SimplePractice vs. TherapyNotes: Practice Management Software Comparison
SimplePractice and TherapyNotes are both highly popular, well-run software businesses with thousands of happy customers in the mental health industry. However, SoftwarePundit recommends SimplePractice over TherapyNotes for most private practices.
As you'll read below, SimplePractice is slightly cheaper and offers a broader set of features. For example, SimplePractice has a website builder and strong client portal, while TherapyNotes does not. We also found SimplePractice to be easier to navigate compared to TherapyNotes. At the same time, TherapyNotes offers some uniquely valuable features built specifically for mental health practices.
Please let us know your questions or feedback below. As always, we hope you find our analysis helpful in your practice management exploration.
| Criteria | SimplePractice vs. TherapyNotes Key Takeaways |
|---|---|
| Cost | SimplePractice is cheaper due to free appointment reminders, ERAs and cheaper coverage reports. |
| Features | SimplePractice's product is stronger overall with a website builder, mobile applications and a client portal that allows clients to schedule appointments themselves. TherapyNotes offers unique, time-saving features inside its plans & notes. |
| Ease of Use | SimplePractice offers a cleaner design and more intuitive user experience. |
Table of Contents
- Which Practice Management System is Cheaper?
- Key Feature Comparison
- Ease of Use
- What Do The Companies Say About Each Other?
- Bottom Line
Which Practice Management System is Cheaper?
The pricing models and cost of SimplePractice and TherapyNotes are very similar, with both systems starting below $49 per month for a single clinician. However, SimplePractice is cheaper overall due to lower fees for ERAs, appointment reminders and coverage reports.
Here's the full list of price differences between SimplePractice and TherapyNotes:
- Telehealth: $10 per clinician per month in SimplePractice. TherapyNotes charges 24 cents per hour.
- Wiley Treatment Plans: $15 per clinician per month in SimplePractice. Not offered in TherapyNotes.
- ERAs: free in SimplePractive vs. $0.14 each in TherapyNotes
- Text and phone appointment reminders: free in SimplePractice vs. $0.14 each in TherapyNotes
- Coverage reports: $0.05 each in SimplePractice vs. $0.14 for eligibility requests in TherapyNotes
- Electronic claims: $0.25 each in SimplePractice vs. $0.14 in TherapyNotes
SimplePractice Pricing Details
Starting price for one clinician: $39/month.
- Additional clinicians: $39/month
- Credit card processing: 2.95% + 30¢ per transaction
- Coverage reports: $0.05 each
- Electronic claims: $0.25 per claim
- Telehealth: $10/month per clinician
- Wiley Treatment Plans: $15/month per clinician
TherapyNotes Pricing Details
Starting price for one clinician: $49/month.
- Additional clinicians: $30/month
- Credit card processing: $13.50/month + 2.6% per transaction
- Eligibility requests: $0.14 each
- Electronic claims: $0.14 each
- Mailed paper claims: $0.49 per claim
- Remittance advice (ERAs): $0.14 per claim
- Text message reminders: $0.14 each
- Automated phone reminders: $0.14 each
Key Feature Comparison
We've evaluated the key features of both practice management systems. Read below to see our main takeaways and images of each feature captured during our demos.
Client Intake
Overall, SimplePractice offers your private practice a more streamlines client intake flow. Adding new clients to both systems is relatively simple. However, in SimplePractice, as soon as a new client is added, you are prompted to send that client an email that asks them to visit the client portal and complete your paperless intake forms. This can be done in TherapyNotes, but each step is manual. You must create the new patient record, send that patient an email, and upload documents for them in the portal.
Here's a look at the client intake workflows for the two systems. The first screen is entering a new client's information, and the second is the new client's welcome email.
SimplePractice: New client info and welcome email
TherapyNotes: New client info and welcome email
Appointments & Scheduling
Creating appointments and managing your calendar is comparable in both SimplePractice and TherapyNotes. One of the key differences is that text and voice appointment reminders sent through TherapyNotes cost $0.14 each.
