Aitopkit
⚡ Quick verdict
- M
Best overall → Mentalyc. Therapy-first AI notes that build the treatment plan and progress from the same sessions, with a BAA on every account, from $14.99 a month.
- U
Best notes + EHR → Upheal. An AI-native EHR: AI notes at $39 a month flat, or the full practice platform — scheduling, telehealth, billing — at $1 per session.
- H
Best free scribe → Heidi Health. A genuinely free plan with unlimited transcription and standard templates, from a general medical scribe used in 116 countries.
- F
Best simple scribe → Freed AI. A clean, clinician-first scribe with custom templates, one-click EHR push and ICD-10/CPT coding, from $39 a month.
- B
Best measurement-based care → Blueprint. AI notes plus outcome measures and client progress tracking, from $0.99 a session alongside your EHR.
- E
Best for behavioral health orgs → Eleos Health. AI documentation built for behavioral health teams, with group sessions and care insights across a whole organization.
- S
Best practice management → SimplePractice. The EHR most private practices already run — scheduling, billing, telehealth and client portal — with AI notes as a $35 add-on.
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Ask a therapist where the hours go and the answer is rarely the therapy. It is the progress note after every session, the treatment plan that has to be updated, the intake paperwork, the scheduling messages and the insurance documentation — an hour or more of writing for every hour in the room. AI note-taking for therapists promises to take most of that back, and the good tools genuinely do — but only when they are built for therapy, not adapted from a general medical scribe. A therapy session is a narrative, not a checklist: the note has to capture the thread of the work, the goals, the homework and the progress, in language an auditor and a licensing board will accept.
This is a researched comparison, not a hands-on test, and we say so plainly: we did not run these tools inside a live practice, and no figure below is presented as a measured result for your caseload. Prices below are an October–November 2026 snapshot drawn from vendor pricing pages and independent pricing checks — pricing changes often, so check the official site before you subscribe. Most tools here offer a free tier or a free trial, which is how we recommend you judge them: run one real week of sessions through the free plan or trial before spending anything, and get your BAA signed first. For the human-medicine side of the same question, see our best AI tools for doctors and clinics; for the note-taking angle in general, our best AI note-taking apps and best AI meeting assistants go wider. Before paying for anything here, check AI deals for current discounts, and browse our free tools page for the free tiers worth trying first.
At a glance: the 7 best AI tools for therapists
M#1 · Mentalyc · Best overall
- Free tier
- 14-day full Pro trial (15 notes, no card); free SOAP note generator in the browser, no account needed
- Standout strength
- Clinical intelligence: each note builds on the last, and treatment plans and progress come from the same sessions
- Best for
- Therapists who want the note, the treatment plan and the progress tracking in one therapy-first tool
Detail
1. Mentalyc — best overall
Mentalyc is the only tool on this list built exclusively for therapy documentation since 2021, and that focus is why it takes the top spot. Its AI Note Taker turns a session recording, a dictation or a typed summary into a structured progress note in SOAP, DAP, BIRP, GIRP, PIE or SIRP format — but the difference from a general scribe is what happens after the note. Mentalyc builds each note on the last: the session-6 note carries Goal 1 forward from the intake, and it drafts the treatment plan and the client progress from the same sessions, so the documentation keeps the golden thread of the work instead of restarting from zero every week. More than 30,000 clinicians use it, according to the vendor.
The compliance posture is the cleanest here. Mentalyc is HIPAA compliant, holds SOC 2 Type II, signs a BAA on every account, deletes session audio once the note is ready, and states that it never trains AI on your sessions. Pricing starts at $14.99 a month billed annually ($19.99 monthly) for 40 notes a month on the Mini plan, with Basic and Pro tiers covering couples, family and child sessions, and a Super plan for groups. The 14-day trial gives full Pro access with 15 notes and no credit card. Notes go into your EHR through a Chrome extension that pushes finished notes into SimplePractice, TherapyNotes and other browser-based EHRs.
