6 Cheapest AI Scribes for Therapists in 2026

1. Heidi Health: cheapest free option for standard notes

Heidi is the numerical winner when its standard templates cover the workflow. The official Heidi pricing help article says Free includes unlimited standard transcription and note generation. A therapist can therefore evaluate and continue using standard documentation without a subscription price.

The critical word is standard. Custom templates, Ask Heidi, documents, form filling, and patient or session linking share 10 advanced actions per month. A practice that needs a custom DAP or BIRP format on every session should model the paid plan shown in its region, not assume the free workflow remains unlimited. Paid pricing and features can vary by account and geography.

Choose Heidi Free when the production note format and workflow genuinely stay inside its standard functions. Use it as the $0 control in every low-cost pilot. Move to a paid alternative only if it reduces correction, supports a required structure, improves transfer, or provides an agreement or governance function that matters to the practice.

Check the current details on the official Heidi pricing help article before making a purchasing decision.

2. Wren Clinical: cheapest transparent paid entry

Wren Clinical has the lowest clear paid base in this shortlist. Its official pricing section lists $14 per month plus usage. It estimates note generation without a transcript at roughly $0.02–$0.05, note generation with an existing transcript at about $0.05–$0.12, and transcription at about $0.20 per hour. Recording is optional.

Wren publishes unusually useful workload examples. For a recorder workflow with one note type per 55-minute session, it estimates about $24 monthly at 10 clients per week, $34 at 20, and $44 at 30. A power-documenter workflow generating two or three note types is estimated at about $28, $43, and $57. Those are vendor estimates rather than guaranteed invoices, and the chosen model, note length, session length, and requests change the total.

Wren supports BIRP, SOAP, DAP, GIRP, and custom formats and says every user signs a BAA. Its terms explain that usage is billed separately in arrears and that current model and transcription rates may change. Choose Wren when transparent metering and customization fit; avoid it when variable billing complicates budgets or the practice needs a larger team vendor and integration program.

Check the current details on the official Wren Clinical pricing page before making a purchasing decision.

3. Mentalyc: cheapest therapy-specific flat plan at low volume

Mentalyc is the cheapest simple flat subscription built specifically around therapy in this set. Its official pricing page lists Mini at $19.99 monthly for 40 notes and transcripts, Basic at $39.99 for 100, Pro at $69.99 for 160, and Super at $119.99 for 330. Annual equivalents begin at $14.99, $29.99, $59.99, and $99.99.

Mini covers individual-adult SOAP, DAP, and intake notes. Basic adds treatment planning and limited alliance functions. Pro adds BIRP and a larger template library, child, couple and family client types, EMDR, play and psychiatry modalities, progress tracking, and supervisor-side notes. Group therapy notes require Super. The cheapest card is therefore usable only when both volume and clinical format fit.

At exactly 40 sessions in the comparison month, Mini is the cheapest therapy-specific flat plan. At 80, Basic covers the volume. At 120, Pro is required because Basic stops at 100. Choose Mentalyc when its specialty depth cuts editing enough to justify the tier; compare the final cost with Wren's usage estimate and ClinicFrame's flat beta plan rather than comparing only entry prices.

Check the current details on the official Mentalyc pricing page before making a purchasing decision.

4. ClinicFrame: cheapest predictable focused unlimited beta plan

ClinicFrame offers the simplest predictable price among the focused paid products here. Its pricing page lists $34.99 month to month or $335.88 annually, equivalent to $27.99 per month. Current beta access includes unlimited visits, while the page discloses a future cap of 80 sessions per month.

The product supports SOAP, DAP, BIRP, and custom note templates, plus in-person capture, telehealth capture from the clinician's computer without a meeting bot, and dictation. It includes patient records and note chat. The handoff is currently copy or export rather than a native EHR integration, which can make a cheaper subscription more expensive in staff time for practices that need automated transfer.

