Healthie vs SimplePractice for Coaches: 2026 Comparison
Healthie vs SimplePractice comes down to who you serve. Healthie is the better fit for nutrition and wellness practitioners who want food journaling, care plans and online programs. SimplePractice is the better fit for therapists and clinicians who bill insurance and write progress notes all day. If you are a coach rather than a licensed clinician, the honest answer is that both are built for clinical work you probably do not do, and you may be paying for the parts you never open.
This guide compares the two head to head using what each vendor publishes on its pricing pages as listed in October 2026, and what public reviewers report. We make Coachful, a coaching platform, so at the end we cover it as a third option, including the cases where Healthie or SimplePractice is still the right call.
If you are a health coach, we also have a ranked list of SimplePractice alternatives for health coaches and a direct Practice Better vs Healthie comparison.
What is the short answer, by use case?
Pick by the work you actually do each week, not by the longest feature list. Here is the short version.
- Registered dietitian or nutrition practitioner who bills some insurance: Healthie. Food and lifestyle journaling, care plans and charting are in every plan, and claims run through the ClaimMD add-on.
- Licensed therapist, counselor or psychologist: SimplePractice. Its plans, AI note tools and insurance features are built around therapy notes and claims.
- Clinician who prescribes: either. SimplePractice sells ePrescribe as an add-on; Healthie offers DoseSpot e-prescribing as an add-on.
- Health, wellness or life coach who does not diagnose or bill insurance: probably neither. You need booking, payments, agreements, programs, habits and check-ins between sessions, which is what a coaching platform such as Coachful is built for.
- Coach who also holds a clinical license and keeps protected health information: keep the clinical records in Healthie or SimplePractice, because Coachful is not HIPAA-certified.
How do Healthie and SimplePractice compare side by side?
Both are cloud practice management systems with a HIPAA business associate agreement, a client portal, telehealth, scheduling and payments. The difference is the center of gravity: Healthie leans toward nutrition and ongoing client engagement, SimplePractice toward therapy documentation and insurance billing.
We rank for coaches on four things: one login for the whole client journey, delivery between sessions, total stack cost, and setup effort (including a free white-glove build).
| Factor | Built for | Between-session delivery | Insurance and clinical tools | HIPAA BAA | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coachful | Coaches who deliver programs, solo or small team | Multi-week programs, habits, morning and evening check-ins, courses, community, branded client app | None; not for clinical records or insurance billing | No, not HIPAA-certified | A free trial, plus a free white-glove build |
| Healthie | Dietitians, nutrition and wellness providers | Food and lifestyle journaling, goals and metrics, care plans; online programs on Plus | Charting, superbills, CMS 1500s, ClaimMD and DoseSpot add-ons | Yes, automatic at account creation | 14 days on the Plus plan, no card |
| SimplePractice | Therapists and health practitioners | Client portal and telehealth; no coaching programs, courses or community | Clinical notes, insurance claims, ePrescribe add-on, AI note tools | Yes, automatic at signup | 30 days, no card |
Two things stand out. Healthie has more client-engagement tooling (journaling, goals, programs) than SimplePractice. SimplePractice has deeper therapy tooling and a much larger user base, which shows in its review volume.
How does Healthie vs SimplePractice pricing compare?
Healthie is cheaper at the entry level and caps clients by plan; SimplePractice charges more per month but does not cap clients. All figures below are as listed in October 2026 in US dollars.
| Plan level | Entry plan | Mid plan | Top solo plan | Extra practitioner | Annual discount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coachful | Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients | Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients | Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients | Team plans add coach seats | Flat monthly plans, cancel in one click |
| Healthie | Core $19.99/mo, up to 10 active clients | Essentials $49.99/mo, up to 250 active clients | Plus $129.99/mo, unlimited clients | Group $149.99/mo with 1 provider, then $50/mo per extra provider | About 10% yearly ($18, $45, $115, $135 per month) |
| SimplePractice | Starter $49/mo | Essential $79/mo (group sessions +$20/mo) | Plus $99/mo | $74/mo per extra practitioner; 6+ clinicians custom | None; monthly billing only |
What do the add-ons and fees cost?
The monthly plan is rarely the whole bill for either tool. These are the extras each vendor lists.
- Healthie card processing: Stripe at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, handled inside Healthie with no separate Stripe login.
- Healthie add-ons: ClaimMD insurance claims (listed as from $30/mo, or $25/mo plus a $50 to $100 setup fee in another place on the page), DoseSpot e-prescribing at $40 per clinician per month, AI charting with no published price, and an inbound eFax line at $10/mo.
