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These online therapy platforms are some of the virtually affordable options.

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  • Best overall: BetterHelp
  • Best multifariousness of services: Talkspace
  • Best for group therapy: Grouport
  • Best for uninsured or underinsured individuals: Open Path Collective
  • Best for psychiatry: Cerebral
  • Best for relationship therapy: ReGain
  • Best for support with disordered eating: Brilliant Heart Health
  • All-time for booze dependency: Monument
  • Best for teens: Teen Counseling

Online therapy, or telemental healthcare, allows y'all to talk with a trusted professional online via video chat or messaging. While traditional talk therapy requires in-person, face-to-confront sessions, online therapy has gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to be popular because of its accessibility.

At present that many trusted platforms are bachelor online, people no longer need to commute to see a therapist or wait weeks until they can get an engagement. Online therapy also gives people who have a hard time leaving their homes the opportunity to go the assist they need comfortably.

In addition to its ease of use, online therapy can also exist more affordable than in-person therapy. While some platforms don't accept insurance, many in-person therapists don't have insurance either, or you may have a hard time finding an available in-person date in your expanse.

All in all, online therapy has become a convenient way for people to talk with licensed therapists on their own terms.

Online therapy is a great pick for those who:

  • are struggling to find face-to-face therapy nearby
  • have a busy lifestyle and are oft unable to make in-person appointments
  • have consistent admission to a calculator, smartphone, and the cyberspace
  • have never done therapy before and are hesitant nearly getting started

Online therapy allows users to log onto appointments from the comfort of their own homes. Ultimately, this creates a more relaxed environs.

To choose the best affordable online therapy options, nosotros considered many dissimilar aspects of each service. Evaluating online therapy options past these rigorous criteria is of import to ensure that our suggestions are of the highest quality.

Healthline also has our ain in-house review squad of mental health professionals that vet these recommendations.

Specifically, we looked at the following factors:

  • how convenient the platform is
  • quality of service providers
  • types of services provided
  • cost of service
  • whether or not the platform takes insurance
  • consumer reviews
  • how long you demand to look for an date
  • format of service, including video, telephone, live chat, or text messaging

All-time overall

BetterHelp

  • Cost: $sixty to $xc per week
  • Pros: They match you lot with a therapist in 24 hours or less.
  • Cons: There'southward no selection for insurance coverage.

Of all the online therapy platforms, BetterHelp has the best reputation amongst both users and therapists. With a wide range of specialties and formats available — including phone, video, and conversation — this platform offers flexibility and accessibility. They can help yous notice exactly the therapy you're looking for in the format that's most user-friendly for yous.

Best multifariousness of services

Talkspace

  • Cost: starts at $69 per week, based on location and plan
  • Pros: They offer both individual and group therapy in a broad range of specialities, including psychiatry. Talkspace too accepts insurance.
  • Cons: You tin't talk to a therapist over the phone.

With over 1 million users, Talkspace is one of the most unremarkably used platforms for online therapy today. They're also one of the most flexible, offering video, audio messaging, and 24/7 text support. You can modify their customizable monthly plans at whatever fourth dimension, whether y'all're looking for one session per week or one session per calendar month.

All-time for group therapy

Grouport

  • ​​Price: $35 per week
  • Pros: They're an fantabulous platform for people seeking therapy with smaller groups. You tin cancel your membership at any time.
  • Cons: Only one session per week is available. They don't take insurance, merely will provide you with a billing argument that you lot tin submit to your insurance for potential reimbursement.

This online grouping therapy platform offers weekly groups led past a licensed therapist. Each group is capped at 12 members, and some groups may have even fewer people. This allows participants to get the time they need to work through issues in a communal setting. Upon sign-up, you'll practise a twenty-infinitesimal consultation before being put in a group. You can cancel your membership at whatsoever time.

Best for uninsured or underinsured individuals

Open Path Commonage

  • Toll: $59
  • Pros: They're geared toward helping people without insurance. You'll receive a lifetime membership upon signing upward.
  • Cons: They don't accept insurance, and yous still take to pay a $59 apartment fee.