Choose ClinicFrame when a flat predictable amount and custom formats matter more than a current integration. Under beta pricing it costs the same at 40, 80, and 120 sessions, although the disclosed future cap would change the 120-session case and must be checked before purchase. ClinicFrame publishes this guide, so its correction time, BAA, retention, and transfer workflow should receive exactly the same scrutiny as competitors.

Check the current details on the official ClinicFrame pricing page before making a purchasing decision.

5. Upheal: best per-session price with a monthly ceiling

Upheal uses a model that is easy to calculate but important to read carefully. Its official pricing page lists $1 per session with no minimum spend and a $69 monthly cap for the individual plan. At 40 counted sessions the comparison cost is $40; at 80 or 120 it reaches the $69 ceiling.

The price includes more than a note generator: Upheal describes therapy notes, treatment plans, a compliance checker, scheduling, telehealth, client portal and messaging, forms, and other practice functions. Its FAQ says a session is counted when an AI note is generated or a client session is scheduled. Telehealth calls through Upheal can count even if no AI note is created. Practices should model the exact scheduling and telehealth workflow, not only completed notes.

Choose Upheal when fluctuating volume and the broader therapy platform make the capped model useful. A light month can cost less than a flat subscription, while a busy month remains limited. Do not assume the cap makes it cheapest: Wren's published recorder estimates are lower at the example volumes, and Heidi may remain free. Upheal can still win if its integrated workflow removes separate software or transfer work.

Check the current details on the official Upheal pricing page before making a purchasing decision.

6. Twofold Health: best broader flat-rate unlimited workflow

Twofold is not cheapest by sticker price, but it belongs in a total-cost comparison for busy therapists who need more than progress notes. Its official pricing help page lists Personal at $69 monthly or $588 annually, equivalent to $49 per month. The plan includes unlimited notes, treatment plans, custom templates, progress tracking, and mobile and desktop use.

Twofold also describes live capture, telehealth, dictation, typed input, uploaded recordings, and coding functions. A clinician at 120 sessions pays the same subscription as at 40, subject to current terms. That can make the annual plan competitive with higher-volume Mentalyc tiers or Upheal's cap if the broader workflow is genuinely used.

Choose Twofold when the extra functions replace real work and the annual commitment is acceptable. Do not count every feature as a saving. Treatment, coding, and longitudinal outputs require their own validation and human review. A therapist who needs only a simple DAP note may pay less with Heidi, Wren, Mentalyc Mini, or ClinicFrame.

Check the current details on the official Twofold pricing help page before making a purchasing decision.

Estimated monthly price at 40, 80, and 120 sessions

This normalization uses a four-week comparison month and public month-to-month prices unless labeled. Wren figures are vendor estimates for one recorder-generated note per 55-minute session, and Heidi assumes standard templates only.

• Heidi's $0 row is not equivalent to unlimited custom templates or advanced actions.
• Mentalyc pricing changes when volume, BIRP, client type, modality, or group-note requirements cross a plan gate.
• Wren estimates vary with model, session length, note length, transcription, and number of documents generated.
• Upheal counts more than completed AI notes in some scheduling and telehealth workflows.
• The ClinicFrame 120-session figure reflects current beta terms, not the disclosed future 80-session limit.

Which option is actually cheapest for your caseload?

At low volume, Heidi wins if standard notes fit. If they do not, Mentalyc Mini can be the lowest therapy-specific flat plan at 40 monthly notes, while Wren may be lower or similar depending on capture and model use. ClinicFrame becomes attractive when predictable custom-format pricing matters. At higher volume, Wren's published estimates remain low, ClinicFrame's current beta stays flat, Upheal reaches its cap, Mentalyc crosses tier boundaries, and Twofold's broader unlimited bundle becomes more competitive.

These figures are screening numbers, not a purchasing verdict. If one product takes five additional minutes to correct and transfer per session, that creates more than six hours of monthly work at 80 sessions. Multiply that time by the clinician's fully loaded hourly value. A $20 subscription saving can disappear after one difficult note.

