Valant vs SimplePractice (2026): Psychiatry Depth vs Therapist Simplicity

Overview

Valant and SimplePractice both serve behavioral health, but they target very different operating realities. Valant is optimized for psychiatry-heavy care delivery where prescribing, measurement-based care, and medication management workflows are central. SimplePractice is optimized for therapist experience, practice growth, and ease of use for solo or small group practices.

Valant has been building for the psychiatry market since 2005, and its architecture reflects two decades of investment in prescriber-specific workflows. SimplePractice launched in 2012 and quickly became one of the most popular platforms for solo therapists and small counseling practices by prioritizing modern design, mobile access, and low-friction onboarding. Their user bases overlap only at the margins — mixed practices where therapists and prescribers coexist — and that overlap is exactly where the comparison gets interesting.

This comparison is most relevant for organizations deciding whether they need prescriber-grade clinical depth or streamlined therapist-first operations. If your practice is growing and you are unsure which direction to invest in, this guide will help you evaluate the trade-offs. For a broader view of the market, see our behavioral health EHR comparison.

E-Prescribing and Psychiatry Workflows

Valant

Valant's strongest differentiator is prescriber workflow support. The platform includes full electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS), integrated Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) lookups, medication history review, drug interaction checking, and formulary verification. For psychiatry groups where prescribing is a high-volume daily activity, these features are not nice-to-haves — they are operational necessities that directly affect patient safety and regulatory compliance.

Valant's prescribing workflows are tightly integrated with the clinical chart, so prescribers can review diagnosis history, lab results, measurement-based care scores, and medication lists in a single view before writing or renewing a prescription. This integration reduces context switching and supports the kind of structured med-check workflow that high-volume psychiatry practices depend on.

SimplePractice

SimplePractice added e-prescribing capabilities through a partnership with a third-party prescribing platform. The feature supports basic prescription writing and electronic transmission to pharmacies, making it usable for nurse practitioners and prescribers in mixed therapy-and-prescribing practices. However, SimplePractice's e-prescribing does not include the depth of PDMP integration, controlled substance workflow controls, or medication management tracking that psychiatry-heavy practices require.

For practices where prescribing is occasional rather than central — for example, a therapy practice with one part-time NP — SimplePractice's e-prescribing may be sufficient. For dedicated psychiatry groups or organizations where medication management is a primary service line, the prescribing workflows will feel underpowered relative to what Valant offers.

Bottom Line

If controlled substance prescribing, PDMP integration, and structured med-management workflows are core to your operations, Valant is the clear winner. SimplePractice's e-prescribing works for light prescribing needs but is not designed for psychiatry-centric volume. For more on choosing an EHR for psychiatry, see our specialty guide.

Measurement-Based Care

Valant

Valant includes built-in support for measurement-based care (MBC) with standardized instruments including PHQ-9, GAD-7, Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale, and other validated screening tools. Scores are tracked longitudinally in the patient chart, allowing providers to visualize symptom trends over time and correlate them with medication changes or treatment plan adjustments. For psychiatry practices that need to demonstrate treatment effectiveness to payers or participate in value-based care arrangements, this longitudinal tracking is operationally important.

Valant also supports automated delivery of outcome measures to patients through its portal, so clinicians can review scores before each appointment rather than spending session time on paper questionnaires. This workflow efficiency matters at scale: a psychiatrist seeing 20-30 patients per day needs MBC data pre-loaded, not collected in real time.

SimplePractice

SimplePractice supports outcome measures through intake forms and questionnaires that can be sent to clients through the client portal. Clinicians can create custom forms that include standardized instruments, and responses are stored in the client record. However, SimplePractice does not offer the same level of longitudinal MBC tracking — there are no built-in trend visualizations or automated score-over-time dashboards. Therapists who want to track outcomes typically do so through their own documentation practices rather than through structured platform features.

Bottom Line

Valant has a meaningful advantage in measurement-based care for organizations that need structured longitudinal tracking and automated patient-reported outcome collection. SimplePractice covers basic questionnaire delivery but does not match Valant's clinical analytics depth. If MBC is a payer requirement or a clinical priority, Valant is the stronger platform.

Documentation Experience

Valant

Valant's documentation is built around structured templates designed for psychiatric encounters. Med-check notes, initial psychiatric evaluations, and follow-up templates include pre-built sections for medication review, mental status examination, risk assessment, and treatment plan updates. This structure supports clinical consistency across multiple providers in a group practice and produces documentation that holds up well to payer audits and peer review.