Open Path Collective is a nonprofit organization that connects people who cannot afford traditional therapy with trusted therapists. Users are typically uninsured, underinsured, or experiencing financial hardship.

The $59 fee to join gives you a lifetime membership to the program. Both online and in-person therapy are available.

Best for psychiatry

Cerebral

  • Price: starts at $30 per month (plus copay) if covered by your insurance
  • Pros: They are staffed past board certified psychiatrists and physicians, equally well as therapists with graduate caste educations. They also accept insurance.
  • Cons: Cerebral may be pricey if service is outside your insurance network.

Specializing in online psychiatry services, Cerebral offers medication support in addition to therapy and coaching, so yous can create a care plan that fits your specific needs. The platform treats weather similar anxiety, depression, indisposition, and bipolar disorder.

Y'all can choose betwixt iii plans:

  • Medication + Care Counseling. This service starts at $thirty for your first calendar month, and jumps to $85 for every month subsequently that. You'll receive an initial evaluation, diagnosis, and a prescription from a medical professional person. You lot'll also get monthly medication deliveries, regular video or phone calls with a care provider, and regular progress checks.
  • Medication + Therapy. This service is priced at $139 for your get-go calendar month and $325 for every calendar month after. Y'all'll receive an evaluation, diagnosis, and prescription from a medical professional, along with weekly video or telephone sessions with a licensed therapist. Yous'll likewise get monthly medication deliveries and can chat with your therapist at any time. Your prescriber and therapist will regularly runway your progress, likewise.
  • Therapy. The therapy programme starts at $99 for the get-go month, followed by a $259 fee for every calendar month after. With this program, yous'll receive weekly video or phone calls with a licensed therapist, the power to chat with your therapist at whatever fourth dimension, and regular progress tracking by your therapist.

All three plans are eligible for health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible spending accounts (FSAs). They're billed monthly, and you tin can abolish at any fourth dimension.

All-time for relationship therapy

ReGain

  • Cost: $60 to $ninety per week
  • Pros: It's a convenient manner for couples to work through issues.
  • Cons: No 3-manner video calls are available, but i-on-one. This means that y'all and your partner will have to exist in the same room for every phone call. Regain doesn't accept insurance.

ReGain allows couples to work one-on-one with a therapist, besides as together within a conversation or electronic mail interface to work through relationship issues.

While the platform doesn't offer group telehealth therapy sessions, it does enable people to talk together with a therapist via a chat room. This hybrid format is not bad for couples who want to work through issues both individually and with each other in the context of their human relationship.

You tin can also opt for individual therapy through ReGain to talk through human relationship-based issues.

Best for back up with disordered eating

Bright Heart Wellness

  • Toll: varies based on insurance coverage
  • Pros: They offering complimentary Sat support groups in addition to inpatient and outpatient therapy. They also take insurance.
  • Cons: Only video sessions are available — no chat or sound back up.

Partnered with Stanford Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry, Brilliant Eye Health is recognized as one of the best online therapy platforms for eating disorders. They have been accredited by the Joint Commission for their dedication to improving patient care.

This platform specializes in various eating disorders and provides individual therapy, grouping therapy, meal planning support, and dieticians. They besides utilise various therapy approaches and techniques, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectal behavioral therapy (DBT), and nutrition counseling. Therapists are besides equipped to talk through trauma and habit.

Best for booze dependency

Monument

  • Toll: free to $249 per month
  • Pros: They're a skilful value for the corporeality and multifariousness of support.
  • Cons: Therapy and doc services are only available in 20 states. Insurance is only accepted in New York.

Monument offers weekly or biweekly therapy appointments (with unlimited chat admission), group therapy, unlimited visits with a physician, and 24/7 access to their back up customs to help people manage alcohol apply disorder.

This multilevel approach to care is what makes them stand out. The platform offers not only therapy and customs, just also the power to speak with a medico about medications that can help with recovery. Users have the option to talk with a licensed doctor to make up one's mind if a disulfiram or naltrexone prescription is right for them.

