Considering an alternative to Psychology Today?
Here is the comparison, restricted to things you can check. Prices below come from each directory's own pages. Where we don't have an answer yet, this page says so.
What "verified" means, here and there
Psychology Today's signup page says "Verified" means credentials and licensure are validated. Most directories say something similar, and you are asked to take the badge on trust.
Here, verification is a receipt, not a badge. Every profile prints the date we checked, the state registry we checked against, and what it said — read a live one. Checks run periodically: a pass re-dates the receipt, and if a re-check stops matching, the profile comes down while we sort it out. We never publish a negative about a clinician, and license numbers are never shown publicly.
Where you appear in the list
Ordering here is a fair rotation, reshuffled daily by a published rule you can inspect. There are no ads, no sponsored slots, and no featured tiers, so no member can pay to sit above another. Whether another directory sells placement is a question worth asking it directly.
What happens when someone reaches out
Nothing passes through us. A clinician's page links to their own website, booking page, email, or phone, and the visitor goes directly there — so this directory never holds a seeker's name, address, or message, and has none to sell or score. We keep a daily count of how often each link was used. It is a count of clicks, not of people, and it identifies nobody.
Your writing keeps its search value
Articles you publish here can point their canonical link at your own site, so the search credit stays yours. Writing that lives on your site gets linked, never reprinted — and a nightly monitor catches your new posts so they can appear here with your approval, linking readers back to you.
Pricing: what every therapist directory charges
Checked 2026-08-16 against official pages where fetchable.
At $19.99 a month, Couch Commons costs less than Psychology Today’s $29.95 — and less than every paid directory in this table.
| Directory | Price to the therapist | Its verification claim |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology Today | $29.95/mo, no contract | “Verified” = credentials and licensure validated at signup |
| GoodTherapy | $30.95–$49.95/mo | Annual manual credential re-verification |
| TherapyDen | Free basic; $30/mo premium | Licenses verified for all |
| Zencare | $59/mo + $130 setup | License check, background check, clinical quiz |
| Mental Health Match | $24.97/mo or $199/yr | State license required; profiles approved pre-publish |
| Open Path Collective | $0 (nonprofit; client pays $65 once) | Vetted-therapist framing |
| Couch Commons | $19.99/mo, no contract, no setup fee. Cancel before renewal. All sales are final. | Dated receipt from the state registry, printed on the profile, re-checked periodically |
What Psychology Today has that we don't
Scale, for one. Psychology Today is far larger, and a bigger directory means more eyes today. It also bundles extras — intro videos, a telehealth product, a protected phone number. We are new and small, and /stats shows exactly how small rather than rounding up. If those trade-offs matter more to you than verification receipts and fair ordering, it may be the better fit, and this page would rather tell you that than pretend otherwise.
If the receipt model is what you want
It takes a few minutes at /join: pay, set up your profile, and go live once your license checks out against your state's registry. Payment starts membership and onboarding; publication waits until the receipt can be true.