Soap Notes vs SimplePractice
Soap Notes vs SimplePractice: pricing & features compared
Both run a private practice end to end. SimplePractice is built for insurance-billing clinicians; Soap Notes is a simpler, lower-cost all-in-one for coaches and cash-pay practices, with a genuinely free plan.
Pricing & features last reviewed September 2026.
The short version
Choose SimplePractice if you bill insurance or need telehealth and clinical templates. Choose Soap Notes if you want an affordable, all-in-one practice tool, with a free plan, for coaching or cash-pay work.
SimplePractice is one of the most established practice-management platforms for licensed health and wellness clinicians, with deep insurance billing and telehealth built in. Soap Notes covers the same day-to-day essentials, notes, scheduling, invoicing, and a client portal, in one simpler tool that's friendlier to coaches and cash-pay practices, starts free, and costs less as you grow. Which is right for you comes down to whether you bill insurance and need clinical depth, or want an affordable, all-in-one workspace without the overhead.
Feature-by-feature
| Feature | Soap Notes | SimplePractice |
|---|---|---|
| Free planSimplePractice offers a 30-day free trial but no free tier. | ||
| Starting paid price | $36/mo (Standard, billed annually) | $49/mo (Starter, per clinician) |
| AI note assistanceSimplePractice's Note Taker is priced on top of the plan. Soap Notes pulls summaries, action items and transcript excerpts from your own Fathom account, so the cost is whatever you already pay Fathom. | Via Fathom, no extra charge from us | $35/mo add-on |
| SOAP / structured session notes | ||
| Reusable note templates | ||
| Scheduling with reminders | ||
| Secure client portal | ||
| Invoicing & card payments | Via Stripe | |
| Insurance billing & claimsSimplePractice handles claim filing, ERAs, and superbills, Soap Notes is built for cash-pay. | ||
| Built-in telehealth / video | ||
| Designed for non-clinical coaches | Clinically focused | |
| Data encryption & role-based access | ||
| Pricing model | Flat plans, incl. free | Per clinician / month |
Who each one is best for
Soap Notes is best for
- Coaches (life, health, business) and cash-pay practitioners
- Solo and small practices that don't bill insurance
- Anyone who wants to start free and keep costs predictable
- People who want one simple tool, not a clinical suite to configure
SimplePractice is best for
- Licensed clinicians who bill insurance and file claims
- Practices that need built-in telehealth / video sessions
- Therapists who want clinical templates (e.g. Wiley planners)
- Teams already standardized on an established EHR
A closer look
Both tools cover most of the same ground. Here is how each one actually handles it.
What the monthly price covers
One price, and the features do not move between tiers based on what you are willing to pay extra for. The free plan runs to five active clients, and paid plans do not charge per practitioner, so adding a second person to your practice does not double the bill.
SimplePractice: Plans run $49, $79 and $99 a month per clinician, with a 30-day trial and no free tier. A group pays $99 for the first practitioner and $74 for each one after. Telehealth and the core EHR are in the plan; the AI tools are not, at $59/mo for Care Aide and $35/mo for Note Taker. Worth adding those to the headline figure before comparing.
AI help with writing notes
Soap Notes connects to Fathom, which records and transcribes your calls. Once a recording finishes it lines up against the matching booking, and from the note you can drop in Fathom's summary, its action items, or a chosen stretch of transcript. Nothing is written until you click, which matters when the note is a clinical record. We charge nothing for this; you pay Fathom whatever your Fathom plan costs.
SimplePractice: SimplePractice sells this directly as Note Taker at $35 a month per clinician, with Care Aide at $59 covering broader AI clinical work. Buying it from them is simpler than running a second tool, and it is built into the note rather than pulled across from elsewhere.
Insurance and claims
Soap Notes does not file claims, and this is the clearest reason to choose something else. Invoicing runs through Stripe and bills the client directly, which suits cash-pay work and suits nothing else.
SimplePractice: This is what SimplePractice is for. Claim filing, ERAs and superbills are core to the product rather than bolted on. If a meaningful share of your income arrives through claims, the rest of this comparison is academic.
Video sessions
There is no telehealth inside Soap Notes. Sessions run through Google Meet, which generates a link against the booking automatically. That works, and it is still one more account than a practitioner who wants video in one place would like.
SimplePractice: Telehealth is included in the SimplePractice plans rather than sold separately, and runs inside the platform alongside the client record.
Pricing compared
Soap Notes
Flat plans, including a free tier
Starter
Up to 5 active clients
Free
Standard
$36/mo billed annually · unlimited clients
$45/mo
Teams
$65/mo billed annually · team features
$81/mo
SimplePractice
Per clinician, per month
Starter
Per clinician · core features
$49/mo
Essential
Per clinician · most solos land here
$79/mo
Plus
Per clinician · $74/mo for each extra in a group
$99/mo
SimplePractice pricing checked on simplepractice.com in September 2026, at standard rates rather than the 50%-off introductory offer. Prices are per clinician; a group practice pays $99 for the first and $74 for each additional one. Telehealth and the core EHR are included in the plans, but several things are not: Care Aide, their AI clinical assistant, is $59/mo, Note Taker, their AI transcription, is $35/mo, and ePrescribe carries a monthly fee plus a one-off setup charge. There is a 30-day free trial and no free plan. Check simplepractice.com before relying on these figures. Soap Notes prices reflect our current plans.
When Soap Notes is the better choice
If you don't bill insurance, most coaches, and many cash-pay therapists and nutritionists, SimplePractice's clinical and claims machinery is overhead you pay for but don't use. Soap Notes gives you the parts you actually need every day (notes, scheduling, invoicing, and a client portal) in one place, starts free, and stays cheaper as you grow. It's also quicker to set up: there's no insurance configuration to wade through before you can see your first client.
When SimplePractice is the better choice
If you bill insurance, file claims, or need built-in telehealth and clinical documentation tools like Wiley Treatment Planners, SimplePractice is purpose-built for that and does it well. For an insurance-based therapy practice that needs those workflows, its depth is worth the higher per-clinician cost. We'd rather tell you that honestly than oversell, if insurance billing is core to your practice, SimplePractice is likely the better fit.
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