Talkspace Review 2026: Pros & Cons, Cost, & My Experience

I’ve taken part in our team’s multiple Talkspace reviews over the past four years, and I just used it again for therapy to see what’s changed in 2026. Overall, from our repeated use and Talkspace, we consider it to be a good fit for people looking for quick access to support and for those seeking both therapy and medication. Most people who sign up should be able to see a therapist or medication prescriber within just a couple of days.

The things I liked about Talkspace: Signing up is fast and easy, it accepts many health insurance plans, and it’s convenient for people needing both therapy and medication. Plus, if you have multiple providers on the platform, they can each see your progress when you complete regular mental health check-ins.

Things I didn’t love: Talkspace’s super-quick signup means you might not get a great therapist match at first, cash-pay costs are on the high side (especially for medication appointments), and if you want any “extras” like group webinars or a journaling space, you have to pay more and/or use a separate app, Talkspace Go.

Detailed Review of Talkspace

After using Talkspace several times over the past few years and again for 2026, it has maintained its four-star rating. We score online therapy platforms on 13 different criteria points, including insurance and payment options, accessibility and services offered, and customer service.

We like that Talkspace makes signing up and talking with your therapist really quick and convenient. It also rated high in user experience, geographic location, privacy and HIPAA, and reliability and longevity. Talkspace has been around for several years, and its offerings could be a great fit for those with in-network insurance.

We rated Talkspace slightly lower as far as therapist matching (no way to choose your own provider and not enough intake questions to guarantee a good first fit), payment options (no sliding-scale or financial assistance), and customer service. It doesn’t have any phone number to contact, you must send a message through the app or the website if you have an issue.

Talkspace earned 4 out of 5 stars

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Detailed Scoring Breakdown

Clientele Served (4 out of 5)

Range of Therapist Specialties & Treatment Approaches (4 out of 5)

Geographic Location (5 out of 5)

Session Length & Provider Consistency (4 out of 5)

Ongoing Access to Your Provider (5 out of 5)

Online Therapy Cost (4 out of 5)

Payment Options, Insurance, & Out-of-Network Benefits (4 out of 5)

Therapist Matching or Selection (2 out of 5)

Client Interface & User Experience (5 out of 5)

Privacy & HIPAA (5 out of 5)

Therapist Credentials & Expertise (4 out of 5)

Customer Service (3 out of 5)

Reliability & Longevity (5 out of 5)

Review our scoring criteria for online therapy platforms here.
Review our complete editorial policies here.

My Experience Signing Up for Talkspace

After downloading the Talkspace app, I had to answer just a few questions about why I was seeking care, how I’m sleeping and how I’d rate my current health, where I live, an emergency contact, and what gender I’d like my therapist to be. Then I had to enter my credit card information before creating my account and finishing the sign-up process.

I was surprised by how few questions I was asked about my therapist preference—the only thing I could choose was my therapist’s gender, and I selected “no preference.” The process was incredibly quick, taking about five minutes from signing up to having a session booked, but this meant there was a higher chance of getting a less ideal match compared to other online therapy platforms that either let you choose your own provider or ask more detailed questions before matching you with a therapist.

I picked which day and time I wanted to have my first session, with options as soon as the next morning, was immediately matched with a therapist who specializes in depression, and then my credit card was charged for my monthly subscription. This is unlike most platforms, which first match you with a therapist and then have you pick a date when they are available. I wonder if I would have gotten a different provider if I would have selected a different time slot—what if the perfect therapist was out there but wasn’t available on Tuesdays at 11:30?

This is the reverse of other online therapy platforms like BetterHelp, which determine a match based on more detailed intake information before you choose a time that will work for both you and your new provider. Both have pros and cons, but I’d rather have a great therapist fit than be given an OK therapist based on what time I’d like to have my sessions.

Regardless, know that if your initial therapist isn’t a good match for your needs, when you go to switch, you can see the availability of each potential therapist so you can figure out before booking whether their free days and times will work well for your schedule. You can do this before your first appointment if you read your therapist’s profile and don’t feel like they’ll be a good match—just make sure you cancel your session with more than 24 hours’ notice or you’ll lose a session credit from your monthly subscription.