Four plans are available:

  • Full weekly care ($249 per calendar month). You'll receive access to therapist-moderated back up groups, a 24/seven community, unlimited physician appointments, unlimited chat with your doc, medication options, 4 therapy appointments per month, and unlimited chats with your therapist.
  • Total biweekly intendance ($149 per calendar month). You'll receive access to therapist-moderated support groups, a 24/7 customs, unlimited physician appointments, unlimited chat with your physician, medication options, two therapy appointments per month, and unlimited chats with your therapist.
  • Physician care ($9.99 per month and a $45 sign-up fee). You'll receive access to therapist-moderated back up groups, a 24/vii community, one physician appointment per month, unlimited chat with your physician, and medication options.
  • Community membership (complimentary). You'll receive access to therapist-moderated support groups and a 24/seven community.

All-time for teens

Teen Counseling

  • Price: $threescore to $90 per week
  • Pros: They give teens a secure therapy platform with a diverseness of formats.
  • Cons: Teen Counseling only serves teens ages xiii to 19. They don't accept insurance.

Teen Counseling provides a safe space for teens to communicate with a therapist on a range of issues, from developing coping skills to dealing with life bug like bullying, divorce, and feet.

The platform provides video and phone therapy, as well as the ability to message with their therapist in two divide "rooms" — one for the teen and 1 for their parents. This allows for confidentiality and privacy for the teen, only also lets parents communicate with their child's therapist when needed to provide boosted back up.

When considering online therapy, information technology's of import to showtime make sure that the platform you choose specializes in the problems you are looking to talk over, whether that's depression, addiction, or relationship issues. This will help y'all find a therapist that's specifically trained to help yous.

We've already vetted the online therapy options in this article. But if you keep your search for other platforms, be sure to await into the following:

  • whether the service is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
  • the credentials of the therapists on the platform
  • how secure the platform is, privacy-wise
  • the terms of service, in case y'all need to abolish or change your program after signing up
  • whether or non yous tin can bill your insurance

Reading online reviews from other users can help yous go a sense of the service and service providers, giving you a window into whether it may exist the right fit for you.

Firstly, if you have wellness insurance, check if your plan covers mental health services like:

  • psychotherapy
  • counseling
  • inpatient services
  • substance use disorder treatment

If y'all can, endeavour to utilize a platform that'southward in your insurance network. You can telephone call your insurance to find out if they'll cover or reimburse appointments fabricated through the platform. If non, you tin can come across if any of the platforms offering sliding scale options, discounted rates, or shorter sessions.

No-cost therapy options are likewise bachelor. Additionally, encounter if your employer offers an employee help program (EAP). This is a free benefits programme that may offer counseling.

How much does therapy cost on average?

The cost per session can vary from as low equally $65 per hour session to $200 per hour session in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.

Are online therapists cheaper?

Depending on the platform yous apply, online therapists are more often than not cheaper than in-person therapists. However, this tin can also depend on your insurance coverage. If you don't have health insurance, online therapy may be more expensive.

Are there free online therapy options?

Yep, there are a number of free online therapy options bachelor.

Online therapy may non work for every person, and it's non recommended for those in crisis situations. Only it can provide more people with admission to the help they demand that they otherwise may not exist able to get due to monetary or accessibility concerns. Speaking with a trusted therapist online or over the phone is still an effective style to piece of work through issues, from depression and anxiety to human relationship struggles and addiction.

Natasha Burton is a freelance writer and editor who has written for Cosmopolitan, Women's Health, Livestrong, Woman's Day, and many other lifestyle publications. She's the author of What'southward My Type?: 100+ Quizzes to Help You lot Notice Yourself ― and Your Match! , 101 Quizzes for Couples , 101 Quizzes for BFFs , 101 Quizzes for Brides and Grooms , and the co-author of " The Little Black Book of Large Red Flags ." When she's non writing, she's fully immersed in #momlife with her toddler and preschooler.