple times since 2022. In March 2025 the Starter plan moved from $29 to $49 a month, about a 69% increase, on roughly a month's notice. Users have also reported being automatically migrated to higher tiers, paying for features they didn't request.
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 five more 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.
AI as an afterthought. SimplePractice built its core workflow before AI documentation existed, and it shows in how the AI works. Care Aide's six 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, telehealth, and billing at $1 per session, with everything in one place.
Here is how the main options compare:
Competitor pricing verified against each vendor's public pricing page, September 2026.
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:
Solo therapist, 50 sessions a month, AI notes on. Competitor pricing verified September 2026.
The headline price and the real price are furthest apart on Ensora: $29 gets you in, but AI is $35 per provider on every tier including the top one.
Upheal: best overall SimplePractice alternative for private practice therapists
Upheal is an AI-native mental health EHR built specifically for private practice therapists. 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
- HIPAA-compliant telehealth
- Practice forms
- 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
Upheal reduces documentation time from 16 minutes to under 5 minutes per session for most therapists. 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. The free tier is included with every plan; Assistant Pro, at $39/month, removes the monthly limits and adds pre-built agents that run whole workflows for you.
Upheal is best for private practice therapists who want AI built into their EHR from the start, not a $35/month add-on that only records live inside SimplePractice's own telehealth.
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 is effectively level with Upheal: $0.14 per electronic claim plus $0.14 per ERA comes to $0.28 for a claim and its remittance, against $0.30 on Upheal. The difference between the two platforms is 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; $79 plus $50 per clinician for group practices
- Telehealth: basic included; Premium Telehealth is $15/month
- AI notes: TherapyFuel, $40/month per clinician
- Insurance billing: $0.14 per claim plus $0.14 per ERA, and $0.14 per eligibility check
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; Professional is $69/month
- Telehealth: included, with AI features metered by the hour
- AI notes: telehealth AI, charged by usage rather than included
- Insurance billing: via Claim.MD integration
Ensora (formerly TheraNest): lowest entry cost
Ensora, formerly known as TheraNest, is one of the lower-cost entry points for solo practitioners. The interface is dated compared to newer platforms, and AI is 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. It works for practices that are price-sensitive and do not prioritize documentation speed.
- Starting price: $29/therapist/month (Essentials)
- Telehealth: add-on on the lower tiers, included on Premier
- AI notes: AI Session Assistant, $35/month per provider, on every plan
- All-in for a solo therapist wanting AI: around $76/month
How to switch from SimplePractice without losing your data
The most common concern therapists have about switching platforms is losing client records. Upheal has a built-in self-serve migration tool that walks you through the transfer directly inside the app. 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 opens the guided migration wizard.
- Export three files from SimplePractice. The wizard 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 tool walks you through matching your SimplePractice clients and providers to their correct profiles in Upheal, flagging anything that needs your attention.
The Assistant recreates more than the client list: notes, session history, contracts, your note templates, and your intake and consent forms 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, billing, and treatment plans at $1 per session with no seat fee, so a therapist seeing 50 sessions a month pays $50. For a detailed comparison, see Upheal vs SimplePractice.
Can I import my SimplePractice data into Upheal?
Yes. Upheal has a built-in self-serve migration tool. In Upheal, click Home then Switch from SimplePractice to launch the guided wizard. It walks you through exporting your records from SimplePractice and uploading them directly into Upheal, including a client matching step to make sure every record lands in the right place. Notes, session history, contracts, note templates, and intake and consent forms all come across. 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: every plan now pays $0.39 per claim and the free claims are gone, 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. Eligibility checks are $0.15 on Starter and Essential, and stay free on Plus until 2027. A separate add-on, Insurance Navigator, 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 of six AI features: Note Taker, intake summaries, session prep, an in-session Session Sidekick, client summaries, and a treatment planner. 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 and SOC 2 Type II certified and signs a Business Associate Agreement 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 and the SOC 2 report are 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 level with Upheal's, and the difference is the $124 a month it takes to get AI notes and telehealth 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.
