How much should a therapist website cost?

A therapist website costs from $19 a month on a website builder you run yourself (Squarespace's Basic plan, billed annually) to $349 a month on a therapist-specific platform (Brighter Vision's Flourish plan at its monthly list price). Having one built instead costs $2,900 to $20,300, plus $30 to $150 a month to keep it running, by Project Cost Estimator's 2026 figures for freelancers and agencies.

Over five years the spread is wide: $19 × 60 months = $1,140 at the low end, and $20,300 + $150 × 60 months = $29,300 at the top of the estimator's agency range.

For a private practice that wants a site kept current, most managed platforms in the table below come to about $4,300 to $9,000 over five years.

This guide counts the full cost of keeping a therapist website and then leaving it (the setup fee, the contract and refund terms, whether you can take the site with you, and the price of being named in AI answers) using prices quoted from each vendor's own pricing page, which WebsiteTherapy keeps as a dated record and re-checks at least every 45 days, and it is written by a company that hands each practice its site as a downloadable repository with no setup fee and no contract.

The table counts platform fees only: the setup fee plus 60 months of the plan. It leaves out your time and any writing or SEO you buy separately; those come next. Each figure was read off the vendor's own pricing page, not a round-up, because round-ups go stale and often disagree with each other.

The competitor rows were read on each vendor's pricing page on September 30, 2026 (TherapySites, Brighter Vision, SimplePractice) and October 5, 2026 (Therapy Rising, EmpathySites, CounselingWise). Squarespace's page and Project Cost Estimator were read on October 20, 2026. Prices change, so check the vendor's own page on the day you decide, and note the date.

Most of the managed options land close together over five years. The real differences are in the rows' middle column: whether SEO, AI search work and someone to make changes are in the price or sold on top. For a closer look at single vendors, see how TherapySites prices SEO and AI search, Brighter Vision's plans in detail, or Squarespace, Wix and WordPress for therapists.

• Built once, or rented monthly. A custom build front-loads the cost and then charges for changes. A platform spreads it out and usually includes hosting. Over five years the two often meet, as the table shows.
• Setup fees. They range from none to $999 on the vendor pages above (TherapySites charges $199; Therapy Rising charges $499 on Starter and $999 on Plus, by its pricing page). Some vendors waive the fee on one billing option and charge it on the other, as Brighter Vision does, so compare the same billing period.
• Annual or monthly billing. Annual billing is cheaper per month, but you have paid for the year up front, and canceling stops the renewal, not the year. Squarespace's pricing page says that "if you cancel, your service will continue through the period you've already paid for." Squarespace Core is $39 a month or $29 a month billed annually, by Squarespace's pricing page.
• Who writes the words. A site where you write every page costs less in fees and more in hours. A package that includes the writing costs more up front.
• Which plan includes search work. On several therapist platforms, the base plan is a website and nothing more. SEO, AI search work, social media and secure email sit on higher plans or add-ons.
• Number of clinicians. A group practice needs a page per therapist and more booking links. Ask whether a vendor charges per seat before you compare.

Whatever you pay, these belong in the base price. If one is missing, add its cost to the five-year number before you compare.

• Hosting, your own domain, and a secure (https) connection.
• A contact form that asks for a sentence, not a history, and keeps clinical details out.
• A link to your booking or practice management system.
• A way to change your hours, fees and bio without waiting days for someone.
• A page structure search engines and AI assistants can read: one page per service, your facts in plain text, not in an image.

These are the items most often sold separately:

• Secure email and forms. TherapySites lists them as an add-on starting at $15 a month on its pricing page.
• SEO. Often a higher plan, sometimes a separate agency.
• AI search work. Checking what ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI say about your practice, and fixing what is wrong.
• Writing. Service pages and blog posts in your own words.
• Content migration. EmpathySites lists it at $499 for up to 30 pages or posts on its pricing page.

A site is never finished. Hours change, fees change, you add a specialty, a clinician joins. Someone has to make each change, and that person is the cost that comes back every month. There are three ways to pay it.

