The Best Affordable Therapy Options in 2024

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The Best Affordable Therapy Options in 2024

Our tester, Steven Rowe, Healthline editor, was impressed with the ease of signing up, choosing a therapist, and booking a session. He was also overall satisfied with the therapy experience.

Setup time was almost instantaneous, he said: “Less than 5 minutes start to finish, not counting the time I spent reading bios and choosing the right therapist. If someone weren’t picky about their therapist, they could book an appointment in minutes.

“After making an Amwell account, in just a few clicks I was able to see a list of available therapists (15 in my area) along with bios and availability calendars,” he said. “After choosing a therapist, it only took a few more minutes to book the appointment.”

He thought the search function for finding therapists could be improved by including more filter options. “Inside each bio you can read about their specialties, like parenting, trauma, anger management, but those elements aren’t able to be targeted and filtered directly,” he pointed out.

He also would have liked to have more psychologist choices. There were many therapists available for appointments as quickly as the next day but all the psychologists were booked at least a month ahead.

Steven said he went into therapy with the goal of getting help with his daily life. He wanted a therapist who could understand his experience as a husband and a father, and he wanted to gain “a better understanding of why I was feeling a certain way each week, or to better understand my reactions to the stressors in my life.”

He felt his therapy sessions met these expectations. “I liked that I always felt the space to talk about whatever I wanted – even if it was random or off-topic,” he said. “I didn’t feel like I was forced to swerve back on topic or that I was ever irritating with my sometimes scattered thoughts.”

Though the cost of the therapy worked in the short term for Steven, he said the $112 per-session cost would be a financial hardship every week. He tried to cover the cost with his health insurance, but it wasn’t accepted. Amwell does accept many insurance plans, and this can lessen the cost.

Steven said he would recommend Amwell, especially to those wanting to explore their life issues. “I would recommend this service if you’d like to have someone to talk to and to bounce ideas off of,” he said. “My therapist asked great questions that would encourage me to take a deep look at the topics I wanted to discuss.

“Given the format, I’m not sure if it’s a good fit for someone going through an extremely difficult time or someone who needs specialized care, but for a random dad just looking for help working through conflicts in his daily life, it was a pleasant experience.”

— Steven Rowe, Healthline editor

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