Best 7 Reasons to Get a New Patient Inquiry Chat for Mental Health Practices

Woebot is a conversational AI chatbot specifically designed for mental wellness. Launched in 2017, it offers evidence‑based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques through a friendly, mobile‑first chat interface. The platform is accessible via its own app or embedded on a practice’s website using a simple JavaScript snippet. Woebot collects mood data and provides daily check‑ins, teaching users coping strategies, mindfulness exercises, and psychoeducation. The AI is trained on peer‑reviewed CBT content and incorporates real‑time emotional tone analysis to adapt its tone and suggestions. Woebot’s key strengths lie in its scalability and data‑driven approach. It can be deployed to thousands of users at once, making it ideal for larger practices or health systems looking to offer low‑cost, high‑reach mental health support. The platform comes with a built‑in analytics dashboard that tracks engagement, mood trends, and session frequency. However, Woebot does not integrate natively with electronic health record (EHR) systems, and its customization options are limited to changing the avatar and language settings. Pricing for Woebot is primarily free for individual users, with a subscription model for clinicians. The “Woebot Clinical” plan costs $150 per month for a single therapist, providing access to advanced analytics, patient dashboards, and the ability to sync therapy notes with the client’s personal records. Larger teams can negotiate enterprise pricing. Overall, Woebot offers a highly specialized, evidence‑based chatbot that can complement traditional therapy but may require additional integration work to fit into a practice’s existing workflows.

Ada Health is a symptom‑checker chatbot that has expanded into broader patient engagement tools. It operates through a conversational interface that guides users through a series of questions to assess health concerns, offering possible conditions and next‑step recommendations. Ada’s algorithms are trained on a vast medical knowledge base and are continually updated by medical professionals. The platform can be embedded on a practice’s website or accessed via its mobile app. Ada’s strengths include its high‑quality medical content, multilingual support, and ability to triage patients to appropriate care pathways—whether that means scheduling an appointment, seeking a telehealth session, or advising self‑care. The platform also offers analytics dashboards that track symptom trends across populations, which can inform practice decision‑making. Pricing for Ada is tiered, with a free plan for limited usage and paid plans starting at $250/month for small practices, offering unlimited conversations, advanced analytics, and API access. Enterprise pricing is available for larger health systems. While Ada is highly robust for symptom triage, it is less focused on ongoing therapy or patient education modules, and it requires a developer to fully integrate its APIs into existing practice workflows.

HealthTap offers a conversational AI that connects patients with licensed clinicians via an instant chat or video call. The platform’s chat interface can be embedded on a practice’s website or accessed through a mobile app. Upon initiating a conversation, the AI collects basic health information, screens for urgency, and either escalates to a live clinician or schedules a telehealth visit. HealthTap’s main advantage is its hybrid model: AI handles the initial intake, while a human clinician can step in when needed. This reduces clinician burden while ensuring patients receive timely care. The platform also provides a library of health articles and personalized health plans based on the conversation data. Pricing is tiered: a free plan allows up to 50 conversations per month. The paid “HealthTap Pro” starts at $299/month and includes unlimited conversations, priority support, and access to the full library of clinician‑curated content. Larger practices can negotiate enterprise pricing. HealthTap is well‑suited for practices offering telehealth services, but it can be more expensive than standalone chat solutions and requires coordination with clinicians for live hand‑offs.

BetterHelp is an online counseling platform that offers live chat, video, and messaging with licensed therapists. While it is primarily a marketplace for individual therapy, it also provides a chatbot interface that can triage patients and schedule appointments. The chatbot can ask basic questions, assess urgency, and direct users to the appropriate therapist or to the platform’s library of self‑help resources. BetterHelp’s key benefit is its integration with a large network of clinicians, which ensures rapid response times and access to specialty care. The chatbot is simple to embed on a practice’s website and can be customized with the practice’s branding. However, it does not offer a traditional knowledge base or advanced AI features beyond basic triage. Pricing for BetterHelp’s individual therapy plans starts at $60/month for video sessions, with chat and messaging included. BetterHelp does not charge separate fees for the chatbot, but it is available only within the BetterHelp ecosystem. Because BetterHelp focuses on therapy rather than patient intake, it is best suited for practices that want to outsource counseling services while still maintaining a branded front‑end chatbot.

Talkspace is a teletherapy platform that offers secure messaging, video, and text chat with licensed therapists. Its chatbot component handles initial intake by asking users to describe their concerns, then matches them with appropriate mental health professionals. The bot collects basic demographic information, symptom severity, and preferred communication channels. Talkspace’s strengths include strong HIPAA compliance, a large therapist network, and flexible subscription plans that cater to individuals, couples, and families. The chatbot can be embedded on a practice’s website, providing a consistent brand experience while funneling patients into the Talkspace ecosystem. Pricing for Talkspace starts at $65/month for individual therapy and $85/month for couples therapy, with additional fees for more intensive services. The chatbot is free as part of the platform, but access is limited to Talkspace users. Talkspace is ideal for practices that want to outsource therapy services but maintain a branded entry point, though it does not offer a standalone chatbot product for independent integration.

Ginger.io is a mental health platform that combines AI‑driven coaching, on‑demand therapy, and medication management. Its chatbot provides instant support, daily check‑ins, and connects users to a network of licensed clinicians for video or phone sessions. The conversational interface is designed to be lightweight yet supportive, offering mood tracking and coping strategies. Ginger’s key differentiators are its integration with clinical care pathways and its ability to triage patients to the appropriate level of care—be it self‑help, coaching, or therapy. The platform also offers analytics that help clinicians monitor patient engagement and outcomes. Pricing for Ginger is not publicly disclosed, but the platform typically partners with employers and health plans to offer the service to employees. Individual access is available for a monthly fee that ranges between $30 and $60, depending on the level of support. Ginger is best suited for practices that want a comprehensive, AI‑augmented mental health solution that includes coaching, therapy, and medication support, but it requires integration with existing EHR systems for full functionality.