Messaging With My Therapist Before Our First Session

As soon as I was signed up and the therapist had approved my session, I was sent some intro information in the “messaging” section of the app. This portal serves as a hub for communicating with your therapist, and you can send a message at any time day or night. Every therapist will have their own schedule for when they respond to messages (though Talkspace says they should respond within one work day), so if they don’t tell you their schedule in the intro message, make sure you discuss this with them during your first call.

My therapist sent me a message with some details about what to expect during our time together, and outlined his specific frequency in replying to asynchronous messages. He also asked if I wanted to share a bit about why I was seeking therapy. It was great to have this space where I could type out a bit of my background and what I wanted to work on so he would have a good starting point during our session a couple of days later.

When I decided to switch therapists after the first session, I could decide whether or not I wanted to share my previous messaging history with my new provider. I like this feature, as I feel it could save some time. Even if all you’ve sent is an introductory message on why you’re seeking therapy, sharing this with your new therapist could save you from feeling like you’re “starting over.” Or, if you’d rather start with a clean slate, that’s totally up to you.

After I switched providers, my second therapist sent me a questionnaire to fill out before our session together (only if I wanted to), which was more thorough than the very brief intake questions I answered at the start of my Talkspace journey. This therapist also used the messaging feature to send me additional resources like podcasts and book recommendations after hearing from me that I loved learning and would be open to her suggestions. We also used the space to outline some goals for later exposures.

Note: To me, this easy-to-access messaging space is one of the best features of using an online therapy platform like Talkspace. You shouldn’t be afraid to utilize this tool to ask quick questions or take notes on what you want to cover during your next therapy session. Don’t assume you’ll get long, detailed responses (your therapist has lots of clients to get back to every day and may restrict their replies to more pressing issues like scheduling or billing), but you also shouldn’t feel like you’re “bothering” your therapist by using this space regularly.

Plus, looking back on your first messages and seeing how much you’ve grown since you started your therapy journey can be really enlightening and encouraging to do from time to time!

Attending My First Live Talkspace Therapy Session

There was no way I’d miss my Talkspace therapy session, as I was sent more than five reminders by text, email, and push notifications from Talkspace before my appointment. Note that if you cancel or forget to attend a session, or make a change to your appointment within 24 hours, you may be charged a fee. Plus, skipping your session will mean you lose that therapy credit for the week.¹

Even though I’ve met with online therapists dozens of times while completing reviews, I always get a bit nervous when meeting with someone new for the first time. A few minutes before my session time, I got cozy in a quiet corner of my living room and had a cup of tea and a blanket with me for peak comfort. When it was time for my 30-minute video session, all I had to do was click the link I’d been texted 10 minutes beforehand and that popped me into the video portal of the Talkspace app.

Now, I’ve seen some horror stories online about online therapists talking to their clients from their unmade beds or loud cafes, but this was the opposite of my experience on Talkspace. My therapist was sitting at a desk with a neutral background behind him, and he was wearing a quintessential “therapist cardigan.” He put me at ease with a cheerful greeting and kept an upbeat tone during our appointment.

He was very focused on goal-setting and helping me think through the immediate changes I could make that would improve my current quality of life. I appreciated that he sent me a message first with all the “basic therapy stuff” that providers have to talk about, like confidentiality and mandatory reporting, so that our brief session could focus on my actual day-to-day experiences and what I needed help with.

Toward the end of my first session, my therapist said the following session would continue with more “getting to know you” questions, but we still set some goals for what I’d like to accomplish this first week. He was genial and added a few pointers with ideas that had worked for him in the past, while still focusing on my needs.

Disappointingly Quick Therapy Sessions

I’ll be honest: 30-minute sessions don’t quite feel like enough time for me to really dig in, and I was disappointed that there was no way to schedule longer therapy appointments. I felt like I was just getting settled in when it was time to start wrapping up. To me, this is one of the bigger downsides of using Talkspace over a different platform—BetterHelp offers 45-minute sessions and other sites like Grow Therapy leave session time up to the therapists’ discretion, but are typically 50-minute or hour-long sessions.

However, if you go into your session with a specific topic or goal in mind to focus on, 30 minutes could be totally fine. Plus, using that messaging tool before your first session could help you get some of your early questions answered before your first appointment so you can spend that 30 minutes in a more focused way.

