The best AI for therapists in 2026

This guide is for private-practice therapists and small group practices deciding which AI tools are safe to bring into their work. Therapy is different from most industries: session content is some of the most sensitive health information there is, HIPAA requires a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with any vendor that handles it, and several states now restrict how AI can be used in mental health care. So for every tool below we note whether the vendor signs a BAA, and where that claim comes from.

Quick comparison

How we picked

• We used vendor documentation, published pricing pages, BAA and security pages, and user reviews on G2, Capterra and Reddit. Pricing was checked in November 2026 and changes often, especially promotional rates.
• A tool only made the list if the vendor publicly says it signs a BAA, or if we explain clearly why it doesn’t.
• We did not test these tools hands-on. Where a vendor’s own pages contradict each other, we say so.
• Heidi Health, ChatGPT, Claude and BastionGPT are covered below but left out of the table, either because US pricing isn’t published or because the right tier depends on your setup.

AI note takers built for therapy

Mentalyc

Mentalyc records or receives a session summary and drafts progress notes and treatment plans. It is built for mental health and lists the most EHRs of any standalone tool here.

• Best for: Solo therapists who want to pay for the note volume they actually use.
• Pricing: Mini $19.99/mo (40 notes), Basic $39.99, Pro $69.99 (160 notes), Super $119.99. Team is $59.99 per seat. Annual billing is cheaper.
• BAA: Included on all plans, per the pricing page.
• Watch out for: Auto-deletion of transcripts and opting out of product-improvement data use are only on Super and Team.

Upheal

Upheal is an AI note tool that has grown into a full mental health EHR with telehealth, billing and a client portal.

• Best for: Therapists who want a free starting point, or a low-cost EHR with notes built in.
• Pricing: Free plan; AI Notes $39/mo; EHR at $1 per session or EHR Pro $99/mo. Group practices contact sales.
• BAA: Yes. Upheal’s support center says it enters a BAA with each therapist, accepted electronically in the app.
• Watch out for: No annual pricing is listed, and insurance claims and card payments carry per-transaction fees.

Blueprint

Blueprint drafts notes and adds measurement-based care tools. You can use it next to your current EHR or as an all-in-one EHR.

• Best for: Part-time or variable caseloads, since you pay per session.
• Pricing: $0.99 per session or $69 per seat for unlimited alongside your EHR; $1.49 per session for the all-in-one EHR. Enterprise is custom.
• BAA: Yes. Blueprint’s BAA applies when you create an account, and a signable copy is available.
• Watch out for: The BAA allows Blueprint to use de-identified data for product development. Read that clause if it matters to you.

Supanote

Supanote writes progress notes and treatment plans and offers consent form templates.

• Best for: Budget-minded solo therapists.
• Pricing: Starter $19.99/mo (40 notes), Pro $39.99 (unlimited, EHR integration), XL $69.99 (adds group sessions). Group practice pricing by demo.
• BAA: Starter lists “Consent forms and BAA”; group practices get a custom BAA.
• Watch out for: The pricing page doesn’t name which EHRs it integrates with.

Twofold

Twofold is a general clinical scribe with therapy templates, CPT/ICD coding and progress tracking.

• Best for: Trying a paid scribe cheaply for a month.
• Pricing: Free for 7 days, then Personal at $69/mo list with a $19 first month. Group pricing is custom.
• BAA: Twofold says a signed BAA comes with every account at no extra cost.
• Watch out for: The homepage says recordings are never stored, but the FAQ says audio is deleted “unless you opt in to retention.” Check the setting.

Berries

Berries drafts therapy notes, treatment plans and pre-session highlights.

• Best for: Full caseloads that want one flat price.
• Pricing: Free for 20 sessions, then 10 per month. Pro is $79/mo unlimited. Group practices get a quote.
• BAA: Berries says it provides signed BAAs to all mental health professionals on the platform.
• Watch out for: No EHR integrations are listed, so expect copy and paste.

Medical scribes that also cover therapy

Freed

Freed is a popular medical scribe that lists psychiatry and behavioral health among its specialties.

