Best No-Subscription Therapy Services

Talkiatry specializes in treating a number of mental health conditions, such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) via a treatment plan that can include medication and therapy. Talkiatry accepts both children as young as 5 years old and adults who need therapy and psychiatry services (though it doesn’t have stand-alone therapy). As one of the biggest psychiatric practices in the U.S., it offers patients access to over 400 board-certified psychiatrists. The website also offers comprehensive bios for each psychiatrist.

To get started, you fill out a free, brief assessment to determine if Talkiatry is right for your mental health needs. Clients can use the Healow app (available in both the Apple app store and the Google Play store) to book appointments, message their provider (they can expect to hear back in 48 hours), view their health records, and attend televisits. Initial appointments run 60 minutes and follow-up sessions are 30 minutes long.

Prices will depend on your insurance plan and coverage. You can use Talkiatry’s filtering tool to see if the company accepts your insurance. Talkiatry doesn’t accept Medicaid, but does take on Medicare patients.

There are no free consultations, but free assessments are offered.

Of the users we surveyed, 86% said therapist qualifications was one of their top two reasons for choosing an online therapy service and 87% said the type of therapy was one of their top two reasons. Eight-nine percent rated Talkiatry’s medication or psychiatry services as excellent, very good, or good.  

Array Behavioral Care is a triple threat—it offers talk therapy, psychiatric assessments, and medication management. Medication management can be tricky because it often takes trial and error to get a prescription right. It isn’t only a matter of prescribing the right medication but also the right dosage. At Array, patients can choose from either psychiatrists or psychiatric nurse practitioners to help them figure out the right medication solution for them.  

Clinicians at Array treat many mental health issues, including (but not limited to) anxiety, depression, trauma (includes racial trauma), substance use disorder, relationship issues (includes family/parenting issues), grief and loss, and LGBTQIA+ mental health. Once you fill out online registration forms, Array will contact you to find a good provider fit and convenient appointment time. Patients can use their insurance or pay out of pocket (self-pay rates are less expensive with a psychiatric nurse practitioner vs. a psychiatrist).  

Array Behavioral Care says it takes most insurance plans (covering more than 87 million Americans). You can look here to learn if Array accepts your insurance. No free consultations and no free assessments are offered.

Sixty-nine percent of user respondents rated Array’s psychiatry and medication management services as excellent, very good, and good. However, just 33% said the company was responsive to their questions and medication needs. 

Kip Therapy has a diverse group of therapists who can connect with your experience, whether you’re looking for someone who understands your identity as a queer person or who is from a racially marginalized group. Its therapists treat a number of common mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, substance use, identity issues, and eating disorders.  

You can sort through Kip’s directory of therapists and choose the one that’s the best fit for you and is available to meet when your schedule allows. You will need to fill out a brief questionnaire so your therapist can learn about you before your first session. Each session lasts 45 minutes.  

Practitioners are sorted into three cost tiers, so patients can choose the therapist that makes the most financial sense for them. Kip also has options for people experiencing financial difficulties or if they belong to a group that “has historically been excluded from mainstream therapy.” If you fit one of these two descriptions, you’re eligible to meet with Kip’s emerging therapists with sessions priced lower than its standard rates. 

Per-session prices range from $85 to $195. Kip does not accept insurance, but can provide you with a receipt to request reimbursement. Free consultations are only available with select Tier I therapists; initial consultations with tier II and III providers are $25.

Seventy-three percent of Kip Therapy users surveyed listed therapist identity as one of the top two qualities they were looking for in an online therapy company, and 69% rated its therapist diversity as excellent, very good, or good. Additionally, 71% of users rated Kip’s therapist qualifications positively, and 70% said their provider met all or most of their needs. 

Cost is often a prohibitive barrier to accessing therapy, so it helps that Teladoc lessens some of the financial burden by accepting most insurance plans. While you don’t need insurance to use Teladoc, if you have insurance, you may pay nothing out of pocket for mental health visits. 

Teladoc has 20 years of experience working with patients to address issues like anxiety, stress, depression, relationship conflicts, trauma and PTSD, and mood swings. It also offers marriage and couples counseling, and has psychiatrists on board to assist with medication management. 

It’s easy to get started with Teladoc. First, you set up an account.. After that, you fill out a questionnaire to be matched with three to four therapists. Once you pick a therapist from that list, you can view their calendar and choose an appointment time that works for you. The therapist will either accept or decline your chosen appointment time. But most patients get an appointment in about two days. You also don’t have to worry about having to schedule a visit during business hours, as Teladoc offers appointments seven days a week. 

Session costs for therapist visits range from $0 to $99. Most major insurance companies cover Teladoc. For eligible plans, Teladoc accepts payment via your flexible spending account (FSA) or health savings account (HSA). Teladoc works with many Medicare Advantage and Medicaid-managed care plans but doesn’t accept Medicare or Medicaid fee-for-service plans. Teladoc doesn’t offer free consultations.

Teladoc is one of the highest rated online therapy companies in our survey, with 97% of users reporting a positive overall experience, and 94% rating therapist qualifications positively. Eighty-six percent of Teladoc users surveyed said their insurance helped them pay for services and 75% said cost was one of the top two reasons they chose Teladoc. 