- SimplePractice card processing: 3.15% + $0.30 per card payment.
- SimplePractice insurance: $0.39 per claim, plus $20 per clinician per year for AMA CPT code access.
- SimplePractice add-ons: Care Aide at $59/mo (includes Note Taker), Note Taker alone at $35/mo, and ePrescribe at $49/mo plus an $89 setup fee.
What would a solo practitioner pay in a year?
Here is an illustrative example, not a quote: one practitioner with 40 active clients, no insurance billing and no add-ons. On Healthie, 40 clients puts you on Essentials: $49.99 x 12 = $599.88 monthly, or $45 x 12 = $540 paid yearly. On SimplePractice Starter, $49 x 12 = $588, or $514.50 in year one if you take the offer listed in October 2026 (50% off for three months when you start a paid plan within the first 7 days of the 30-day trial: $24.50 x 3 + $49 x 9).
Processing then adds up. On a $300 package, Healthie's Stripe fee is $9.00 ($8.70 + $0.30) and SimplePractice's card fee is $9.75 ($9.45 + $0.30). Across 40 such payments a year, that is $360 on Healthie and $390 on SimplePractice.
The picture changes when you need groups or programs. Healthie lists online programs and group telehealth on Plus, at $129.99/mo. SimplePractice lists group appointments and group telehealth on Plus at $99/mo, and group sessions as a $20/mo add-on on Essential. Neither price includes a website, email marketing, courses or a community, so a coach usually adds two to four more tools on top.
Coachful works differently: flat monthly plans where lower plans cap the number of clients, Pro is unlimited, and team plans add seats. Current plans: (Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients). There is a 0% Coachful platform fee; you pay only your own Stripe or Razorpay processing.
How do they compare on scheduling and telehealth?
Both handle online booking, reminders and video sessions well for one-to-one appointments. Healthie lists calendar and online scheduling, email and SMS appointment reminders, and individual telehealth video calls on every plan, with HIPAA-compliant Zoom integrated at no extra cost. Group telehealth and webinars sit on Plus, and a shared, color-coded calendar on Group.
SimplePractice includes scheduling, a client portal and telehealth, with group appointments and group telehealth on Plus. Its newer Session Sidekick tool, part of Care Aide, is described as live support during telehealth sessions.
For a coach, the gap is not the calendar but what surrounds it: neither is designed around paid session packages, session credits or programs that start when someone books. If scheduling is your main need, our scheduling software for coaches page shows what a coaching-first calendar covers.
How do they compare on notes, charting and insurance?
This is where both tools earn their price, and where a coach usually overpays. SimplePractice is a full EHR for therapy: progress notes, treatment plans (in beta inside Care Aide), AI-drafted notes through Note Taker, insurance claims and CPT codes. Healthie offers an electronic health record, smart-fill charting, care plans, superbills, CMS 1500 forms, a form builder and optional AI charting.
If you bill insurance, these features matter, and the per-claim and per-clinician fees are a normal cost of doing business. If you do not, the CPT code fee, claim tools and clinical note templates are dead weight. As the US Department of Health and Human Services explains, HIPAA rules apply to covered entities such as health care providers that transmit health information electronically, for example in insurance transactions. Many coaches who do not bill insurance are not covered entities, but check with an attorney if you are unsure, because it depends on your license and how you work.
How do they compare on programs and client engagement?
Healthie is clearly ahead here. Its comparison table lists food and lifestyle journaling, goals and metrics tracking, care plans, a document library and the Healthie mobile app on every plan, and automated online programs (fixed-start and rolling) on the higher tiers. Healthie's plan cards and comparison table do not fully agree on which tier includes online programs, so confirm on the trial before you commit.
SimplePractice does not offer coaching programs, courses or a community. Clients use the portal to book, pay, fill out forms and join telehealth. That fits therapy, where the work happens in the session, but it leaves a coach without a place to deliver weekly tasks, habits or check-ins between calls.
Neither tool includes a course builder, a community feed, a website builder, funnels or email sequences, so these would come from separate products.
How do they compare on payments, forms and agreements?
Both take card payments and send invoices, but neither is set up for the way coaches sell. Healthie processes payments through Stripe inside the account, with invoicing and direct transfers to your bank. Electronic forms and waivers are on every plan. SimplePractice runs its own payments at 3.15% + $0.30, and clients pay through its portal.
What is missing for coaching: payment plans with order bumps and coupons, a checkout page that enrolls the buyer into a program, and a coaching agreement signed before the first call. Our coaching contracts page covers what an agreement should include.
How do they compare on teams and support?