The honest limits are about scope and price shape. Mentalyc has no free plan — the trial is 14 days, then you pay — and solo plans cap notes at 40 to 330 a month, so a high-volume clinician needs the Team plan for unlimited notes. It is also a documentation layer, not an EHR: there is no scheduling, billing, telehealth or client portal, so you still need a practice system alongside it. For the documentation job itself, though — the note, the plan, the progress, the audit trail — nothing else on this list is as therapy-native.
Mentalyc
Strengths
- Notes build on each other — treatment plans and progress come from the same sessions.
- Cleanest compliance here: BAA on every account, SOC 2 Type II, audio deleted, never trains on sessions.
- Widest therapy note formats: SOAP, DAP, BIRP, GIRP, PIE, SIRP, plus couples, family, child and groups.
- Cheapest paid entry here: from $14.99 a month billed annually.
Weaknesses
- No free plan — 14-day trial only, then you pay.
- Solo plans cap notes at 40–330 a month; unlimited needs the Team plan.
- Documentation only — no scheduling, billing, telehealth or client portal.
- EHR transfer is a Chrome extension, not a native integration.
U#2 · Upheal · Best notes + EHR
- Free tier
- Free plan: individual therapy notes from text, dictation and uploads, plus HIPAA-compliant telehealth
- Standout strength
- An AI-native EHR — notes, scheduling, forms, telehealth, billing and a compliance checker in one tool
- Best for
- Therapists who want notes and the whole practice platform in one place
Detail
2. Upheal — best notes + EHR
Upheal is the only tool here that can be both your note-taker and your EHR, and that is the choice it offers you. Plenty of therapists run Upheal next to SimplePractice or TherapyNotes purely for notes — capturing sessions from any browser tab, Zoom, or the mobile app — while others use it as the whole practice platform: digital intake forms, secure messaging, calendar scheduling, HIPAA-compliant video, client payments, insurance billing, eligibility checks and a compliance checker built to Aetna and Optum standards. The AI Notes plan is $39 a month flat for unlimited sessions; the EHR plan is $1 per session with no seat fee, and EHR Pro is $99 a month with the AI Assistant included.
The notes themselves are therapy-native: ten named clinical formats including SOAP, DAP, GIRP, BIRP, EMDR, PIRP, SIRP, PIE, Intake and Mental Status Exam, with treatment plans that auto-link to every session note. Upheal states HIPAA compliance, acts as a Business Associate for covered entities that sign up, and holds SOC 2 Type II. One detail to know: Upheal's terms allow de-identified data to be used to improve its AI unless the practice opts out — a real difference from Mentalyc, which never trains on sessions, so set the opt-out if that matters to you.
The honest limits are about what is still missing. Group notes, notes for minor clients and supervision notes were still on Upheal's public roadmap as of October 2026, so a practice built around group work should check the current status before buying. The EHR plan also counts telehealth calls and scheduled sessions as billable sessions even when no AI note is generated, which changes the math for high-volume practices. And while the free plan is genuinely free, it is limited to individual therapy, with no live recording and a capped AI Assistant chat. If you want one tool for the whole practice, though, Upheal is the most complete platform on this list.
Upheal
Strengths
- Only tool here that is both a note-taker and a full EHR — scheduling, telehealth, billing, forms.
- AI Notes at $39 a month flat, unlimited sessions; EHR at $1 per session, no seat fee.
- Ten therapy note formats, with treatment plans auto-linked to session notes.
- Free plan with unlimited notes and HIPAA-compliant telehealth.
Weaknesses
- Group, minor-client and supervision notes were still on the roadmap as of October 2026.
- De-identified data may be used to improve AI unless you opt out.
- EHR billing counts scheduled and telehealth sessions even without an AI note.
- Free plan has no live recording and a capped AI Assistant.
