The 9 Best Online Therapy Services of 2023

Talkspace is among the most popular and well-recognized online therapy services, reportedly having served over a million users on its platform. They provide their customers with access to live, one-on-one, therapy sessions via video conferencing. They also enable users to conduct an ongoing dialogue with their therapist via text messaging, available through their website and mobile app.

As with every online counseling provider, the quality of the treatment is subject to the expertise and experience of the therapists and their ability to make meaningful connections with their clients. To maximize the efficacy of their service, Talkspace has set the highest standards when hiring therapists, requiring a staggering 3,000 hours of clinical experience to be accepted to their platform.

In addition to the live sessions and communication that takes place in the secured virtual therapy room, a Talkspace subscription comes with access to their therapy exercises section and online symptom tracker. These tools can be useful in helping you practice what you’ve learned in your sessions and monitoring your mental health over time.

Talkspace offers several mental health services, including individual talk therapy, couples counseling, teen counseling, and psychiatric medication management.

Their online therapy packages are priced as follows:

Messaging Therapy: This includes unlimited text, video, and audio messages, and costs $69 per week, billed monthly as $276.

Video + Messaging Therapy: This plan includes unlimited messaging with your therapist and four live 30-minute sessions per month, and costs $99 per week, billed monthly as $396.

Video + Messaging + Workshops: This plan includes unlimited text, video, and audio messaging, plus four live 30-minute sessions per month. In addition you can access live weekly workshops. The price is $109 per week, billed monthly as $436.

Couples Therapy: This plan includes unlimited text, video, and audio messaging for both partners, plus four live 30-minute couples therapy sessions per month. The price is $109 per week, billed monthly as $436.

Talkspace is among the few therapy platforms covered by some insurance providers. In addition, dozens of large organizations provide coverage for their employees on Talkspace.

The large network of therapists on Talkspace can treat a wide range of mental health concerns, including depression, anxiety, stress, OCD, eating disorders, relationship issues, trauma, grief, anger issues, substance abuse, family conflict, sexuality issues, mood disorders, and more.

Calmerry is a user-friendly therapy platform with experienced therapists that we found to be professional, responsive, and very eager to help. They provide an overall excellent therapy service that’s a pleasure to use.

Unlike every other provider we’ve tested, Calmerry allows you to sign up and get a feel for what you can expect from their platform before committing to a monthly subscription. They do this through their introductory weekly package which costs $64.99 for the week. This plan lets you try out a live video-based session with a therapist, engage in chat therapy with them for additional support, and enjoy access to their “Reflection helper,” a guided journaling tool you can choose to share with your therapist or keep all to yourself.

It should be noted that signing up for this option is not possible through the regular signup page. You’ll need to engage in the live chat support on the website and ask them for it.

The Calmerry mobile app has all the features you need to continue your therapy wherever you may be. This gives you the flexibility to communicate by chat, or even schedule a live session during breaks at work while sitting in the car, or when waiting in line at the store.

As with all online therapy providers, your experience is highly dependent on the knowledge and experience of your therapist, how responsive they are to your chat messages, and how well your personalities connect.

To that end, Calmerry requires all of its therapists to be trained clinical psychologists, marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, or licensed professional counselors. They all have a master’s or doctorate in their field. In addition, they have been qualified and certified by their state’s professional board after completing the required education, exams, and practice. The platform also requires its therapists to regularly check in with users to maximize engagement and make sure they continue with ongoing dialogue.

When it comes to pricing, Calmerry offers three affordable plans from which to choose. They are billed monthly and designed to accommodate a range of budgets:

Messaging Only: The cost is $49.50 per week for the 1st month (billed monthly as $198), and $57 per week after that (billed monthly as $228). This includes unlimited therapy via text messaging with a licensed therapist, as well as access to the reflection tools.

Messaging + 1 Live Video Session: The cost is $61.75 per week for the 1st month (billed monthly as $247), and $74.50 per week after that (billed monthly as $298). This includes unlimited text messaging and one 30-minute live video session each month with your therapist, as well as access to the reflection tools.

Messaging + 4 Live Video Sessions: The cost is $73.25 per week for the 1st month (billed monthly as $293), and $90 per week after that (billed monthly as $360). This includes unlimited text messaging and four 30-minute live video sessions each month with your therapist, as well as access to the reflection tools.

Calmerry’s therapists are trained to provide counseling using a variety of therapy types. The platform is stated to treat patients with mental health concerns and conditions including, but not limited to depression, anxiety, stress, childhood abuse, chronic illness, eating disorders, emotional abuse, family conflict, grief, trauma, sexuality issues, PTSD, OCD, relationship conflicts, and low self-esteem.

Whether you are new to therapy or have engaged in counseling in the past, Calmerry is a great choice for finding help.

Brightside is unique in that it combines many of the best features and aspects offered by the other providers, and at highly competitive prices.

First, they offer professional online therapy with licensed and experienced mental health professionals. They also offer prescription medication services for treating depression and anxiety that includes monitoring and dosage adjustments by their Psychiatric Care Team. Their platform is incredibly easy-to-use with its intuitive design, usage of Zoom for live sessions and video lessons for teaching and reinforcing skills discussed during therapy.

