What happened with SimplePractice
Why therapists are leaving
In 2025, SimplePractice raised prices by up to 69% — the Essential plan went from $29/mo to $49/mo, the Plus plan from $59 to $99/mo — without meaningful new features for solo practices. This coincided with the WebPT acquisition and private equity pressure to extract margin from an installed base of 185,000+ practitioners who'd built their workflows around the platform.
The price increase alone would've been manageable. What followed wasn't. Support wait times stretched. Community forums filled with unresolved issues. And the feature roadmap shifted toward enterprise features (group practices, billing clearing houses) at the expense of solo and small practice workflows that made SimplePractice compelling in the first place.
Therapists looking for alternatives in 2026 aren't just shopping for a cheaper EHR. They're asking a different question: is there a platform that actually reduces admin load instead of just automating documentation?
Comparison: SimplePractice vs TherapyNotes vs Jane App vs PractiCalm
| Feature | SimplePractice | TherapyNotes | Jane App | PractiCalm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base price (solo) | $99/mo + $35/mo AI = $134+ | $49–$59/mo + $30/clinician | $74–$109/mo USD | $79/mo flat — no add-ons |
| AI clinical notes | +$35/mo add-on | +$35/mo add-on | +$35/mo add-on | ✓ Included |
| Online scheduling | ✓ Included | ✓ Included | ✓ Included | ✓ Autonomous |
| Client intake forms | ✓ Manual review | ✓ Manual review | ✓ Manual review | ✓ Auto-processed |
| Insurance verification | ~ Limited | ✓ Included | ✗ Manual | ✓ Automated |
| Billing / claims | +$35+/mo add-on | ✓ Included | +$35/mo add-on | ✓ Autonomous |
| Follow-up reminders | ~ Basic | ~ Basic | ~ Basic | ✓ AI-driven |
| Telehealth | +$15/mo add-on | +$10/mo add-on | ✓ Included | ~ Integrated link |
| Admin hours saved/month | 2–4 hrs | 2–4 hrs | 2–4 hrs | 10–15 hrs |
| Support model | Ticket / wait queue | Ticket / wait queue | Chat + email | AI-first, immediate |
| Setup time | 2–4 weeks | 2–4 weeks | 1–2 weeks | Same day |
Prices based on published rates as of April 2026. SimplePractice Plus plan ($99/mo) + AI add-on ($35/mo) reflects typical solo practice configuration. Jane App pricing converted from CAD at current rates. PractiCalm is $79/mo flat — all features included, no add-ons.
The five problems PractiCalm was built to solve
Admin takes 10–15 hours a month
Intake processing, scheduling coordination, insurance verification, note cleanup, billing follow-up. Most EHRs don't reduce this — they just document it. Read the full breakdown on how to cut therapy admin time without hiring staff.
Add-on fatigue
SimplePractice charges $99/mo base + $35 AI notes add-on. Add telehealth and you're at $149+/mo — for a platform that still needs you to do the work.
Support quality post-acquisition
Private equity acquisitions optimize for margin, not support. SimplePractice's community forums are full of multi-day unresolved tickets from 2025 onward. See the full picture of why therapists are leaving SimplePractice in 2026.
Intake still requires a human in the loop
Every EHR collects intake forms. None of them act on them. Someone still has to read, verify insurance, match scheduling preferences, and send next steps.
Notes are still mostly manual
AI note add-ons generate drafts — but therapists still review, edit, and approve every one. The time savings are real but limited. The bottleneck is the workflow around the note, not just the note itself.
Follow-up drops off
Most practices lose 20–30% of prospective clients to friction between intake and first appointment. No-shows go unfollowed. Referrals don't get tracked.
The alternatives, honestly
TherapyNotes
TherapyNotes is the most clinically-focused alternative. Strong billing, good insurance integration, solid documentation templates. The $49/mo + $30/clinician model is predictable. The tradeoff: it's a documentation platform, not a workflow automation platform. You still manage the practice — TherapyNotes records it.
Best for: Group practices where billing accuracy and clinical documentation are the primary requirements. Not suited for solo practices trying to reduce admin overhead.
Jane App
Popular in Canada, growing in the US. Better UX than SimplePractice in most areas, telehealth included, strong scheduling. The CAD pricing is favorable for US practitioners right now. Weaknesses: US insurance support is less mature, and billing automation is limited compared to TherapyNotes.
Best for: Practitioners prioritizing scheduling UX and telehealth. Less suited for insurance-heavy US practices.
SimplePractice (current state)
Still the largest platform by market share. The feature set is genuinely comprehensive — the problem isn't what it does, it's what it costs and whether it's improving. A solo practitioner on the Plus plan with AI notes is at $134+/mo. Post-acquisition, the roadmap favors enterprise features. The price increase wasn't matched with meaningfully better workflows for solo practitioners.
Stay if: You've built integrations, have a large client roster in the system, and $134+/mo is manageable. Switching costs are real.
Leave if: You're paying for add-ons that should be baseline features, admin is still eating 10+ hours a month, and you're not seeing investment in the features you actually use.
What "autonomous practice management" actually means
The phrase gets used loosely. Here's what it means in practice: the system takes action, not just notes.
A standard EHR receives a new client inquiry, stores it, and sends you a notification. You review it, check insurance eligibility, find an open slot, email the client, send intake paperwork, wait for the paperwork, then schedule the appointment.
An autonomous platform — PractiCalm specifically — receives the inquiry, checks insurance eligibility in real time, sends the client a personalized intake form with scheduling options that match their preferences and your availability, confirms the appointment, and sends reminders. You get notified when the client is booked.
The difference isn't AI notes. It's whether the system acts on information or just stores it. Storing it well is a solved problem. Acting on it is what 10–15 hours of admin time costs.
The downstream effects are significant:
- New client conversion improves — less friction between inquiry and first appointment means fewer drop-offs
- No-show rates drop — automated follow-up that actually reschedules instead of just logging a no-show
- Cash flow improves — billing triggered automatically after sessions means fewer claims fall through the cracks
- Admin hours return to the therapist — spent on clinical work, not coordination. For the full practice-building roadmap, see how to start a therapy practice in 2026.
What switching actually looks like
The biggest objection to switching EHRs is migration cost. Client records, billing history, progress notes — years of data. Here's the realistic picture:
What you can export from SimplePractice: Client demographics, appointment history, billing records, and clinical notes in PDF. You keep all of this.
What actually needs to migrate: Active client records, insurance details, upcoming appointments, and current treatment plans. For a solo practice, this is usually 20–50 active clients.
What you can run in parallel: New clients go into PractiCalm. Existing clients on active treatment plans stay in SimplePractice until their current episode completes. Most practices are fully transitioned in 60–90 days.
The switching cost is real — but it's a one-time cost. The admin overhead you're paying is monthly, and compounds.
See the difference in one intake form
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