We used more than a dozen online marriage and couples counseling services and compiled our top ten picks. In our usage of the platforms, we rated them on affordability, acceptance of insurance, and more. Companies like Regain and Talkspace are top picks, while all in our list can help with relationship coaching, infidelity support, or just to improve your relationship overall.
Our Favorite Courses
- Best Overall Online Premarital Counseling Courses - The Art & Science of Love Online | Read review
- Best At Your Own Pace - Happily Ever After | Read review
- Best Free Option - Prologue: Start Marriage Here | Read review
- Best Courses With Live Counseling - Growing Self | Read review
- Best Quick Option - Marriage.com | Read review
- Best for LGBTQ+ Couples - Let’s Hack the Love Code Together | Read review
Best Courses at a Glance
Why Trust Us
300+
Companies Reviewed2,350+
Hours of Testing1,150+
Data Points AnalyzedChoosing Therapy’s reviews are fair, honest, thorough and based on firsthand experience. To date, we’ve reviewed mental health solutions offered by more than 300 companies. That has involved more than 2,350 hours of firsthand use and consideration of over 1,150 data points. Our editorial policies outline a rigorous review process, but they all boil down to this: produce reviews that our own friends and family can rely on. Learn more here.
Detailed Course Reviews
The Art & Science of Love is an online couples workshop with ten different modules, each including videos and exercises to be performed as a couple. This is a self-paced online training to complete the modules on your own time. It wins our award for Best Overall Premarital Courses due to its extensive features and affordability.
Pros & Cons
- Online Gottman based couples courses
- Videos and worksheets to complete as a couple
- Self-paced course
- No live coaching or therapy sessions
- Insurance is not accepted for the courses
Cost
The Art & Science of Love Online costs $199 with an option to add on an Art & Science of Love boxed set for $79.00.
Overview
The Art & Science of Love is a couples workshop created by Drs. John and Julie Gottman that is based on over 40 years of research with thousands of couples’ involvement. The workshop has been taught as a live couples weekend workshop for years but is now available online in the comfort of your own home.
The Art & Science of Love workshop features 10 learning modules, each including videos and exercises to be performed as a couple. This is a self-paced online training, so you can complete the modules on your own time. Once you purchase the workshop, you will have an unlimited amount of time to complete it. Your purchase includes over 20 videos, over 12 exercises, and several valuable handouts that you can access immediately.
The Gottman Method is one of the most well-known and utilized techniques for couples. This course will give couples the tools they need to start their marriage strong.
Happily Ever After is an online premarital course that gives users lifetime access for a one-time fee. Since users can complete the program on their own, it wins our award for Best at Your Own Pace Premarital Courses.
Pros & Cons
- One time course fee
- Explore six core areas of a relationship
- Watch video lessons and use worksheets
- Completion certificate available
- No live coaching or therapy
- Insurance not accepted
Cost
Happily Ever After costs $97 and you will have access to the course for life.
Overview
Happily Ever After is an online premarital course that will get you and your partners talking about 6 core areas of a relationship, including money, self-discovery, conflict & repair, sex & intimacy, family of origin, and communication. It was developed by a married couple, Casey and Meygan, who know the hardships of marriage and have navigated through them together.
With this course, you and your partner will start by taking an assessment that will help identify strengths and differences in your relationship. After the assessment, you and your partner will watch a series of 20-30 minute videos that introduce a topic and demonstrate the use of healthy relationship tools. You will then use the worksheets provided to create a plan on how to use the new tool.
Additionally, you will receive some bonus material, including:
- 4 Qualities to Look for in a Partner
- Honeymoon Tips
- How to Handle Anxiety
- Parenting and Family Planning
- Managing Money
Happily Ever After’s premarital course is available for life after you pay the fee. This gives couples the time and opportunity to work through everything at their own pace.
Start Marriage Here is a completely free premarital counseling course. It would be ideal for those couples who are on tight budgets, and rightfully wins our Best Free Option award.
Pros & Cons
- Totally free to complete
- Based on the Five Love Languages
- Only five learning sessions
- Religious leaning, may not be ideal for secular learning
- Video lessons are only 5 minutes long
- Live counseling or coaching not available
Cost
Start Marriage Here is a free premarital course.
Overview
Prologue includes five sessions for you and your partner to explore at your own pace. The chapters include Family, Love, Values, Relationship, and Communication. Each session comes with an introduction that includes articles, a questionnaire that you will both take to assess your similarities and differences, and discussion questions to get you talking.
