Best Applied Behavior Analysis Software of 2026

Here’s what we’ll cover:

What you need to know about ABA software

What is applied behavior analysis software?

Essential features of ABA software

Benefits and competitive advantages of using ABA software

How to choose the best ABA software for your business

More resources for your ABA software journey

What you need to know about ABA software

Applied behavior analysis software is a niche type of mental health EHR that is equipped with unique functionality like ABA data collection and progress tracking, making it especially valuable to those who practice applied behavior analysis. Core features of this software include being designed for ABA therapists and robust reporting and analytics functions to identify patterns and accurately track patients’ progress. 

Buyers of ABA software should expect to pay for access on a monthly basis, with costs depending on the number of users and the number of features. First-time buyers should start the process by identifying what their specific needs are—how many seats they will require, which features are non-negotiable, and what, if any, integrations they need from their ABA software. Once you get to the vendor demo stage of the selection process, here are a few questions you should ask: 

• What features does your software offer for ABA therapy, and can it be customized to fit our specific needs?

• Does the software support mobile access for therapists in the field?

• Does the software provide tools for communicating with parents and caregivers?

• Is the software HIPAA-compliant and how does it ensure data security?

• Does the software support interoperability with other healthcare providers and systems?

• What kind of training and support do you offer during and after implementation?

According to Bobby Waldron, our software advisor who has been helping medical providers along their software buying journey for years, ABA is a very niche category. He says, “One of the major considerations for ABA software is that these providers specifically require a lot of data analytics based on their patients’ behaviors, and they use a lot of charting tools and graphing systems to track patterns as well.”

What is applied behavior analysis software?

Applied behavior analysis is a therapeutic approach to understanding and amending behavior. It is most often used for patients with developmental disorders or neurodivergent conditions like autism in order to help them increase positive behaviors and decrease harmful ones. For therapists who practice this type of treatment, applied behavior analysis software is a specialized tool that goes beyond the general workload of running a mental health practice to also provide niche features like ABA templates and treatment plans. 

ABA software is a comprehensive mental health practice management system that offers a range of tools to facilitate everything from capturing patient notes and clinical documentation to patient scheduling and medical billing.

Essential features of ABA software

Applied behavior analysis software products will vary in the features they offer, which means buyers should be equipped with a list of features they require before evaluating different systems. Some features, like reporting and analytics, will be considered “core” in that they should be included in every ABA software on the market, whereas others, like appointment management and progress tracking, are “common” and may not be available in every product. We’ve analyzed our advisor conversations with thousands of mental health software buyers to determine what we believe are the core and common features of ABA software [2].

Core ABA features

Common ABA features

Benefits and competitive advantages of using ABA software

We’ve analyzed our reviews to determine the biggest named benefits of ABA software according to users. Based on their feedback, we’ve identified the following advantages of applied behavior analysis software for therapists: 

• Support and customer service: Users speak highly of the level of customer support they receive from many different ABA vendors, indicating that this is a benefit of the software and not necessarily the individual products. Users are happy with the customer service and assistance they receive any time they have questions about using their software. 

• Behavior tracking: Reviewers specifically call out the benefit of using ABA software to monitor and record patients’ progress in order to identify trends and track success. Because applied behavior analysis relies so heavily on identifying patterns and practicing positive behaviors, it’s especially beneficial for these practitioners to have access to a tool that is made to log that data. 

• Billing management: Users often comment on the efficiency of their billing processes when using ABA software. These tools are equipped with the right codes for insurance claims submissions, and they are able to automate many steps of the revenue cycle for therapists. It’s also advantageous that billing and invoicing tools are included in the overall system so users don’t have to spend the extra money on third-party billing collections if they don’t want to.

How to choose the best ABA software for your business

When evaluating applied behavior analysis software for your practice, you’ll want to start by understanding what your unique needs are. From there, you’ll identify products that meet those needs, and compare them until you figure out which one checks most or all of your boxes. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide to choosing the right ABA software. 

1. Define your requirements

A good place to start is always with your budget. Most ABA software is priced on a “per user, per month” basis. Basic plans with limited features are generally more affordable, while costs rise as you incorporate additional features and users. Start by identifying how many seats you’ll need—this will be the number of users who will require logins to the software, and it is likely not a negotiable number. From there, figure out how much you’re comfortable spending each month to maintain access to your software. 

Next, consider which features you absolutely need. To help you do this, we looked at over 115 conversations with ABA software buyers to figure out which applications they requested when seeking new software. The number one requirement for these buyers was therapy notes/EHR, followed by scheduling, and billing and invoicing. However, while over a third of all mental health software buyers sought telemedicine tools, only 3% of ABA providers requested that functionality, indicating it’s not a critical feature for ABA users.

Once you have a good idea of what you need from your software, then you’ll move on to the next step. 

2. Make a shortlist of products

Software buyers rely on a lot of sources to come up with their product shortlists, be it Google, past experience, or word of mouth. One incredibly helpful resource for creating shortlists is our advisors. You can call and discuss the requirements you came up with in the previous step, and they’ll hand you a shortlist of vendors who meet those specifications. This is a super-fast and easy way to come up with a thorough list, and our team has tons of experience to pull from when it comes to setting you up with the right products.  

3. Pick your best option

Once you have your shortlist of three to five ABA software vendors, you’ll begin doing a deeper dive into each of these products. You’ll start by reaching out to their sales teams and setting up vendor demos to get guided tours through the software. These are great opportunities to discuss any feature requirements you have, confirm compatibility with any existing software you need your ABA system to integrate with, and make sure you feel good about the level of support vendors offer during the implementation process and beyond.  

A word to the wise, though, don’t just rely on vendor demos to make this final choice. You should be looking for information from sources besides the software vendor to make sure you’ll be happy with their product—and user reviews are a great way to find out how real users feel about their software. We’ve published nearly 300 reviews for ABA software in the past year alone, so be sure to check our site for feedback on all of the products on your shortlist.

Software related to applied behavior analysis

While ABA software is a valuable tool because of its specificity and niche feature set, therapists may find that they want to explore different, related software before making their final decision. Similarly, some providers may want to supplement their practice management system with other tools or integrations in order to get the most out of their software stack. Some types of software that are related to applied behavior analysis and are worth considering include: 

• Mental health EHR: Similar to ABA software, but not specifically designed for users who practice applied behavior analysis. Mental health EHRs allow users to manage their therapy practices all from one integrated platform.

• Therapy notes: Record patient assessments, document patient encounters, and track progress for treatments and results over time. Therapy notes are often a feature included in more robust mental health EHRs or ABA software, but it is available as a standalone system.

• Medical practice management: This software tends to be used by general practitioners and other physical medicine providers as a system to manage all aspects of running their practice, from patient scheduling and charting to patient portals and billing. 

• Patient scheduling: A standalone software, often available to integrate with other systems, that manages all processes related to scheduling—including calendar management, appointment reminders, and cancellations. 

• Medical billing: Automate manual billing tasks like verifying patients’ insurance, processing and submitting claims, processing payments, and following up on denied claims.

More resources for your ABA software journey

• 5 Top-Rated Affordable Medical Practice Management Software

• 46% of Practices Are Already Using Chatbots To Assess Patient Symptoms, and That Number Is Going To Go Up

• More Than One in Four Ransomware Attacks on Healthcare Organizations Affect Patient Care—Here’s How To Better Protect Yourself

• Software Advice’s 2024 Tech Trends Report: 3 Global Trends for Medical Software Buyers

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 he is based in Austin, TX.

Bobby 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 short list of potential matches. 

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

Sources

1. 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.

2. 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.