How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- Doxy.me and VSee offer genuinely free plans, but the paid tiers add the features most practices actually need, like group calls and custom branding.
- SimplePractice ($49/month) and TheraNest ($29/therapist/month) bundle telehealth into practice management, which suits therapists better than a standalone video tool.
- Zoom for Healthcare works when your team already lives in Zoom, but HIPAA compliance through a signed BAA requires a paid plan.
- Spruce Health ($24/user/month) centralizes HIPAA-compliant messaging, phone, fax, and video in one inbox with a BAA included on every plan.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Doxy.me | Solo providers and small practices wanting free browser-based video visits | Free plan; Pro $35/month and Clinic $50/month (per reviewers) | Yes (free plan with basic video visits) |
 Zoom for Healthcare | Practices already standardized on Zoom | $16.99/user/month (Pro, monthly billing, per reviewers) | No (a signed BAA for HIPAA compliance requires a paid plan) |
 Mend | Health systems and large practices needing patient engagement plus telehealth | See website (custom quote) | No |
 SimplePractice | Solo and small therapy and wellness practices | $49/month (Starter plan) | Free trial (30 days, no credit card required) |
 TheraNest | Mental and behavioral health practices | $29/therapist/month (Essentials plan) | Free trial (21 days, no credit card required) |
 Spruce Health | Practices wanting HIPAA-compliant messaging, phone, and video in one inbox | $24/user/month (Basic plan) | Free trial (14 days, per reviewers) |
 VSee | Providers wanting a free or low-cost professional waiting room | Free plan; paid from $29/month (Plus) | Yes (free plan with waiting room for individual providers) |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
The best telehealth software for virtual care
Virtual care is no longer the backup option. Spruce Health alone counts more than 50,000 providers on its platform, according to its own website, a sign of how routine video visits, secure messaging, and remote check-ins have become across primary care, mental health, and specialty practices. The best telehealth software in 2026 is not just a video call: it is the combination of HIPAA-compliant visits, scheduling, patient communication, and records that fits how your practice actually works. These seven platforms cover the real range, from free browser-based visits to full practice management with telehealth built in.
#1
Doxy.me
Best for: Solo providers and small practices wanting free browser-based video visits
Visit doxy.me
Starting priceFree plan; Pro $35/month and Clinic $50/month (per reviewers)
Free planYes (free plan with basic video visits)
Doxy.me is the simplest way to start doing telehealth. It runs in the browser, patients join from a link with nothing to install, and there is a genuinely free plan. For solo providers and small practices testing virtual visits, the friction is close to zero, which explains why it became the default free option for so many clinicians.
The free plan covers basic video visits, while the paid tiers add the features practices usually need next. Reviewers report Pro at $35 per month and Clinic at $50 per month, though Doxy.me does not publish these prices on its own site. Treat it as a visit tool rather than a platform: documentation, scheduling, and billing will live in your EHR or elsewhere.
What we like- No downloads for patients, runs in the browser
- Genuinely free tier for getting started
- Simple virtual waiting room workflow
Watch out for- Paid plan prices not published on the vendor site
- Not a full practice management system, so scheduling and billing live elsewhere
#2
Zoom for Healthcare
Best for: Practices already standardized on Zoom
Visit zoom.us
Starting price$16.99/user/month (Pro, monthly billing, per reviewers)
Free planNo (a signed BAA for HIPAA compliance requires a paid plan)
Zoom for Healthcare brings telehealth into the video platform most patients already know how to use. If your staff and patients are comfortable with Zoom, training nearly disappears, and the healthcare offering layers HIPAA-aligned configuration on top of standard Zoom meetings.
The catch is compliance. A signed Business Associate Agreement, which HIPAA requires from any vendor handling patient data, needs a paid plan. Reviewers put Zoom Pro at $16.99 per user per month on monthly billing. It is a video visit tool rather than a practice platform, so scheduling, documentation, and billing live elsewhere.
What we like- Patients already know how to use it, so adoption friction is low
- Reliable video quality at scale
- Healthcare configuration available
Watch out for- HIPAA compliance via a BAA requires a paid plan
- Telehealth-specific workflows like waiting rooms and intake need add-ons or workarounds
#3
Mend
Best for: Health systems and large practices needing patient engagement plus telehealth
Visit mend.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planNo
Mend sells to organizations rather than solo providers: patient engagement and telehealth for health systems, hospitals, and large practices. The platform covers video visits alongside scheduling, reminders, and intake automation, aimed at reducing no-shows and administrative load across many providers.
