6 Best Online CBT Services We Tested

What to Expect From Online CBT Therapy

• How does CBT work? As Dr. Weissman explains, “CBT is probably best known for taking a look at what’s going on right now, what’s keeping you stuck, figuring out what patterns of thinking and behaving are contributing to that, and developing strategies and skills for changing them.” Your therapist will also assign you homework between sessions so that you can practice the skills you’re learning in therapy until you can do them on your own. 
• Who is CBT for? The short version is: many people. The longer version comes from Dr. Beck: “CBT is effective for the treatment of many different mental health conditions including anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance misuse, ADHD, eating disorders, OCD, personality disorders, and many others. It can also be helpful in helping people cope with medical conditions like chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, obesity and overweight, diabetes, migraine headaches, and more. Finally, CBT can help with quality-of-life concerns like anger, procrastination, relationship issues, stress, and poor sleep.”
• How much does it cost? The prices of the companies on this list range from $60 a week to upwards of $195 per session.
• Will insurance cover it? Possibly. Some of the companies on this list accept insurance, while others offer out-of-pocket subscriptions instead. Most companies that take insurance will let you search to see if they accept your plan during or after sign-up.
• How do we meet? The cheapest plans are messaging-only, meaning you can contact your therapist via text as often as you want, with a certain number of responses guaranteed. You also always have the option of meeting with your therapist via video call. One company on this list (Thriveworks) also offers in-person sessions in certain locations.
• Is it confidential? Be sure to read through any company’s privacy policy to better understand whether it is HIPAA-compliant (HIPAA is the law that protects personal health information) and whether it shares any private information with third parties; we recommend opting out of data collection.
• What’s the time commitment? It depends. CBT is designed to be a short-term treatment, often lasting only six to 20 or 24 sessions. However, some therapy seekers might feel they need more time—and that’s ok. In terms of individual sessions, the companies on this list offer 30 to 60-minute appointments, and all assign homework to be completed between sessions, which requires additional time each week.
• What makes a good CBT therapist? According to Dr. Beck, “a good CBT therapist will take a holistic view of their client’s health and mental health and focus not only on symptom reduction, but on their strengths, resources, values, and aspirations.” Look for a therapist who is flexible in their approach and is willing to work with you to identify and tackle problem areas in your life.

How Much Does CBT Therapy Cost? 

Out-of-pocket, the CBT services on this list can cost as little as $60 per session (for Online-Therapy.com) or up to $240 or more. 

Some companies, such as Brightside, Thriveworks, Wellnite, and Amwell, accept insurance, which means that you will only be responsible for your copay per session. Other companies that don’t accept insurance or are not covered by your particular insurance plan may charge an out-of-pocket rate. This could be a fixed rate or a rate that changes based on your location, the qualifications of your therapist, and how in-demand the company’s services are where you live. 

Other companies offer subscriptions, meaning you pay a certain amount per month in order to access certain weekly services (such as unlimited messaging and one therapy session per week). Messaging-only plans are the cheapest, though as a therapist, personally I feel as though plans with video or at least phone sessions included are the most effective.

How I Reviewed CBT Online Therapy Services

As Verywell Mind’s Mental Health Editor, I’ve spent years testing and surveying real therapy users and reviewing their experiences to help rate and share the best online therapy services. 

Firsthand Experience

I’ve reviewed 55 different online therapy companies using 65 different testers over the past three years, publishing 153 reviews.

For this story, I evaluated all of my testing insights from companies that specifically offer CBT as a therapeutic modality and reviewed my testers’ experiences with the CBT services they received. This included how knowledgeable their therapists were with the tenets of CBT, the specific CBT-based approaches they used in sessions, and the homework they assigned my testers to complete between sessions to strengthen their CBT skills.

I asked each tester to try each service for at least a month, which usually meant between two and six sessions at each company. I also asked testers to switch therapists partway through, if possible, in order to get a holistic idea of the offerings and quality of each company. My testers were located all across the United States and abroad, meaning I gained extensive information about each company’s services in a variety of areas.

Expert Interviews

I also spoke to two CBT experts who founded their own CBT practices and provided insight about what CBT is, who it’s best for, and the most optimal way of using it in the treatment of mental health concerns.

• Dr. Judith Beck, President of the Beck Institute
• Dr. Steve Weissman, founder of the New York therapy practice NYCBT

User Surveys

I surveyed more than 8,000 therapy clients who are currently using one of the 55 online therapy companies tested or who had used one in the recent past. I collected 350 different data points in which I asked users to evaluate each company’s services, from their therapist’s qualifications to whether they found a therapist who met all their needs to how they’d rate the company overall. 

Here, you can see a full breakdown of our online therapy research and testing process on Verywell Mind.

Why Trust Verywell Mind

Hannah Owens is Verywell Mind’s Mental Health Editor. Hannah is a licensed social worker with a clinical background in community mental health. She’s worked at programs treating those with serious mental illness, providing both individual and group therapy. In her time at Verywell Mind, Hannah has designed and run years of online therapy testing, overseeing and editing reviews of the top online therapy companies out there and writing and editing roundups of the best online therapy services based on our extensive and thorough testing. Hannah brings her unique combination of both clinical and editorial expertise to her work for Verywell Mind.

• Licensed social worker since 2019
• Clinical background in community mental health
• Specializes in serious mental illness
• Believes in the mission of online therapy to make mental healthcare more accessible