• Best for: Group practices with psychiatric prescribers alongside therapists.
• Pricing: Starter $39/mo (40 notes); Premier $119/mo or $104 billed annually; Groups custom.
• BAA: Freed’s help center says the BAA is part of its platform terms, with a signed copy available on request, including during trials.
• Watch out for: Templates lean medical, and the Core plan price was unclear on the pricing page.

Heidi Health

Heidi is a medical scribe with a free tier and a large template library.

• Best for: Clinicians who want to try a scribe free before committing.
• Pricing: Free tier with limited features; Clinician plan with a 14-day trial; Teams by quote. The US pricing page did not show dollar prices when checked.
• BAA: Heidi says it makes a BAA “available to every covered entity we work with,” but doesn’t say which plans include it.
• Watch out for: Get the BAA in writing for your plan before entering any client data. EHR integration is Teams-only.

AI built into your EHR

SimplePractice Note Taker

Note Taker drafts progress notes from sessions inside SimplePractice.

• Best for: Practices already on SimplePractice.
• Pricing: $35/mo add-on (free for 30 days), or included with Care Aide at $59/mo. Base plans run $49 to $99/mo.
• BAA: SimplePractice says Note Taker is covered by its existing BAA.
• Watch out for: Retained transcripts are de-identified and used to improve its AI tools. It includes consent form templates.

TherapyNotes TherapyFuel

TherapyFuel is TherapyNotes’ AI suite. It expands a short summary into a note, or uses ambient listening through TherapyFuel Scribe.

• Best for: Practices already on TherapyNotes.
• Pricing: $40 per clinician per month on top of your TherapyNotes plan. You choose which clinicians get it.
• BAA: TherapyNotes says its BAA is now built into its Terms of Service.
• Watch out for: Some reviewers find the notes generic, so plan to edit.

Jane AI Scribe

Jane’s built-in scribe drafts chart notes and lets you store, download or auto-delete recordings.

• Best for: Jane users, and the cheapest add-on here.
• Pricing: 5 free notes per month on every plan; unlimited for $15 per practitioner per month. Check the currency for your region.
• BAA: Jane’s Terms of Use say it will enter its standard BAA on request for HIPAA-covered subscribers. Request it before use.
• Watch out for: Jane says transcripts are never used to train AI models. Confirm the BAA covers AI Scribe audio.

General AI assistants

These are useful for de-identified work: psychoeducation handouts, website copy, policy drafts, emails without client details. The tier decides whether PHI is allowed. More detail in is ChatGPT HIPAA compliant.

ChatGPT

• Best for: Admin writing with no client information.
• Pricing: Free and paid consumer plans; Enterprise and ChatGPT for Healthcare are sales-quoted.
• BAA: OpenAI offers BAAs for ChatGPT for Healthcare, Enterprise with a regulated workspace and ChatGPT for Clinicians. It says it does not offer one for ChatGPT Business, and consumer plans have none.
• Watch out for: ChatGPT for Clinicians is free with a BAA, but OpenAI’s help article lists physicians, NPs, PAs and pharmacists as eligible, not therapists.

Claude

• Best for: Long documents and policy drafting, de-identified.
• Pricing: Consumer plans plus Enterprise and API pricing through Anthropic.
• BAA: Available for Claude Enterprise once the Primary Owner turns on HIPAA settings and accepts the BAA, and for the first-party API. Team and the individual plans (Free, Pro, Max) can’t enable HIPAA.
• Watch out for: Only certain features are covered. File uploads through the Files API, batch processing and web fetch are excluded.

BastionGPT

BastionGPT is a HIPAA-focused wrapper around major AI models, aimed at clinicians who want a chat assistant they can use with PHI.

• Best for: Solo therapists who want a ChatGPT-style assistant with a BAA.
• Pricing: Professional $20/user/mo, Professional Plus $45, Ultra via sales. 7-day free trial.
• BAA: A signed BAA on every plan, including the trial.
• Watch out for: It doesn’t connect to your EHR, and you are still responsible for the minimum-necessary rule.