Slight Video Lag During Sessions

There were a couple of moments where the video or audio felt choppy for just a second, but it went away quickly and didn’t disrupt my experience. This is common with any video therapy platform you’d use, so just give it a bit of patience if you experience any type of delay. Another ChoosingTherapy.com reviewer, Matthew, didn’t have any quality issues with his live video session when he last tested Talkspace, so it could have been a problem with my wifi network.

If you end up having connection issues, first make sure you’re on a wifi network if you’re on your phone. If you’re on your desktop or laptop, close any unnecessary tabs you have open and make sure you don’t have too many extra devices taking up your bandwidth.

Note: If issues persist with audio during your call, Talkspace has a new “Audio backup option.” During your call, if you’re having trouble with the video call, you can click on the “gear” button and select “Audio issues? Switch to phone,” which will halt the video feed.

My Thoughts After My First Session

I thought my therapist was friendly, kind, and a good listener overall. He was really focused on figuring out my current pain points, what changes I’ve tried, what I want to implement, and how I’m going to stick to those strategies. The session was very focused on present-day problems and solutions.

While this first therapist was not at all bad, I wondered if his very “solutions oriented” approach was just his personal style or if that was the name of the game when receiving therapy from Talkspace. I decided to see what the process was like to switch therapists, and to see if the next provider would have a similar style.

Switching Therapists on Talkspace

One of the main conveniences of online therapy is how easy it is to switch therapists if you’re not happy with your first match. Switching to a new provider on Talkspace took less than a minute, and I could decide whether to go with my new automatically chosen therapist match or choose from a list of other options.

When I navigated to the “change providers” section in the app, I was prompted to review my preferences (my focus areas, the state I’m in, my provider’s gender, and session type), then I was automatically matched with a new provider. However, this time, Talkspace also gave me a list of eight other therapists whose profiles I could look through and see if I thought they could be a better fit. I went ahead and chose the therapist they suggested and booked a session for the next week.

Something cool about Talkspace: Before booking with the new therapist, I got to choose whether or not I wanted to share my chat history with my previous therapist. If you’ve spent quite a bit of time sending messages back and forth, or even if you only sent an introductory message about why you’re seeking therapy, sending this on to your next therapist could help you feel like you’re not “starting from scratch” with your new therapist.

The final step before booking was selecting why I wanted to change providers. The options were:

• I was unsatisfied with the quality of care
• My provider is no longer providing services or unable to meet with me
• I couldn’t form a strong connection with my provider
• I want to select a provider with a different gender
• I just want to try someone new
• I couldn’t find a time to meet with my provider
• I don’t feel that my provider was responsive enough

If you do end up having a negative experience, it’s worth filling out some information about the issues you had with your provider. Talkspace uses these reviews to determine future therapist-client matches, so you could be saving someone from a future bad therapy experience.

I scheduled my next session for a few days later, and this therapist sent me a form to fill out with several intake questions, covering topics like my relationship with my family and why I was seeking therapy. I thought this was a helpful way for her to see my background so we didn’t have to go through that in as much detail during our first session.

Note that this was something my therapist set up for herself, not a standard practice of Talkspace. Every therapist will handle getting to know new clients differently, as my two different providers showed. For me, I thought filling out the intake form gave my new therapist and I lots to talk about and gave her room to ask follow-up questions instead of us trying to squeeze my entire mental health history into a 30-minute session.

My Second Live Therapy Session

Remember when I said the first guy was super solutions-oriented and I wondered if that was just him or if that was the Talkspace way? Turns out it was just his personal style. My second therapist was much more focused on what had worked for me in the past, not just in terms of self-help and getting out of previous bouts of depression, but also what therapy styles and approaches I’ve tried and what could be potentially helpful for me now.

She was solutions-oriented in certain ways, like asking me to come up with some ideas for future exposures to work on building confidence and quieting my depression spirals, but she was also curious about my history and what had led me to where I am now. I thought she did a good job of balancing my current concerns with long-term approaches to help me live more authentically.

I still wished I had more time with her—half-hour sessions feel quite speedy—but she did a really good job of spending that time meaningfully.