Outside of the live therapy sessions, you can communicate with your therapist as much as you need to via their text messaging tool. We found their therapists to be responsive and incredibly helpful during live sessions and when messaging.

As with most therapy programs, much of the real progress takes place in between sessions, with the client working on themselves, spending time on self-analysis and introspection and applying their new skills and thought patterns.

Brightside facilitates this process with insightful videos about negative behaviors, managing emotions and more, that you can watch and discuss with your therapist as part of the program.

They also equip you with a symptom tracker which helps monitor your progress and provides your therapist with valuable feedback that they can use to make your sessions more productive.

Brightside offers three distinct packages:

Therapy Only: This plans costs $62.25 per week billed monthly as $249 for the first month, and $75 per week, billed monthly at $299 after that. It includes one weekly 30-minute therapy session via Zoom, plus unlimited messaging with your therapist. Although the sessions are slotted for 30 minutes, from our assessment, the therapists are generous with their time and do not cut you off in the middle when the allotted time has passed. Additional sessions can be booked at a cost of $59 each.

Medication Only: They offer psychiatric prescription services for $95 per month. In addition, clients will have to pay an insurance copay or a flat $15 fee for the medication.

Medication + Therapy: This plan includes all of the services provided by the Therapy and Medication packages, at a discounted rate of $87.35 per week, billed monthly at $349.

Mental health issues treated by Brightside therapists include anxiety, depression, phobias, OCD, PTSD and more.

Online-Therapy.com is a fast-growing platform that specializes in providing cognitive behavioral therapy online. Their therapists guide users through worksheets and interactive online books via live chat and messaging. In addition, they provide a complete toolbox of resources to empower users to take charge of their mental health.

Most notably, their flexible plans provide up to 8 live therapy sessions per month via video, voice or text chat. Each plan includes unlimited messaging with your therapist, as well as access to worksheets, yoga and meditation videos, a digital journal, an activity plan, and tests. Also included are daily therapist worksheet replies from Monday to Friday.

The plans vary in price depending on how many live sessions you need.

Basic Plan: The cost is $50 per week, billed monthly as $200. This plan includes all their interactive features and therapy resources, as well as therapy via chat. However, no live sessions are included in this package. This might be perfectly sufficient for users that just need some guided support, or those that want to test out the platform before upgrading to a plan with live sessions.

Standard Plan: The cost is $80 per week, billed monthly as $320, and includes one live 45-minute therapy session via video, voice or text per week in addition to all the other features.

Premium Plan: The cost is $110 per week, billed monthly as $440, and includes two live 45-minute therapy sessions via video, voice or text per week in addition to all the other features.

Couples Therapy Plan: The cost $110 per week, billed monthly. This includes unlimited messaging with a therapist for the couple, one weekly 45-minute couples therapy session via video, voice or text, as well as access to all the other features.

This service is more affordable than many of the other providers, though it does not come at the expense of providing their clients with access to live therapy sessions, making it a great option for those on a tight budget.

Online-Therapy.com treats people that may be struggling with anxiety, depression, family issues, OCD, PTSD, relationship issues, phobias, grief, trauma, sexuality issues, personality disorders, and much more.

Their entire approach is based on cognitive behavioral therapy, a very popular therapy modality which focuses on changing how our minds perceive the world around us in order to change our thoughts, moods and ultimately our behaviors.

BetterHelp is among the largest, and certainly most recognized online therapy services in the world. Their platform connects users worldwide with professional therapy via video, phone, chat and messaging tools.

While they are not the least expensive provider, they do offer financial assistance for those that qualify.

As a silicon-valley based company with a more technical orientation, BetterHelp employs the most up-to-date technologies in optimizing their security and usability features.

It should be noted, that while most other platforms offer counseling for a variety of treatment needs, BetterHelp segments their treatment types into different brands within their portfolio. For example, they offer counseling to adolescents via their Teen Counseling brand, and therapy for LGBTQ+ clients via Pride Counseling. As users navigate BetterHelp, they are often directed to one of these other brands that have been designed to address the specific needs of that group.

While they have received considerable media coverage, including celebrity endorsements, it has not all been positive. There has been some controversy surrounding their marketing and data tracking practices, though they have mostly managed to clear their reputation.

BetterHelp boasts many of the same therapy features offered by the other leading brands: video sessions, ongoing conversations with a therapist via messaging, online journaling, digital worksheets and interactive group sessions. What makes them stand-out however, is their enormous pool of therapists which currently stands at over 25,000. Even though they use an algorithm to match you to a therapist, you are presumably more likely to find one that’s a good fit.

What they do seem to lack, however, is prescription medication services and the ability to accept insurance. These are options that are being offered by more and more of their competitors.

When it comes to pricing, their subscription generally costs approximately $80 to $90 per month, billed monthly as $320 to $360. This includes 4 live therapy sessions per month that last 30 to 45 minutes each, as well as unlimited messaging with your therapist and access to all their tools.

