Therapists exploring Heidi reviews are typically trying to understand:
- How reliable Heidi is during real therapy sessions
- Whether it actually reduces documentation time in practice
- How it compares to therapy-specific alternatives when accuracy and privacy matter
This article breaks down what Heidi Health does well, where clinicians report limitations, and what those trade-offs mean for everyday clinical work.
We examine Heidi’s transcription and note-generation workflow, pricing structure, compliance posture, and real therapist experience—using publicly available feedback and documented features. We also compare Heidi with therapy-first tools like Mentalyc, so you can decide— “Is Heidi worth it for therapists?”
Overview: What Is Heidi Health?
Heidi Health is an AI medical scribe and transcription platform designed to capture clinical conversations and convert them into structured notes. Its primary goal is to reduce documentation time by generating draft notes from recorded encounters across a wide range of medical specialties.
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Heidi Health is built mainly for physicians and multi-specialty clinics rather than mental-health–only workflows. While some therapists use it for session transcription, the platform is not specifically tailored to psychotherapy documentation. For mental health use cases, Heidi typically functions as a recording-and-transcription tool that produces editable drafts, which clinicians then need to refine to match therapy-specific language, structure, and clinical intent.
Heidi Scribe Review — Real Therapist Experience
Many clinicians value Heidi Health for its ability to reduce after-hours charting, particularly in structured or medically oriented visits.
However, therapist feedback also highlights reliability concerns around transcription accuracy, especially in psychotherapy sessions where nuance, speaker attribution, and narrative flow matter.
Some clinicians report complete transcription failures, which can significantly increase documentation burden instead of reducing it:
“…Sometimes Heidi stuffs up and no transcript is made of a consultation. This is unacceptable, as the whole consultation needs to be typed from memory after the fact…”— Mark Ruff, via Trustpilot
Others describe inconsistent capture of client speech, leading to uncertainty about how much the tool can be relied on during therapy sessions:
“…There were more than one occasion, the patient’s version was not transcribed at all…”— AP, via Trustpilot
Taken together, these experiences suggest that while Heidi can help documentation for predictable or structured encounters, therapists working with complex, narrative-heavy sessions may still need to double-document or heavily review output, limiting overall time savings.
Key Takeaways — Heidi Health 2026 Review
| Area | Summary |
|---|---|
| Primary function | AI medical scribe for real-time transcription and draft note creation |
| Best strength | Efficiency in structured or medical-style visits |
| Main limitation | Inconsistent accuracy in therapy-style, narrative sessions |
| Ideal users | Mixed medical / behavioral practices |
| Compliance | HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001; BAAs available |
| Pricing model | Free tier + paid monthly plans; cost scales per clinician |
| Therapy fit | Not therapy-first by design |
Who Heidi Health Is Best For
Heidi Health is best suited for clinicians who primarily want help with transcription and basic draft notes, especially those working with mixed medical and mental-health caseloads or handling high documentation volume. It can be a useful entry-level tool for solo clinicians, associates, or small teams focused on reducing typing time. However, because it is a general medical scribe rather than a therapy-specific platform, notes often require additional editing, and it offers limited support for longitudinal progress tracking, treatment-plan continuity, or deeper psychotherapy workflows.
Heidi Health Features — In-Depth Heidi AI Review
Heidi Documentation Features
- Heidi Health works mainly as a medical transcription and draft-note tool, turning clinician–patient conversations into structured notes during or after a session.
- It supports common formats like SOAP notes and reusable templates, but these are designed to work across many medical specialties – not specifically for psychotherapy.
- While Heidi aims for accurate medical wording, notes are still drafts and usually need clinician review and editing, especially for therapy-specific language and intent.
- The editor helps reduce typing by allowing quick edits or regenerating sections, but clinicians remain responsible for shaping the final note.
Heidi Workflow
From a workflow standpoint, Heidi operates as a general-purpose ambient scribe. It supports real-time or post-session recording and uses templates to speed up clinical documentation.
However, because it is designed to work across many medical contexts, it does not deeply support therapy-specific needs such as longitudinal progress tracking, treatment-plan continuity, or modality-driven documentation. For therapists, Heidi is best understood as a transcription-first tool rather than a full mental-health documentation solution.
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- SOAP, DAP, BIRP, EMDR notes and more
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- AI Progress Tracker
- Alliance signals
- HIPAA & PHIPA compliant
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Analytics / Insights
Heidi is mainly a documentation tool, not an insights platform. It helps by consistently capturing what was discussed in sessions, which can make it easier to write clear therapy progress notes over time. However, it does not offer tools for progress tracking, outcome measurement, alliance feedback, or treatment-plan tracking. Any sense of “insight” comes from reading past notes, not from visuals or automated guidance.