SimplePractice is cheaper for a small team; Healthie offers more structure for team roles. Two practitioners on SimplePractice Plus cost $99 + $74 = $173/mo, and practices with 6 or more clinicians get custom pricing with personalized onboarding. Two practitioners on Healthie Group cost $149.99 + $50 = $199.99/mo, which includes roles and permissions, internal team chat, a shared calendar and a free support account for each provider added.
Healthie lists chat and email support on lower tiers and one-to-one support on Group, plus data transfer support from Essentials up. SimplePractice lists a premium support phone line on Plus.
What do clients experience in each tool?
In both, the client experience is a patient portal: book, pay, sign forms, message securely and join video. Healthie adds more for the client to do between appointments, such as logging food and lifestyle entries, tracking goals and metrics, and following a program in the Healthie mobile app. SimplePractice keeps the portal lean and focused on administration around sessions.
For a coaching client, a portal built for patients can feel clinical. Words like "patient", "chart" and "superbill" appear in the vendor's own language, and the client is in the vendor's app rather than a space that looks like your brand.
Public reviews point in the same direction as the feature lists. On Trustpilot, SimplePractice showed 2.6 from 1,616 reviews and Healthie 4.0 from 5 reviews when we checked in October 2026. Five reviews is too few to read much into, and a large tool with a big user base tends to collect more complaints, so treat both numbers as a hint, not a verdict. Coachful showed 4.5 from 21 reviews.
Which should you pick for which kind of practice?
Choose the tool whose core workflow matches yours, then check the total cost with add-ons. A simple guide:
| Your practice | Best fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Coachful: coaches selling programs, packages, courses or group coaching | Coachful | Booking, payments, agreements, programs, check-ins, courses, community, website, funnels and email under one login and one branded client app |
| Dietitian or nutrition practitioner who charts and sometimes bills insurance | Healthie | Journaling, care plans, charting and ClaimMD in one HIPAA system |
| Therapist or counselor who bills insurance | SimplePractice | Therapy notes, claims, CPT codes and AI note tools |
| Small clinical group practice, 2 to 5 clinicians | SimplePractice for cost, Healthie for roles and team chat | $173/mo vs $199.99/mo for two practitioners |
| Licensed clinician who also runs a coaching program | Healthie or SimplePractice for clinical records, plus a coaching platform for the program | Keep protected health information in the HIPAA system |
If you are weighing other clinical options too, see Practice Better vs SimplePractice. Practice Better is another wellness practice system, with a free Sprout plan for up to 3 clients.
Is there a third option for coaches who do not need a clinical system?
Yes. If you coach rather than treat, a coaching platform usually costs less in total and does more of what you do between sessions. We make Coachful, so weigh this section with that in mind; we have tried to be specific about where it wins and where it does not.
What Coachful is. Coachful is a coaching platform. One subscription covers booking, payments, contracts, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant, with one login for the coach and one branded app for the client. It is built for coaches who deliver programs, not just sessions, for solo coaches growing into a small team, and for coaches replacing 4 to 6 tools. The company is based in Tallinn, Estonia.
Where does Coachful beat both Healthie and SimplePractice?
Between-session delivery. You can build multi-week programs with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, morning and evening check-ins, goals with progress bars and streaks. Clients see it in your branded home and app, and you see each client's status as thriving, active, quiet or at risk.
This short walkthrough shows how check-ins are set up and what clients answer each day:
Programs, courses and groups. Courses with modules, lessons, drip and completion tracking, plus a community feed, group chat, direct messages and video events, are included in your Coachful membership. Cohort groups are created automatically when someone enrolls in a program. See group coaching software and the online course platform for coaches.
Selling the way coaches sell. Payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account: one-time, subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, coupons, refunds, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and Stripe Tax. Coaching agreements with e-signature go out before the first call and are stored on the client record.
Booking built for packages. Booking pages have availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection, with two-way Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook sync. Sessions get built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Meet or Teams links, email reminders, and SMS (24 hours) and WhatsApp (1 hour) reminders once messaging is enabled. You can sell paid sessions and session credits and ask intake questions at booking.
The marketing stack. A section-based website builder with blog, custom domain and 30 designed homepage templates; booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout funnels; and email lists, broadcasts and multi-step sequences. Neither Healthie nor SimplePractice includes these.
An AI assistant that knows your practice. Michelle works from live practice data: she builds programs, drafts emails, summarizes recorded sessions and briefs you before each one. ICF credential tracking counts hours and clients against ACC, PCC and MCC thresholds (ICF hour tracking).