The trade-off is that the structured approach can feel rigid for therapists who prefer narrative-style notes. Clinicians accustomed to free-text documentation or flexible therapy note formats may find Valant's templates more prescriptive than they prefer. For mixed practices, this tension is real: prescribers tend to appreciate the structure, while therapists may find it constraining.

SimplePractice

SimplePractice offers a cleaner, lower-friction documentation experience that prioritizes speed and flexibility. The platform includes templates for common note types — SOAP notes, DAP notes, progress notes, and treatment plans — with a clean interface that therapists can learn in minutes rather than hours. Custom templates are also supported, allowing practices to design note formats that match their clinical style.

For solo therapists and small counseling groups, SimplePractice's documentation experience is one of the primary reasons for its popularity. Clinicians consistently cite the intuitive interface, mobile app support, and reduced click count as key advantages. The mobile app allows therapists to complete notes between sessions on a tablet or phone, which is particularly valuable for clinicians with packed schedules.

Bottom Line

Valant's structured documentation is better suited for psychiatric encounters and multi-provider consistency. SimplePractice's flexible, modern documentation experience is ideal for therapy-focused practices that value speed and simplicity. Mixed practices should consider which clinician type represents the majority of their documentation volume. For a broader look at therapy-focused platforms, see our guide to the best EHR for therapy practices.

Client Portal and Patient Experience

Valant

Valant includes a patient portal that supports appointment scheduling, secure messaging, intake form completion, and outcome measure delivery. The portal is functional and covers the core needs of a psychiatry practice. However, the user experience is clinical-grade rather than consumer-grade — it gets the job done but does not have the polished, modern feel that private-pay clients increasingly expect from their healthcare providers.

SimplePractice

SimplePractice's client portal is one of its standout features. The experience is consumer-grade: clients can request appointments, complete intake paperwork, sign consent forms, make payments, and join telehealth sessions through a single, mobile-friendly interface. For practices competing on convenience and client experience — particularly private-pay practices where clients have choices about where to seek care — this polish is a meaningful competitive advantage.

The platform also includes a professional website builder and online booking page that integrates directly with the scheduling system. For solo practitioners and small groups investing in practice growth, this marketing-to-intake pipeline can drive new client acquisition without third-party tools.

Bottom Line

SimplePractice has a clear edge in consumer-facing experience. For practices where client acquisition and retention depend on a modern, convenient digital experience, SimplePractice's portal and website tools are hard to match. Valant's portal is adequate for established psychiatry practices where patients are referred rather than acquired through consumer channels.

Billing and Operations

Valant

Valant includes integrated billing workflows designed for insurance-heavy psychiatry practices. The platform supports eligibility verification, claim generation, electronic submission, ERA posting, and denial management. Billing is tightly linked to the clinical encounter, so charge capture happens automatically when documentation is completed. For practices with complex payer mixes — commercial insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and managed behavioral health carve-outs — Valant's billing engine handles the complexity well.

Valant also supports authorization tracking and benefits verification, which are important for psychiatry practices that deal with prior authorization requirements for medications and ongoing treatment. The clinical-to-billing integration reduces the manual work of translating encounter data into claims.

SimplePractice

SimplePractice includes billing for both insurance and private-pay clients. The platform supports electronic claim submission, superbill generation, client invoicing, and online payment processing through Stripe. For practices with a high private-pay mix, the streamlined invoicing and payment collection features are particularly useful — clients can pay online through the portal, and the practice receives funds quickly.

Insurance billing in SimplePractice is functional but designed for moderate complexity. Practices with straightforward payer mixes and relatively standard CPT coding will find it adequate. However, organizations dealing with complex multi-payer environments, high denial rates, or intricate authorization workflows may find that SimplePractice's billing tools lack the depth they need.

Bottom Line

Valant is the stronger billing platform for insurance-heavy practices with complex payer environments. SimplePractice excels for private-pay-dominant practices and organizations with moderate billing complexity. If clean-claim rates and denial management are critical operational metrics for your practice, evaluate both platforms with your actual payer mix during the selection process. For more on how pricing models affect long-term costs, see the EHR cost guide.

