Comparison

Gale vs SimplePractice: An Honest Comparison

Summary

SimplePractice charges $49–$99/month plus $0.25/claim and a $35/month AI scribe add-on; a solo clinician doing insurance billing typically pays $114–$134/month before per-claim fees. Gale is a pre-commercial platform that charges no subscription: the software is free, and Gale earns only on claims that actually pay.

By Gale Editorial · Updated 2026-06-15. Every figure cited to a dated source. How we write.

SimplePractice pricing as cited: $49–$99/month (Starter–Plus) as of March 2025 [2]; AI Note Taker add-on $35/month/clinician [2]; $0.25/claim + $0.05/eligibility check [3]

GaleSimplePractice
Billing modelNo subscription. Gale earns one flat 3.5% all-in per paid transaction, only on claims that collect. Zero charge at zero revenue. On a cash session, Gale's fee is the same flat 3.5% all-in per paid transaction, card clearing included — a pre-commercial demonstration figure, reconciled to the billing engine.Subscription $49–$99/month regardless of revenue, plus $0.25/claim on Essential/Plus plans [2][3].
AI scribeJefferson scribe bundled at $0/month. On-device iOS option; audio deleted post-transcription. Works in-person and via telehealth.AI Note Taker add-on at $35/month per clinician [2]. Works only inside SimplePractice Telehealth (native video); not available for in-person sessions.
Patient-facing directoryNo consumer directory currently. Not yet available in pre-commercial phase.Therapy Finder included with all plans — backed by 250,000+ clinician base [1]. Supports online appointment requests. One of the top-20 therapist directories as of 2025 [6].
Cost at zero revenue (e.g., month off)$0. No subscription means no fixed charge during inactive periods.$49–$99/month subscription continues regardless of patient volume or collections [2].
CredentialingTracks licensing and credentialing end-to-end. Provider signs every credential claim; Gale never auto-attests.SimplePractice does not include credentialing enrollment. Providers manage payer credentialing separately or via third-party services.
Setup / implementation fee$0. No setup fee.$0 setup. 30-day free trial, then subscription begins [2].
Production statusPre-commercial. Synthetic-data demonstration only. No live payer relationships yet.Production. 250,000+ clinicians, 125 million appointments in 2025, live clearinghouse relationships [1].

Where SimplePractice may be the better fit

  • —Therapy Finder directory: a mature, patient-facing therapist directory backed by 250,000+ clinicians that drives new-patient referrals directly — Gale has no equivalent in its current phase [1][6].
  • —Production readiness: SimplePractice is a live system with established payer clearinghouse relationships, documented customer support, and a decade of deployment history. Gale is pre-commercial.
  • —Specialty breadth: SimplePractice serves therapy, psychology, occupational therapy, speech, dietetics, and more across a large installed base. Gale's current demonstration scope is narrower.
  • —Ecosystem integrations: SimplePractice has documented integrations with labs, scheduling tools, and payer clearinghouses. Gale's integration roadmap is not yet published.

What each platform is

SimplePractice is a subscription EHR and practice management system launched in 2012, now serving over 250,000 clinicians 1. It was acquired by Vista Equity Partners as part of the EngageSmart take-private transaction (~$4 billion, January 2024). Its plans range from Starter ($49/month) to Plus ($99/month), with insurance billing and an AI note taker available as add-ons 2.

Gale is a pre-commercial practice operating system in synthetic-data demonstration mode. No real patient money has moved through Gale yet. Gale's model is structured differently: the software itself is free; Gale earns only one flat 3.5% all-in per paid transaction on claims that actually pay, charged only when a claim clears. Funds settle directly to the provider via Stripe Connect. Gale is software and a management services organization (MSO) — not a medical practice.

What SimplePractice actually costs

SimplePractice raised its prices on March 3, 2025 — the Starter plan went from $29 to $49/month, a 69% increase in a single step 2. Current plan costs as of April 2026 3:

  • Starter — $49/month. No insurance billing.
  • Essential — $79/month. Includes insurance claim filing.
  • Plus — $99/month. Adds group practice and calendar color-coding.

Insurance billing is not included in the base subscription price. On top of the Essential or Plus plan, electronic claim submission costs $0.25/claim and eligibility verification costs $0.05/check 3. A solo clinician submitting 80 claims/month pays an est. $20/month in claim fees alone.

The AI Note Taker — SimplePractice's ambient scribe — is a separate add-on at $35/month per clinician 2. It works only inside SimplePractice Telehealth (the native video platform) and is not available for in-person sessions.

