Costs
Both Talkspace and BetterHelp operate as subscription services, which means you’ll pay up front for a month of therapy rather than paying week by week or session by session. And while each company offers a combination of video sessions and unlimited messaging with your therapist, Talkspace’s messaging-only plan is comparable in price to the low end of BetterHelp’s subscription, which always includes both video sessions and messaging.
Talkspace
Depending on the services you need, Talkspace’s therapy services cost $69 to $109 per week, billed as a monthly subscription. Here is a detailed breakdown of the options you can choose from:
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Messaging therapy: $69 per week to message your therapist anytime and receive guaranteed responses five days a week
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Video + messaging therapy: $99 per week for up to four 30-minute live sessions a month, plus unlimited messaging
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Video + messaging + workshops: $109 per week for access to weekly workshops, four therapy sessions a month, and unlimited messaging
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Couples therapy: $436 per month for four sessions a month and unlimited messaging
You can also purchase additional sessions for $65 each.
For Talkspace’s psychiatry services, however, you do pay per session rather than as a subscription:
Talkspace is also in-network with a wide array of insurance plans, which means that if it accepts your insurance, you’ll only be responsible for a copay. You can check here to see if your insurance is accepted.
BetterHelp
BetterHelp also operates as a monthly subscription service, charging between $70 and $100 per week. However, BetterHelp’s prices are determined by your location and how many therapists are available there. The more in-demand BetterHelp’s services are where you live, the more you will pay for those services.
BetterHelp currently does not accept insurance—but it is in the process of joining the network of select insurance carriers.
Services Offered
Both Talkspace and BetterHelp offer online therapy, but Talkspace also offers teen therapy, couples therapy, and psychiatry and medication management.
Talkspace
Talkspace offers a wider variety of options than BetterHelp. Here’s who its services are tailored to:
We tested Talkspace’s therapy options for couples, individuals, and teens. All of my testers signed up for its middle plan, messaging + therapy. Our sessions lasted 30 minutes (even our couples therapy sessions), and could be conducted via video, phone, or text.
Talkspace’s messaging-only subscription does not include any scheduled 30-minute sessions; instead, it allows for asynchronous texting, or texting anytime, with guaranteed responses from your therapist five days a week. As a therapist, I can’t recommend this plan—there is a lot to be said for setting aside a determined time and place to focus on talking through issues and creating a safe space for therapy. It’s also important for your therapist to be able to see you, or at least hear you, so that they can pick up on cues like body language and tone of voice. Keep this in mind when choosing your Talkspace plan.
Talkspace’s psychiatry and medication management sessions are conducted via video. Your initial session will be a psychiatric evaluation, where you and your psychiatrist will discuss your symptoms, past and current medications, and diagnosis. If appropriate, your psychiatrist will prescribe you medication, which you can pick up at your local pharmacy. After your initial evaluation, you will meet with your psychiatrist every three months to follow up on your care. Talkspace features a complete list of medications its psychiatrists can prescribe—but note that it does not prescribe controlled substances, such as stimulants or benzodiazepines.
Talkspace recommends making use of both its therapy and psychiatry services, as this combination has been proven to be most effective in treating mental health conditions.
BetterHelp
BetterHelp offers adult therapy services to ages 18 and up, while its sister companies Regain and Teen Counseling offer couples therapy and teen therapy respectively—and we extensively tested all three, though for the sake of this review, I’ll focus on BetterHelp proper. BetterHelp itself does not serve couples or teens, and it does not offer psychiatry or medication management.
Like Talkspace, BetterHelp offers video sessions, phone sessions, and chat-based sessions, as well as asynchronous messaging where you can text your therapist anytime. But unlike Talkspace’s text-only option, BetterHelp’s “messaging therapy” (asynchronous messaging) is always built into the cost of your subscription. Both my BetterHelp testers and Talkspace testers had their best experiences when they made use of both their live therapy sessions and between-session messaging.
BetterHelp’s therapy sessions are either 30 or 45 minutes, based on your preferences and the preferences of your therapist. My testers definitely favored the longer sessions, which were not an option at Talkspace.
Signing Up and Therapist Matching
Both Talkspace and BetterHelp match you with a therapist, rather than providing a curated list of choices or letting you choose by browsing a directory, and use a series of intake questions to assign you an appropriate provider for your needs.
My testers who tried Talkspace and BetterHelp consistently pointed out how easy it was to sign up for each company, but BetterHelp’s intake process is much more comprehensive; in fact, many of my BetterHelp testers were pleasantly surprised at how thorough BetterHelp’s sign-up was. Both companies ask you for your gender identity (with many answer options) and ask if you have a gender preference for your provider; and BetterHelp includes some other identities as well, including LGBTQ+ and Black. This is all important information when it comes to assigning you a therapist who can build rapport, support you, and understand you; and many of my testers, who included members of the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities, especially appreciated this from both services.