Each chapter also includes a short video from Gary Chapman, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling series, The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts. If you and your partner want to go deeper with the discussion questions, you can also sign up for The Counselor’s Guide
To get started, all you have to do is sign up and you will be sent all the information needed. You and your partner can work from anywhere as long as you have access to the internet. You can even work from different parts of the country (or the world for that matter) if needed!
Additionally, you have access to track one another’s progress so that you both stay on course together. If you’re looking for some help in preparing for marriage but are on a budget and need flexibility, this may be the online premarital course for you.
Start Marriage here seems like a solid option for a free premarital counseling course. The course is based on the Five Love Languages and there are additional resources available on the website.
Growing Self is an online premarital counseling course that offers live couples sessions. This is a rare find for most premarital courses, earning Growing Self our award for Best Courses With Live Counseling.
Pros & Cons
- Three premarital counseling course options
- Fully self-paced plan is available
- Live sessions with a couples counselor available
- Counseling may not be available in all states
- Insurance is not accepted
Cost
Growing Self costs $105 – $265, depending on which of the three plans you choose.
Growing Self plans include:
- A Lifetime of Love Premarital Education Course: This class includes 6 hours of online instruction and teaches 6 relationship skills. The class costs $295 per couple.
- I Do! Premarital Counseling Program: This program includes a comprehensive assessment and 3-5 private sessions with an expert premarital counselor. The cost is $105-$125/session depending upon the experience level of the counselor. Growing Self offers a sliding scale fee if needed based on income.
- Private Premarital Counseling: The private premarital counseling option offers flexible, open-ended counseling without a time limit or specific structure so you can address any issues that feel important to you and your partner. The cost is $105-$125/session depending upon the experience level of the counselor.
Growing Self offers a sliding scale fee if needed based on income.
Overview
Growing Self has three options for premarital counseling so you and your partner can meet your specific needs and budget. There is a class called Lifetime of Love, an online program called I Do!, and private counseling. Whatever option you choose, Growing Self can help you learn relationship skills, how to prevent future problems, and how to keep your love strong.
The Lifetime of Love Premarital Education Course, which costs $295, includes work on topics such as:
- The Secrets of Strong Couples
- Healthy Communication 101
- Manage Inevitable Conflict Productively
- Keep Romance Alive
- Create Agreement with the Big Five (Money, Household Responsibilities, Religion, Kids and Sex)
- Hopes & Dreams
The I Do! program starts with an assessment of the strengths and vulnerabilities in your relationship. You will then have private sessions with a counselor to address issues and learn effective tools to keep your relationship strong.
Live sessions with the counselor address:
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Finances
- Hopes and dreams
- Lifestyle
- Sex and love
If you want premarital counseling that is less structured, you can choose the private premarital counseling option.
Growing Self offers a wide range of premarital counseling courses and therapy options to couples.
Marriage.com is a pre-marriage course that takes about 2-3 hours on average to complete. This would be ideal for couples who want to go through a course quickly, which is what earned it our award for Best Quick Option for online premarital courses.
Pros & Cons
- Takes 2-3 hours on average to complete the course
- Two plans to select from
- Additional learning materials available
- No live counseling or therapy
- This shorter course may not cover everything couples want to explore before marriage
Cost
Marriage.com pre-marriage courses cost $49 – $199 depending on which plan you choose.
Marriage.com’s plans include:
- The Silver Plan: Costs $49 and covers their essential course, the core elements of building a happy, healthy marriage. This course takes two hours to complete and is available for three months after purchase.Learn how to:
- Resolve conflicts
- Be a team
- Feel heard and listen better
- Feel closer
- Build traditions
- The Gold Plan: Costs $99 and includes their essential course plus an additional mini-course, bonus eBook, worksheet, and motivational videos. This course takes three hours to complete and is available for six months after purchase.Bonus materials include:
-
- Mini-Course: 15 Steps to a
- Happier Marriage
- Bonus eBook: Marriage Guide
- (38 Pages)
- Activity Worksheet: 21 Questions
- to Improve Emotional Intimacy
- Motivational videos
- The Platinum Plan: Costs $199 and includes everything in the Gold plus additional courses to help save your marriage and resolve conflicts for a total of 5 hours of instruction. This course takes five hours to complete and is available for a year after purchase.Additional course: Save My MarriageAdditional course: Save My Marriage
- Restore commitment
- Build trust
- Detox bad habits
- Resolve Conflicts
- Resolve conflicts
- Less fighting
- Improve connection
Overview
Marriage.com offers a pre-marriage course that is designed for couples that are engaged and want to be better prepared for marriage. Although it is meant to be taken by couples, an individual can take it and benefit as well if your partner is unable or unwilling to take it. The pre-marriage course can help you transition smoothly into a happy marriage by bringing more clarity into what makes a marriage healthy.