Telehealth

Valant

Valant includes integrated telehealth that allows providers to conduct video sessions directly within the platform. Sessions are linked to the patient chart, and documentation can be completed immediately after the visit without switching between systems. The telehealth module supports the structured workflow that psychiatry practices need: review patient data, conduct the video session, update medications, complete the note, and generate the claim — all in one place.

SimplePractice

SimplePractice also includes built-in telehealth across its paid plans. The experience is clean and mobile-friendly, and clients can join sessions directly from the client portal without downloading separate software. For therapists who conduct a significant portion of their practice via telehealth, the seamless integration between scheduling, video sessions, and documentation is a strong advantage. SimplePractice's telehealth consistently receives positive reviews for ease of use on both the provider and client sides.

Bottom Line

Both platforms include solid telehealth capabilities. SimplePractice has a slight edge in client-side experience and ease of joining sessions. Valant has an edge in clinical workflow integration for prescribers who need to review medication data during telehealth appointments. For most practices, telehealth will not be the deciding factor between these two platforms.

Pricing and Total Cost of Ownership

Pricing is one of the starkest differences between these two platforms, and understanding the cost structure is essential for making an informed decision.

Valant

Valant uses quote-based pricing that typically ranges from $100 to $300+ per provider per month depending on organization size, module selection, and contract terms. Implementation fees, training costs, and add-on modules (e-prescribing, advanced analytics) can increase the total investment. For a 5-provider psychiatry group, total annual costs including all modules and support typically land in the $15,000 to $25,000+ range. The higher price point reflects the platform's clinical depth and is generally justified for practices where psychiatry is the primary service line.

SimplePractice

SimplePractice publishes transparent pricing starting at $49 per month for a solo practitioner (Starter plan) and scaling to $99+ per month for the Professional plan that includes features like insurance billing, the client portal, and telehealth. Group practice pricing adds per-clinician fees on top of the base. For a solo therapist, SimplePractice is dramatically less expensive than Valant. Even for a 5-provider group practice, the total annual cost is typically well under $10,000 — a fraction of what a Valant deployment would cost.

Bottom Line

SimplePractice is significantly less expensive and offers published, transparent pricing. Valant costs more but delivers specialized psychiatry features that justify the premium for prescriber-heavy practices. Solo therapists and small therapy groups will almost always find SimplePractice more cost-effective. Psychiatry groups should evaluate whether Valant's clinical depth generates enough operational efficiency to offset the higher price.

Feature Comparison at a Glance

Feature	Valant	SimplePractice
E-Prescribing (EPCS)	Full, with PDMP integration	Basic, via third-party partner
Measurement-Based Care	Longitudinal tracking, automated delivery	Basic questionnaires only
Structured Psych Templates	Purpose-built for psychiatry	General therapy note templates
Client Portal UX	Functional, clinical-grade	Consumer-grade, mobile-friendly
Website Builder	Not included	Included
Insurance Billing Depth	Complex multi-payer support	Moderate, standard payer support
Private-Pay Optimization	Supported	Strong (Stripe, online payments)
Telehealth	Integrated	Integrated
Mobile App	Limited	Full-featured iOS/Android
ONC Certified	Yes	No
Group Practice Scaling	Strong for psychiatry groups	Good for therapy groups, limited for complex orgs
Pricing (Solo)	~$150-200+/mo (quote-based)	$49-99/mo (published)

Scalability and Organizational Fit

Valant

Valant scales well for psychiatry-oriented group practices that need repeatable, structured workflows across multiple providers. The platform supports role-based access, multi-location configurations, and administrative dashboards that give practice managers visibility into provider productivity, billing performance, and clinical quality metrics. For organizations growing from a small psychiatry group into a multi-site operation, Valant's architecture supports that trajectory without requiring a platform migration.

SimplePractice

SimplePractice scales well for therapist-centric organizations adding clinicians. The group practice features include provider scheduling, centralized billing, and basic administrative oversight. However, some larger or more operationally complex groups eventually find that SimplePractice's administrative controls, reporting depth, and clinical workflow customization are not sufficient for their needs. The platform's sweet spot is solo practitioners through small-to-mid-size therapy groups of roughly 5 to 20 providers.

Bottom Line

Valant is the better long-term platform for organizations that expect to grow into multi-site psychiatry operations. SimplePractice is ideal for solo through small group therapy practices and remains one of the best options in that segment. Organizations that anticipate significant growth should consider where they expect to be in three to five years, not just where they are today. For organizations needing an alternative to both, TherapyNotes is worth evaluating, and our Valant vs TherapyNotes comparison covers that matchup.

