SimplePractice EHR Review (2026)

Overview

SimplePractice is a cloud-based practice management and EHR platform used by more than 225,000 health and wellness professionals across the United States. Founded in 2012 in Santa Monica, California, it was purpose-built for solo and small-group therapists, counselors, social workers, speech-language pathologists, dietitians, and other wellness practitioners. The company was acquired by EngageSmart in 2021 and continues to operate as an independent product.

What sets SimplePractice apart from clinical-first EHRs is its consumer-grade user experience. The interface was designed with the same UX sensibility you would expect from a modern fintech or productivity app, not a health IT system from 2005. For clinicians who find traditional EHRs clunky and overly complex, SimplePractice feels refreshingly approachable.

Its scope is deliberately broad across wellness disciplines rather than deep in any single clinical specialty. SimplePractice handles scheduling, documentation, telehealth, billing, a client portal, and practice marketing through its Monarch therapist directory -- all from a single subscription. That breadth makes it a strong fit for independent practitioners who want one tool to run their entire business.

However, that consumer-grade simplicity comes with tradeoffs. SimplePractice is not ONC-certified, which means it cannot participate in federal Promoting Interoperability programs. Its clinical documentation lacks the structured note templates and outcome-tracking depth found in tools like TherapyNotes or Valant. And its billing features, while competent for private-pay and light insurance work, do not match what insurance-heavy practices need. For a broader comparison of platforms in this space, see our behavioral health EHR comparison.

Key Features

Client Portal

The client portal is one of SimplePractice's strongest differentiators. Clients can request appointments, complete intake paperwork, sign consent forms, view invoices, make payments, and communicate with their provider -- all through a polished, mobile-friendly interface. The portal reduces front-desk work and creates a professional first impression that matters when clients are comparing therapists.

Online Booking & Scheduling

Providers can share a booking link on their website or Monarch listing. Clients self-schedule based on the clinician's real-time availability, and appointments sync automatically to the calendar. Automated reminders via email and SMS help reduce no-shows. The scheduling system supports recurring appointments, waitlists, and calendar sync with Google Calendar and Outlook.

Telehealth

HIPAA-compliant video sessions are built into the Essential and Plus plans at no additional cost. Sessions launch directly from the platform without requiring clients to download software. The telehealth module includes screen sharing and a virtual waiting room. While not as feature-rich as standalone telehealth platforms, it meets the needs of most therapy and counseling sessions.

Clinical Documentation

SimplePractice offers customizable note templates including SOAP, DAP, and free-text formats. Templates can be tailored per appointment type. However, note templates are less structured than what TherapyNotes provides -- there are no built-in treatment plan builders with goal-tracking linked to notes, no standardized outcome measures baked into the workflow, and no DSM-5 diagnostic decision support. For straightforward therapy documentation this is fine; for complex behavioral health workflows, it may feel thin.

Insurance Billing & Claims

The Essential and Plus plans include electronic claims submission, ERA/EOB processing, and superbill generation. SimplePractice supports batch claim creation and tracks claim status within the platform. However, it lacks advanced RCM features such as automated denial management, secondary claims workflows, and detailed accounts-receivable aging analysis. Practices processing more than 100-200 insurance claims per month often report friction.

Autopay & Invoicing

SimplePractice supports credit card autopay through Stripe integration. Providers can store client payment methods and automatically charge copays, session fees, or outstanding balances after appointments. The invoicing system handles superbills, statements, and payment receipts. For private-pay practices, this is a significant time saver.

Mobile App

The SimplePractice mobile app (iOS and Android) is consistently rated 4.7+ stars on both app stores. It supports nearly all core functions: scheduling, documentation, telehealth, messaging, and billing. Clinicians can write notes between sessions, review their schedule, and respond to client messages from their phone. The mobile experience is a major competitive advantage, especially for clinicians who do not sit at a desk.

Monarch Therapist Directory

Monarch is SimplePractice's built-in therapist directory, included with Essential and Plus plans. It lists providers by location, specialty, and accepted insurance, making it a searchable resource for prospective clients. For solo practitioners who rely on referrals and online discovery, Monarch replaces the need for paid listings on third-party directories like Psychology Today.

Intake Forms & E-Signatures

Providers can build custom intake forms, consent documents, and questionnaires that clients complete digitally before their first session. Forms support conditional logic, e-signatures, and automatic filing to the client chart. This eliminates paper intake entirely and ensures documentation is in place before the first appointment begins.