Their exact pricing is hard to outline because it changes so often. Sometimes they offer up to 3 types of packages from which to choose, while other times they offer one fixed package. In our testing, we have also seen that the prices fluctuate depending on your location and when you sign up. So, while you should not expect to pay more than $90 per week, there is a small chance the price will exceed $100.

BetterHelp has therapists that can help people deal with a wide range of issues including stress, anxiety, relationship struggles, family conflicts, depression, addiction, eating disorders, trauma, anger, LGBTQ+ matters, grief, low self-esteem, and more.

Regain is a unique online counseling service in that it focuses solely on couples counseling. The therapists on this platform are licensed professionals that have experience in working with couples, as well as individuals, on resolving their relationship issues. In addition to being much more affordable than in‑office couples counseling, Regain is also more convenient with its multiple communication options and flexible session scheduling.

Regain is owned by the Teladoc subsidiary BetterHelp. While couples therapy is meant to help bring couples together, the sessions themselves do not have to take place with both partners present. Individuals may attend the live sessions on their own to work through their relationship issues if their partner is unable or unwilling to attend.

The cost of signing up with Regain is between $60 and $90 per week, billed monthly as $240 to $360. The price fluctuates within this range quite often. Although insurance is not accepted, they do provide financial aid to those that qualify.

A subscription to Regain includes weekly live therapy sessions via video, chat, or audio calls that last 30 to 45 minutes. The partners must be at the same location in order in join the call together, as the platform does not support multiple devices signing in at once. This seems like a rather important feature for them to have left out, as it makes attending online therapy sessions much less convenient, in particular for couples that are separated.

In addition to live sessions, both partners can communicate with their therapists as much as they want via a message board. However, it should be noted that this board is open to both partners. Meaning, you cannot communicate confidentially with you therapist without your partner seeing everything you write.

The only way to have private 1-on-1 time with your therapist is to use up one of your live sessions and ask your partner not to attend.

The platform was designed to help couples deal with all types of relationship issues. Therefore, when their algorithm matches you up with a therapist, you can rest assured that one of the matching criteria used relates to the particular issue you described in the in-take process.

Teencounseling.com is a therapy platform that specifically caters to teenagers 13-19 years of age. As a subsidiary of BetterHelp, a Teladoc company, users that sign up to Teencounseling.com have access to the same tools and communication features as are available on BetterHelp. The main difference is the pool of approximately 16,000 therapists on this platform that have experience or training in dealing with teens.

As with in-person teen counseling sessions, therapists on Teen Counseling must report concerns of self-harm or neglect to either parents or other appropriate authorities. Otherwise, the communication that takes place is secure and confidential.

The pricing on Teencounseling.com ranges from $60 to $90 per week, billed monthly as $240 to $360. The costs vary within this range based on the location of the user and whatever special promotions the company may be running at the time.

This fee includes a weekly live virtual therapy session via video, chat, or audio call, as well as unlimited messaging communication with the therapist.

Teencounseling.com was designed to help teens struggling with anxiety, depression, stress, low self-esteem, bullying, eating disorders, relationship conflicts, and more. Parents who think their teens may be more open to engaging in therapy online due to its convenience and accessibility of it may find Teencounseling.com to be an excellent solution.

Pride Counseling is yet another brand owned by BetterHelp, with features and pricing that are nearly identical to those of the parent company.

The platform matches people in the LGBTQIA+ community with licensed online therapists who can help them cope with many types of mental health issues, whether they are more common conditions such as depressions and anxiety, or challenges specifically relating to sexual orientation and gender identity.

On Pride Counseling, members can communicate one-on-one with a therapist via phone, video, or the platform’s secure messaging system. The platform has its own app in addition to the website where users can log on and receive therapy from counselors that have experience with the LGBTQIA+ community.

A subscription to Pride Counseling costs $60 to $90 per week, billed monthly as $240 to $360. The prices fluctuate depending on the location of the user and the promotional offers the company may be offering at the given time. At the moment, they do not accept insurance, though they do offer discounts to users that qualify for financial aid.

A subscription includes one weekly live therapy session via video, audio call or chat messaging, which typically lasts 30 to 45 minutes. In addition, subscribers enjoy an ongoing dialogue with their therapist via the private message board. All these tools can be accessed via the Pride Counseling website and app.

Upon signing up, customers are matched with therapist using the platform’s automated matching algorithm. While some may see this as a drawback and prefer to select their therapist o their own, it should be noted that Pride Counseling allows you to switch therapists at any time.

Amwell is a telehealth platform that connects patients with a variety of medical professionals, including therapists. They offer video counseling via their website and mobile app.

While therapy is not their primary focus, one thing that does make them stand out is that they also offer sessions with psychiatrists.

Therapy sessions via Amwell typically last 45 minutes. The number of sessions is determined based on an individualized treatment plan created by the therapist.

Each session costs a fixed fee of $129 for doctoral level providers and $109 for master’s level providers. While this is still less expensive than typical in-office visits, it is more expensive than most other online therapy services.

Amwell does not provide chat messaging with your therapist, which is a feature offered by most of the other providers. However, if messaging is not something you’d be using anyway, and if you are covered for Amwell by your insurance company, then they are definitely worth checking out.