Best AI Note Takers for Therapists in 2026

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To keep your current EHR, start with Upheal: free for notes from text, dictation and uploads, or $39 a month for unlimited notes from recorded sessions.

An EHR’s own scribe is often cheaper: Jane AI Scribe is $15 a month with 5 free notes, SimplePractice Note Taker is $35, and Healthie AI Charting is $35 on top of the $129.99 Plus plan.

All six tools here sign a BAA. Illinois requires written, revocable client consent before AI is used on a recorded or transcribed session.¹

If you’re considering an AI note taker, I’d start with the EHR you already use. A built-in scribe may be the easier fit, while a standalone tool gives you options without changing your EHR. The choice also depends on what you’re comfortable recording and how much editing a draft needs.

An AI scribe drafts a progress note from a session recording or a dictated summary. You review, edit and sign it. In the APA’s 2025 practitioner survey, 22% of psychologists used AI for note-taking and dictation.² SimplePractice, Jane and Healthie offer scribes within their EHRs. Upheal, Mentalyc and Berries work alongside any EHR, adding a second vendor and a second business associate agreement (BAA). For a built-in scribe, most of the monthly cost comes from the EHR subscription.

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Quick picks

Prices are per clinician a month.

Best for keeping your EHR: Upheal, free, or $39 for unlimited notes.

Best for Jane practices: Jane AI Scribe, $15 for unlimited notes, 5 free a month.

Best for privacy-first clinicians: Mentalyc, from $14.99 for 40 notes, with audio deleted after each note.

Best for prescribers: Berries, $79, with ICD-10 suggestions and a medications list.

Best for teams on Healthie: Healthie AI Charting, $35 per account for 40 shared hours.

Best for SimplePractice users: SimplePractice Note Taker, $35 after a 30-day trial.

How the AI note takers compare

Built-in scribes require a subscription to their EHR, so compare the full monthly bill when weighing your options.

Prices as of October 2026. Including the EHR subscription, a solo clinician pays $69 a month on Jane Balance, $84 on SimplePractice Starter and $164.99 on Healthie Plus. Jane Balance covers up to 20 appointments a month. Our best mental health EHRs guide compares the platforms.

Upheal works beside any EHR and has a free plan

Upheal works as a standalone AI note tool and also offers its own EHR for $1 a session or $99 a month. Its free plan has no time limit and drafts individual therapy notes from text, dictation and uploads. The $39 plan adds unlimited notes from recorded sessions, couples and family sessions, every template and treatment plans. New accounts get a 30-day trial with no card required. Students and associates get 50% off their first 12 months.

Paid plans connect to Zoom, and Upheal’s Chrome extension captures sessions on other video platforms. Its Smart Fill extension pastes notes into SimplePractice, TherapyNotes, Owl Practice, Jane or Healthie in one click.

Upheal deletes audio once the note is ready. Transcripts remain until you delete them or enable auto-deletion. Upheal uses de-identified data from sessions with clients who opt in to improve its AI. Clinicians are opted in by default.³ Clients can opt out on any plan, but clinicians need a paid plan to opt out themselves. Upheal has 4.5 stars from 99 Trustpilot reviews as of October 18, 2026. Some reviewers report editing note wording by hand.

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Jane AI Scribe for practices already on Jane

If you already use Jane, its built-in AI Scribe puts drafts directly into the chart. AI Scribe Free includes 5 notes a month per practitioner, and unlimited notes cost $15 a month. Jane itself starts at $54 a month and has no free trial. Our Jane App review covers the platform.

The scribe accepts in-person recordings, dictation and uploads, and works with one-to-one Jane Telehealth appointments. Clients see a recording symbol during telehealth. Group telehealth appointments aren’t supported. The default prompt produces SOAP notes, and you can edit it. New setups delete each recording as soon as the note is generated. Jane says patient data doesn’t train the feature.⁴

Mentalyc deletes audio and caps notes by plan

Mentalyc charges by note count, so your monthly session volume matters here. With annual billing, its standalone therapy scribe costs $14.99 a month for 40 notes to $99.99 for 330 notes. Monthly billing ranges from $19.99 to $119.99. The 14-day trial includes 15 notes with no card required. Every plan includes SOAP, DAP and intake notes. BIRP, couples and family notes start on the $59.99 Pro plan. On the two cheapest plans, the extension that sends notes to your EHR is limited to 20 notes a month.