Talkspace and BetterHelp both want to know what brought you to therapy today; you can choose from options like “I’m feeling anxious or panicky” or “I’m feeling down and depressed.” However, BetterHelp asks some questions that Talkspace doesn’t, including how important religion is in your life and whether you consider yourself to be spiritual, because BetterHelp offers Christian-based therapy services as well and uses this information to match you if relevant. Next, BetterHelp asks if you have ever been in therapy before, and has you indicate your expectations for your therapist (which Talkspace doesn’t ask about), choosing from nine different options, like “a therapist who listens,” “who explores my past,” and “who teaches me new skills”—you can choose as many as are applicable.
But what really impresses me about BetterHelp—and is the one aspect in which BetterHelp outshines Talkspace—is that BetterHelp’s intake features a typical depression scale, asking you to rate how often in the last two weeks you have been bothered by typical symptoms of depression. BetterHelp then asks if/how often you’ve thought about suicide. If you answer that you’ve thought about suicide recently, BetterHelp follows up by asking if it’s just a general thought or feeling or if you’ve made a plan; if you indicate the latter, BetterHelp shows you the number for the Mental Health Crisis Hotline (988) and explains that BetterHelp is not right for you at this time. As a mental health professional, I really appreciate BetterHelp’s consideration and actions in this matter, which prioritize the health and safety of the therapy seeker rather than just trying to get more business.
When you’re done with the intake, Talkspace explains that it matches you with a therapist within 48 hours, whereas BetterHelp says the matching process takes anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on therapist availability.
Our Testing Experiences
Over the past three and a half years, I have had 12 people try Talkspace’s online therapy services and 10 people try BetterHelp’s services—including one tester who tried both companies twice, two years apart. My testers are mental health professionals, like social workers and psychologists, as well as health and lifestyle reporters and writers, who tested each company for a month all across the country and even abroad. These were their experiences.
Talkspace
While none of my testers tried Talkspace’s psychiatry services (it would have been unethical to ask someone to try medication just for a review), they did test out its adult therapy, couples therapy, and teen therapy.
Individual Therapy
Nine of my testers tried Talkspace’s individual therapy, and for the most part, their experiences were positive. They especially appreciated two aspects of their Talkspace sessions: the quick rapport they were able to build with their therapists and the actionable advice they received.
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Rapport: Many of my testers immediately established a rapport with their therapists that made them feel comfortable, supported, optimistic, and empowered. Their Talkspace therapists created safe spaces to work through issues and process emotions, and testers reported coming away from each session feeling lighter and that their therapists made the most of their time together. These therapists were easy to talk to and made my testers feel validated and heard.
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Advice: My testers’ therapists helped them tackle issues like anxiety and stress by discussing simple and concrete changes they could make in their lives. One tester’s therapist helped her map a potential solution to a difficult issue, while another struck a great balance between letting my tester “let it all out” and chiming in with useful suggestions and insights. Our Talkspace therapists were consistently proactive in giving strong feedback and tips to manage my testers’ challenges.
Many of my testers were impressed with Talkspace’s asynchronous messaging as well. Their therapists responded quickly and with personal messages that didn’t feel canned or scripted, and the extra and consistent communication between sessions helped my testers feel supported and cared for.
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses with Talkspace, though. Many of my testers felt that the 30-minute sessions were too short (though one specifically appreciated the short sessions, saying that they helped her focus her thoughts). Some of my testers’ therapists seemed distracted, taking notes off-screen and not making eye contact, and most testers who tried text-based sessions were not impressed with this format, finding it impersonal and difficult to establish a conversation that wasn’t choppy and disjointed. In addition, some of my testers found that their first assigned therapist was not a good match—but most of them were able to easily switch and were then paired with providers who were a better fit.
Couples Therapy
Of my three testers who tried Talkspace’s couples therapy, two of them had excellent experiences. Their therapists were friendly, professional, and attentive, quickly developing rapport and making them feel comfortable while offering helpful insights and giving my testers the impression that they were genuinely invested in my testers’ well-being as a couple. By the end of their sessions together, my testers and their partners better understood each other and had gained useful tools to defuse heated situations and improve their relationships.
However, my third couples therapy testers’ experiences were negative and downright strange. Their therapist seemed to be conducting their first session while driving, and couldn’t figure out the technology needed to connect to video—after 20 minutes they finally got a visual, but the therapist actually seemed inebriated. They did some intake but eventually lost the connection again and didn’t finish the session. Obviously they switched therapists (which is extremely easy to do), and while their second provider was kind, she seemed new to therapy, not asking many questions and feeling too hands-off for my testers’ liking.