Four pricing traps to avoid

A fair cheapest comparison should make the following traps visible rather than burying them in footnotes.

1. Free does not mean every template or advanced function is unlimited. Price the actual actions used in production.
2. An annual equivalent is not a month-to-month price. Include cash flow, cancellation, refund, and migration risk.
3. A note cap is not always a session cap. Failed notes, reprocessing, multiple documents, scheduled visits, or telehealth use may consume units differently.
4. A broader platform saves money only when it replaces tools or work the practice would otherwise buy and govern.

DAP, BIRP, SOAP, and custom-template plan gates

Therapists should write down the required record before comparing prices. The DAP vs BIRP vs SOAP guide explains how the formats differ. A product that generates SOAP but requires a paid upgrade for BIRP may still be cheap for one practice and unusable for another.

Mentalyc Mini explicitly includes SOAP, DAP, and intake notes for individual adults, while its larger custom-format library and BIRP appear at Pro. Wren says standard and custom formats are available under its base-plus-usage model. ClinicFrame lists SOAP, DAP, BIRP, and custom templates on one plan. Twofold lists custom templates. Heidi Free is strongest when standard templates fit; recurring custom use changes the plan calculation.

Also distinguish progress notes in the designated record from psychotherapy notes kept separately under HIPAA. Do not send a session transcript or private process material to a vendor merely because the final EHR note is concise. Define the permitted input, retention, output, and deletion rules before the pilot.

Privacy, BAA, and consent are cost gates

A cheap tool is unusable if the required legal and security conditions are absent. The HHS cloud guidance says a cloud provider that maintains electronic protected health information is generally a business associate, even if it cannot view encrypted information. A covered entity still must perform its risk analysis and obtain the appropriate agreement.

Use the AI-scribe BAA checklist to review permitted uses, safeguards, incident reporting, subprocessors, return or destruction, and termination. Verify where audio, transcripts, prompts, drafts, notes, backups, and logs exist; who can access them; whether data improves models; and how deletion is confirmed.

Recording also requires an operational consent process. The patient consent guide provides a starting framework, but state recording law, professional obligations, contracts, and organizational policy may add requirements. The therapist should have a no-recording alternative that does not interrupt care.

How to test the two cheapest finalists

Do not run six full pilots. Use price and must-have gates to reduce the market to two finalists plus the current workflow. Test 20–30 representative encounters using synthetic or appropriately authorized data. Include individual therapy, telehealth, risk language, medication references when relevant, rapid speaker changes, a poor-audio case, and every required note format.

Measure the complete path to a signed note. Record capture failures, draft latency, missing facts, unsupported facts, speaker attribution, diagnostic language, risk documentation, medical-necessity language, plan errors, edits, and EHR transfer time. Keep the reviewer blind to the product where practical and require clinicians to approve every output.

1. Confirm the plan, limits, overages, renewal, annual commitment, refund policy, and team-seat rules in writing.
2. Obtain and review the BAA, privacy terms, subprocessors, retention, deletion, and training terms.
3. Run the same encounters and note templates through both finalists.
4. Calculate subscription plus correction, transfer, consent administration, training, failures, and support time.
5. Choose only after clinical, privacy, security, and operational reviewers accept the evidence.

How this guide differs from the best therapist scribe ranking

The best-of article evaluates overall therapist workflow, including clinical structure, client types, telehealth, practice size, EHR handoff, and governance. This article evaluates price mechanics and the least expensive usable tier. Keeping those jobs on separate canonical URLs avoids forcing one page to answer two different questions poorly.

A product can rank well for cheapest without being the best overall, and vice versa. Wren's transparent low-cost model is compelling for solo clinicians, while an organization may rationally pay more for team provisioning, implementation, integration, identity, audit, and support. Price is a filter, not a substitute for fit.