Editorial rating:
GoodTherapy is a popular directory for mental health professionals that offers marketing and scheduling features as well as educational resources. GoodTherapy is a well-known, high-traffic therapist directory and costs $30.95 – $49.95 monthly depending on the features needed. Let’s take a deep dive and learn if GoodTherapy is worth your time and money.
Rating of GoodTherapy’s Therapist Directory
Over my years working as a clinician and as a reviewer, I have spent countless hours with a number of products and services for therapists. GoodTherapy performed the best in the Potential Client Reach, Additional Features Offered, and Reliability & Longevity categories because of its immense volume of users, high-value additional features, and excellent track record. Its lowest scores were in the Client Communication Features and Fit & Finish categories due to an underwhelming set of communication features and overall outdated design.
Pros & Cons of GoodTherapy
GoodTherapy offers a variety of features, including a directory with a high volume of users to expose your practice to a wide audience, practice management features, and continuing education (CE) resources. However, the filtering system is not as robust as competitors, the user interface is outdated and difficult to use, and there are no free trial or no-cost options.
GoodTherapy Review – Key Takeaways
- Overall, GoodTherapy offers potentially great value for the cost, depending on how your profile performs and where you are located.
- GoodTherapy offers a few practice management options like billing and automatic scheduling for an extra fee.
- GoodTherapy’s design is a bit outdated, particularly on the therapist side of things, and is not as easy to use as Psychology Today, Zocdoc, or TherapyDen.
- It is not as easy to design an effective profile as it is with other directory options like Psychology Today.
What Is GoodTherapy?
GoodTherapy.org is a popular and widely visited therapist directory that allows you to market your practice to new clients. It offers clients the ability to find you via a proprietary matching and filtering system. GoodTherapy costs $30.95 – $49.95 monthly, with higher subscription costs including access to continuing education and practice management features.
Benefits of a GoodTherapy membership include:
Getting Attention From Potential Clients
GoodTherapy enables you to create an optimized profile listing on its directory to attract attention from potential therapy clients. GoodTherapy uses a proprietary matching and filtering system to ensure clients can find a perfect fit. However, during our review, we found that these filters are not as robust or inclusive as competitors like TherapyDen.
One of the best things about GoodTherapy.org is the volume of clients that actively use the site. GoodTherapy is a well-known and relatively long-standing therapist directory. It is able to bring in more client leads than smaller or newer directories might.
If a potential client decides that they are a good fit for you, they can reach out to you directly from GoodTherapy. If you have a Pro membership, the client can automatically book the session and manage it from their client portal.
During my review, I felt that GoodTherapy did not offer as much guidance in writing an effective profile as its competitors do. The main section of your profile is a free-writing text box with only a single prompt about your approach to therapy. While much of the rest of the profile is guided through drop-downs and selections, they are not particularly robust. Combining this with the lackluster written response prompt, they put the burden on the therapist to create an effective profile.
Mental Health Match uses a unique matching system, so clients aren’t faced with endless search results. For better client-therapist matches, this is a great feature. You can read more in our review of Mental Health Match.
Practice Management Features
With a “Pro” membership, GoodTherapy.org offers access to a service called FrontDesk Practice Management. This platform allows you to manage the bookings and appointments from client leads generated in GoodTherapy.
FrontDesk can aid in billing clients for services. The client portal allows clients to modify their appointments, manage intake paperwork, and view any bills they may have. During my review, I was unable to test the practice management features, so I do not have firsthand experience using this aspect of the platform. In general, the practice management features seem valuable if you don’t already have a practice management system – if you do, clashes and incompatibilities between the two could become an issue.
If you already have a practice management system, then FrontDesk is likely not necessary. But for an extra $9 monthly from the next lowest membership, the features you get are not a bad deal.
Continuing Education & Publication Opportunities
One of the most useful and unique aspects of GoodTherapy is the continuing education (CE) and publication opportunities. GoodTherapy bills itself as a method of satisfying all of your CE requirements for the year, as well as offering beneficial educational workshops, on-demand content, and home-study courses. For a relatively small cost, this allows you to expand your knowledge of therapeutic methods and many other mental health topics.
In addition to education, GoodTherapy also offers members the ability to submit article ideas for the website. This is an excellent way for therapists to be published and market themselves as experts in their field. Since you will be a paying member, you will likely have a better shot of an idea being published through GoodTherapy than elsewhere. The details about the publication process are scant, so it’s difficult to say how many GoodTherapy members end up being published.
How Much Does GoodTherapy Cost?
GoodTherapy.org costs between $30.95 – $49.95 monthly, depending on the features needed. The basic plan includes a directory listing, while more expensive plans include access to continuing education (CE) credits, billing solutions, and a client portal with advanced booking and scheduling features.
Group practices incur special pricing and require consultation with GoodTherapy to determine exact pricing and features. GoodTherapy also offers access to CE content without a directory listing, if needed.
Here are the costs and features of each GoodTherapy subscription plan:
| Plan | Features | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | •Optimized directory listing | $30.95 monthly; discounted to $333 if paid annually |
| Premium | Everything in Basic plan, plus: •Access to CE courses | $40.95 monthly; discounted to $443 if paid annually |
| Pro | Everything in Premium plan, plus: •Live CE webinars •Home Study CE courses •Booking and scheduling •Client portal •Billing | $49.95 monthly; discounted to $537 if paid annually |
| Continuing Education Only | •Access to all CE content •Live CE webinars •Home Study CE courses | $30.95 monthly |
GoodTherapy.org Review – Our Final Verdict
Overall, GoodTherapy could be a good investment of your time and money if you have a savvy understanding of self-promotion and writing. The platform is a bit unwieldy and certainly outdated, but if you are willing to look past its surface-level flaws, there is a great volume of clients who come to the site looking for a therapist.