Pros

• Best-in-class user experience. SimplePractice has the most polished, intuitive interface in the behavioral health EHR segment. Clinicians who are not tech-savvy can navigate it without training. The design is clean, the workflows are logical, and the platform avoids the visual clutter that plagues many EHRs.
• Fast, painless onboarding. Most solo practitioners are fully operational within 1-3 days. There is no implementation consultant, no multi-week setup project, and no server to configure. You sign up, import your client list, configure your templates, and start scheduling.
• Excellent mobile app. The iOS and Android apps are not afterthoughts. They replicate most of the desktop experience and are responsive enough to use as a primary interface. This matters for clinicians in home-visit, school-based, or multi-site settings.
• Outstanding client-facing features. The client portal, online booking, intake forms, and autopay create a seamless experience for clients. In private-pay practices where client retention and first impressions drive revenue, this is a genuine differentiator.
• Affordable for solo practitioners. At $49-$99/month, SimplePractice is one of the most cost-effective all-in-one platforms available. The Essential plan at $69/month includes telehealth, the client portal, and insurance billing -- a competitive price point for what is effectively a complete practice management stack.
• Broad wellness scope. Unlike tools that target only psychotherapists, SimplePractice supports a wide range of disciplines: speech therapy, nutrition counseling, occupational therapy, massage therapy, and others. The templates and workflows are generic enough to fit non-traditional therapeutic modalities.
• Built-in telehealth at no extra cost. HIPAA-compliant video is included with Essential and Plus plans. Practices do not need to pay for a separate telehealth vendor like Doxy.me or Zoom for Healthcare.
• Monarch directory drives client acquisition. The integrated therapist directory provides a built-in marketing channel. For solo practitioners who lack a marketing budget, this is a tangible advantage over competitors that offer no client-discovery features.
• No long-term contracts. All plans are month-to-month. Practices can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel without early termination fees -- a meaningful flexibility advantage over EHR vendors that lock clients into multi-year agreements.

Cons

• Not ONC-certified. SimplePractice does not appear on the ONC Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL). This disqualifies practices from Promoting Interoperability incentive payments, and it means the platform has not been independently validated against federal interoperability and security standards. For practices in states or payer networks that require ONC certification, this is a non-starter.
• Limited clinical depth for complex behavioral health. The documentation module lacks structured treatment plan builders, standardized outcome measure integration (PHQ-9, GAD-7, AUDIT-C scored and trended automatically), and the kind of clinical decision support that purpose-built BH EHRs provide. Clinicians managing complex populations -- co-occurring disorders, medication-assisted treatment, court-ordered assessments -- will find the tools inadequate.
• Billing limitations for insurance-heavy practices. While SimplePractice handles basic claims, it lacks advanced denial management, secondary payer workflows, batch ERA reconciliation, and the kind of accounts-receivable reporting that practices filing 500+ claims/month need. Heavy insurance billers consistently cite this as the reason they switch to TherapyNotes or dedicated billing platforms.
• Not built for larger groups. SimplePractice was designed for solo practitioners and small groups. Practices with 10+ clinicians frequently report that administrative features, user-role granularity, supervision workflows, and multi-location management feel undersized. There is no organizational hierarchy, no department-level reporting, and limited provider-comparison analytics.
• No structured note templates comparable to TherapyNotes. TherapyNotes offers structured, clickable note templates with built-in prompts for diagnosis, symptoms, interventions, and progress. SimplePractice notes are more freeform, which some clinicians find liberating but others find risky -- it is easier to miss required documentation elements without structured prompts.
• Customer support inconsistencies. While SimplePractice offers email and live chat support, user reviews consistently note variable response times and quality. Phone support is not available on lower-tier plans. Practices accustomed to responsive phone-based support from vendors like TherapyNotes may find this frustrating.
• Limited reporting and analytics. Reporting is functional for basic revenue tracking and appointment volumes, but the platform lacks the clinical and operational analytics that growing practices need -- utilization rates, payer-mix analysis, clinician productivity comparisons, and outcome dashboards are absent or rudimentary.

Pricing

SimplePractice uses a per-practice (not per-provider) pricing model for solo clinicians, with additional clinician fees on the group plan. All plans are month-to-month with no annual contract required. Pricing as of early 2026:

Electronic claims submissions cost $0.25 per claim on all plans. Credit card processing through Stripe is 2.95% + $0.30 per transaction. There are no setup fees, no data migration fees, and no cancellation penalties. SimplePractice also offers a free 30-day trial on any plan.

For a solo therapist seeing 20-25 clients per week, the Essential plan at $69/month represents strong value -- it replaces separate subscriptions for scheduling, telehealth, a client portal, and billing. The per-claim fee is worth tracking, though: a practice filing 200 claims/month will add $50/month in claim fees on top of the subscription.

Who Should Use SimplePractice

• Solo therapists and counselors who want an all-in-one platform that handles scheduling, documentation, telehealth, billing, and client communication in a single, elegant tool.
• Private-pay and cash-based practices where the client portal, autopay, and online booking directly drive revenue and retention.
• Wellness professionals outside traditional BH -- speech therapists, dietitians, occupational therapists, and other practitioners whose workflows do not require deep psychiatric or substance-use-disorder tooling.
• Clinicians who value mobile-first workflows. If you document between sessions from your phone and need a true mobile-native experience, SimplePractice is the category leader.
• New practices launching quickly. The zero-setup, no-contract model means you can be operational within a day and scale your plan as your caseload grows.