The pre-marriage course includes a total of five chapters that cover the following topics:
- What Makes A Marriage Healthy?
- Managing Expectations
- Setting Shared Goals
- Great Communication
- Moving from ‘Me’ to ‘We’
This course takes about 2-3 hours on average to complete but can also be completed on your own time. As soon as you register, you will receive a link that will give you access to the materials for you to move through at your own leisure.
Marriage.com’s pre-marriage course is ideal for couples who want a detailed course that does not take weeks to complete.
Let’s Hack the Love Code Together is one of the few premarital courses that has courses specifically designed for the LGBTQ+ community.
Pros & Cons
- Lifetime access to the courses once paid in full
- Designed for LGBTQ+ community
- Not to be used in place of couples therapy
- Couples therapy only available in Florida
Cost
Let’s Hack the Love Code costs $49.97 and gives you lifetime access.
Overview
Let’s Hack the Love Code Together is a course created by Dr. Liliana Wolf specifically for LGBT couples. Her course is an LGBT-affirmative implementation program where you will learn:
- How to avoid entering the destructive cycle that most married couples tend to engage in
- How to curb impulsive reactions that end up causing pain and distance
- How to de-escalate conflict
- How to repair rifts
- How to build emotional safety
- How a deep emotional connection creates the framework for great sex, and how great sex, in turn, facilitates a deeper emotional connection.
Let’s Hack the Love Code Together contains 13 modules that include the following topics:
- The Science of Love
- The Threat of Disconnection
- Understanding Your Reactive Style: Your Triggers
- What It Takes to Remain Connected: Three Elements to Relationship Satisfaction
- How to Maintain Emotional Safety
- How to Go Beyond the Basic Skills to Resolve Conflicts
- Your Values, Your Essence
- Money and Love? Do They Mix?
- The Science of Sex
- Conflict Management
- To Live Happily Forever After
- See If You Are Ready For A Baby or Not
- My Family, Your Family, Our Family
Let’s Hack the Love Code aims to help LGBTQ+ couples communicate better and provide the foundations for a strong marriage.
Comparing the Best Online Premarital Counseling Courses
The Art & Science of Love | Happily Ever After | Prologue: Start Marriage Here | Growing Self | Marriage.com | The Art & Science of Love Online | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Costs | $199 | $99 | Free | $105 - $265 per service | $49 - $99 per plan | $49.97 |
Video Lessons | ||||||
Worksheet Lessons | ||||||
Live Coaching | ||||||
Certificate of Completion | ||||||
Bonus Materials | ||||||
Religious Based |
The Art & Science of Love | Happily Ever After | Prologue: Start Marriage Here | Growing Self | Marriage.com | The Art & Science of Love Online |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Costs | |||||
$199 | $99 | Free | $105 - $265 per service | $49 - $99 per plan | $49.97 |
Video Lessons | |||||
Worksheet Lessons | |||||
Live Coaching | |||||
Certificate of Completion | |||||
Bonus Materials | |||||
Religious Based | |||||
Final Verdict
We regularly update the articles on ChoosingTherapy.com to ensure we continue to reflect scientific consensus on the topics we cover, to incorporate new research into our articles, and to better answer our audience’s questions. When our content undergoes a significant revision, we summarize the changes that were made and the date on which they occurred. We also record the authors and medical reviewers who contributed to previous versions of the article. Read more about our editorial policies here.
Author: Kimberly Panganiban, MA, LMFT (No change)
Medical Reviewer: Trishanna Sookdeo, MD, MPH, FAAFP (No change)
Primary Changes: Fact checked and edited for improved readability and clarity. Updated pricing information for several companies (Growing Self changed from $105 – $265 to $75 – $295; Growing Self changed – from $265 to $295 for their A Lifetime of Love Premarital Education Course; Marriage.com changed from $49 – $99 to $49 – $199)
Author: Kimberly Panganiban, MA, LMFT (No change)
Medical Reviewer: Trishanna Sookdeo, MD, MPH, FAAFP (No change)
Primary Changes: Complete revamp of overall style; updated logos for all companies.
Author: Kimberly Panganiban, MA, LMFT
Medical Reviewer: Trishanna Sookdeo, MD, MPH, FAAFP
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