Talkspace Psychiatry

I didn’t personally sign up for psychiatry through Talkspace, though other ChoosingTherapy.com reviewers have used this service in the past and found it a quick and convenient way to meet with a medication prescriber.

Here’s a summary of what Talkspace offers as far as medication management:

• Psychiatry through Talkspace is a separate cost from their therapy subscription plans, with an initial visit costing $299 and follow-ups at $175 (though this could be much cheaper with insurance—it says the average copay is $15)
• It is available for anyone 18+ in the US (Talkspace does not offer medication management services for minors at this time)
• Talkspace providers are able to prescribe a variety of medications, including SSRIs, SNRIs, and other antianxiety or antidepressant medications. Note that controlled substances, such as Adderall, cannot be prescribed by any Talkspace telehealth provider.
• If you and your prescriber decide that medication would be a good fit for you, you’ll be able to have your medicine sent to you through Amazon Pharmacy, or choose to pick it up at a local pharmacy.

Educational Workshops

Talkspace offers a huge selection of educational workshops, for both individuals and couples, but they’re exclusively available on the most expensive plan, which currently costs $436 monthly (or on its separate “self-service app,” Talkspace Go). These hour-long workshops cover anything from learning new coping skills to practicing mindfulness to repairing relationships, with a therapist guiding you through relevant prompts and exercises from a set of slides.

The workshop I attended used Zoom for the video platform, and my video and microphone were kept off for the duration of the session. The therapist walked us through a slide presentation which offered several coping tools for depression. If you attend these workshops, bring a journal and expect to have lots of pauses while you reflect on the prompts from the therapist. I thought this format could be especially helpful for couples wanting to attend workshops together and have reflective conversations during the pauses.

Workshops allow you to learn new skills and mental health concepts outside of your therapy sessions and can be a great supplement. However, these workshops shouldn’t be considered an equivalent to therapy, as they’re not a time to share your personal experiences with a therapist. You may share some about your journey in the chat box during the session, but you won’t be prompted to speak up during these workshops.

Talkspace Go

For people not looking for full-service mental health treatment but still wanting a boost (or looking for supplements to therapy), Talkspace also offers the Talkspace Go app for $29.99 monthly, with no option to get this service covered by insurance. I was a bit surprised there was no way to access Talkspace Go from the original Talkspace app. I had to go back to the Apple App Store, download it, and sign up. However, I could use my same login credentials for Talkspace, so I guess that saved a bit of time.

After downloading, I filled out a pretty standard form regarding my current mental health symptoms, like how much I’m worrying, how I’m sleeping, if I feel lonely, etc. It took all my answers and suggested four specific courses for me to work through: “Mental Health Foundations,” “Navigating Emotions,” “Depression,” and “Burnout.” I started with the Mental Health Foundations course, which covered basics like learning how to listen to your body and recognizing emotions.

Then, I was prompted to book my first therapy class, described as “Peloton for therapy.” The choices immediately available included topics like “Unpacking Your Body Image Narrative,” “How to Cope With Failure,” and “Exploring Identity.” Some of these classes are scheduled and you can attend them live, while several are pre-recorded and can be accessed on-demand.

The on-demand classes are previous livestreams of workshops that open in Vimeo, so you get the “nuts and bolts” of what those live workshops are like. Classes are anonymous, the host cannot see or hear any participants, but the chat is available during the session to privately message your host. The one I watched on “Unpacking the Cause of Your Depression” was about an hour long and included lots of prompts for sifting through potential depression causes, like early unmet needs, and then helped guide us through some ways to move forward.

One feature of the app that I really like was the “Notifications & Reminders” tool, where I could set up notifications for things like, “Remind me to practice being grateful,” “Remind me to journal for 10 minutes,” “remind me to go for a walk,” and more.

I think this app could be a really great supplement to therapy for those wanting extra tools and reminders on their mental health journeys. While the courses and workshops felt relatively “basic” to me, if you’re new to the therapy world, they could be helpful starting points to learn more about yourself and some introductory mental health concepts and tools. Plus, the more in-depth workshops could prompt some deeper insights if you choose to really engage with them.