H#3 · Heidi Health · Best free scribe
- Free tier
- Free plan with unlimited transcription and standard templates, 10 Pro Actions a month
- Standout strength
- The most generous free plan in clinical scribing, with built-in clinical evidence and 110+ languages
- Best for
- Therapists who want a capable scribe at zero cost and do not need therapy-specific formats
Detail
3. Heidi Health — best free scribe
Heidi Health is the biggest general medical scribe on this list — used in 116 countries and 110+ languages — and its free plan is the most generous in the whole category. The free tier includes unlimited transcription, standard templates, task management, and limited access to Ask Heidi, advanced templates, patient and session linking and document sharing. For a therapist who just needs the session captured and drafted, that is a real working tool at $0, not a trial. Heidi also brings something no therapy-first tool here has: built-in clinical evidence with citations from Wiley, Cochrane, BMJ Group and NEJM, which can ground a note or a letter in the literature.
The paid side is where you need to read carefully. Heidi's own pricing page shows a Clinician plan with a 14-day trial and Teams or Enterprise plans on request, but publishes no dollar amounts for the paid tiers — third-party reviews put the Clinician plan at about $150 per user per month, or about $110 billed yearly, after a February 2026 price restructure. EHR integration is a paid add-on rather than part of the standard plans. Heidi states HIPAA compliance, holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and says it does not train models on consultation data — but sources disagree on whether a signed BAA is available on the Clinician plan or only on Practice and Enterprise, so ask in writing before you record a real client.
The honest limits are about therapy fit. Heidi is built mainly for physicians and multi-specialty clinics, not for psychotherapy documentation: narrative sessions need more review and rework than structured medical visits, and therapy-specific formats like DAP and BIRP are not its home turf. Mentalyc is the better tool if the note has to arrive in clinical therapy structure with minimal editing. But as a free, fast, multilingual scribe for a therapist who is comfortable shaping the draft, Heidi's free plan is the best $0 in this category.
Heidi Health
Strengths
- Best free plan here: unlimited transcription and standard templates at $0.
- 110+ languages and 116 countries — the widest reach on this list.
- Built-in clinical evidence with citations from major medical publishers.
- HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001; states it does not train on consultation data.
Weaknesses
- Not therapy-first — narrative sessions need more review and rework.
- No published paid price; third parties report about $150 per user per month.
- EHR integration is a paid add-on, not included.
- BAA availability by tier is disputed — confirm in writing before recording clients.
F#4 · Freed AI · Best simple scribe
- Free tier
- 7-day free trial, no credit card required
- Standout strength
- Clinician-first simplicity: custom templates that learn your style, one-click EHR push, and ICD-10/CPT coding
- Best for
- Solo clinicians and small groups who want a scribe that works the way they already write
Detail
4. Freed AI — best simple scribe
Freed is the simplest tool on this list, and for many therapists that is the point. It is a general clinical scribe with a dedicated mental-health workflow: it captures the visit, filters the conversation for what is clinically relevant, and produces a structured note in your format — SOAP and other therapy structures included — that you can push straight into your EHR. Upload your own note templates and Freed learns your format as you edit, so the notes start sounding like you instead of a generic model. It also generates ICD-10 and CPT codes, patient letters and visit-prep summaries, and its AI Chat can draft treatment plans and pull guideline-based support from 50+ verified sources.
Pricing is published and straightforward: Starter at $39 a month for 40 notes, Core at $79 a month for unlimited notes, and Premier at $119 a month ($104 billed annually) with EHR push and ICD-10/CPT coding included. The EHR push runs through a Chrome extension and supports SimplePractice, TherapyNotes, Elation, athenahealth and other browser-based systems, with one-click mapping into the chart. Freed states full HIPAA compliance with signed BAAs, SOC 2 Type II and HITECH compliance, automatic audio deletion after the note is complete, and zero model training on client data.
The honest limits are about therapy depth. Freed is a general scribe first and a therapy tool second: its broad focus means it lacks the treatment-plan continuity that makes Mentalyc special — the session-8 note does not carry the intake goals forward on its own — and it has no couples, family or group-specific workflows of the kind Mentalyc sells. The 7-day trial is also the shortest here, so a week is all you get to judge it. But if you want a clean, fast scribe that learns your templates, pushes into your EHR in one click, and costs $39 to start, Freed is the most frictionless choice on this list.
Freed AI
Strengths
- Published pricing: Starter $39, Core $79 unlimited, Premier $119 a month.
- Custom templates learn your style — notes sound like you, not a generic model.