Collaboration & Group Practice Features — Heidi Health Review
Heidi can be used by multiple clinicians within the same practice. Teams can share note templates so documentation looks more consistent across providers. Supervisors can review notes created by associates, but clinical oversight and interpretation still rely on manual review rather than built-in supervision or progress tools.
Integrations & Workflow Support
Heidi connects with some scheduling or EHR systems to pull in appointments and generate notes. After a session, notes are reviewed and then exported into the EHR. This is usually a one-way flow, meaning edits made in the EHR don’t sync back into Heidi. For most therapists, Heidi acts as a separate step rather than a fully integrated part of the chart.
Security, Privacy & Compliance
Heidi states that it meets standard HIPAA requirements and offers a BAA where needed. Session audio is transcribed during the visit and not kept afterward, while notes and transcripts are stored in an access-controlled environment.
As with any tool that involves recording or transcription, clinicians are still responsible for obtaining informed consent and deciding whether these safeguards align with their own privacy standards and practice policies.
Heidi Health Pricing (2026)
| Plan / Tier | Price (USD) | What’s Included | What’s NOT Included / Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/month |
|
No advanced templates or personalization; limited to standard/basic features only. |
| Pro | $90/month (per user, billed annually) |
Everything in Free, plus:
|
Requires annual billing; access to advanced features only with subscription. |
| Practice | $120/month (per user, billed annually) |
Includes all Pro features, plus:
|
Higher per-user cost; billed per clinician. |
| Enterprise | Custom |
Everything in Practice, plus:
|
Must contact vendor for a quote; cost and terms vary depending on needs. |
Heidi Health may be a reasonable option for high-volume clinicians or multi-specialty teams that mainly need transcription and draft note support, with the Free plan offering a low-commitment way to try the tool.
The Pro plan can make sense when documentation volume is high, but for therapy-only or lower-volume practices, the need for ongoing manual review may limit its cost-effectiveness. Team and enterprise plans support larger workflows, though costs scale per clinician and are best suited for organizations prioritizing standardized scribe coverage rather than therapy-specific documentation depth.
Heidi Health Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Helps reduce documentation time and after-hours charting | Some users report missed or failed transcriptions |
| Performs best in structured, medical-style visits | Accuracy may drop in longer or more nuanced psychotherapy sessions |
| Standard security and compliance safeguards in place | Custom templates can behave inconsistently for certain workflows |
| — | Customer support responsiveness is a common concern |
| — | Paid tiers may feel costly for low-volume clinicians |
| — | All notes still require clinician review and sign-off |
Final Verdict: Is Heidi Health Worth It for Therapists in 2026?
Heidi Health is a strong fit for high-volume clinicians and mixed medical practices that need fast, structured documentation from an AI medical scribe. It performs well for straightforward, medically oriented visits and can meaningfully reduce charting time, especially when sessions follow a predictable format.
For therapists, however, its generalist design means nuanced or narrative-heavy sessions often require more editing, and reliability concerns reported by some users may limit its usefulness in certain workflows. Still, with a functional free tier and competitive 2026 feature set, Heidi is worth trying for clinicians who want broad documentation support.
Best Alternatives to Heidi Health
If you’re considering the best Heidi alternatives, one standout option is Mentalyc, and for many therapists, it addresses several of Heidi’s core limitations.
Why Mentalyc Is Worth Considering?
- Therapy-first design: Mentalyc is built specifically for mental-health professionals — not general medical workflows. That means its templates, note formats, and documentation logic align with what therapists actually need (intake, progress notes, treatment plans, group therapy, etc.).
- Fully automated, high-quality notes: Mentalyc generates structured therapy notes from audio/text/dictation, using clinically relevant formats like SOAP, DAP, BIRP, GIRP, PIE and more, making notes “audit-ready.”
- Privacy-first and compliance-oriented: Mentalyc emphasizes compliance with privacy standards (HIPAA, SOC 2, etc.), giving therapists confidence in data security and confidentiality.
- Therapy-specific features beyond notes: It includes treatment-plan alignment, progress tracking, and tools for ongoing therapeutic alliance and outcome insights, often called the “golden thread” of therapy documentation.
- Flexible for different practice types and sizes: Whether you’re a solo practitioner, an associate clinician, or part of a group practice or team — Mentalyc supports individual, couple, family, and group therapy formats, with collaborative & team-management features when needed.