Mentalyc removes names and personal details from stored transcripts and deletes audio once the note is ready.⁵ The company says session data doesn’t train AI models. It provides free consent templates, including one for 42 CFR Part 2 programs. If you cancel, past records become inaccessible.

Berries for psychiatrists and nurse practitioners

Berries is geared toward prescribers, with ICD-10 suggestions, a medications list and patient letters. Its free plan covers your first 20 sessions, then 10 a month. Pro costs $79 a month for unlimited sessions. You can capture sessions in a browser or the iOS app, or create notes from dictation, text or audio files. To move a note into your EHR, copy and paste it.

Berries never stores recordings. Notes and transcripts are deleted after 30 days unless you change the setting.⁶ The company says it never trains its models on protected health information. Its BAA takes effect at sign-up.

Healthie AI Charting covers phone and in-person sessions

Healthie’s AI Charting add-on includes AI Scribe and costs $35 a month on Plus plans and above. The account shares 40 hours, with additional hours billed at $0.85 each. With the $129.99 Plus plan, a solo clinician pays $164.99 a month, the highest total among the tools here.

AI Scribe captures Zoom telehealth, listens to in-room sessions and captures phone calls on speaker. It uses that information to fill a SOAP or custom template. Transcripts stay in the chart until you delete them or set a retention policy.⁷ Your practice handles consent tracking. Our Healthie review explains the plans.

Privacy, HIPAA and client consent

I’d read the data-retention and consent policies as closely as the price list. APA’s guidance says AI scribes must be HIPAA compliant at a minimum and favors tools that let you limit or delete stored data. You must also review every AI draft before signing it.⁸

Business associate agreements

HHS includes transcription app vendors among its examples of business associates. A vendor acting as a business associate may receive client information only under a business associate agreement that limits how it uses the data.⁹ Upheal, Mentalyc, Berries and Healthie establish their BAA at sign-up. Jane signs one on request, and SimplePractice adds an addendum for its AI add-ons.

What each tool keeps

Five of the six tools delete session audio by default once a draft is ready. Healthie says audio is used only to create the note and transcript. SimplePractice deletes transcripts after 7 days or at sign-off. Since June 17, 2026, new Note Taker users have been opted in to retention of de-identified transcripts for refining prompts. Clinicians can opt out for themselves, a client or an individual session.¹⁰ That default prompted the strongest pushback in therapist forums this year.

Client consent

APA’s ethical guidance calls for informed consent explaining an AI tool’s purpose, benefits and risks.¹¹ Since August 1, 2025, Illinois has required written notice of AI use and its purpose, along with written, revocable consent for recorded or transcribed sessions. A broad terms-of-use agreement doesn’t meet that requirement. Fines can reach $10,000 per violation.¹ SimplePractice notes that several states require all-party consent to record.¹²

SimplePractice, Mentalyc and Berries provide consent forms. Upheal collects consent through its client portal. In therapist forums, covert recording is the biggest concern. If a client declines recording, you can dictate a summary after the session instead.

When SimplePractice Note Taker makes sense

SimplePractice Note Taker may suit therapists who use SimplePractice Telehealth and want drafts in the chart without adding another vendor. It transcribes telehealth sessions live without storing a recording and uses a phone to record in-person sessions. It follows the style of your last note and supports couples and groups. Clients see no change on screen, so explain the tool before using it. Our SimplePractice review covers the platform in more detail.

SimplePractice Note Taker pricing and bundles

After a 30-day trial, Note Taker costs $35 a month per clinician as an add-on to any plan. New customers who start paying within 7 days of the trial pay $17.50 for 3 months. The Care Aide bundle lists at $59 and adds Session Sidekick, a beta Treatment Planner and client summaries. SimplePractice plans cost $49 to $99. Our SimplePractice link gives you 50% off a plan for 4 months if you start paying within 7 days.

Writing notes without AI

Some therapists in forums report spending less time on notes by using a reusable fill-in template. If you’re curious about AI, Upheal’s free plan lets you try drafts before paying. I’d use that trial to see how much editing the notes need before deciding whether to subscribe.

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