Best Mental Health EHR Software of 2026

Here's what we'll cover:

What you need to know about mental health software

What is mental health EHR software?

Essential features of mental health EHR software

Benefits and competitive advantages of using mental health software

How to choose the best mental health EHR software for your business

Software related to mental health EHR

More resources for your mental health software journey

What you need to know about mental health software

Mental health EHR software shares many of the basic features of general electronic health records systems—their basic function is to securely create, manage, and share patient charts. The difference is that mental health software has additional or specific features that are made to be used only by mental healthcare providers. These can include things like specialty psychiatric SOAP notes templates and ICD-10 codes that are most commonly used in mental healthcare. 

Most mental health software is priced on a subscription basis, with payments being collected monthly. Software is generally available in tiered categories based on number of users and features, with the more basic tier ranging from $39 to $149 per month, up to the most advanced tier ranging from $274 to $8,725 per month. There are not many completely free versions available, but a few products do offer potential buyers a free trial to test out their system before committing [2]. 

According to our medical software advisor, Bobby Waldron, one of the biggest misconceptions he hears from mental health software buyers is that they can completely service their practice with a free system. In reality, he says, free versions of software simply won’t have the features required to fully sustain a practice, and buyers find that they get much more value out of paid software subscriptions with robust feature sets.

First time mental health EHR software buyers should be prepared for an extensive research and selection process. Your EHR is one of the most critical and foundational elements of your tech stack, and finding the right software is not something you can do in a few days. To help you in the vendor demo process, here are a few questions you should plan to ask sales associates before making your final decision: 

• Is your software specifically designed for mental health practices, and what features does it offer to support therapy workflows?

• How does your software handle data security and ensure compliance with regulations such as HIPAA?

• What kind of support, training, and integration capabilities do you provide?

In this guide, you’ll find information about how mental health software can help better manage your practice and improve the quality of care you provide patients as well as essential steps to selecting the right mental health software for you. We use data collected from thousands of reviews from people who use this software, as well as more insights from our mental health software advisor Bobby Waldron, who has more than five years of experience guiding hundreds of therapists to finding the right system for their practices.

What is mental health EHR software?

Electronic health records (EHR) systems for mental and behavioral health providers have unique features and capabilities specifically for counselors, mental health clinics, and group practices. These providers use this software to manage their clinical, administrative, and operational workflows, as well as patient cases or outcomes.

Software for mental health professionals is also often referred to as "therapy software." Though the terms are often used interchangeably, "mental health software" tends to connote more robust functionality that may be beneficial for large practices or clinics, whereas "therapy software" may include more basic functionality that is sufficient for solo practitioners.

When selecting a mental or behavioral health EMR, providers should consider other features necessary to improve efficiency and care at their agency or facility. For example, some psychiatry electronic medical records allow you to create and store custom, reusable notes in a database for quick retrieval during a patient encounter. Others will need administrative features like a calendar application or a patient scheduling system for clinical appointments.

Essential features of mental health EHR software

It’s important to note that some features of mental health EHRs will be included in all products in this category. Those include very basic, core features like being designed for use by mental health providers and EMR or EHR functionality. Other common features are not guaranteed to be included in every mental health EHR system. These include things like appointment scheduling, e-prescribing, prescription management, and telemedicine, among others. 

Based on our analysis of user reviews and our advisors’ conversations with mental health software buyers, we’ve identified features which we believe to be core and common to mental health EHR systems [3].

Core mental health EHR features

Common mental health EHR features

Benefits and competitive advantages of using mental health software

We asked advisor Bobby Waldron what problems mental health buyers are generally trying to solve when seeking this type of software. According to him, the two most common situations are buyers who are just starting their new practice and want to start off in an organized manner with an EHR system in place, and buyers who work in an established practice but are in need of software that is more comprehensive than their existing system. 

To help identify the major benefits and advantages of using mental health EHR software for buyers in either category, we analyzed hundreds of reviews from people who use this software from the past year [1]. Based on that research, here are the top benefits for users of mental health EHR software: 

• Customer support provided by the vendor: Users say the top benefit of using these software systems is the support provided by the vendors, including the training to teach new users how their systems work as well as help troubleshooting and fixing problems with the software if and when they arise.

• Customization: Users also write about the level of customization options available with their mental health EHRs. This is particularly useful to mental health professionals who can tailor their note templates according to what type of therapy they provide. 

• User interface and experience: Reviewers have positive things to say about their mental health EHR software’s usability, citing intuitive design and easy to understand navigation throughout the products.

How to choose the best mental health EHR software for your business

Choosing the right software is a big decision, and not one you should take lightly. If you select the wrong product, you could end up locked in an expensive contract, unable to switch EHRs for years, and losing out on the many benefits you would be seeing had you picked a system that worked for you. To avoid that fate, here are a few critical steps to choosing the best mental health EHR software. 

1. Define your requirements

Before you start researching products, you have to know what you’re looking for. Consider things that will affect your budget, such as how many therapists will be using the software and if you require any specialty-specific features. Bear in mind that an EHR won’t be able to handle every single task you’ll need to perform to manage your practice, so you want to leave enough room in your budget for supplemental software such as practice management, or standalone systems for billing, scheduling, etc. We analyzed nearly 8,000 conversations with mental health software buyers in the past year, and found that most buyers budget $400-$600 monthly for their software purchase.

Once you have a good idea of how much you want to spend and what you need to get out of your EHR, you can move on to the next step.