Finding the right therapist can be the most difficult part of starting therapy. To make the process easier, at Two Chairs, a licensed matching expert spends 45 minutes asking targeted questions to find the best possible therapist for you. After one to two weeks, clients you'll have your first therapy session. The extra step appears to do the job: According to Two Chairs, 98% of its clients find the right therapist on the first try. However, the matching session does cost $260, which is on par with an actual therapy session.

Two Chairs has a team of over 200 licensed therapists that include licensed clinical psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, and licensed marriage and family therapists. Collectively, they practice over 32 therapy modalities and have experience in over 90 combined areas of clinical expertise. One-quarter speak multiple languages, and 45% are BIPOC. This wide range of experience, expertise, and identity, in addition to Two Chairs’ process for matching clients with a therapist, may help increase the likelihood that you’ll find a therapist who works for you right out of the gate.

Your initial matching appointment is $260, and each subsequent therapy session is $215. Two Chairs is in-network for Kaiser Permanente Northern California and Washington members. It accepts FSA/HSA dollars if your FSA/HSA card is affiliated with a major credit card. No free consultation or assessment is offered. 

Seventy-five percent of users rated Two Chairs as excellent, very good, or good and 77% said all or most of their needs were met by the provider they had. Only 6% said the process of finding a therapist was very difficult or difficult. 

One of the primary reasons people give for why they don’t pursue mental health services is that the cost is prohibitive. As a nonprofit, Open Path Collective offers therapy sessions well below the market rate, with visits ranging from $40 to $70 for individuals and $40 to $80 for couples and family counseling. Patients must also pay a flat fee of $65 for a lifetime membership, which grants them access to any therapist within the organization and the option to return to therapy at Open Path even if they take a break. 

People who can’t afford market therapy rates, are uninsured or underinsured (meaning their in-network mental health insurance benefits aren’t affordable), and make an annual household income under $100,000 per year are eligible for Open Path’s services.

Session costs range from $40 and up. Open Path therapists will not submit to an insurance company on your behalf or provide you with a superbill, but some accept HSA or FSA payment. The availability of free consultations depends on the therapist. 

Ninety percent of our users rated their experience with Open Path Collective as very good or good and 74% said they felt they found a therapist that met all of their needs. Further, 71% of users found the process of looking for a therapist easy or very easy.

The National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network is committed to “transforming mental health for queer and trans people of color.” You can search its directory for over 300 mental health practitioners who belong to the QTIBIPOC community. Therapists listed are licensed or pre-licensed and work in agencies, community-based clinics, and private practices. 

The easiest way to start finding therapists in the directory is to enter your zip code. You can filter your search to find out if a therapist is accepting new patients, offers telehealth, and has a sliding scale rate. Each therapist bio is comprehensive and includes the practitioner’s phone number, email address, therapeutic approaches, languages spoken, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other helpful details. 

To learn what types of therapy a therapist offers and if they provide free consultations, you’ll need to consult their bio or contact them directly, as there is not a search filter for that.   

In addition to its directory, NQTTCN also has a Mental Health Fund to provide financial support for QTBIPOC people for therapy sessions both with QTBIPOC and non-QTBIPOC practitioners. 

The National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network’s therapists offer sliding scale rates, but you’ll need to consult each therapist to see what their rate is.

Insurance is accepted on an individual therapist basis, as are free consultations and assessments.

Eighty-four percent of our users rated their overall experience using the National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network as very good or good, while 42% said finding a therapist with a similar identity or cultural background as them was an important factor when looking for therapy. In addition, 74% of users said the process of finding a therapist was easy or very easy.

Little Otter's therapists improve the mental health of children from 0 to 14 years old, while its parent specialists educate and empower parents with tools and coaching to help their kids, too. And, it has child psychiatrists that can provide psychiatric evaluations and medication management.

To get started, take a short quiz that asks about your family, its current challenges, and any worries and goals you have. Then, you’ll receive a personalized mental health check-up report that provides perspective on your family’s problems and potential solutions. Afterward, you can schedule a $90 welcome session with a clinician to get support for your child.

Little Otter has a team of experts that will create a customized care plan to help address the mental health challenges your child is experiencing. The Little Otter app allows users to keep track of their progress and provides reports and helpful resources. 

Here’s how Little Otter’s pricing breaks down:

• Welcome session: $90
• Single session: $200
• Assessment bundle: $540; includes 90-minute assessment and one standard therapy session ($20 savings per session)
• 12-session bundle: $2,040 ($30 savings per session)

Little Otter is currently only in-network with Kaiser Permanente members, and only accepts Medicaid for clients who are pre-authorized via Kaiser. It doesn’t accept Medicare, as Little Otter only sees patients 0 to 14 years old. It offers free consultations with non-clinical providers.

Eighty-one percent of survey respondents said Little Otter’s services were better or much better than similar services they’d used in the past, and 79% rated their therapist’s qualifications as good, very good, or excellent. Seventy-five percent of users rated Little Otter’s medication management and psychiatry services as good to excellent, but only 54% said Little Otter was affordable or very affordable.