5 Best Online Therapy Platforms That Take Insurance: Reviewed by Mental Health Experts

Talkspace prioritizes cost transparency, making it easy to check your insurance coverage and find out how much you’ll have to pay per session. While Talkspace serves individuals 13 and older, we especially like their focus on teens. Talkspace therapy sessions last 30 minutes.

• Average copay of less than $30.
• Unlimited messaging is included in all plans.
• Individual, teen, and couples therapy is available.
• In-app workshops focus on skills like communication and empathy-building.

• If you use insurance to pay, the average copay is less than $30 per session:
  • Average Aetna member copay: $40
  • Average Cigna member copay: $30
  • Average Optum member copay: $26
  • Average Carelon member copay: $22

• If you pay out-of-pocket, plans start at $276 per month:
  • Messaging therapy: $276 per month.
  • Video + messaging therapy: $396 per month.
  • Video + messaging + workshops: $436 per month.
  • Couples therapy: $436 per month.
  • Psychiatry: $299 for initial evaluation and $175 for each follow-up session.

Our testers found that if Talkspace verifies your coverage but its providers aren’t in-network with your insurance plan, they’ll help you reduce costs by offering $120 off your first month.

Many Talkspace providers are in-network with major insurance carriers like Aetna, BlueCross BlueShield, and Cigna. We know cost is a barrier for many people searching for mental health care, and a lack of transparency about pricing can make the search more stressful. With Talkspace, you can find out how much you’ll have to pay before you even create an account.

Once you’ve determined coverage and cost, Talkspace will match you with a therapist based on your mental health concerns and gender preferences. If you don’t connect with your initial therapist or their schedule doesn’t sync well with yours, our testers found it relatively easy to switch therapists. Talkspace works to make selecting your therapist simple. Therapist profiles include a video introduction, a short biography, their focus areas, experience level, and availability.

Talkspace therapists treat a wide range of mental health needs. According to their website, Talkspace therapists and psychiatrists specialize in more than 150 conditions, including depression, anxiety, anger management, parenting, grief, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), postpartum depression (PPD), and bipolar disorder.

Of our 2023 survey respondents who used Talkspace, 69.7 percent thought live video sessions were the most important form of online therapy, and 36.4 percent chose live chat as their favorite way to communicate with a therapist. If messaging your therapist is a feature that matters to you, as it was with our tester, be aware that you may need to switch therapists to find someone highly responsive to messaging.

We want to highlight that Talkspace also offers free online screening tests to help you determine if you should seek help from a licensed mental health professional for conditions like social anxiety, depression, or insomnia.

We love that Brightside, also called Brightside Health, has an integrated talk therapy and psychiatry plan for adults 18 and over. Their unique Crisis Care program, for people at elevated risk for suicide, is also covered by insurance. Brightside therapy sessions last 45 minutes, while psychiatry consultations last 30 minutes.

• Message providers at any time through the Brightside app.
• Individual talk therapy, psychiatry, and medication management are available.
• The app includes interactive lessons on how to integrate new behavior patterns.
• Crisis Care is covered by insurance for individuals with elevated suicide risk.

• If you pay for Brightside sessions with insurance, you’re only responsible for the cost of your copay. If you have a deductible for mental health care, you’ll need to pay out of pocket until that deductible is met. You’ll need to create an account with Brightside before you can check your coverage.

• If you pay out-of-pocket, plans start at $95 per month:
  • Therapy: $299 per month.
  • Psychiatry: $95 per month + pharmacy copay.
  • Psychiatry + therapy: $349 per month.

Like Talkspace, the Brightside platform will match you with a therapist based on your responses to a questionnaire. First, the platform will ask about your mental health concerns. Then, you’ll take a short (about one minute) assessment based on those concerns. Unlike Talkspace, Brightspace requires creating an account before seeing pricing information or determining your coverage. The registration process only takes a few minutes, but we prefer the more transparent approach taken by Talkspace.

Our Brightside tester decided to switch therapists after her second appointment and reported switching to a new provider was relatively simple. After contacting customer service, they sent her the profiles of seven therapists. “There were people of color and a male included,” she said, “so I appreciated the diversity of options.” Our tester also liked that the platform shares notes between therapists, so she wasn’t “starting from ground zero” with her new provider.

Brightside offers treatment for a wide range of mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and phobias. They prescribe a variety of medications for treating anxiety and depression, including Abilify, Cymbalta, Prozac, and Zoloft. They do not prescribe controlled substances like Klonopin or Ritalin.

We know many people benefit from a combination of talk therapy and medication. So we appreciate Brightiside’s combined Psychiatry + Therapy plan, which offers four monthly video sessions with a therapist, a personalized medication plan, and regular medication check-ins with a psychiatrist.

While we appreciate that Brightspace offers Crisis Care for anyone at elevated suicide risk, we want to reiterate that anyone currently having suicidal thoughts or considering self-harm should call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Zocdoc offers an extensive directory with photos and biographies to help you select a provider who takes your insurance. The directory’s filter tool includes gender, languages spoken, and areas of specialty. We like that Zocdoc offers comprehensive care options, from mental health to primary care. With Zocdoc, the length of your therapy session will vary depending on your specific provider.

• Same-day appointments are available.
• Select your provider using 14 filter categories.
• Individual therapy for all ages, couples therapy, and psychiatry.
• Therapy, psychiatry, primary care, and specialty medical care on one platform.