2. Make a shortlist 

Many practices come up with their software shortlist based on previous experience or word of mouth. You can certainly ask colleagues which mental health EHR systems they have used and liked to help seed your list. Another option is looking at user reviews, which you can find and sort on our website to help you figure out which systems are the highest rated among users for different categories. You can also look at ranked lists, such as our FrontRunners to help you narrow down the hundreds of mental health EHR products available. 

Or, if you want to roll all of these steps into one and get it done a lot faster, you can chat with our medical software advisors to discuss your needs and get a list of recommended products based on your requirements. Regardless of how you create your shortlist, once you have it narrowed down to around five products, you’ll move on to step 3.

3. Pick your best option 

Once you have your shortlist, you’ll begin reaching out to the vendors to set up demos. Sales associates will walk you through the use of their products, explaining how to use features as they go. You can also ask about free trials, which would let you actually use the software for a short period of time for a more in-depth test run. During demos and trials, you want to evaluate as much as you can about the software, including: 

• All of the features

• The usability of the product

• The way it integrates with your existing software

• The level of customization options

And anything else you notice while using the product. This is also your opportunity to find out how much support and training the vendor provides, so be sure to ask those questions during demos. The biggest rule here is not to speed through this step—it’s going to take a while, but once you’ve thoroughly vetted each product on your list, you will know for sure that you’ve found the right one. Then you can move on to the final step.

4. Make the most of your EHR software

To help you navigate the implementation and training process, here are a few helpful guides to get the most out of your new mental health EHR system: 

• 5 Tips to Ensure a Smooth EHR Replacement Process

• The Essential EHR Data Points You Should Be Tracking

• Best Practices for Avoiding HIPAA Violations in Healthcare

Software related to mental health EHR

Depending on which mental health software you choose, you may want to supplement with additional systems that integrate with your EHR and round out your tech stack. Bobby Waldron explains, “Integrations that we see a lot of with mental health EHR buyers are usually things like external patient engagement systems that offer things like texting. These full patient engagement integrations that help with communications are always just that extra step up in terms of quality of patient experience, and those are the most common integration requests for us.” 

Some types of medical software that are related to mental health EHR, but may not necessarily be included in your EHR features include: 

• Patient engagement software: Allows for easier and more direct communication between patients and providers via secure messaging systems, also enables patients to handle bill pay and self scheduling. 

• Psychiatry EMR software: An even more niche EHR product designed only to be used by psychiatrists, whereas mental health EHRs are designed for a broader range of mental health professionals, including psychologists, counselors, and social workers.

• Therapy software: Generalized mental health software tools designed to assist mental health professionals with client management, session documentation, treatment planning, and teletherapy.

• Medical billing software: A system that automates the billing process, including claims submission, payment tracking, and revenue cycle management, to streamline financial operations in healthcare practices.

• Practice management software: Practice management software is a tool that allows users to conduct administrative and operational tasks for healthcare practices all in one platform, including scheduling, billing, patient management, and reporting.

• Medical transcription software: Medical transcription software converts audio recordings of healthcare professionals' dictations into written text, making documentation easier and improving the accuracy and efficiency of medical records management.

More resources for your mental health software journey

• Buyers Switch to Mental Health Software for Greater Efficiency and Functionality

• 7 Top-Rated Mental Health EHR Software

• Dealing With Difficult Patients: Strategies for Healthcare Professionals

About our contributors

Author

Lisa Morris is an associate principal analyst at Software Advice, covering the healthcare and medical industry, with a focus on technologies impacting independent practices and mental healthcare, such as electronic medical records and practice management tools.

Lisa’s research and analysis is informed by more than 15,000 authentic user reviews on Software Advice and over 20,000 interactions between Software Advice software advisors and medical software buyers. Lisa also regularly analyzes market sentiment by conducting surveys of medical practitioners and administrators so she can provide the most up-to-date and helpful information to small and midsize businesses purchasing software or services.

She presented her research on medical wearable devices at the 2022 Sensors Summit in La Jolla, California, and also appeared on the Health Innovation Matters podcast with Logan Plaster. Her work has been featured in multiple publications, including Becker’s Hospital Review, Healthcare IT News, and AP News.

Editor

Caroline Rousseau is a content editor at Software Advice. A former content analyst, Caroline has, for the past five years, built, written and edited research reports about technological trends, opportunities, and challenges with a SMB audience in mind. Her content has been featured in French Tier 1 media including Le Monde, L’Express and Le Figaro, among other publications. Her previous experience as a graphic designer, translator and LQA specialist in various industries converged into a skill set that allows her to create compelling content about today’s business matters. Caroline’s personal interests include literature and art and she has a passion for Albert Camus, graphic novels and drawing.

Advisor

Bobby Waldron is a senior advisor. He joined Software Advice in 2019, and is based in Austin, TX.

Waldron works directly with small business leaders to connect them with best fit software providers. He assesses the technology needs of small businesses seeking medical and telemedicine software through one-to-one conversations and provides a shortlist of potential matches. 

His favorite part of being a Software Advisor is helping buyers create realistic expectations of the software market.

Sources

• Software Advice reviews data: Software Advice reviews are collected from verified users for individual software products. For this report, we analyzed reviews from the past year as of the production date. Read the complete methodology.

• Software Advice software pricing data: Only products with publicly available pricing information and qualified software products within the category, as of May 30, 2023, are included in the pricing analysis. Read the complete methodology.

• Software Advice advisor call notes: Findings are based on data from telephonic conversations that Software Advice’s advisor team had with small-to-midsize businesses seeking medical tools. For this report, we analyzed phone interactions from the 12 months prior to publication. Read the complete methodology.