14.0%
14.0% of US adults received counseling or therapy from a mental health professional in the past 12 months in 2024, according to the CDC's National Health Interview Survey.
Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, June 2026Link
Statistics
Online therapy statistics
28 figures on online therapy in the US: how many people get therapy, what it costs, who takes insurance, who prescribes, and what platforms offer therapists. Each figure about the services is computed from the 68 services we track, from their own pages, shows the date it was checked, and changes here when they change.
14.0% of US adults received counseling or therapy from a mental health professional in the past 12 months in 2024, according to the CDC's National Health Interview Survey. The middle starting price of one online therapy session paid without insurance is $155, across the 22 online therapy services that publish a per-session self-pay price on their own pages. 45 of the 64 online therapy and psychiatry services a person can sign up for directly bill insurance in network (70%).
Use
How many people get therapy, and how much of it happens online
National figures, quoted from their publishers' own pages.
16.9% vs 10.9%
Women were more likely than men to have received counseling or therapy in 2024: 16.9% of women against 10.9% of men.
Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, June 2026Link
20.2%
Adults aged 18 to 29 were the most likely to have received counseling or therapy in 2024 (20.2%); adults 75 and older were the least likely.
Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, June 2026Link
Non-inferior
Therapy by live video is clinically non-inferior to in-person therapy for common conditions such as depression, anxiety and PTSD, with comparable dropout, in a 2021 meta-analysis in Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice; the evidence is thinner for severe or crisis presentations.
Price
What online therapy costs
Read from each service's own pricing pages; a service that publishes no price is not counted.
$155
The middle starting price of one online therapy session paid without insurance is $155, across the 22 online therapy services that publish a per-session self-pay price on their own pages.
$40 to $275
Online therapy sessions without insurance start at $40 (Open Path Psychotherapy Collective) to $275 (Nema Health) a session at the services that publish a price; 6 of 22 start at $100 or less.
$0 to $36
With insurance, the 13 online therapy services that publish a figure say their clients pay $0 to $36 a session, mostly as an average across their insured members.
9
9 of the 66 online therapy services compared offer a sliding scale or income-based price, and 22 offer a free consultation before the first paid session.
Insurance
Who takes insurance, Medicare and Medicaid
From what each service's own pages say about the plans it bills.
45 of 64
45 of the 64 online therapy and psychiatry services a person can sign up for directly bill insurance in network (70%).
31
31 online therapy services say on their own pages that they take Medicare for therapy, 28 of them with a limit their pages state (some states, some plans or Medicare Advantage only).
25
25 online therapy services name Medicaid on their own pages, 23 of them only in some states or plans, and 24 say they do not take it.
13
13 online therapy services name TRICARE, the health program for US service members and their families.
26 of 47
26 of the 47 online therapy services whose pages address it take an HSA or FSA card directly; others give a receipt to claim back.
Medication
Online psychiatry, ADHD stimulants and the DEA telehealth rule
What each service's own pages say it prescribes, read against the federal rule that allows it by video.
57
57 of the 68 online services compared offer psychiatry or medication management, and 41 of those bill insurance.
16 of 32
16 of the 32 online services that treat ADHD with medication say they prescribe stimulants such as Adderall when a clinician judges it appropriate, most with a limit they state.
20
20 online prescribers say on their own pages that they prescribe no controlled substances at all (no stimulants, benzodiazepines or ketamine).
58 days
The DEA's temporary rule that lets clinicians prescribe controlled substances such as ADHD stimulants by telehealth without an in-person visit runs through December 31, 2026; 16 online services say they prescribe stimulants and 6 benzodiazepines.
11
11 online services say they prescribe buprenorphine (Suboxone) for opioid use disorder, which a permanent DEA rule allows for a first six months by telemedicine.
Access
Who can get care, how fast, and in which format
From each service's own pages: the ages it treats, how soon a first visit can be, and how sessions happen.
34
34 online therapy services a family can start on its own see teenagers and 24 see children under 13; 28 of those that see teens bill insurance.
8 and 17
8 of the 39 therapy services that say how soon a first session can be say it can be the same day, and 17 of 40 prescribers say the same of a first medication visit.
19
19 therapy services let you message a therapist between or instead of live sessions, 5 offer live chat sessions, and 14 of them bill insurance.
12
12 therapy services hold sessions by phone, and 9 of them bill insurance.
16
16 online therapy services let you choose or ask for a Spanish-speaking therapist, among 43 whose pages say anything about care in Spanish.
Track record
Government actions against online therapy companies
Orders, settlements, lawsuits and penalties from federal and state agencies, each linked to the agency's own page on the service's record.
10
10 government actions over how online therapy and telehealth companies treated patients' data, money or prescriptions name 7 of the services compared; the largest penalty is $7.8 million (FTC, 2023).
Clinicians
Therapists, platforms and pay
From each platform's own clinician pages and job board, and CMS's fee schedule files.
