How we evaluate online therapy providers
This page sets out the criteria we use when we write about an online therapy provider, and the limits of what we can check.
In short: We look at licensing, clinical approach, transparency of pricing, billing and cancellation, privacy practices, crisis handling and accessibility. Our assessments are desk research based on public and provider-supplied information. We do not clinically test services, and we have a commercial relationship with Online-Therapy.com.
Our criteria
1. Licensing and who provides care
- Does the provider say its therapists are licensed, and in which professions?
- Does it explain how licensing works across US states (a therapist generally needs to be licensed where the client is located)?
- Can a client see their therapist's name and license so they can check it with the state licensing board?
- Can clients switch therapists, and how?
2. Clinical approach
- Is the approach clearly described (for example, CBT-based worksheets, live sessions, messaging)?
- Is the provider careful not to claim that research on CBT in general proves its own service works?
- Does it explain what the service is not suitable for?
3. Transparency of pricing, billing and cancellation
- Are prices shown clearly before sign-up, including what happens after an introductory discount?
- Is the billing period clear (for example, weekly prices billed monthly)?
- Is it easy to find how to cancel, and what happens to the remaining period?
- Is insurance handling explained honestly (direct billing versus receipts for possible reimbursement)?
- Are financial aid rules and who decides them explained?
4. Privacy practices
- Does the privacy policy explain what health information is collected and who it is shared with?
- Does it describe use of advertising or analytics tools on pages where health information may be entered?
- Can users access and delete their data?
5. Crisis handling
- Does the provider state clearly that it is not an emergency service?
- Does it point users to 988, 911 or local emergency services?
- Does it explain response times for messages, so users know it is not instant?
6. Accessibility and practicality
- Which formats are available (video, voice, live text, messaging)?
- Does it work on phones and with assistive technology?
- Are there time-of-day or weekday limits on support (for example, worksheet replies Monday to Friday only)?
What we can and cannot verify
| We can | We cannot |
|---|---|
| Read the provider's public pages, FAQ, terms and privacy policy | Judge the clinical quality of individual therapists |
| Record listed prices and features, with dates | Guarantee prices at your checkout, which can change or vary |
| Read affiliate materials the provider gives partners, and label them as provider-reported | Confirm outcomes for clients of a specific service |
| Compare policies across providers using the same criteria | Verify every therapist's license ourselves |
| Cite published research about CBT in general | Test services as patients or run clinical trials |
Our provider pages are desk research. When a page describes a provider, it says so. If we ever test a sign-up flow ourselves, we will say exactly what we did and when, and we will not describe it as clinical testing.
Conflicts of interest
We earn a commission when someone subscribes to Online-Therapy.com through our links. That is a real conflict of interest: it gives us a reason to write favorably about that provider. To counter it:
- We apply the same criteria to every provider, including the one that pays us.
- We state Online-Therapy.com's limitations plainly, such as no live sessions on Basic, no direct insurance billing, no medication and no crisis service.
- We include alternatives that pay us nothing, such as lower-cost care and in-network therapists through insurance.
- Our plan chooser can recommend not using Online-Therapy.com.
- The provider does not see or approve our content before publication.
See the affiliate disclosure and editorial policy. Our assessment of the provider we work with is in our Online-Therapy.com review.
Use the same checklist yourself
Before you subscribe to any online therapy service, you can check the same points: who will treat you and whether they are licensed in your state, what you will pay after the first month, how to cancel, what happens to your data and what to do in a crisis. Our guide on how to choose a therapist walks through license checks.