Who Should Choose Which

Choose Valant if:

• You run a psychiatry-forward organization with significant medication management volume.
• EPCS, PDMP integration, and structured prescriber workflows are operational requirements.
• Measurement-based care with longitudinal outcome tracking is a clinical or payer priority.
• You need robust insurance billing for complex multi-payer environments.
• You prioritize long-term clinical and operational depth over interface simplicity.

Choose SimplePractice if:

• You are a solo therapist or small therapy-focused practice optimizing for ease of use and cost.
• Client experience and a modern consumer-grade portal are competitive advantages for your practice.
• Your billing complexity is moderate, with a significant private-pay component.
• You want published, transparent pricing without a sales process.
• Mobile access and a modern mobile app are important to your workflow.

If your practice includes both therapists and prescribers, the decision often comes down to which clinician type drives the most revenue and operational complexity. Practices where psychiatry generates the majority of revenue typically benefit from Valant's depth. Practices where therapy is the core service line and prescribing is supplementary often do better with SimplePractice's simplicity and lower cost. For an independent evaluation, consider working with Ease to assess your specific needs.

Final Verdict

Valant is the better fit for psychiatry-centric organizations and behavioral health groups that need structured prescriber workflows, deep measurement-based care tracking, and robust insurance billing. The platform justifies its higher price point through clinical depth that directly supports the operational demands of medication management at scale.

SimplePractice is the better fit for therapist-led practices — solo through small group — that prioritize speed, simplicity, modern client experience, and cost-effectiveness. It remains one of the most popular and well-regarded platforms in the therapy space for good reason: it does what therapists need, and it does it well.

If your organization is growing toward multi-site psychiatry operations, Valant provides better long-term alignment. If you are scaling a therapy practice and client experience is a competitive differentiator, SimplePractice will serve you well. For organizations in the middle, a structured evaluation using our EHR selection process guide can help clarify which set of trade-offs best matches your practice's trajectory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can SimplePractice handle psychiatry workflows effectively?

SimplePractice supports basic prescribing through a third-party e-prescribing integration, and prescribers in mixed practices can use it for documentation and billing. However, it lacks the depth of EPCS controls, PDMP integration, structured psychiatric templates, and longitudinal measurement-based care tracking that dedicated psychiatry platforms like Valant provide. For practices where psychiatry is the primary service line, SimplePractice is typically not the best fit.

Is Valant a good choice for solo therapists?

Valant can technically serve solo therapists, but its pricing, feature set, and workflow design are optimized for psychiatry groups and prescriber-heavy practices. A solo therapist would likely pay more for Valant than for SimplePractice while using only a fraction of the platform's capabilities. Solo therapists without prescribing needs will generally find SimplePractice or TherapyNotes to be more cost-effective and better aligned to their workflows.

How do the two platforms compare on insurance billing versus private pay?

Valant is stronger for insurance-heavy billing with complex payer mixes, authorization tracking, and denial management workflows. SimplePractice handles insurance billing adequately for standard payer environments but truly excels at private-pay operations with its online payment processing, client invoicing, and superbill generation. If more than 60% of your revenue comes from insurance, Valant's billing depth is worth the investment. If private pay is your dominant revenue source, SimplePractice's streamlined approach is typically more efficient.

Which platform has better mobile access?

SimplePractice has a clear advantage in mobile access. Its iOS and Android apps allow clinicians to manage scheduling, complete notes, communicate with clients, and handle billing on the go. The mobile experience is one of the most polished in the behavioral health EHR market. Valant offers some mobile functionality but its core experience is designed for desktop use. For clinicians who rely heavily on mobile workflows, SimplePractice is the better choice.

What if my practice has both therapists and psychiatrists — which platform should I choose?

Mixed practices face a genuine trade-off. If psychiatric medication management generates the majority of your revenue and clinical complexity, Valant's prescriber workflows justify the investment, and therapists can adapt to its documentation system. If therapy is the dominant service line and prescribing is a smaller component, SimplePractice's ease of use and lower cost benefit the majority of your providers. Some mixed practices ultimately maintain two systems, though this creates operational overhead. For a more detailed analysis of this scenario, see our psychiatry EHR guide and therapy practice EHR guide.