Additional line items: - AMA CPT code annual fee: $20/year per clinician 4 - Credit card processing: 2.7% + $0.30 per transaction 2 - SMS appointment reminders: $0.04 per text 2 - Telehealth: included in Essential and Plus

Realistic monthly cost for a solo clinician doing insurance billing with AI notes: Essential ($79) + Note Taker ($35) = ~$114/month, plus per-claim and per-eligibility-check transaction fees 23.

How Gale's model differs

Gale charges no subscription fee and no setup or implementation fee. The model: Gale earns one flat 3.5% all-in per paid transaction, card clearing included, collected only from claims that actually pay. Gale never takes a percentage of gross insurance revenue (unlike billing-network platforms such as Headway or Alma, which collect insurance reimbursements and pay providers a lower rate — the spread is not publicly disclosed and is often not explained to providers before they join 5). Gale never fronts cash and is not a payer intermediary — funds move from payer to provider directly via Stripe Connect.

The Jefferson AI scribe is bundled at $0/month. The on-device option (iOS) keeps audio processing on-device; audio is deleted after transcription and never persists in Gale's systems. Providers sign every clinical note — Gale never auto-attests credentials or clinical documentation.

Licensing and credentialing status is tracked end-to-end within Gale, but the provider remains the attesting party on every credential claim. Gale is not a credentialing service; it is a tracking and workflow layer.

Because Gale is pre-commercial and running on synthetic demonstration data only, a clinician evaluating Gale today is evaluating a model and a roadmap, not a deployed billing system with live payer relationships.

The Therapy Finder directory

SimplePractice's Therapy Finder (formerly Monarch Directory, renamed in 2025) is a patient-facing therapist directory included with all SimplePractice plans. The directory is backed by SimplePractice's 250,000+ clinician user base 1 and is notable as one of the first national therapist directories to offer online appointment requests rather than just a contact form 6.

Therapy Finder is a genuine advantage for SimplePractice: it gives new and established practices discoverability without a separate Psychology Today listing (typically $29.95–$39.95/month). Patients can search by specialty, insurance, and availability, and request appointments directly. Independent analysis in 2025 noted that Therapy Finder had recently entered the top 20 therapist directories and was growing 6.

Gale does not currently offer an equivalent consumer-facing directory. For practices that depend on directory-sourced referrals, this is a material difference.

Cost at zero collections

A clinician who is starting out, on leave, or in a slow month pays differently under each model:

  • SimplePractice: The monthly subscription runs regardless of revenue. A clinician on a two-month leave still pays $79–$99/month (or $114–$134/month with AI notes) to keep their account active.
  • Gale: No subscription means no fixed monthly charge. If a clinician sees no patients and collects nothing, Gale earns nothing. The model is structurally aligned with the provider's collection success.

This alignment is the core design difference. It is also the honest limitation: because Gale's fee is a percentage of what you collect, it can exceed a flat subscription at high revenue volumes, so the provider should model both scenarios.

A fair cost scenario

The following is an illustrative estimate, not a committed quote. Actual costs depend on payer mix, claim volume, and billing complexity.

Scenario: solo therapist, 20 sessions/week, 80% insurance, avg reimbursement $150/session, ~est. $2,400/week gross

SimplePractice Essential + Note Taker per month: - Subscription: $79 - AI Note Taker add-on: $35 - ~80 claims/month at $0.25: ~$20 - ~80 eligibility checks at $0.05: ~$4 - AMA CPT fee (annualized): ~$2 - Est. total: ~$140/month 234

Gale (est., pre-commercial): - Subscription: $0 - AI scribe: $0 - Flat 3.5% all-in on successful transactions: 3.5% of what actually collects (card clearing included) - Est. total at launch: 3.5% of collections (card clearing included)

Because Gale is pre-commercial and has not run live payer volume, a direct dollar comparison is not yet honest to make. The structural difference — zero fixed cost vs. ~$140/month fixed — is real; at a flat 3.5% all-in, a practice can model its own cost as 3.5% of expected collections.

What this comparison does not cover

Several dimensions are outside the scope of this page:

  • EHR maturity and workflow depth. SimplePractice is a production system used by 250,000 clinicians 1. Gale is in demonstration mode. A practice evaluating Gale today is betting on a roadmap.
  • Specialty coverage. SimplePractice covers therapy, psychology, social work, occupational therapy, speech, dietetics, and more. Gale's current demonstration focus is behavioral and primary care.
  • Customer support. SimplePractice has documented support channels (chat, email, knowledge base) at scale. Gale does not yet have a published support SLA.
  • Payer network. SimplePractice has live clearinghouse relationships. Gale has not yet enrolled with live payers.

