CounSol Vs SimplePractice: Side-By-Side Comparison
A therapist’s job is to help people. But in mental health practice, they sometimes struggle too, especially because of clients’ back-to-back appointments. It can be overwhelming for a therapist to manage all those sessions manually. Tools like CounSol and SimplePractice are built to support mental health professionals with these challenges.
However, the fact is that they serve different markets.
SimplePractice, trusted by 225,000 practitioners, is a well-established and widely recognized leader in the mental health practice management space. It serves both solo practitioners and larger group practices. On the other hand, CounSol is currently a smaller, less well-known platform that targets small mental health practices, emphasizing a high degree of customization.
We have conducted a detailed analysis of both platforms for your convenience in this guide. We will examine both software in terms of their features (what one offers that the other does not), where each tool excels, and where the gaps lie. Let’s get started!
Head-On Comparison
CounSol EHR stands out for how customizable it is. It’s presented as a platform where you can adjust the look of its scheduling, billing, and client portal areas to match your own brand, which is something many smaller practices appreciate. It covers the standard features you would expect, like scheduling, billing, and documentation, and adds a few uncommon ones, such as client journaling and live chat. What we would like to highlight here is that it provides a personal account manager with every plan. This, while it seems optional for experienced users, can help quite a bit for practices that want step-by-step guidance during setup and ongoing use.
The main drawback is that CounSol does not have a dedicated mobile app, and a few users have mentioned that the lack of group therapy support feels limiting for their workflow.
SimplePractice takes a different approach, focusing more on ease of use and automation. It appears to be quick to set up, and many users describe the interface as clean and intuitive, which seems to make their day-to-day tasks easier. It covers all the essential features like scheduling, billing, documentation, and a built-in telehealth tool, and most of them work smoothly on its iOS and Android apps. You can handle scheduling, run insurance billing, and hold telehealth video sessions directly from your phone.
However, based on our research, it is less customizable than CounSol. It can be limiting if you want to tailor its appearance or workflows closely to your preferences, but it does keep the setup process simple.
CounSol Vs SimplePractice: At A Glance
Feature | CounSol | SimplePractice |
|---|---|---|
Practice Management (Scheduling And Billing) | ✓ | ✓ |
Clinical Notes And EHR (Electronic Health Records) | ✓ | ✓ |
Telehealth (1:1 Video) | ✓ | ✓ |
e-Prescribing (Medication) | ✓ | ✓ |
Mobile App Availability | ✗ | ✓ |
Client Portal And Messaging | ✓ | ✓ |
Group Telehealth Sessions | ✓ | ✓ |
Side-By-Side Feature Comparison
CounSol | SimplePractice |
|---|---|
Pros | Pros |
Includes dependable video session tools for virtual appointments | Provides a secure client portal for sharing forms, invoices, and messages |
Has highly responsive account managers who offer personal support and guidance | Supports calendar sync to help manage appointments efficiently |
Provides thorough help documents and onboarding support to assist new users | Has responsive email-based customer support available when needed |
Cons | Cons |
No dedicated mobile app, which some clients would prefer | Reporting tools lack depth and require exporting data for detailed analysis |
Initial setup can be time-consuming and complex to learn | Customer support is often slow or hard to reach for urgent issues |
Side-By-Side Comparison
Client Portal
CounSol’s client portal comes across as highly customizable. It lets you match colors, fonts, logos, and images to your website so the experience feels consistent for clients. You can also add custom pages, such as FAQs or service information, which can help build a more branded experience. From what we observed, clients can self-register, book appointments by selecting from various session types (video, chat, phone, or in-person), complete intake forms, and even write private journals they can choose to share with you. The portal also supports secure video and chat sessions directly within the platform, without needing downloads. One notable feature is that it supports complex user roles, so that you can give tailored access to parents, guardians, or attorneys with specific permission settings.
SimplePractice takes a more streamlined approach. It focuses on the essentials rather than deep customization. You can set a custom domain and greeting message, though its appearance can’t be extensively modified. Clients can request or cancel appointments (if you enable this feature on the Essential or Plus plans), fill out paperwork, view and sign documents, pay invoices, upload files up to 50MB, and send secure messages. Another thing to note is that it supports multiple client profiles under a single account and includes a mobile app with biometric login options, which could be helpful for families. The portal also includes security features like one-time sign-in links and Google sign-in. However, it lacks some advanced elements that CounSol offers, such as client journaling, live video sessions within the portal, or complex user role management.
Winner: CounSol wins because its portal is built to centralize both interaction and management, while SimplePractice limits the portal to administrative tasks.
Scheduling
CounSol gives clients the ability to book their own appointments, which can streamline the process quite a bit for busy practices. Clients can log into the portal, check their available slots, and book their own sessions for phone, in-office, video, or chat appointments. Practitioners can create custom session lengths, such as 30 or 60 minutes, and set different prices for each. It sends automated reminders 24, 48, or 72 hours before appointments by email, text, or phone call, and it syncs with external calendars through iCal. What stands out to us is group scheduling. You can set up sessions with multiple clients and define group size, location, and duration. This, while it seems small, can help quite a bit for teams that run recurring groups.
