The best online therapy for depression is a licensed therapist who uses a proven method such as CBT, behavioral activation or interpersonal therapy, and who measures with you whether you are getting better. If your depression may need medication, choose a service with psychiatry, like Brightside or Talkiatry, or start with your primary care doctor; if you want to use insurance, Rula, Grow Therapy and Talkspace are built around it, and Open Path Collective is the low-cost route. If you are thinking about suicide or hurting yourself, call or text 988 (the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US) right now, or text HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line.
It’s late. You have felt flat and heavy for weeks. Now you are in bed, reading that every service is the best one. Part of you wonders whether a video call could touch something this grey.
I’m Figs O’Sullivan, a licensed marriage and family therapist. I spent seventeen years as a couples therapist in San Francisco, and I built Figlet, a coaching tool that is not therapy, so judge my bias accordingly. Depression is a clinical condition, and it belongs with licensed care: a therapist, a psychiatrist, or your doctor. The prices below are what I found at the time of writing (October 2026). Prices change, so check each site before you sign up. If tonight you only want to talk through the everyday side while you decide, Figlet Life Coaching is free to start. It is coaching, not treatment for depression.
Which online therapy for depression is right for my situation?
When they shut down, what do you do?
Talk it through with Figlet right now. Private, judgment free, built on 17 years of couples therapy.
Low mood that is mild to moderate
If you are still getting to work but everything takes twice the effort, start with talk therapy from a licensed therapist. Ask for CBT (which helps you catch the verdicts your mind keeps handing down), behavioral activation (small, scheduled actions that bring life back before motivation does), or IPT (interpersonal therapy, which works on the relationships and losses around the low mood). Grow Therapy lets you pick your own therapist and filter for depression. BetterHelp is about $70 to $100 a week, billed every four weeks, and gets you to a licensed therapist quickly if you are paying cash.
Depression that may need medication
If it has been weeks, if sleep and appetite have changed, if you have had an episode before that lifted with treatment, or if depression runs in your family, ask about medication. Brightside pairs therapy and psychiatry: self-pay is about $95 a month for psychiatry, $299 a month for therapy, or $349 for both, and it takes insurance. Talkiatry is a psychiatry practice, in network with more than 100 insurance plans, and it does not take self-pay patients. Your primary care doctor can also screen you and prescribe. See a psychiatrist when the first medication has not helped, when there is a history of bipolar disorder in you or your family, or when the picture is complicated.
You want to use insurance
Rula’s average copay is around $15 a session after your deductible. Talkspace is in network with many major plans and offers psychiatry too; self-pay runs about $69 to $109 a week. BetterHelp, cash only for years, now says it is in network with more than 125 plans, with an average copay of about $23 a session for members who have one. I walk through the phone call to your insurer in online therapy that takes insurance.
Money is tight
Open Path Collective charges a one-time $65 membership, then $40 to $70 a session for individual therapy, if you are uninsured or underinsured. Community clinics and university training clinics often charge by income. And 988 is free, any hour, call or text.
Depression after a baby
Postpartum depression is common and treatable. Postpartum Support International runs a HelpLine you can call or text at 1-800-944-4773 to be connected with support and providers who know perinatal mood. It is not a crisis line, so if you are not safe, call or text 988.
Depression tangled up with your relationship
When a bond your body is wired to rely on has been unsafe or unmet for a long time, your nervous system does not just get sad. It pulls the emergency brake. It goes flat on purpose, because staying open inside a bond that keeps registering “no” hurts more than going numb. That flatline can look identical to depression, and it can become clinical depression if it goes on long enough. Most people I see are living inside some blend of both. If the grey lifts on a work trip and settles back on you the minute you walk through your own front door, read is my relationship making me depressed. If you want to start on your own tonight, Figlet relationship coaching works even if your partner won’t come.
The everyday life side, last
Last, and I built this one: Figlet Life Coaching. It is coaching for a stuck season or a life that looks fine and still hurts. It is not treatment for depression and it is not a therapist. Coaching is how we go from where you are now to where you want to go, and we only address the past when it shows up in the present. If you don’t enjoy anything anymore, if you feel numb or hopeless, or you can barely get out of bed, that isn’t something to coach your way past.
How do the options compare?
| Option | Best for | Cost at time of writing | Insurance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brightside | Therapy plus medication | About $95/month psychiatry, $299 therapy, $349 both | Yes |
| Talkiatry | An online psychiatrist for depression | Your plan’s cost share; no self-pay | In network with 100+ plans |
| Primary care doctor | A first screen and medication | Your usual visit cost | Usually |
| Rula | Therapy through insurance | Average copay around $15 after deductible | Yes |
| Grow Therapy | Choosing your own therapist | Set by each provider | Many plans |
| Talkspace | Insurance, therapy and psychiatry in one place | About $69 to $109 a week self-pay | Many major plans |
| BetterHelp | Fast start, paying cash | About $70 to $100 a week | 125+ plans; check yours |
| Open Path Collective | Low cost | $65 once, then $40 to $70 a session | No; a low-cost cash option |
| 988, Crisis Text Line | Crisis, any hour | Free | Not needed |
| Figlet Life Coaching (I built it) | Everyday life side; coaching, not treatment | Free to start | No |
Does online therapy work for depression?