- One-click EHR push into SimplePractice, TherapyNotes and other browser EHRs.
- Strong privacy: signed BAAs, SOC 2 Type II, audio auto-deleted, no training on client data.
Weaknesses
- General scribe first — no treatment-plan continuity like Mentalyc.
- No couples, family or group-specific workflows.
- Shortest trial here: 7 days only.
- ICD-10/CPT coding sits on the top Premier tier.
B#5 · Blueprint · Best measurement-based care
- Free tier
- Pay-per-session pricing — no subscription needed to start
- Standout strength
- AI notes plus outcome measures: it tracks whether clients are actually getting better
- Best for
- Therapists who want notes plus progress data for audits, payers and better care decisions
Detail
5. Blueprint — best measurement-based care
Blueprint starts from a different question than the other note-takers: not just "what happened in the session?" but "is the client getting better?" It pairs AI-generated progress notes with measurement-based care — outcome measures collected from clients between sessions, tracked over time, and tied back to the treatment plan. That combination matters for two audiences at once: the therapist, who can see whether the work is moving the needle, and the payer or auditor, who increasingly wants evidence that treatment is working. For practices that bill insurance, that evidence trail is the difference between a note that documents a session and a record that justifies continued care.
Pricing fits the model: $0.99 per session alongside your existing EHR, or $69 per seat per month for unlimited use, with Blueprint's own EHR available at $1.49 per session. Blueprint states HIPAA compliance and SOC 2 Type II. The per-session price is the lowest-cost way to try AI notes on this list — a part-time therapist seeing ten clients a week pays about $40 a month — and there is no subscription to cancel if you stop.
The honest limits are about what Blueprint is not. It is an assessment and measurement platform with AI notes attached, not a full documentation system: it does not replace the depth of Mentalyc's note-to-note continuity, and it has no scheduling, billing or telehealth of its own outside its EHR tier. Some therapists also find that adding outcome measures to every client changes the session dynamic, so it is worth trialling on a few clients first. But if you bill insurance, answer to audits, or simply want to know — with data — whether your clients are improving, Blueprint is the only tool here that answers that question.
Blueprint
Strengths
- Only tool here pairing AI notes with outcome measures and progress tracking.
- Cheapest way to start: $0.99 per session, no subscription required.
- Evidence trail that helps with insurance justification and audits.
- Own EHR available at $1.49 per session if you want it.
Weaknesses
- Assessment platform first — less note-to-note continuity than Mentalyc.
- No scheduling, billing or telehealth outside its EHR tier.
- Outcome measures add a step to every client interaction.
- Smaller install base than the big scribes here — check EHR fit first.
E#6 · Eleos Health · Best for behavioral health orgs
- Free tier
- Demo available; no free tier or trial published
- Standout strength
- Built for behavioral health teams: individual and group sessions, with care insights across the whole organization
- Best for
- Behavioral health organizations, group practices and clinics with team-wide documentation needs
Detail
6. Eleos Health — best for behavioral health orgs
Eleos Health is the only tool on this list built for behavioral health organizations rather than individual therapists, and that changes what it is good at. Eleos Scribe is its AI documentation assistant: it works for both in-person and telehealth sessions, across individual and group session formats, and it is designed to fit the way a behavioral health team actually works — supervisors reviewing notes, organizations tracking documentation quality, and care insights drawn across a whole caseload rather than one clinician's week. Where Mentalyc and Freed sell to the solo therapist, Eleos sells to the team.
Pricing is enterprise and quote-based: Eleos does not publish a price, and you book a demo to learn what it costs for your organization. That is the honest trade-off of the category — a tool built for organizations prices like one, and a solo therapist will not get a $39-a-month self-serve tier here. What you get for the quote is a platform that treats documentation as an organizational problem: consistent notes across clinicians, supervision workflows, and analytics on care delivery that a single-clinician tool cannot offer.