Common questions

SimplePractice's current plans (as of April 2026) are Starter at $49/month, Essential at $79/month, and Plus at $99/month. A solo clinician doing insurance billing who also uses the AI Note Taker add-on typically pays est. $114–$134/month before per-claim transaction fees of $0.25/claim and $0.05/eligibility check. Prices were raised 69% on the Starter plan on March 3, 2025.

Yes. Electronic claim submission is $0.25 per claim on the Essential and Plus plans. Insurance eligibility verification is $0.05 per check. The Starter plan does not include insurance billing at all. These fees are in addition to the monthly subscription.

SimplePractice offers an AI Note Taker add-on for $35/month per clinician. As of 2026, this tool works only within SimplePractice's built-in telehealth video platform and is not available for in-person sessions. It is an opt-in add-on, not included in the base subscription.

Gale charges no subscription fee. Gale earns only on claims that actually collect: one flat 3.5% all-in per paid transaction, card clearing included. Funds settle directly to the provider via Stripe Connect. Gale never takes a percentage of gross insurance revenue and never fronts cash. Gale is pre-commercial (synthetic-data demonstration only) and does not yet have live payer relationships.

Gale's Jefferson AI scribe is bundled at $0/month. The on-device iOS option keeps audio processing on-device and deletes audio after transcription. The provider reviews and signs every note; Gale does not auto-attest clinical documentation.

Therapy Finder is SimplePractice's patient-facing therapist directory, renamed from Monarch Directory in 2025. It is included with all SimplePractice plans and is backed by the platform's 250,000+ clinician base. It supports online appointment requests. Gale does not currently offer an equivalent consumer directory — this is a material advantage SimplePractice holds.

No. Gale tracks licensing and credentialing status end-to-end but never auto-attests credentials. The provider signs every credential claim. Gale is a tracking and workflow layer, not a credentialing service.

Gale is in pre-commercial demonstration mode using synthetic data only. No real patient money has moved through the system. A clinician evaluating Gale today is reviewing a model and a design — not a deployed production system.

Keep reading

How Practice Software Charges: Flat Fee vs. Percentage of Collections vs. Network Rake · Free EHR: What "Free" Really Means (and the Catch to Watch For) · EHR for Independent Practices: Charting That Stays Out of the Way · AI Medical Scribe, Included — No Monthly Fee · Medical Billing & Claims: Pay Only When You Get Paid · Insurance Credentialing, Tracked End-to-End (Never Auto-Attested) · How to Start a Private Practice: The 2026 Checklist · Gale vs athenahealth: An Honest Comparison · Gale vs Headway: Keep Your Rate, Keep Your Contracts · Gale vs. Alma: The Real Cost of Membership and the Insurance Spread · Gale vs Freed: Bundled Scribe vs Scribe-Only

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References

  1. 1.SimplePractice (2026). SimplePractice 2025 Impact Roundup. SimplePractice Blog. link ✓250,000+ clinicians use SimplePractice; 10.4 million unique clients served; 125 million appointments in 2025
  2. 2.Oli Health Editorial (2026). SimplePractice pricing in 2026 — what solo and small practices end up paying. Oli Health. link ✓Starter $49, Essential $79, Plus $99 (March 2025 increase from $29/$69/$99); AI Note Taker $35/month; credit card processing 2.7%+$0.30; SMS $0.04/text; 69% Starter increase
  3. 3.CostBench Editorial (2026). SimplePractice Pricing 2026: Free–$99/per provider/month. CostBench. link ✓Per-claim fee $0.25; eligibility check $0.05; credit card 3.15%; verified April 24, 2026
  4. 4.SimplePractice Support / AMA (2025). AMA fee FAQs. SimplePractice Support. link ✓$20/year per clinician AMA CPT code access fee ($18.50 royalty + $1.50 processing)
  5. 5.Robbins, Jeanne (2025). Therapists have misgivings on the platforms: Alma, Headway etc. and the business of therapy. ClearHealthCosts. link ✓Platform billing networks such as Alma collect insurance reimbursement and pay providers a lower rate without disclosing the spread; documented examples show Alma collecting $151.74 and paying provider $95 on a Cigna 90837 claim. PsiAN study: 84% of therapists were not informed of fee-splitting arrangements before joining.
  6. 6.Quill Therapy Solutions (2025). Therapy Finder and SimplePractice: Therapist Search Report Edition. Quill Therapy Solutions. link ✓Therapy Finder entered the top 20 therapist directories in 2025; noted as first national directory of significant size to offer online appointment requests

https://www.gale.care/for-providers/compare/simplepractice · 6 sources. Competitor details are cited to dated public sources and maintained as they change; figures are estimates, not commitments. Synthetic demonstration.

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