This is enterprise software with enterprise buying: custom quotes, implementation, and onboarding. Small practices will find the self-serve tools on this list simpler and cheaper. Large organizations that want engagement plus telehealth in one contract should talk to the sales team.
What we like- Combines telehealth with scheduling, reminders, and intake automation
- Built for organizational scale
- Enterprise onboarding and support
Watch out for- Custom-quoted enterprise pricing with no public price list
- More platform than a small practice needs
Starting price$49/month (Starter plan)
Free planFree trial (30 days, no credit card required)
SimplePractice bundles telehealth into a practice management system built for therapists and wellness providers. Video sessions launch from the same calendar as in-person appointments, and documentation, billing, and the client portal share one login. For a solo therapist, that single system replaces three or four separate tools.
Vendor pricing is transparent: Starter at $49 per month, Essential at $79 per month, and Plus at $99 per month, with a 30-day free trial that requires no credit card. It is strongest for solo and small therapy practices; larger medical groups with complex clinical workflows will want a more medical EHR.
What we like- Telehealth built into practice management, so video, calendar, notes, and billing share one login
- Transparent published pricing
- 30-day trial with no credit card required
Watch out for- Built for therapy and wellness, so larger medical groups may outgrow it
- Telehealth is part of a bundle, not a standalone video product
Starting price$29/therapist/month (Essentials plan)
Free planFree trial (21 days, no credit card required)
TheraNest, now part of Ensora Health, is practice management for mental and behavioral health with telehealth built in. The Advanced plan at $59 per therapist per month and Premier at $89 per therapist per month include unlimited telehealth for individual and group sessions; the $29 Essentials plan offers it as a $12 per month add-on. All prices come from the vendor's own pricing page.
A 21-day free trial with full Premier access and no credit card required makes it easy to evaluate. It fits therapists, counselors, and social workers who want scheduling, notes, billing, and video in one system rather than stitching tools together.
What we like- Telehealth included on Advanced and Premier plans
- Practice management built for therapists, counselors, and social workers
- 21-day trial of the top plan with no credit card required
Watch out for- Telehealth is a $12/month add-on on the cheapest plan
- Per-therapist pricing adds up for group practices
#6
Spruce Health
Best for: Practices wanting HIPAA-compliant messaging, phone, and video in one inbox
Visit sprucehealth.com
Starting price$24/user/month (Basic plan)
Free planFree trial (14 days, per reviewers)
Spruce Health is the communication hub of this list. It combines a business phone system with texting, faxing, and telemedicine video in one HIPAA-compliant inbox, and every plan includes a signed Business Associate Agreement with no separate paperwork. For practices drowning in patient calls and messages, it centralizes the chaos into one team mailbox.
Pricing is per user per month: Basic at $24 and Communicator at $49, stated on the company's own site. It is a communication and visit platform rather than a full EHR, so clinical documentation may live in a separate records system. Reviewers report a 14-day free trial for new users.
What we like- Phone, text, fax, video, and team messaging in one HIPAA-compliant inbox
- Signed BAA included in every plan
- Per-user pricing that scales with the team
Watch out for- Telemedicine is the focus rather than full EHR charting, so records may live elsewhere
- Trial length not stated on the vendor site
#7
VSee
Best for: Providers wanting a free or low-cost professional waiting room
Visit vsee.com
Starting priceFree plan; paid from $29/month (Plus)
Free planYes (free plan with waiting room for individual providers)
VSee offers something rare in telehealth: a genuinely free plan alongside paid tiers. The free and Plus plans, at $29 per month, provide waiting rooms for individual providers, while Premium at $49 per user per month adds a complete medical office suite with shared waiting rooms, shared scheduling, analytics and call reports, note charting, and e-prescribing. That pricing comes from VSee's own site.
VSee suits providers who want a professional virtual waiting room without committing to a full practice management system, and the free tier makes it easy to try before paying. Larger deployments with custom workflows fall into the custom-quoted Enterprise tier.