The honest limits are access and fit. There is no free tier, no published trial, and no self-serve signup — if you are a solo practitioner, Eleos is not your tool, and you should start with Mentalyc or Freed instead. The group-session support is also a team feature, not a solo feature: it shines where a clinic runs groups as a program, not where one therapist occasionally runs a group. But if you run a behavioral health organization and your problem is documentation quality and consistency across twenty clinicians, Eleos is the only tool on this list built for that job.
Eleos Health
Strengths
- Only tool here built for behavioral health organizations and teams.
- Works for individual and group sessions, in person and by telehealth.
- Care insights and documentation quality across the whole organization.
- Supervision and team workflows, not just solo note-taking.
Weaknesses
- No published price — enterprise quote only, book a demo to learn the cost.
- No free tier, no published trial, no self-serve signup.
- Overkill for a solo therapist — built for teams and organizations.
- Smaller public pricing footprint makes it hard to compare directly.
S#7 · SimplePractice · Best practice management
- Free tier
- Free trial of the EHR; AI Note Taker has a 30-day free trial
- Standout strength
- The EHR most private practices already run — scheduling, billing, telehealth, client portal — with AI notes inside it
- Best for
- Therapists who already run SimplePractice and want AI notes without a second tool
Detail
7. SimplePractice — best practice management
SimplePractice is the odd one out on this list, and that is why it belongs here. It is not a note-taking app — it is the practice management system most US private practices already run: scheduling, intake forms, billing, insurance claims, telehealth and a client portal in one place. In 2025 and 2026 it added AI inside that system: an AI Note Taker that drafts progress notes from your sessions, available as a paid add-on at $35 a month per clinician after a 30-day free trial, on every SimplePractice plan. Its Care Aide bundle adds the AI Note Taker plus Session Sidekick, a Treatment Planner in beta, and Client Summaries, at $59 a month for the account owner and $49 for each additional clinician.
The advantage is friction — or the lack of it. The AI Note Taker works inside SimplePractice Telehealth sessions, and in person through the SimplePractice for Clinicians mobile app, so there is no second login, no Chrome extension and no copy-paste into the chart: the note is drafted where the record already lives. That is the lowest-friction AI note on this list for the large number of therapists who already run their practice on SimplePractice. The EHR itself is HIPAA compliant, and the AI Note Taker is the natural first step for a practice that wants AI notes without changing its stack.
The honest limits are about depth and reach. The AI Note Taker drafts standard progress notes well, but psychiatric evaluations, treatment plans and alternate therapy note structures are harder to get right, and it only records SimplePractice Telehealth sessions or in-person sessions through the mobile app — sessions on Zoom, Doxy or another video platform are not captured. A dedicated scribe like Mentalyc or Freed will also give you deeper therapy formats and work on any platform. But if your whole practice already runs inside SimplePractice, the $35 add-on is the cheapest way to get AI notes with zero workflow change — and that is a real argument.
SimplePractice
Strengths
- Zero workflow change for the many practices already on SimplePractice.
- AI Note Taker at $35 a month per clinician, with a 30-day free trial.
- Full practice platform: scheduling, billing, claims, telehealth, client portal.
- Care Aide bundle adds Session Sidekick, Treatment Planner and Client Summaries.
Weaknesses
- Standard progress notes only — evaluations and alternate formats are weaker.
- Only records SimplePractice Telehealth or the mobile app — not Zoom or Doxy.
- AI notes are an add-on, not the core product — dedicated scribes go deeper.
- EHR plans themselves are paid; AI notes sit on top of that cost.
*Pricing changes often — treat every figure above as an October–November 2026 snapshot and check the official site before buying.
How to choose: pick by your bottleneck
If your bottleneck is documentation — the note, the treatment plan, the audit trail — start with Mentalyc, because it is the only tool here built solely for therapy documentation, and its notes build on each other instead of restarting every week. If your bottleneck is the whole practice — notes plus scheduling, billing and telehealth — Upheal is the one-tool answer, with AI notes at $39 a month flat or the full EHR at $1 per session. If your bottleneck is money, the free stack here is genuinely strong: Heidi Health's free plan for unlimited standard notes, plus a free SOAP note generator from Mentalyc's site for one-off drafts, costs $0 while you test whether AI notes fit your style.