26
Of 26 online therapy platforms that recruit therapists, 15 take clinicians as independent contractors (1099), 14 hire employees (W-2), some both, and 4 let them keep their own practice; 7 charge clinicians no fee to join, and 11 provide malpractice insurance.
3,169
3,169 clinical job postings were open on the official job boards of 14 online therapy companies when last read, 24% of them remote.
$161 to $232
Medicare allows $161 to $232 for a 60-minute psychotherapy session (CPT 90837) in 2026, depending on the locality; licensed counselors, social workers and marriage and family therapists are paid 75% of it, and CMS proposed a rise of 10.7% for 2027.
Reuse
How to cite these statistics
You are welcome to quote any figure on this page, with a link to this page or to the figure itself (each has its own link). The figures we compute are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with credit; the national figures belong to their publishers, named beside each one.
OnlineTherapy.me. “Online Therapy Statistics.” Accessed November 3, 2026. https://onlinetherapy.me/online-therapy-statistics
Need the rows behind a figure, every service's price, plan and prescribing answer with its source, re-checked monthly? The full dataset is licensed to teams, and a free sample of session prices is on the pricing report.
Methodology
Where the numbers come from
Every figure about online therapy services counts the services we track whose own pages answer the question, on the date shown beside it: their pricing, insurance, help-center and clinician pages, never a review site. A service whose pages do not say is left out of that count rather than guessed, which is why the totals differ from one figure to the next. Nothing is weighted by how many patients a service sees, so a count describes the choices a person has, not market share.
The figures are computed from the same records as the pages they link to, so this page and those pages always agree, and a figure changes here as soon as its records do. The services behind each figure, with the page that states each answer, are one click away. How we source and check facts is on our methodology page.
National figures (how many adults get therapy, how much mental health care happens by telehealth, the evidence on video therapy) are quoted from their publishers' own pages, with the publication date, and replaced when a newer edition appears.
Questions
Online therapy statistics, answered
How many people use therapy in the US?
14.0% of US adults received counseling or therapy from a mental health professional in the past 12 months in 2024, according to the CDC's National Health Interview Survey. Women were more likely than men to have received counseling or therapy in 2024: 16.9% of women against 10.9% of men. Adults aged 18 to 29 were the most likely to have received counseling or therapy in 2024 (20.2%); adults 75 and older were the least likely.
How much mental health care happens online?
Almost one-third of visits in mental health departments are delivered by telehealth, nearly three times the rate of most other medical specialties, in Epic Research's analysis of US health records (March 2025).
Is online therapy as effective as in-person therapy?
Therapy by live video is clinically non-inferior to in-person therapy for common conditions such as depression, anxiety and PTSD, with comparable dropout, in a 2021 meta-analysis in Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice; the evidence is thinner for severe or crisis presentations.
How much does online therapy cost?
The middle starting price of one online therapy session paid without insurance is $155, across the 22 online therapy services that publish a per-session self-pay price on their own pages. Online therapy sessions without insurance start at $40 (Open Path Psychotherapy Collective) to $275 (Nema Health) a session at the services that publish a price; 6 of 22 start at $100 or less. With insurance, the 13 online therapy services that publish a figure say their clients pay $0 to $36 a session, mostly as an average across their insured members.
How many online therapy services take insurance?
45 of the 64 online therapy and psychiatry services a person can sign up for directly bill insurance in network (70%). 31 online therapy services say on their own pages that they take Medicare for therapy, 28 of them with a limit their pages state (some states, some plans or Medicare Advantage only). 25 online therapy services name Medicaid on their own pages, 23 of them only in some states or plans, and 24 say they do not take it.
Can you get ADHD medication online?
16 of the 32 online services that treat ADHD with medication say they prescribe stimulants such as Adderall when a clinician judges it appropriate, most with a limit they state. The DEA's temporary rule that lets clinicians prescribe controlled substances such as ADHD stimulants by telehealth without an in-person visit runs through December 31, 2026; 16 online services say they prescribe stimulants and 6 benzodiazepines.
What do online therapy platforms offer therapists?
Of 26 online therapy platforms that recruit therapists, 15 take clinicians as independent contractors (1099), 14 hire employees (W-2), some both, and 4 let them keep their own practice; 7 charge clinicians no fee to join, and 11 provide malpractice insurance. 3,169 clinical job postings were open on the official job boards of 14 online therapy companies when last read, 24% of them remote.
OnlineTherapy.me provides informational comparisons, not medical advice, an insurance eligibility decision or a price quote. In a crisis, call or text 988.
Keep going
The research behind these figures
The Online Therapy Pricing Report
What one session costs without insurance at every service that publishes a price.
Online therapy that takes insurancePlan by plan: which services name Aetna, Cigna, Medicare, Medicaid and more.
What each service prescribesADHD stimulants, benzodiazepines, antidepressants and Suboxone, service by service.
Data for teamsEvery price, plan and prescribing answer as one cited dataset, re-checked monthly.