Our reviews team extensively scrutinizes any service we recommend, including online therapy services. We only recommend online therapy platforms we believe will make a difference to our readers. Our reviews are based on extensive research, first-person testing, consultations with mental health experts, and insights from actual customers. Our cumulative experience, testing, research, and expert insights result in regular updates to our recommendations of the best virtual therapy platforms.
Our Online Therapy Review Methodology
We research brands through the experiences of real customers, using surveys, focus group interviews, personal experience, first-hand testing, and third-party reviews from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Trustpilot. We also consult independent psychologists, therapists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals to better understand the unique needs of individuals with different mental health situations and how online therapy can best serve them. We stay up to date on the latest research regarding the efficacy of online therapy versus in-person therapy for treating different mental health problems.
When evaluating each company, we consider the following:
- The session types they offer, whether video, phone, or live chat
- The modes of therapy they specialize in
- The credentials of their therapists
- Their business reputation
- Reported customer satisfaction
- The registration process
- How easy it is to use the service
- Cost, payment options, and financial aid
- Whether the company accepts insurance
- The safety, security, and privacy of the online platform
We always recommend a range of options for all budgets, with special consideration for low-income individuals, those without insurance, and those with unaffordable insurance. For example, we rounded up the most affordable online therapy and the best online therapy that takes insurance to make our readers’ selection process easier.
It is only after rigorous research, evaluation, and testing that our experts make a recommendation. A practicing and independent licensed therapist then reviews our recommendations and evaluates current research to ensure that every option is appropriate for the users we’ve identified.
Online Counseling Testing Summits and Data Collection
Instead of simply evaluating the experiences of others, our reviews team prioritizes independent research to investigate, test, and capture individual and collective experiences using each online therapy platform. With a data-driven approach, we conduct what we call “testing summits,” during which members of our reviews team sign up for online therapy services for two months while journaling their thoughts and experiences, answering questionnaires developed by our research and development team, and using a scoring system to rate platform features — all on top of deploying focus groups and surveys.
So far, our reviews team has spent hundreds of hours in the online therapy space, including:
- Spending 400 hours mystery shopping the top eight online therapy platforms behind the paywall
- Becoming online therapy customers ourselves and personally attending video, audio, and chat therapy sessions
- Continually mystery shopping more than 65 online therapy brands
- Surveying 1,000 online therapy users across various platforms
- Surveying 200 users of specific online therapy platforms: BetterHelp, Talkspace, and Brightside
- Conducting a focus group of adults ages 18 to 54 who tried online therapy within the past 36 months
- Conducting a focus group of adults ages 55 and older who tried or were interested in online therapy
- Consulting six leading psychologists and psychiatrists
- Reading thousands of academic articles and studies on the latest mental health research
With every insight we continually evolve our review process to ensure we only deliver the best recommendations for our readers.
