The best BetterHelp alternative depends on why you are leaving. If it is price, look at Open Path Collective, a community health center or a university training clinic. If you want to use insurance, look at Talkspace, Rula, Headway or Grow Therapy, or filter the Psychology Today directory by your plan; if it is your relationship, ReGain, OurRitual or a trained couples therapist; if you might need medication, Brightside or Talkiatry; if it is OCD, NOCD. If you are thinking about suicide or you are not safe right now, call or text 988 tonight.
It’s late. The renewal email from BetterHelp is sitting in your inbox, and you have had a handful of sessions with someone kind enough, and you still feel like a stranger in the room. Or you finally admitted that the thing you are carrying is your marriage, or something with a clinical name, and an individual subscription was never built for it.
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 keep my bias in mind. Where someone else fits you better, I’ll say so. Prices change, and I checked every figure below in October 2026, so confirm on each site before you pay. If you want help tonight while you decide, and what you need is to move forward rather than treatment, Figlet Life Coaching is free to start.
What are the best BetterHelp alternatives, by what you need?
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| Option | Best for | Rough price | Insurance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Path Collective | Low cost with a licensed therapist | $65 one time, then $40 to $70 a session | For the uninsured or underinsured |
| Community health centers, university training clinics | Very tight budgets | Sliding fee based on income | Often Medicaid |
| Talkspace | Insurance, plus psychiatry on one platform | $69 to $109 a week self-pay | Many major plans, Medicare, TRICARE |
| Rula, Headway, Grow Therapy | Choosing your own in-network therapist | Your plan’s copay; no subscription | Yes, built around insurance |
| Psychology Today directory | Finding a local or online therapist by plan | Set by each therapist | Filter by your plan |
| ReGain, OurRitual, a private couples therapist | Couples | Varies; check each site | Rarely |
| Brightside, Talkiatry | Medication with psychiatry | Brightside $95 to $349 a month self-pay; Talkiatry by plan | Yes |
| NOCD | OCD, with ERP specialists | Check with your plan | Select plans |
| 988, Crisis Text Line (741741) | Crisis, any hour | Free | Not needed |
| Figlet (I built it) | Coaching, not therapy | Free to start | No |
Why do people leave BetterHelp?
Its own pricing guide puts the subscription at about $70 to $100 a week, depending on where you live and therapist availability, and some people qualify for financial aid. It was cash only for years and now says it is in network with more than 125 plans, with eligible members paying an average copay of about $23 a session, though coverage depends on your state and plan, and it does not take Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE. Switching therapists is free.
What it doesn’t do is just as clear. There is no psychiatry, so no one there can prescribe. Couples go to its sister site, ReGain. And there is history worth knowing: in 2023 the Federal Trade Commission finalized an order requiring BetterHelp to pay $7.8 million and barring it from sharing health data for advertising, after charging that it had shared people’s email addresses, IP addresses and health questionnaire answers with Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo and Pinterest. BetterHelp did not admit wrongdoing. If you are only weighing it against its nearest rival, I compared the two in BetterHelp vs Talkspace, so I won’t repeat that here.
What are cheaper alternatives to BetterHelp?
If money is the barrier, Open Path Collective is where I’d look first. Its membership page lists a one-time $65 fee, then $40 to $70 per individual session and $40 to $80 for couples and families, or $30 if you choose a student intern. You need to be uninsured or underinsured.
If you want help as a couple rather than one on one, I compared the best couples therapy apps by the same criteria.
Federally funded community health centers must offer a sliding fee based on your income and family size, so call one and ask whether they have a therapist on staff. University training clinics offer therapy with graduate students supervised by licensed clinicians, usually far below private practice rates. Many of my own training hours were spent at a community clinic, seeing clients for a sliding fee, learning to be a therapist on the hearts of people who trusted me with their pain. A trainee often has a great heart. What you’re checking is the supervision, and whether your distress is something a beginner can hold.
If you have a job with benefits, look for your Employee Assistance Program, which usually covers a few free, confidential sessions. I mapped every genuinely free door in free online therapy: what is actually free.
Are there sites like BetterHelp that take insurance?
Yes, and if you have a card, use it. Talkspace is the closest thing to BetterHelp with deeper insurance: it works with many major plans, traditional Medicare and TRICARE, and its self-pay plans run $69 to $109 a week if your plan doesn’t cover it. Rula, Headway and Grow Therapy work differently. There is no weekly subscription; you choose an independent licensed therapist and pay your plan’s share per session. Rula says its insured patients pay about $15 a session on average, which is a company figure, not a promise. Headway requires active coverage, while Grow also lets you pay out of pocket. The Psychology Today directory lets you filter by state, insurance and online sessions. Confirm the therapist takes your exact plan.
If you are still weighing the original, I wrote an honest BetterHelp review that covers cost, matching and where it falls short.
Insurance gets you in the door. It doesn’t decide whether therapy works. When a clinician signs a contract with an insurer, the insurer decides what an hour of that clinician’s time is worth. Seventeen years of training or six months out of grad school, the rate is identical. Most in-network providers are generalists, so match the clinician to the work. And insurance needs a diagnosis, which stays in your medical record. I explain how to check your plan in one phone call in online therapy that takes insurance.
What if the real problem is my relationship?
Then an individual subscription may not be the right tool. You can’t rebuild a marriage in a room that only hears one side of the dance. ReGain is BetterHelp’s couples site, with licensed therapists, income-based financial aid and no insurance. OurRitual offers weekly video sessions plus an app and doesn’t take insurance either; ask who you’ll be matched with and what their license is. Talkspace has a couples plan on its main platform. My first choice for a couple in real distress is still a private couples therapist trained in EFT or Gottman and licensed in your state, by video or in person. If you both live in California, you can see a licensed couples therapist at my practice through Empathi online couples therapy in California. I compared the rest in online couples therapy.