SimplePractice, on the other hand, follows a more controlled process. Clients can only request a time slot, and the practitioner must approve or decline it. While this might add an extra step, it seems useful for practitioners who want more oversight on their schedules. It also lets you block off unavailable hours and automatically cancel overlapping bookings. Another thing to note is how it helps organize calendars — you can color-code appointment types, filter for certain categories (like new clients or unpaid sessions), and create recurring appointments that repeat weekly or monthly. It also sends reminders by text, email, or voice calls and syncs with Google Calendar, iCal, and Outlook.
The main difference is that SimplePractice does not support direct client booking or group scheduling, while CounSol does not include appointment color-coding or calendar filtering.
Winner: CounSol wins based on the critical efficiency of direct client booking, a feature that fundamentally outperforms SimplePractice’s manual approval model
Telehealth (Virtual Sessions)
CounSol includes built-in telehealth that lets therapists hold secure video calls and exchange instant messages directly through the client portal. No separate software is required, which can make it simpler for both sides to connect. Practitioners can also share their screens during sessions, which appears useful for going over worksheets or presentations in real time. Video sessions do not have time limits on plans that include telehealth, such as Premium and Premium Plus. What we have found worth noting is the live chat counseling feature, which allows clients and therapists to have real-time text conversations through the portal. This can be a user-friendly option for quick check-ins or for clients who are more comfortable typing. That said, it does not support group video therapy sessions, which can be limiting for practices that work with families or group settings.
In contrast, SimplePractice includes telehealth on all plans at no extra cost, and it works well for individual, family, and group sessions. The video quality is generally described as smooth with minimal lag, and clients can join meetings through the portal, mobile app, or web browser without installing any additional software. Its standout feature is full support for group telehealth. Family or group therapy sessions are included in the Plus plan and can also be added to the Essential plan for $20 per clinician per month. This, while it seems like an add-on, allows smaller practices on the Essential plan to run group sessions without paying for the full Plus plan.
Winner: SimplePractice wins because many mental health practices require group video sessions, which CounSol cannot provide.
Billing And Insurance Management
CounSol offers a billing system that seems designed to keep things organized for both cash-based and insurance-based practices. For cash clients, it generates invoices, accepts online credit card payments, and keeps a running record of who has paid. It also sends reminders to practitioners when payments are overdue, which could be helpful for reducing manual follow-up. On the insurance side, it submits claims electronically and displays whether each claim was approved or denied. We also noticed that it does not charge per-claim submission fees, which sets it apart from SimplePractice. It also has different plan tiers for users without insurance, and those plans exclude insurance-related features entirely. That is helpful for solo practitioners who want to pay for only the features they will use.
SimplePractice takes a more automated approach to financial tasks. For cash clients, it securely stores card details and charges them automatically after each session using its AutoPay feature. It also creates superbills, which clients can submit to their insurers for potential reimbursement. For insurance billing, SimplePractice includes a set number of claim submissions each month and then charges about $0.25 to $0.35 for additional claims. Another thing worth highlighting is its built-in checks for insurance eligibility and claim status. These cost $0.25 each on the Starter plan and $0.15 on the Essential plan, while Plus users get unlimited checks and instant alerts on accepted or rejected claims. The system also updates client payment records automatically once insurance payments are processed, which seems to reduce a lot of manual follow-up work.
Winner: Because CounSol’s zero claim fees benefit cost-conscious practices, and SimplePractice’s automation benefits efficiency. Therefore, we call this one a tie.
Pricing Plans For CounSol Vs SimplePractice
CounSol offers four monthly subscription plans, with a 14-day free trial available. The available plans are:
- Premium Plus: $89.95/month (+$45/month for each additional counselor)
- Premium: $84.95/month (+$45/month for each additional counselor)
- Standard Plus: $79.95/month (+$45/month for each additional counselor)
- Standard: $69.95/month (+$45/month for each additional counselor)
SimplePractice offers three monthly plans, along with a 30-day free trial. The available plans are:
- Starter: $49/month
- Essential: $79/month
- Plus: $99/month
Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.
What Users Have To Say
We reviewed feedback from major platforms to see how clinicians experience each system in real practice.
CounSol:
We have taken this data from 82 published reviews, where many users highlight CounSol’s support team as a strong point. They mention that issues are handled quickly and that suggestions are often acted on. At the same time, 71 reviewers note that the insurance billing setup feels complicated and less intuitive at first.
SimplePractice:
For SimplePractice, we analyzed feedback from a much larger review base. Out of these, 149 users praise its clean, intuitive interface that seems to make complex tasks easier to manage. On the other hand, 162 reviewers express frustration with the lack of phone-based support when immediate help is needed.
Which One Do We Recommend As More Reliable For You?
Our feature analysis shows CounSol leads with a 2:1 edge over SimplePractice, with one tie. That said, based on our research, SimplePractice appears to be more user-friendly and offers stronger automation capabilities than CounSol. It also holds an advantage due to its widely recognized market presence. Meanwhile, CounSol stands out for its responsive customer support and is usually considered more customizable compared to SimplePractice.
In the end, we recommend CounSol for solo and small mental health practices, while larger mental health practices should go with SimplePractice.