In short: Mentalyc is probably the most aligned alternative to Heidi if your focus is mental-health, therapy documentation, and long-term client care, not broad general-medicine documentation.
Heidi vs Mentalyc Comparison
| Feature | Heidi Health | Mentalyc |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Records sessions and creates transcript-based draft notes | Turns full therapy sessions into notes, treatment plans, and clinical insights |
| Fit for therapy | Works better for structured, medical-style visits than psychotherapy | Built specifically for psychotherapy documentation and clinical thinking |
| Note types | General medical notes and summaries | Therapy-specific notes: intake, progress notes, treatment plans, SOAP, EMDR, psychiatry, and more |
| Progress tracking | No built-in progress tracking; relies on reviewing past notes | Tracks symptoms and goals across sessions with a clear “golden thread” |
| Alliance support | No therapy-specific alliance tools | Includes Alliance Genie™ for reflecting on therapeutic alliance over time |
| Recordings & data | Uses live transcription; does not store audio | Uses audio briefly to create notes, then deletes it; transcripts are encrypted |
| Compliance | States HIPAA and SOC 2 compliance | HIPAA + PHI + SOC Type 2 compliant, BAA available |
| Pricing approach | Free tier; paid plans aimed at high-volume or enterprise use | Tiered plans for solo and group practices, with free trial |
| Best for | Medical or multi-specialty practices needing a general AI scribe | Mental-health practices needing therapy-specific notes, progress tracking, and insight—without losing clinician control |
For a more detailed Heidi vs Mentalyc comparison, CLICK HERE.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Heidi Review & Best Alternatives
1. Is Heidi Health HIPAA compliant?
Yes. Heidi Health states that it is HIPAA-compliant and certified to multiple security standards, including ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II, alongside GDPR and PIPEDA for other regions. For therapists working under Canadian or local privacy laws, Heidi’s Canadian compliance framework (e.g., PIPEDA plus regional agreements) is relevant, but you should still review the BAA and local regulations with your compliance officer or legal counsel.
2. Does Heidi Health store therapy recordings?
Heidi’s materials and multiple clinic policies consistently state that Heidi Health does not permanently store audio recordings. Audio from sessions is processed for Heidi transcription, sometimes held temporarily during or just after the consult, and then deleted once the transcript and notes are finalized in the record. Only text-based clinical notes and related documentation are retained under secure, encrypted storage.
3. Are AI tools safe for clinical documentation?
AI tools like Heidi Health and other AI medical scribe platforms can be safe for clinical documentation when they meet key conditions: robust security (encryption in transit and at rest, access controls, HIPAA and SOC 2 compliance), clear data-usage limits, and explicit patient consent. Early evidence suggests AI scribes can significantly reduce clinician burnout, but they do not replace clinical judgment. Clinicians must always review, edit, and sign off on AI-generated notes to ensure accuracy, ethical practice, and alignment with local regulations (including PHIPA/PHIPAA-style frameworks where applicable).
4. What note types does Heidi Health support?
Heidi Health primarily supports general clinical documentation: consult notes, progress notes, operative and procedure notes, home-health notes, and other medically oriented formats. Its guides show support for structured templates such as SOAP and variants, and Heidi can generate structured therapy or session notes using templates like BIRP or session-note formats for behavioral health, though it is not exclusively a mental-health tool. Therapists will often adapt these templates to fit their modality and supervisory or insurance requirements.
5. What are the best alternatives to Heidi Health?
For therapists, one of the best Heidi alternatives is Mentalyc, a therapy-first AI tool focused on fully automated notes, privacy-first design, and high-quality mental-health documentation (including progress notes, treatment plans, progress tracking, and the “golden thread” between goals, interventions, and outcomes).
Want Notes That Match Your Clinical Work? Try Mentalyc
If you’re a therapist looking for documentation that truly reflects the clinical work you do, Mentalyc offers a therapy-first alternative built around accuracy, privacy, and ease. It automates session notes, tracks progress toward goals, and helps maintain the golden thread across treatment.
Why other mental health professionals love Mentalyc
“It’s so quick and easy to do notes now … I used to stay late two hours to finish my notes. Now it’s a breeze.”
Licensed Professional Counselor
“A lot of my clients love the functionality where I can send them a summary of what we addressed during the session, and they find it very helpful and enlightening.”
Therapist
“Having Mentalyc take away some of the work from me has allowed me to be more present when I’m in session with clients … it took a lot of pressure off.”
LPC
“It takes me less than 5 minutes to complete notes … it’s a huge time saver, a huge stress reliever.”
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