In addition, clients cannot reschedule or create new appointments using TherapyNotes' client portal. Both are possible in SimplePractice's client portal.
SimplePractice: Calendar
TherapyNotes: Calendar
EMR, Plans & Notes
Both SimplePractice and TherapyNotes offer strong EHRs, plans, and notes. This is the feature category in which TherapyNotes performs best. SimplePractice offers a range of options: basic, advanced and Wiley Planners (for an extra cost of $15/month/clinician). TherapyNotes' notes are not customizable. Both companies' software offers time-saving features such as drop-down ICD-10 codes and auto-fill text fields.
SimplePractice: Progress Note
TherapyNotes: Progress Note
Billing & Invoicing
Both SimplePractice and TherapyNotes offer strong billing & invoicing features. Both systems allow your practice to accept credit cards and manage payor billing and claims. They also both offer time-saving features such as uploading your practice's common services and corresponding billing information. In each, you can request coverage reports and ERAs, although TherapyNotes charges $0.05 for each ERA.
SimplePractice: Billing Main Dashboard
TherapyNotes: Billing Main Dashboard
Client Portal
SimplePractice's client portal is far more robust than TherapyNotes. A few key examples are your client's ability to schedule & reschedule appointments, and view their bills and payment information in SimplePractice's portal. In addition, SimplePractice allows clients to attend teletherapy sessions through its client portal (and mobile application). Clients can view and cancel appointments in both systems, as well as view, sign and send documents.
SimplePractice: Client Portal
TherapyNotes: Client Portal
Mobile Applications
SimplePractice has created a mobile application that with a high level of feature parity to make it easy for you to manage your practice while on the go. The app currently has thousands of ratings and a score of 4.7/5.0. Through the mobile application, you can:
- Manage your schedule
- Share, upload and manage documents
- Add and review progress notes
- Access client contact and payment information
- Process payments and view invoices
Telehealth
Both SimplePractice and TherapyNotes offer telehealth. TherapyNotes charges $0.24 per hour for telehealth. While TherapyNotes' telehealth tool is effective, it is more complicated to set up.
In contrast, SimplePractice charges a flat $10 per month fee per for telehealth. Launching telehealth sessions is as simple as clicking a button while viewing your calendar. In addition to being able to join sessions through the client portal, SimplePractice has built a HIPAA-compliant mobile application that allows your clients to join video sessions from their mobile phones and iPads.
SimplePractice Telehealth:
Ease of Use
Having a broad set of features makes for a powerful software application. However, it's equally important that you're able to navigate the user-interface to take advantage of the best features.
Both SimplePractice and TherapyNotes are well above-average in terms of ease of use. However, the key user flows in SimplePractice are more intuitive. While using the software in our tests, there were far fewer occasions when we felt lost inside the SimplePractice software. Specific examples are 'dead-ends' where you click a button and are not taken to the next page you need to visit, or having to access the notes features through scheduled appointments.
What Do The Companies Say About Each Other?
Software companies love to publish comparisons about their systems and their competitors. These guides are typically very helpful, however they must be taken with a grain of salt.
In this case, SimplePractice produced a helpful comparison of SimplePractice vs. TherapyNotes. The key takeaways are:
- Including credit card processing, claims, and ERA fees, SimplePractice costs roughly ~25% less than TherapyNotes
- SimplePractice has dedicated mobile applications
- SimplePractice supports telehealth
- SimplePractice offers messaging that is more secure than regular email or text
- SimplePractice allows you to customize intake forms, assessments, treatment plans, ROI forms, and more
Bottom Line
SimplePractice and TherapyNotes are both leading mental health practice management systems. There are numerous systems in the market that are more outdated, offer less functionality and cost more. In a comparison of the two, however, SimplePractice is the superior software system. It costs less, offers more features, and has an easier to use interface. With that said, TherapyNotes is a solid system with a uniquely strong focus on plans and notes for mental health practitioners.
If you are interested, you can read SoftwarePundit's full reviews on SimplePractice and TherapyNotes.
Click here to sign up for a free trial of SimplePractice and TherapyNotes.