Who Should NOT Use SimplePractice

• Practices that require ONC certification. If you need to attest to Promoting Interoperability, SimplePractice cannot qualify.
• Complex behavioral health programs. Practices running medication-assisted treatment (MAT), intensive outpatient programs (IOP), or structured residential services need the clinical depth of platforms like AZZLY Rize or Netsmart.
• Insurance-heavy practices with high claim volumes. If your revenue depends on efficient insurance billing with denial management, secondary claims, and detailed AR reporting, SimplePractice will create bottlenecks. Consider TherapyNotes or Valant.
• Group practices with 10+ clinicians. Administrative controls, supervision workflows, and organizational reporting are not mature enough for mid-size or large groups.
• Practices needing structured clinical documentation. If your documentation standards require built-in treatment plan tracking, scored outcome measures, and diagnostic decision support, SimplePractice's freeform approach will not meet your needs.

Implementation & Onboarding

SimplePractice is one of the easiest EHR platforms to implement in the behavioral health space. There is no implementation project, no dedicated consultant, and no server provisioning. The onboarding experience follows a self-service model with guided setup steps.

Typical Timeline

• Day 1: Account creation, practice profile setup, calendar configuration, and payment processing activation.
• Days 1-2: Import existing client lists (CSV upload), configure note templates, build intake forms, and customize the client portal.
• Days 2-3: Test telehealth sessions, set up insurance payer accounts (if applicable), and share the booking link on your website.
• Week 1: Begin seeing clients on the platform. Refine templates and workflows based on real usage.

Data Migration

SimplePractice supports CSV import for client demographics and limited clinical data. It does not offer direct EHR-to-EHR data migration or HL7/FHIR-based imports. Practices migrating from another EHR should expect to export their data into CSV format and manually review the import. Clinical notes from prior systems typically need to be uploaded as PDF attachments rather than imported as structured data.

Training

SimplePractice provides a library of video tutorials, help articles, and webinars. Most clinicians report needing fewer than 2-4 hours to feel proficient. The platform's intuitive design means there is far less to learn compared to traditional EHRs. For group practices, SimplePractice offers onboarding support sessions for the Plus plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is SimplePractice ONC-certified?

No. SimplePractice is not listed on the ONC Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL). This means it does not meet Meaningful Use / Promoting Interoperability requirements. Practices that need to attest to federal EHR programs should look at ONC-certified alternatives.

How much does SimplePractice cost in 2026?

SimplePractice offers three tiers: Starter at $49/month (single clinician, basic documentation and scheduling), Essential at $69/month (adds telehealth, a client portal, and insurance filing), and Plus at $99/month (adds group practices, additional clinicians at $59/month each, and advanced reporting). All plans are billed monthly with no long-term contract required.

Can SimplePractice handle insurance billing?

SimplePractice supports electronic claims submission and ERA/EOB posting on the Essential and Plus plans. However, it lacks the depth of a full revenue cycle management (RCM) platform. Practices that are heavily insurance-dependent and process high claim volumes may find the billing module limited compared to dedicated billing tools or EHRs like TherapyNotes or Valant.

Is SimplePractice good for group practices?

SimplePractice supports group practices on the Plus plan, with additional clinicians at $59/month each. However, it was architected for solo practitioners, and larger groups (10+ clinicians) often report outgrowing its administrative, reporting, and supervision features. Groups with complex workflows should evaluate TherapyNotes, Valant, or a full behavioral health EHR.

Does SimplePractice have a mobile app?

Yes. SimplePractice offers highly rated iOS and Android apps that support scheduling, documentation, telehealth, messaging, and billing. The mobile experience is widely considered among the best in the behavioral health EHR space.

What is the Monarch directory in SimplePractice?

Monarch is SimplePractice's therapist directory, included with Essential and Plus plans. It lists your practice profile for prospective clients searching for therapists by location, specialty, and insurance. It functions as a built-in marketing channel, helping therapists fill their caseloads without third-party directory fees.

The Verdict

SimplePractice is the best-designed EHR for solo and small-group wellness professionals who prioritize ease of use, a polished client experience, and mobile-first workflows. Its combination of scheduling, documentation, telehealth, billing, a client portal, and the Monarch directory in a single subscription at $49-$99/month is difficult to beat on value.

The tradeoffs are real, though, and they become sharper as practice complexity increases. The absence of ONC certification is a hard disqualifier for practices that need it. The billing module will frustrate insurance-heavy practices. The clinical documentation lacks the structured depth that complex behavioral health programs demand. And groups beyond 5-10 clinicians will likely outgrow the administrative and reporting capabilities.

If you are a solo therapist, counselor, or wellness professional building a private-pay or lightly-insured practice, SimplePractice is a strong default choice. If your practice is insurance-driven, clinically complex, or growing past 10 providers, start your search with TherapyNotes, Valant, or AZZLY Rize instead. For a detailed side-by-side comparison of all these platforms, see our behavioral health EHR comparison guide.