• Zocdoc is a marketplace of providers. Find how much you’ll pay by filling out the three main fields on their homepage: condition, procedure, or doctor; zip code; and insurance provider. If you don’t have insurance, simply leave the insurance field blank.
• You’ll be directed to a list of providers that meet your needs. Click on the provider’s name to see pricing information and insurance coverage. Here, you’ll see a full profile of the provider, including which insurance carriers they are in-network with. For people paying with insurance, fees will vary according to your network’s copay. Some providers, but not all, list their out-of-pocket fees.

Hundreds of insurance carriers are represented on Zocdoc, including Medicare and Medicaid. Start by entering the condition you need help with or the service you’re seeking (e.g., “therapy”), your zip code, and your type of insurance. You’ll then get a list of in-network providers in your area. From there, you can see all available appointment times, including the type of sessions available (video or in-person). You can also filter your results by gender, language spoken, faith, ethnicity, treatment approaches, and more. Be aware that Zocdoc leaves it to providers to update their information, so some profiles will be more up-to-date than others.

While booking online with Zocdoc is easy, we liked that you can also book through their customer service number (855-962-3621). Our tester’s customer service representative was friendly and knowledgeable, and there was zero on-hold time.

Zocdoc is a great option for people seeking mental health care who also want to streamline their access to other types of providers. This platform is essentially a one-stop scheduling service for mental health care, primary care, and specialty care. Providers offer many types of care online—including therapy sessions, psychiatry and medication consults, certain skin conditions, allergies, and hearing aid consults. Zocdoc makes it easier to find an in-person appointment in your area for visits that can’t be done virtually.

Because of the wide range of providers on Zocdoc, same-day appointments are often available, although confirmation of appointment times depends on the provider’s responsiveness. We found a lag in appointment confirmation, which sometimes meant providers weren’t available for the same-day or next-day appointments listed on the platform.

Thriveworks provides mental health care for the entire family through individual or family sessions. Unlike many online therapy platforms, Thriveworks offers counseling to children of all ages. We love that Thriveworks offers longer sessions, lasting 50–60 minutes.

• Over 500 insurance plans accepted.
• Same-day or next-day appointments are available.
• Therapy for everyone in the family, including children under five.
• Individual therapy, couples therapy, family therapy, psychiatry, and medication management.

• If you’re paying with insurance, the amount you pay per session will vary according to your type of insurance and how much you owe towards your deductible.
• If you’re paying out of pocket, the cost varies by location, but initial family sessions on Thriveworks start at around $200 and follow-up sessions at around $160.

Like Zocdoc, Thriveworks is a directory of providers. We found it was easy to find in-network providers by clicking “Find a Provider” in the homepage navigation. From there, enter your location, the specialty you want help for (e.g., “trauma”), and your type of insurance. If you don’t have insurance, select “Self-pay/out-of-pocket.”

You’ll be directed to a list of providers that meet your needs. You can further filter the results by the following criteria:

• Type of counseling needed (individual, couples, family, psychiatry/medication).
• Type of visit (in-person or video).
• Clinician gender.
• Client age.
• Language.
• Counseling approach (choices include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), internal family systems (IFS), and attachment-based).

Under the “Clinician Gender” filter, we would have liked to see more gender identity choices, such as non-binary or transgender. Our testers did notice that many providers listed LGBTQ+ in the specialties under their profile.

Thriveworks does not offer messaging as one of its therapy formats. However, sessions are 50–60 minutes, which is longer than the sessions offered by many other online therapy platforms.

For most locations, Thriveworks does not accept Medicaid. But we want to highlight their two Medicaid-enrolled locations in McDonough, Georgia, and Wilmington, Delaware.

MDLIVE has a directory of more than 2,400 board-certified and licensed therapists, with appointments in one to two days for therapy and two to three days for psychiatry. We like the platform’s highly specific filter, which helps you find a provider with an area of focus that matches your needs. Therapy sessions through MDLive typically last 45–60 minutes.

• Choose your provider from an extensive online directory.
• Providers accept insurance from most major insurance carriers.
• Video and audio sessions are available, plus live chat for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
• Individual therapy for adults and children over 10, couples therapy, psychiatry and medication management, primary care, and some specialty medical care.

• If you’re paying with insurance, the amount you pay per session will vary according to your type of insurance and how much you owe towards your deductible.
• If you’re paying out of pocket, talk therapy sessions start at $108, and psychiatry sessions start at $284.

Like Zocdoc, MDLIVE has a large directory of in-network mental health care providers. You will need to register for an account, enter your insurance information, and answer a series of questions about your mental health concerns before you can access their provider directory. Unlike the other online therapy platforms we tested, MDLIVE requires you to provide a short medical history before viewing the directory.

After receiving a list of your in-network providers, the platform allows you to filter by gender, area of specialty, language, and type of session (phone or video). Our testers liked the area of specialty filter’s dozens of categories, including ones we haven’t seen on other platforms. Some of the categories listed included:

• Level 1 autism spectrum disorder (formerly known as Asperger’s)
• Chronic illness
• Men’s issues
• Pregnancy/infertility
• Racial identity
• Video game addiction
• Weight loss

Though it can be time-consuming to read through dozens of provider profiles, the MDLIVE directory was easy to navigate, and the filters helped narrow our search to providers who met our specific needs.

Like Zocdoc, MDLIVE provides primary and specialty medical care access, including urgent care and dermatology. We like that the platform’s website clearly outlines what they treat and also clarifies the conditions for which they do not provide care. For example, MDLIVE providers cannot prescribe ADHD stimulant medications, and they will not treat individuals experiencing active psychosis or active medical detox from substance abuse.