For most people with mild to moderate depression, yes. A 2018 meta-analysis of 20 trials found that therapist-guided internet CBT and face-to-face CBT had about the same effect, across conditions that included depression, and a 2023 review in World Psychiatry of newer trials found the same. The phrase that matters is therapist-guided.
What I’d add from the room is what depression is. It is not laziness and it is not a mood you can argue someone out of. It is your nervous system dropping below the floor of what it can carry, down into the basement, where the biological orders are shut down, collapse, conserve energy. You cannot argue yourself out of a freeze state any more than you can argue yourself out of a fever.
And there is shame layered on top. Inside depression most people carry a crushing certainty that they are not enough. Underneath that is something older. In 58,221 completed relationship assessments at Empathi, 33% of people named alone as their deepest feeling when love isn’t working. On the savanna, being cut off from your people meant death, and that circuitry is still installed. So a good therapist does two things: teaches you the method, and is a nervous system that stays with yours while you feel it.
How do I choose a therapist for depression?
Ask two questions in the first conversation: “What method do you use for depression?” and “How will we measure whether it’s working?” A good answer names a method and a way to track it, often a short questionnaire like the PHQ-9 that you repeat every few weeks.
The first sessions are mostly questions: how long the low mood has lasted, how you sleep and eat, what you have stopped enjoying, whether you have thoughts of not being here. Answer that last one honestly; it changes the plan. You should leave feeling a little more met than when you walked in.
Red flags: a therapist who only listens, week after week, with no plan; anyone who promises to cure you fast; anyone who brushes off your question about medication, or pushes pills without listening. If after a handful of sessions you still feel like a stranger in the room, ask for someone else. For the wider field beyond depression, read my guide to the best online therapy, and if worry is riding along with the low mood, see best online therapy for anxiety.
When is online therapy not right for depression?
If you are having thoughts of suicide or self-harm, if you have not been able to get out of bed for weeks, if you have stopped eating, or if you are hearing or seeing things others don’t, that is today, and it is in person: an emergency room, 911, or call or text 988. Text HOME to 741741 if speaking feels impossible. Not an app. Messaging therapy is not built for emergencies.
And if someone at home is hitting you, threatening you, blocking the door, controlling your money or your phone, or following you, that is not a mood to work on online. Get help today. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233.
What can I do tonight?
Put a hand on the place where the weight sits, the chest, the belly, behind the eyes. Say quietly, “Of course you feel like this.” Then book one first conversation this week. When they answer, say this, word for word: “I’ve felt low for weeks and I want help with depression. What method do you use, and how will we know if it’s working?”
What if it’s someone I love who’s depressed?
Years ago I was with a woman who went into a severe depression. She was crying at work and crying at home. And I did everything a well-meaning man does. I gave her advice about her friends, about her job, about what she should do differently. She felt controlled, judged and labelled. An emotional wreck being managed by someone who could not stand to be near her sadness.
My fixing was never really about her. I grew up between a mother who was a bull and a father who collapsed into drink and depression, and when someone I loved went sad, I felt panic and tried to fix her to soothe my own panic. Lower the pressure and raise the safety. Sit beside them and say, “I can see how heavy this is. Do you want me to stay while you book?” Then stay.
Where to go from here
If the grey is about your relationship, start with is my relationship making me depressed before you decide the problem is only you.
And if what you are carrying is the everyday side, a flat season rather than a clinical depression, I built Figlet for that. It is a coaching tool, not therapy, and it will not treat depression. You tell it what happened, it shows you the pattern you are caught in, and it gives you one line to say. Start Figlet Life Coaching free tonight.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best online therapy for depression?
The best one is a licensed therapist using CBT, behavioral activation or IPT who tracks your progress. Brightside fits if you may need medication too, Rula or Grow Therapy if you want to use insurance, and Open Path Collective if money is tight.
Does online therapy work for depression?
For mild to moderate depression, research shows therapist-guided internet CBT works about as well as face-to-face CBT. Psychosis or any risk of suicide needs in-person care today.
Can an online psychiatrist for depression prescribe medication?
Yes. Psychiatrists and prescribers at services like Brightside, Talkiatry and Talkspace can prescribe antidepressants after an evaluation. Some controlled medications require an in-person visit.
How do I find an online therapist for depression?
Filter a platform or directory for depression and your state, then ask what method they use and how you will measure progress.
Is there online therapy for depression that takes insurance?
Yes. Rula, Grow Therapy, Talkspace, Brightside and Talkiatry work with insurance, and BetterHelp now takes some plans. Call the number on your card and ask about your telehealth copay and deductible.
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When they shut down, what do you do?
Figlet is relationship coaching built on 17 years of couples therapy. Talk through what is happening the moment it matters, get a clear next step, and stop circling the same fight. Private, judgment free, ready whenever you are.
Free to start. No credit card needed.
Figs O'Sullivan
Founder · EFT couples therapist
“What I would tell you at 10pm, if I could.”