The part most tool lists skip: making them work together

Each tool above is an island. The scribe writes a note, then you paste it into the EHR. A client fills in an intake form on your website, and someone retypes it into the chart. Reminders live in one system, superbills in another, and the insurance portal in a third. The note tool speeds up documentation, but the admin work around it stays manual.

A few connected workflows that matter in a therapy practice. Intake: the website form or phone inquiry creates the client in the EHR, sends the right consent packet (including AI recording consent), and flags missing insurance details before the first session. Scheduling: a booked appointment triggers reminders, a telehealth link and a no-show follow-up without anyone touching it. Billing: when a note is signed, the superbill or claim is generated, and out-of-network clients get their superbill by secure message automatically. This is ordinary workflow automation, but in therapy it has to be built so PHI only moves between systems that are covered by a BAA.

That last point is where most do-it-yourself setups break. A Zapier zap or a consumer AI account in the middle of a workflow can quietly put client data outside your BAAs. When we build AI automation that touches PHI, every step either stays inside a BAA-covered vendor or runs on a private model in the practice’s own cloud account, such as AWS Bedrock or Azure, where data is not used to train public models. The background is in our guide to HIPAA-compliant AI.

If you’re not sure which of your current tools are covered or where client data actually goes, an AI audit maps it out before you add anything new.

HIPAA and consent checklist

• Get a BAA before any PHI goes in. HIPAA requires a business associate contract with vendors that handle PHI on your behalf (HHS). Click-through BAAs (Upheal, Blueprint, Freed, TherapyNotes) count, but save a copy.
• Get written client consent for recording. The APA’s 2025 ethical guidance says psychologists should explain the purpose, benefits and risks of AI tools as part of informed consent (APA). ACA guidance also puts responsibility on the counselor and advises against AI as the sole tool for diagnosis (ACA).
• Illinois: The Wellness and Oversight for Psychological Resources Act (August 2025) bans AI therapeutic decisions and communication, allows administrative and supplementary support, and requires informed written consent before AI is used in a recorded or transcribed session. Penalties reach $10,000 per violation (IDFPR, Baker Donelson).
• Nevada and Utah: Nevada’s AB 406 (effective July 1, 2025) bars AI systems from providing mental health care but allows administrative uses like scheduling and billing (WSGR). Utah’s HB 452 requires mental health chatbots to disclose they are AI and limits data sharing (WSGR).
• Check retention and training settings. Turn on auto-deletion of audio where offered, and read whether de-identified data is used to improve the product (Blueprint, SimplePractice, Mentalyc).
• Review every note. AI drafts are your clinical record once you sign them. Edit for accuracy and keep therapeutic judgment human.

Sources

• Mentalyc pricing
• Upheal pricing
• Upheal: Do you have a BAA?
• Upheal Business Associate Agreement
• Blueprint pricing
• Blueprint BAA
• Supanote pricing
• Twofold pricing
• Berries pricing
• Berries: Is Berries HIPAA compliant?
• Freed pricing
• Freed help center: BAA
• Heidi Health US pricing
• Heidi Health HIPAA
• SimplePractice pricing
• SimplePractice: HIPAA-compliant AI note taking
• TherapyNotes: TherapyFuel overview
• TherapyNotes: Terms of Service, privacy and BAA FAQ
• Jane AI Scribe
• Jane guide: AI Scribe
• Paubox: Is Jane App HIPAA compliant?
• OpenAI: HIPAA-eligible products and functionality
• OpenAI: How can I get a BAA?
• OpenAI: ChatGPT for Clinicians
• Anthropic: BAAs for commercial customers
• BastionGPT pricing
• HHS: Business associates
• APA: Ethical guidance for AI in professional practice
• ACA: Artificial intelligence and counseling
• IDFPR press release on HB 1806
• Baker Donelson: Illinois law regulating AI in behavioral health
• WSGR: Nevada law limiting AI in mental health care
• WSGR: Utah mental health chatbot law