Teen Therapy
My teen tester had a mixed experience. He really liked the chat function because it felt more private than a video or phone session, and he also liked that his therapist used voice notes to respond to him because they felt more personalized than a text. However, he found his first therapist distant and disengaged, even during live sessions, and she repeated the same advice without providing actionable solutions. His second therapist was better, but her messages were sporadic and she had limited availability for live sessions. In addition, my teen tester’s parents were never asked for consent by Talkspace to treat their son (a minor), which is concerning.
BetterHelp
My 10 BetterHelp testers almost unilaterally agreed that BetterHelp is, as one tester put it, “therapy light”—best for people who don’t have serious issues to contend with, and instead need some general support for life’s stressors.
The good parts of our Betterhelp experiences were very good. Many of my testers were able to find therapists who were engaged, compassionate, and empathetic, and when their first options weren’t great (and they often weren’t), it was easy to switch. Some testers really connected with their therapists, who asked good questions and made it apparent that they were listening and dedicated to providing useful advice that helped my testers address their minor stressors in a productive way.
My testers were especially impressed with two aspects of their BetterHelp experiences: messaging and homework.
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Messaging: Almost uniformly, testers got prompt, personalized responses to messages between sessions (despite BetterHelp’s policy of only one guaranteed response within 24 hours). This helped them work through issues that arose, providing insights and solutions that helped my testers deal with their problems quickly.
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Homework: Many of my testers’ therapists assigned them “homework” to do between sessions—worksheets, for instance, or exercises to strengthen communication and practice being present. These were helpful without being overwhelming.
However, when things were bad, they were very bad. Many of my testers experienced technical difficulties with their sessions (poor video quality, delays, and no audio); and although some therapists suggested switching to a phone or chat session instead, my testers found these types of sessions lacking, as no one was impressed with their chat-based sessions.
In one case, my tester’s first therapist never showed up; in another, my tester, who is disabled, found her therapist to be incredibly ableist, asking invasive questions about her physical disability and how it was acquired and making assumptions that my tester had negative feelings about her disability.
Although there were both good and bad elements to the majority of my testers’ sessions, many of my testers were overall underwhelmed with their BetterHelp experiences. Some of them never found a therapist they clicked with, despite switching multiple times, and nearly all of them noted that if you are someone dealing with any kind of serious issue, whether related to mental illness or a deeper problem in your everyday life, BetterHelp is not an appropriate resource. When considering BetterHelp, keep in mind that the depth of its support is limited.
What Users Say
I surveyed 100 users of both Talkspace and BetterHelp about their experiences with the companies, and on most data points (350 of them total), Talkspace came out on top:
Overall rating:
Needs met:
Therapist qualifications:
Recommendation:
Using the company again:
Privacy
Both BetterHelp and Talkspace have come under fire for privacy practices. Although both companies are HIPAA-compliant—following the federal law governing personal health information—they have both had issues with sharing their clients’ information.
In 2023, the Federal Trade Commission ordered BetterHelp to pay $7.8 million for data misuse after it shared private data, like health information, IP addresses, and email addresses, with social media platforms for advertising purposes, and there’s still an open class action lawsuit against BetterHelp for its privacy practices. However, BetterHelp has since updated its privacy policies and seems to have addressed these issues. Its new policy clearly outlines what data it shares (“visitor data” like IP addresses and how you interact with the website) and with whom (third parties like advertisers).
In 2022, both BetterHelp and Talkspace were called out for using anonymized data from therapy sessions to enhance their marketing. But Talkspace updated its privacy policy in July of 2024 to clearly explain what data it collects and why (including IP addresses for “marketing, including tailoring advertising”) and to assure clients that “Once you become a patient the use of cookies, web beacons, pixels, and other processes are limited to ensure that we do not monitor or use patient information for other purposes without your consent.”
Basically, with both companies, privacy is on the up-and-up, but make sure to read BetterHelp’s privacy policy and Talkspace’s privacy policy before signing up for either, and opt out of data collection if you can.
Final Thoughts
Talkspace and BetterHelp are alike in a lot of important ways—they both offer relatively affordable subscription services, are available in any location across the USA, and match you with a therapist based on your answers to their intake questions (which were much more comprehensive at BetterHelp than Talkspace).
However, while BetterHelp exclusively offers adult therapy services, Talkspace provides individual therapy, teen therapy, couples therapy, and psychiatry and medication management. In addition, Talkspace is in-network with a wide array of insurance plans, whereas BetterHelp does not currently accept insurance (though it is in the beginning stages of working with a few insurance companies).
My testers of both Talkspace and BetterHelp had a wide variety of experiences, both good and bad. Our time with Talkspace was a little uneven, though most of the negatives had to do with short session times and text-based therapy being unreliable and insufficient, while our sessions at BetterHelp ranged from “therapy light” to downright negative more than once.
Ultimately, I would recommend BetterHelp for people looking to work on minor issues and life challenges, whereas Talkspace seems more equipped to help with mild to moderate mental health symptoms as well as daily struggles that might bring you to therapy.