What we like- Genuinely free tier with easy upgrade paths
- Plus at $29/month for individual providers
- Premium adds charting, e-prescribing, and analytics for multi-provider practices
Watch out for- Free tier lacks live support
- Enterprise features require a custom quote
Frequently asked questions
What is telehealth software?
Telehealth software lets clinicians deliver care remotely, usually through video visits, and often includes scheduling, secure messaging, digital intake, and sometimes billing. Some products are pure video visit tools, while others bundle telehealth into full practice management or EHR systems.
Is telehealth software HIPAA compliant?
It can be, but compliance is not automatic. Under HIPAA, any vendor handling patient data must sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with your practice. Spruce Health includes a signed BAA in every plan; Zoom requires a paid plan for a BAA. Always confirm the BAA before seeing patients on any platform.
What is the best free telehealth software?
Doxy.me and VSee both offer genuinely free plans with browser-based video visits and virtual waiting rooms. They cover straightforward visit workflows well. Expect to pay when you need group visits, custom branding, advanced scheduling, or integrated billing.
How much does telehealth software cost?
It ranges from free to hundreds per provider per month. Standalone video tools run roughly $17 to $49 per user per month; therapy practice platforms with built-in telehealth run $29 to $99 per therapist per month; enterprise engagement platforms are custom-quoted. Decide whether you need just visits or a full platform before comparing prices.
Can telehealth software integrate with my EHR?
Some can. Practice management systems like SimplePractice and TheraNest have telehealth built in, so there is nothing to integrate. Standalone video tools may offer EHR integrations or APIs at higher tiers. If visit notes must flow into your records automatically, confirm the integration exists before you commit.
Do patients need to download an app for telehealth visits?
Not always. Browser-based tools like Doxy.me and VSee let patients join from a link with nothing to install, which reduces failed visits. App-based or platform tools may ask patients to download software. For less tech-savvy patient populations, no-download joining is a meaningful advantage.
How we chose
We started with the categories buyers search: telehealth software, telemedicine software, and virtual care platform. For each candidate we opened the vendor's own website, checked for published pricing, and compared HIPAA posture, video visit workflows, scheduling and messaging depth, EHR fit, and practice-size fit against public reviews on G2 and Capterra and practitioner discussion on Reddit. Where a price could not be verified on the vendor's own page we wrote "See website" or attributed the figure to reviewers rather than presenting it as the vendor's price.
Telehealth buying checklist: HIPAA, video quality, scheduling, and EHR fit
Start with the BAA. If the vendor will not sign a Business Associate Agreement on your plan, the product cannot be your HIPAA-compliant telehealth tool, no matter how good the video looks. Confirm this in writing before a pilot, not after.
Next, test the visit itself the way your patients will experience it. Join from a phone on a weak connection, because that is the real-world test. Check whether patients can join from a browser link or must download an app, and whether the waiting room, intake forms, and consent collection are built in or bolted on. Then look at scheduling: does the platform handle appointment booking and reminders, or will you keep a separate scheduler?
Finally, decide where clinical documentation lives. If you already have an EHR, you need either an integration or a workflow your staff will actually follow for getting visit notes into the record. If you do not have an EHR, a bundled platform like SimplePractice or TheraNest may replace two purchases with one. Price the whole workflow, not just the video minutes.
Free vs paid telehealth: where the free plans stop
Free telehealth plans are real, and for some practices they are enough. Doxy.me and VSee both let individual providers run video visits without paying, which is ideal for trying virtual care or covering a light schedule. The limits show up fast in real practice: no group visits, no custom branding, limited support, and caps on the administrative features around the visit.
The first paid tier, usually $17 to $49 per user per month, buys the professional layer: custom waiting rooms, better scheduling, screen sharing, and support you can actually reach. Beyond that, the jump is not about video quality but about the platform around it: messaging, phone, fax, billing, and EHR integration. Map your must-haves before choosing a tier, because the cheapest plan that covers your workflow beats the free plan that almost does.
Sources we checked (7)
- https://doxy.me
- https://zoom.us
- https://mend.com
- https://www.simplepractice.com
- https://ensorahealth.com
- https://sprucehealth.com
- https://vsee.com
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.