Why Therapists Are Leaving Psychology Today — and Where They're Going

Some therapists are reconsidering Psychology Today because their practice now runs on two separate bills: a directory listing for clients to find them, and a practice management system to run the business once clients arrive. If you pay for both, the monthly cost adds up, and a few newer platforms bundle the two. Whether that trade is worth it depends on how much you rely on directory traffic, and Psychology Today still has real advantages there.

What Psychology Today does well

Start with the fair part. Psychology Today has a larger directory audience than newer platforms and long search authority. When someone searches for a therapist in their city, its profiles often show up near the top, and many clients already know the name. If most of your new clients today come through your Psychology Today profile, that is a real asset, and you should think hard before turning it off.

The listing costs $29.95 a month. For a solo practitioner with a steady stream of inquiries from it, that is easy to justify. A single new client per quarter more than covers it.

The question some therapists are asking is a different one: what does the total stack cost, and what does each piece actually do?

The two-bill stack

A directory gets clients to find you. It does not usually schedule them, collect intake paperwork, handle messaging, run video sessions, write notes, or bill insurance. So most therapists add a practice management tool.

Take SimplePractice as one common example. Its Essential plan is $79 a month. If you want AI-assisted notes, that is a $35 a month add-on. If you bill insurance through it, there is a $0.25 charge per claim submitted.

Put those together with a $29.95 directory listing and the monthly baseline looks like this: $29.95 plus $79 is $108.95. Add AI notes and you are at $143.95. Then add $0.25 for each claim. A therapist submitting 80 claims in a month would add $20 on top. These are the published prices as we understand them, so check current pricing before you decide, but the shape is clear. You are paying two vendors, managing two logins, and the two systems do not talk to each other. Your directory profile is one world, and your client records and calendar are another.

None of that is unreasonable for what it provides. It is just worth adding up once, because many therapists never do.

What CounselorFit does differently

CounselorFit combines the directory and the practice tools in one place. Here is what that looks like, plainly.

A listing is free after credential verification. Your listing goes live after a licensed specialist reviews your credentials, which can take up to 7 business days.

Pro is $39 a month, or $31 a month billed annually, with a 14-day free trial. It adds scheduling, intake, a client portal, and secure messaging.

Premium is $79 a month. It adds telehealth video, AI-assisted session notes, and insurance billing.

On the client side, clients pay a 5% service fee on completed bookings, on top of your rate. You are not paying that fee out of your own pocket. As a therapist, you pay Stripe processing fees and insurance fees only.

So a therapist on Premium pays $79 a month for the directory presence plus scheduling, video, notes, and billing. Compare that to $143.95 in the stack above, before any per-claim charges. A therapist who does not need video, notes, or insurance billing and just wants scheduling and intake could be on Pro at $39 a month, or $31 if billed annually.

Those comparisons are only meaningful if the feature sets match what you actually use. Do not switch to save $20 and lose a workflow you depend on.

The honest tradeoff

CounselorFit has less directory traffic than Psychology Today today. We would rather say so up front than have you find out after you sign up. A newer directory has fewer people searching it, and that means fewer inbound inquiries, at least for now.

That tradeoff shapes who this makes sense for.

If most of your clients come from your own referrals, your website, word of mouth, or a mix of channels, then the directory is a smaller part of your pipeline, and consolidating your tools may save you money and hassle.

If Psychology Today is your main source of new clients, keeping it and adding another listing for free is lower risk than leaving. A free CounselorFit listing costs nothing beyond the credential verification step, so you can run both and see which one sends you inquiries.

If you are starting a practice and have not built your tool stack yet, picking one system for both finding clients and running sessions can be simpler than assembling two.

How to decide

Do the math on your own practice. It takes about ten minutes.

First, list what you pay now for your directory listing, your practice management platform, and any add-ons like notes or billing. Include per-claim fees if you bill insurance.

Second, list what you actually use. Be honest. Many therapists pay for features they touch once a quarter.

Third, check how many new clients came from your directory profile over the last six months. If you do not know, that is useful information too. Ask new clients how they found you.

Fourth, compare the total against a consolidated option, and weigh the savings against the traffic you might lose.

If the numbers favor staying put, stay put. Psychology Today is a legitimate, well-known directory, and plenty of therapists will keep using it for good reasons.

Moving without burning bridges

You do not have to leave anything to try something else. A free listing on a second directory lets you test the waters. A 14-day free trial on a practice platform lets you see whether the workflow fits before you move any client data.

If you do consolidate, give clients plenty of notice about any change in where they book or message you, and keep your old tools active until your last appointment under the old system is done.

Add up your two bills this week, and then decide whether one bill would serve you better.