For nutrition and fitness coaches, the Fitness & Nutrition pack adds nutrition targets up to calories and macros, meal plans, recipes, food lookup and barcode scanning, private progress photos and measurements, weekly check-ins, and a workout builder (Fitness & Nutrition). Health coaches can read more on our page for health coaches.
Where do Healthie or SimplePractice still beat Coachful?
Be clear-eyed about these, because they decide the choice for many practitioners:
- HIPAA and clinical records. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and does not sign a BAA. If you diagnose, treat, or keep protected health information, use Healthie or SimplePractice for those records.
- Insurance billing. Coachful has no claims, superbills or CPT codes. Both competitors do.
- Prescribing and labs. Healthie offers DoseSpot e-prescribing and lab ordering through partners; SimplePractice offers ePrescribe. Coachful offers none of this.
- Wearables. Coachful has no Garmin, Fitbit, Whoop or Oura sync, and Apple Health sync is not publicly available.
- PayPal and plan structure. Coachful does not support PayPal, and every plan is a paid subscription after the trial.
- Your own app listing. Clients use the Coachful app with your branding, not an app in your own App Store account.
A scope line for health coaches. Coaching is not medical treatment or therapy. If a client describes symptoms of an eating disorder, uncontrolled blood sugar or blood pressure, medication changes, thoughts of self-harm, or a condition that needs diagnosis, refer them to a doctor, registered dietitian or licensed therapist. That boundary is also why a coaching platform without clinical records can be the right tool: clinical care belongs with a clinician and a clinical system.
Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. On every plan, you can ask the Coachful team to build things for you from Create > We'll build it for you: a website, a funnel, a sales page, a program, a course outline and written material, an email sequence, a form, a lead quiz or an automation. You describe it, attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files, and the team builds it inside your account, usually within about 24 hours. Nothing is invented: no fake credentials, testimonials or prices, and gaps are left for you to fill. It does not include recording videos, logo design or ad management. One recent example: a menopause and midlife health coach starting from nothing got a five-page site in sage and cream, with every button leading to a free 20-minute consultation. Read more about the free white-glove service.
How do you start?
Start a free trial, then request a white-glove build of your website or first program. Clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding. If you leave, you can export your full client data as a ZIP. Current plans: (Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients). For a broader look, see our coaching software overview, the comparison hub or the 12 best SimplePractice alternatives for coaches.
Frequently asked questions
Is Healthie or SimplePractice better for health coaches?
Healthie is the better of the two for health coaches, because it includes food and lifestyle journaling, goals tracking and online programs on higher plans. SimplePractice is built around therapy notes and insurance and has no coaching programs. If you do not keep clinical records or bill insurance, a coaching platform usually fits better than either.
Which is cheaper, Healthie or SimplePractice?
Healthie is cheaper at the low end: Core is $19.99/mo for up to 10 active clients, against $49 for SimplePractice Starter, as listed in October 2026. Above 10 clients the two are close, and Healthie's unlimited-client Plus plan at $129.99/mo costs more than SimplePractice Plus at $99/mo. Add-ons and card fees can change the total.
Do coaches need a HIPAA-compliant platform?
It depends on your license and whether you are a covered entity under HIPAA, for example by billing insurance electronically. Many coaches who do not diagnose, treat or bill insurance are not. Check with an attorney if you are unsure, and keep any clinical records in a HIPAA system such as Healthie or SimplePractice.
Does Healthie have a free plan or free trial?
Healthie has no free plan. It offers a 14-day trial of its Plus plan with no credit card required, as listed in October 2026.
Does SimplePractice have a free trial?
Yes, a 30-day trial with no card required. In October 2026 it also listed 50% off for three months if you start a paid plan within the first 7 days of the trial.
Can I run group programs in Healthie or SimplePractice?
Healthie lists automated online programs and group telehealth and webinars on its Plus plan. SimplePractice offers group appointments and group telehealth on Plus, and group sessions as a $20/mo add-on on Essential, but no program delivery or community.
Can I use Coachful alongside Healthie or SimplePractice?
Yes. Some licensed practitioners keep clinical notes and insurance in Healthie or SimplePractice and run coaching programs, courses and marketing in Coachful. Keep protected health information out of Coachful, since it is not HIPAA-certified.
What is Coachful's free white-glove service?
It is a build service included on every Coachful plan. You describe what you want, such as a website, funnel, program or email sequence, attach references, and the Coachful team builds it inside your account, usually within about 24 hours. It does not include recording videos, logo design or ad management.
Can I move my clients from Healthie or SimplePractice to Coachful?
Clients, programs and content are imported for you during Coachful onboarding. Export steps from Healthie and SimplePractice are not confirmed in their public documentation, so ask their support for a client export before you switch.