If your bottleneck is workflow — you want the scribe to learn your templates and push into your EHR in one click — Freed is the most frictionless choice, with published pricing from $39 a month. If your bottleneck is evidence — insurance justification, audits, or simply knowing whether clients are improving — Blueprint is the only tool here that answers that question, from $0.99 a session. If your bottleneck is a team — a behavioral health organization with twenty clinicians and group programs — Eleos is built for that scale. And if your whole practice already runs on SimplePractice, the $35 AI Note Taker add-on is the cheapest way to get AI notes with zero workflow change. If your private practice also wants new clients finding you on Google, our best AI SEO tools comparison covers the tools that help a therapy practice rank locally. Three habits matter more than any tool choice. First, get the BAA signed in writing for your exact plan before you record a real client — a compliance claim on a website is not an agreement. Second, get informed client consent, tell clients what is recorded and what happens to the audio, and let them opt out. Third, review every AI note before it enters the chart — the AI drafts, you sign off, and your license is on the note.
Honest exclusions
Klarify deserves a mention as a strong therapy-first scribe with a free Seed plan (10 sessions a month) and full HIPAA, PHIPA, PIPEDA and GDPR compliance, but it is a Canadian tool with data stored in Canada, so US therapists should check data-residency and state requirements before adopting it. AutoNotes is another therapy-first option with HIPAA and PHIPA claims, but it publishes less about its pricing and compliance documentation than the tools above, so it sits just outside this list. Note Designer is a capable note builder with a free tier, but it is a template tool rather than an ambient scribe — you type or dictate the summary yourself, so it solves a different job. Quill Therapy Notes is a popular template-based note writer, but again, it is not an AI scribe that listens to the session. ChatGPT and other general chatbots are explicitly excluded: never paste identifiable client information into a general chatbot, no matter how convenient it feels — use a therapy-built tool with a signed BAA instead. A final honest note: no AI tool fixes a caseload that is simply too large. If every hour is already promised, the problem is boundaries and time, not software — and no subscription fixes that.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI note-taking tool for therapists?
For most therapists, Mentalyc. It is built only for therapy documentation, drafts the treatment plan and progress from the same sessions, and signs a BAA on every account. If you also want an EHR with scheduling, billing and telehealth in the same tool, Upheal is the stronger pick.
Are AI therapy note tools HIPAA compliant?
The tools on this list all publish HIPAA compliance claims, and several hold SOC 2 Type II as well. But a claim on a website is not the same as a signed agreement: always get a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) signed in writing for your exact plan before you record a real client, and check whether the free tier includes one — some vendors only sign BAAs on paid plans.
Can I record therapy sessions with an AI tool?
Yes, with informed client consent. Tell the client what is being recorded, what happens to the audio and the transcript, and whether the vendor trains AI on session data — and let them opt out. Recording-consent laws vary by state, so check your state's rules and your licensing board's documentation requirements before you record your first session.
How much do AI therapy notes cost?
Mentalyc starts at $14.99 a month billed annually, Freed's Starter plan is $39 a month for 40 notes, and Upheal's AI Notes plan is $39 a month flat for unlimited sessions. Heidi Health has a genuinely free plan with unlimited standard-template notes. Blueprint charges $0.99 per session or $69 per seat a month for unlimited use. Prices change often, so check the official site before you subscribe.
Do these tools replace my EHR?
Most of them sit alongside your EHR rather than replacing it. Mentalyc, Freed and Heidi Health draft notes and push them into SimplePractice, TherapyNotes and other browser-based EHRs through a Chrome extension or copy-paste. Upheal and Blueprint can also become your EHR, with scheduling, billing and telehealth built in. SimplePractice is the EHR itself, with AI notes as a paid add-on.
Do AI note tools work for couples, family, or group sessions?
It depends on the tool, so check before you buy. Mentalyc covers couples, family, child and group sessions on its Pro and Super plans, and Eleos Scribe is built for individual and group sessions in behavioral health settings. Upheal's group, minor-client and supervision notes were still on its public roadmap as of October 2026. If group work is a big part of your caseload, confirm the exact note types on the plan you would buy.