Talkspace Cost & Insurance

Talkspace costs range from $276–$436 monthly. Talkspace has three different subscription packages for therapy, depending on what level of service you’re looking for. The messaging-only package costs $276 monthly, the live therapy package is $396 monthly, and the messaging, therapy, and workshop package costs $436 monthly.

If you’re paying with cash, you can get a Talkspace promo code for your first month to see if it would be a good fit: Save $85 off your first month with code CT85.

Talkspace offers three online therapy subscriptions for cash-pay members:

• Messaging Therapy ($276 monthly): This plan gives you a dedicated chatroom where you can send text, audio, or video messages to your therapist anytime. Therapists will respond to messages at least once daily, Monday–Friday. Costs start at $276 monthly, advertised at $69 weekly.
• Video + Messaging Therapy ($396 monthly): This plan gives you four, 45-minute video sessions with your therapist every month, as well as the messaging plan. Costs start at $396 monthly, advertised at $99 weekly.
• Video + Messaging Therapy + Workshops ($436 monthly): This plan includes everything from the Messaging Only and Live Therapy plans as well as access to live Zoom workshops with licensed providers on various mental health topics. Costs start at $436 monthly, advertised at $109 weekly.
• Extra session credits ($65): You can have the option to add more sessions for a set rate of $65 each.

Here are the pricing breakdowns for Talkspace’s additional services:

• Psychiatry: Talkspace psychiatry is billed by session. An initial evaluation session costs $299 and follow-up sessions are $175 each. You can buy sessions in bundles for a bit of savings: An initial evaluation + one follow-up is $435 and an initial evaluation + three follow-ups is $725.
• Couples Therapy: Couples therapy with Talkspace starts at $436 monthly for weekly live sessions and unlimited messaging. Additional live sessions can be purchased for $65 each if you need an extra session before your billing renewal date.
• Teen Therapy: Teens ages 13–17 can use Talkspace therapy at the same monthly cost as adults.
• Talkspace Go: $29.99 monthly after a 7-day free trial

Using Your Insurance for Talkspace

Talkspace does accept a wide variety of insurance plans, so if your insurance plan is in network you’ll only be responsible for any copays due. Keep in mind that you may be responsible for additional fees if you haven’t met your deductible. Notably, Talkspace is one of few online therapy providers that accepts Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans.

Some of the insurance providers in-network with Talkspace include:

• Aetna
• Allegiance Behavioral Health
• Anthem
• Blue Cross Blue Shield
• BridgeSpan
• Carelon
• Cigna
• ConnectiCare
• Evernorth
• First Choice Health
• Medicare
• Optum
• Oscar
• Regence
• Tricare
• United HealthCare

This is not a comprehensive list, so it’s worth seeing if your insurance is in-network. This is easy to do on Talkspace’s website—when you’re signing up, just hit the “check insurance coverage” button and type in your plan to see if it’s covered and what your potential copay will be. You can also use your FSA or HSA card to pay for your Talkspace subscription.

Getting a Superbill

Three days after the end of my billing cycle, I was automatically emailed a superbill that I could submit to my insurance company for potential reimbursement. This included my provider’s name and credentials, the CPT code for the service rendered, and the ICD-10 code (my diagnosis that confirms the service is a medical necessity), plus the breakdown of the cost of each service.

If you have health insurance that isn’t in-network with Talkspace, this could be incredibly helpful in securing reimbursement.

Getting a Refund From Talkspace

After using only two of my four therapy sessions in my monthly subscription, I decided to see whether or not I could get a refund for my other unused sessions. I sent a message in the Talkspace customer support portal saying I was going a different direction for therapy, and asked if I could get refunded for the two sessions I decided not to use.

Two days later, I got a message saying they were sorry to see me go but that they had refunded $198 of my $396 subscription back on the card I originally used for payment. Talkspace’s official policy is that it can evaluate refund requests if they are received within 90 days of when the charge was made. Note that it is unable to grant refunds for add-on session costs, copays, live sessions canceled or rescheduled with less than 24 hours’ notice, or missed sessions.²

Talkspace User Reviews

Users tend to have a positive sentiment toward Talkspace on review sites, highlighting that the company has helped to improve the lifestyles of many; however, some have criticized the company for poor customer service and high prices.

History & News About Talkspace