You should consider signing up for GoodTherapy if you:
- Have a good idea of what to include in your profile and feel confident in your ability to write it
- Need to fulfill CE requirements, or are looking for publication opportunities
- Want to be included in one of the most popular therapist directories
You should consider looking for an alternative to GoodTherapy if you:
- Need a great deal of guidance in writing your profile
- Have reservations about competing with other therapists if you practice in a large or densely populated area
- Want to be listed in a directory system that is easier to use
Another great way to market your practice is with a professional website. Take a look at our review of the best website builders for therapists to see which would work best for your practice.
Who Is GoodTherapy Right For?
GoodTherapy is a great choice for anyone searching to market their practice, but it is particularly useful for those looking to satisfy their annual CE requirements, and practices that need additional practice management features included.
Therapists Looking to Satisfy Annual CE Requirements
GoodTherapy is unique in providing material to satisfy annual CE requirements. At higher subscription levels, you can access home study courses and on-demand webinars to help you stay up to date in your practice.
Practices That Need Bundled Practice Management Features
If you need something more robust than a simple directory listing, GoodTherapy may be a solid choice. Higher subscription levels bundle access to FrontDesk practice management software which includes billing, scheduling, and client portal features.
Who May Want an Alternative to GoodTherapy?
GoodTherapy membership is a great choice for many clinicians. However, practices on a tight budget, those who need a great deal of guidance, and those that are looking for a full practice management suite may be better suited with other options.
Practices on a Tight Budget
For practices that are just getting started, or those otherwise on a tight budget, shelling out over $30 monthly can be prohibitive, particularly since the cost is required upfront. If you’re looking for a free or low-cost directory listing option, TherapyDen is a good choice.
Read our comprehensive TherapyDen review for more details.
Those Who Need a Great Deal of Guidance
GoodTherapy doesn’t offer much help when it comes to building your profile, and we found its system to be unintuitive and unnecessarily difficult to use. There is little guidance on what to include in your profile, so having strong writing and self-promotion skills is necessary.
If you are looking for more guidance in creating your directory profile, a better alternative may be Psychology Today. Read our review of Psychology Today for more details.
Practices That Need A Full Practice Management Suite
If you’re looking for a one-stop shop for practice management and marketing, there are definitely better options out there. Zencare and SimplePractice both offer full suites to handle almost every aspect of your practice, including marketing.
You can read more in our review of SimplePractice. If you’re looking for practice management systems, read on to our roundup of the best mental health EHRs for your practice.
GoodTherapy Vs. Psychology Today
GoodTherapy and Psychology Today offer very similar services and could be considered direct competitors with one another. Psychology Today is much more well-known to the general public, as the associated magazine is quite popular. Psychology Today does not offer CE credits, like GoodTherapy, but does offer some practice management tools like a telehealth platform.
GoodTherapy costs $30.95 – $49.95 monthly, while Psychology Today costs $29.95 monthly, so pricing is quite similar with both platforms. The value is comparable, however, Psychology Today does not offer any CE content, but it may be able to generate more leads than GoodTherapy can.
GoodTherapy Vs. TherapyDen
TherapyDen and GoodTherapy are similar in their offerings, although TherapyDen does not offer any sort of practice management tools. TherapyDen’s directory is more inclusive of sensitive client populations and has a more robust filtering system than GoodTherapy. However, GoodTherapy has more traffic and a larger potential audience than TherapyDen.
Basic TherapyDen profiles are free, while certain additional features and profile visibility boosts can be added for a pay-what-you-can rate of $10 – $30 monthly. Meanwhile, GoodTherapy has a set fee of $30.95 – $49.95 monthly, depending on features. A free TherapyDen profile may be appealing to those just getting started, while GoodTherapy may be better for more established practitioners looking for continuing education and publication opportunities.
How to Get Started with GoodTherapy
GoodTherapy is easy to get started with. Simply navigate to the GoodTherapy sign-up page and input a few details. After selecting a plan and making the first payment, you will be able to create your profile.
The steps for getting started with GoodTherapy are:
- Enter a few details and pay for your first month. A few details including contact information and billing details are required to get started, as well as the plan you wish to use. (~5 minutes)
- Enter your credential and practice information. You will then enter details about your credentials and your practice. (~5 minutes)
- Enter your profile information. You will fill out a section detailing your approach to therapy, as well as the modalities you use, the clients you serve, and the problems you can address. (~20-30 minutes)
- Wait for your profile to be published. Once you’ve entered your information, your profile is ready to go live.
Once annually, GoodTherapy conducts verifications of credentials and will apply a special badge to your profile once your credentials have been verified by staff.1
History of GoodTherapy
GoodTherapy was launched in 2007 by Noah Rubinstein. The company was founded on the idea of improving access to mental health for clients and promoting practices that are ethical, collaborative, and non-pathologizing.2
According to a website traffic monitoring service, GoodTherapy.org receives approximately 1 million visits from users monthly, and according to the company’s LinkedIn page, the company has grown to between 30-50 employees and is currently based in Colorado.
FAQs for GoodTherapy
Is GoodTherapy Free to Use?
No. GoodTherapy charges practitioners a monthly fee ranging from $30.95 – $49.95 depending on the features needed.
Do You Have to be Licensed to Use GoodTherapy?
Yes. All practitioners listed on GoodTherapy must be licensed by their governing body and will be manually verified. More details can be found on GoodTherapy’s membership requirements page.
Does GoodTherapy Offer a Free Trial?
No. GoodTherapy does not offer free trials, and the first month’s subscription cost must be paid at sign-up.