Watch one thing if you are a couple shopping for a new therapist. When one partner wants to leave the therapy and the other wants to stay, you’re often looking at the pursuer and withdrawer dance playing out one level up. The partner who feels more exposed by the work wants a new therapist. The partner who feels finally seen is terrified to lose the one who’s seeing them. That’s not a fit issue. That’s your pattern with a new costume on. If your partner won’t come at all, you can start Figlet relationship coaching on your own. It is coaching, not couples therapy.
What if I need medication or specialised care?
BetterHelp can’t prescribe, so if medication might be part of it, go to a platform that pairs therapy with psychiatry. Brightside is built for depression and anxiety; its self-pay plans run $95 a month for psychiatry, $299 for therapy, or $349 for both, and it takes many insurance plans. Talkiatry is psychiatry through insurance, and says it is in network with more than 100 plans, including Medicare. For OCD, NOCD’s therapists are trained in exposure and response prevention (ERP), sessions are by video, and it bills select insurance plans.
Some things belong with a licensed clinician first, not a coach and not an app, including the coaching I built: clinical depression, anxiety disorders, OCD, ADHD, addiction, trauma, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, and any thoughts of not wanting to be here. That isn’t failing. It’s putting the ground in first.
Is it the platform, or is it the fit?
Before you switch, ask what you are actually leaving. The platform is a delivery system. What you’re buying is a person.
I learned this as a participant, years before I ever sat with a client. When I finally went to live at Esalen, a facilitator stopped me mid-story and said, “Feelings are sensations in your body. You were asked how you’re feeling, not what you’re thinking.” That’s how I knew I’d needed help. Not from the size of my problems. From how shocking it was to be met. That shock is what you are shopping for, and no pricing page can show it to you.
So check the fit honestly. After a handful of sessions you should feel that the therapist genuinely sees you. Not agrees with you. Sees you. If a piece of who you are keeps having to be explained from scratch, that’s a fit issue, and it isn’t your job to educate your therapist. Switch, and do it cleanly.
But notice when you want to leave. If the urge arrives right after a session where something real happened, where you cried in a way you don’t cry, that may not be a fit problem. It may be a threshold. The nervous system has one move when it senses it’s about to feel something unsurvivable: get out. Change the subject. Change the therapist. If you have switched before at roughly the same point, the therapist is not the variable. And whatever you decide, the insights you’ve gathered are yours. You are not starting from zero.
If someone is hitting you, threatening you, blocking the door, controlling your money or your phone, or following you, that is not something to work on in any app. Get help today: the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233. If you are thinking about suicide, call or text 988, or text HOME to 741741 to reach Crisis Text Line, free and open 24/7.
What should I say to the next therapist?
Book one consult this week, and before you commit, ask one sharp question, word for word: “What is your specific training for what I’m dealing with, and what approach do you use?” If you hear a vague “I use an eclectic approach,” keep looking. Depth in one model beats a sampler platter of five. Then notice your body at the end of the first session. You should leave feeling a little more met than when you walked in.
Where does coaching fit?
Last, and on purpose. 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. The question isn’t “how bad is it?” It’s “how loud is the past right now?” If the broadcast is so loud you can’t stand on anything, you need a therapist first. I built Figlet for the weeks when there is ground under you. No AI is a therapist, including mine.
If someone you love is ready to quit therapy altogether
Don’t send them a list of platforms. “I can’t afford it” is often a softer way of saying “I’m too scared to walk into a room and be seen,” and “my problems aren’t bad enough” is exactly how shame hides. Underneath is the oldest question there is: am I enough? Ask them what happened in the room, then listen without fixing. Offer to sit with them while they book the next consult.
Where to go from here
If you want the whole field compared, start with my honest guide to the best online therapy. Pick the option that fits your wallet and your need, then judge the person, not the logo.
If what you need tonight is help moving forward rather than treatment, I built Figlet for exactly that. It’s a coaching tool, not therapy. You tell it what happened, it shows you the pattern you’re caught in, and it gives you one line to say. Start Figlet Life Coaching free tonight.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to BetterHelp?
It depends on why you’re leaving. For insurance, Talkspace, Rula, Headway or Grow Therapy; for low cost, Open Path Collective; for medication, Brightside or Talkiatry; for couples, ReGain, OurRitual or a trained couples therapist; for OCD, NOCD.
What are cheaper alternatives to BetterHelp?
Open Path Collective charges a one-time $65 membership, then $40 to $70 per individual session. Community health centers and university training clinics charge on a sliding scale, and an employer EAP may cover a few sessions free.
Are there sites like BetterHelp that take insurance?
Yes. Talkspace works with many major plans, Medicare and TRICARE. Rula, Headway and Grow Therapy are built around insurance and charge your plan’s cost share per session, with no subscription. BetterHelp itself now takes some plans, but not Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE.
Is there a free alternative to BetterHelp?
Free therapy with a licensed clinician is rare, usually through an EAP, Medicaid or a community health center. In a crisis, call or text 988, or text HOME to 741741. Both are free and open 24/7, and neither is therapy.
Is BetterHelp legit?
Yes, its therapists are licensed. In 2023 it agreed to pay $7.8 million under an FTC order over sharing health data for advertising, and it is now barred from doing that. It did not admit wrongdoing.
Should I switch therapists or switch platforms?
If you like the platform but not the person, switching therapists on BetterHelp is free. Switch platforms when you need something it doesn’t offer, such as insurance it doesn’t take, psychiatry, couples work on one account, or an OCD specialist.
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Trying to rebuild trust between you?
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.
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Figs O'Sullivan
Founder · EFT couples therapist
“What I would tell you at 10pm, if I could.”