• You do it. No invoice, but every hour comes out of your week. Price it honestly: one hour a month for five years is 60 hours, and at the Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 median wage for mental health counselors of $28.53 an hour, that is 60 × $28.53 = $1,711.80. If an hour of your time is worth a session fee to you, use that number instead.
• A developer does it. You email, wait, and pay by the hour or on a retainer. The hidden cost is the wait: small changes pile up because each one is a request and an invoice.
• It is done for you. A platform or agency includes changes in the monthly fee. Ask how many requests, how fast, and by whom.

Whichever you choose, write the hours or the retainer into your five-year total. It is often larger than the platform fee. For the options side by side, see who can design and maintain a therapy practice website.

A website nobody finds costs the same as one that brings inquiries, so being found belongs on the bill. Two figures help size it.

First, AI summaries change how people click. In Pew Research Center's study of 900 U.S. adults' Google searches in March 2025, people clicked a regular search result on 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, against 15% when none did. When fewer people click through, being the source an AI answer names matters more.

Second, search work is expensive when bought on its own. SEO agencies charge $3,209 a month on average, by Ahrefs' poll of 439 SEO providers, which is $3,209 × 12 = $38,508 a year.

Therapist platforms price this as a plan step instead. TherapySites lists AI search optimization first on its Premium Plus plan at $207 a month against $69 for Core, by its pricing page; over five years that is $207 × 60 = $12,420 against $69 × 60 = $4,140, before the setup fee. Whatever the vendor, ask one plain question: is search and AI work in this price, or on top of it? And treat a vendor that promises you a ranking as a reason to keep looking.

No price page in the top search results counts the exit, yet it is the cost that decides whether every other number was a good deal. Before you sign, get a written answer to each of these:

1. Is there a contract, and how long? A 12-month term means the remaining months of the term are owed even if the site stops working for you.
2. What happens to money already paid? Squarespace's pricing page says that "if you cancel, your service will continue through the period you've already paid for." Look for the same sentence, or a refund policy, on any vendor you consider.
3. Is there a fee to cancel? Read the terms page, not only the pricing page.
4. What can you take with you? Your domain is the minimum. Ask whether you also get your pages, your words, your images and your blog posts in a form another host can use, or only a copy of the text.
5. Who owns the domain? It should be registered in your name. A domain held by the vendor turns leaving into a negotiation.

Put a dollar figure on what you cannot take. If leaving means rebuilding, add a new build from the table above to the old vendor's five-year total. A cheaper monthly plan that you cannot leave cleanly often costs more than a pricier one you can. The guide to switching from WordPress walks through what a clean move looks like.

Nearly every page that answers this question is written by a company that sells therapist websites or earns a commission on one. So is this one: we sell a therapist website platform. That is why every competitor price here links to the vendor's own page with the date it was read, and why our own prices sit in the same table, counted the same way. Check any number on this page against its source before you rely on it. For a broader comparison of builders, see the best website builders for therapists and alternatives to Brighter Vision.

Add up your own five years: the setup fee, 60 months of the plan, the hours or retainer for changes, any search work you buy, and what it would cost to leave. Then compare that number, not the monthly price.

If you want to see ours counted the same way, WebsiteTherapy pricing lists both plans: Growth at $99 a month or $999 a year, and Concierge at $199 a month or $1,999 a year. There is no setup fee and no contract, migration from your current site is included, and the site is a repository you can download at any time. Book a short call and we will look at your current site with you before you decide anything.

• Squarespace: Pricing (read October 20, 2026)
• Brighter Vision: Pricing (read September 30, 2026)
• TherapySites: Pricing (read September 30, 2026)
• SimplePractice: Professional Website (read September 30, 2026)
• SimplePractice: Pricing (read September 30, 2026)
• Therapy Rising: Pricing (read October 5, 2026)
• EmpathySites: Pricing (read October 5, 2026)
• CounselingWise: Therapist Website in a Week (read October 5, 2026)
• Project Cost Estimator: Therapist Website Cost (updated July 2026)
• Pew Research Center: Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results (July 22, 2025)
• Ahrefs: How Much Does SEO Cost? (439 SEO providers polled, updated August 15, 2024)
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Outlook Handbook, Mental Health Counselors (May 2025 data)
• WebsiteTherapy: Pricing