SimplePractice Price Increase: What Changes
By Dax Earl • September 1, 2026
Last updated: August 31, 2026.
Direct answer: SimplePractice is not raising the monthly price of its Starter, Essential, or Plus subscription on October 1, 2026. It is changing what practices pay to submit insurance claims electronically. Starter practices will pay less per claim, while many Essential and Plus practices will pay more because included claims are ending and every plan will use the same volume-based fee schedule. Read the official pricing announcement.
The short version for therapists: if you use SimplePractice mainly for scheduling, notes, client billing, or paper claims, this announcement does not increase your subscription. If you submit insurance claims electronically through SimplePractice, count your monthly claims now—the cost change depends on your current plan and volume.
Sections
Key Takeaways
Monthly subscription prices stay the same. The change applies to insurance claim filing and certain insurance-status checks, not the base plan fee.
The new Insurance Essentials rate starts at $0.39. The first 250 submitted claims each month cost $0.39 each, with lower marginal rates at higher volumes.
Free claims are ending. Essential currently includes 10 claims per month and Plus includes 35. Beginning October 1, every electronically submitted claim is charged.
Starter pays less; Essential and Plus generally pay more. Starter drops from $0.50 to $0.39 for the first 250 claims. Essential and Plus lose their included claims and lower starting rates.
Insurance Navigator is optional. It costs $1.79 per submitted claim and adds automated benefits verification, claim guidance, payment-entry assistance, onboarding, and phone support.
What Is Actually Changing on October 1
SimplePractice is separating insurance-claim pricing from the subscription tier. Today, the plan you choose determines both your base claim rate and whether some claims are included. From October 1, Starter, Essential, and Plus practices that use electronic claim submission will all begin on the same Insurance Essentials schedule.
Current plan | Before October 1 | From October 1 | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
Starter | $0.50 per claim | $0.39 per claim to start | Lower claim fee |
Essential | 10 included, then $0.35 per claim to start | No included claims; $0.39 per claim to start | Higher for insurance billers |
Plus | 35 included, then $0.25 per claim to start | No included claims; $0.39 per claim to start | Higher for insurance billers |
The new schedule is marginal: the first 250 claims submitted in a month are $0.39 each, claims 251 through 600 are $0.37 each, claims 601 through 1,000 are $0.35 each, and each claim after 1,000 is $0.33. SimplePractice publishes the full volume-based schedule here.
Manual insurance-status checks also change on October 1. SimplePractice says each manual check will cost $0.15 on Starter and Essential. Plus will continue to include them until 2027, when SimplePractice says the $0.15 fee will be standardized across plans. These check fees are separate from claim-submission fees.
This is not a payer reimbursement change. It changes what SimplePractice charges the practice for insurance workflow. It does not, by itself, change what an insurer allows or pays for a therapy session.
Who Will Pay More—and Who Will Pay Less
The easiest way to understand the change is to use a simple 100-claim month. These examples use SimplePractice’s published current and future starting rates. They exclude manual status checks, Navigator, subscription fees, and any other account-specific charges. Because 100 claims is below the first volume threshold, no higher-volume discount applies.
Starter: $50 today, $39 after the change. At 100 claims, the filing cost falls by $11 because the rate drops from $0.50 to $0.39.
Essential: $31.50 today, $39 after the change. The current calculation is 10 included claims plus 90 at $0.35. The new calculation charges all 100 at $0.39, an increase of $7.50.
Plus: $16.25 today, $39 after the change. The current calculation is 35 included claims plus 65 at $0.25. The new calculation charges all 100 at $0.39, an increase of $22.75.
These are filing-fee examples, not complete SimplePractice bills. A practice with more than 250 claims should calculate each volume band separately. You can compare the present included amounts and rates against the current SimplePractice pricing FAQ, then use the October schedule in the new announcement. Your own filed-claims report and receipts are better inputs than a rough caseload estimate.
Why SimplePractice Says It Is Changing Fees
SimplePractice says the updated insurance fees support continued investment in features that reduce the administrative work of insurance billing. It points to tools already added—including Simple Invoicing, claim notes, bulk payer enrollments, a centralized Billing hub, corrected-claim workflows, and claim-rule automations—and to more insurance features coming later in 2026.
Bomi’s analysis: the pricing design also changes the business model of insurance billing inside SimplePractice. Claim submission is moving away from being partly bundled into higher subscription tiers and toward a separate usage-based charge. At the same time, SimplePractice is creating a premium insurance-support tier. That is an interpretation of the pricing structure—not evidence of a hidden motive or SimplePractice’s finances.
For therapists, that distinction matters. The right question is not only “Did my EHR price go up?” It is “What will my complete insurance workflow cost, and what work will the software or support actually remove?” A higher per-claim price can still be worthwhile if it reliably prevents enough manual work or lost revenue. A lower price can still be expensive if the practice spends hours resolving denials and payment-posting problems.
Insurance Essentials vs. Insurance Navigator
First, a naming clarification: Insurance Essentials is SimplePractice’s self-service insurance-billing offering; Essential is one of its three monthly subscription plans. Starter, Essential, and Plus subscribers can use Insurance Essentials under the new claim-fee schedule.
Practices do not have to buy Insurance Navigator to keep submitting claims. Insurance Essentials remains the self-service option and includes electronic claim submission, ERAs, reports, manual payment posting, Billing hub, claim rules, corrected-claim workflows, and Simple Invoicing. Its per-claim schedule starts at $0.39.
Insurance Navigator is an optional upgrade priced at $1.79 per submitted claim rather than a separate monthly add-on. SimplePractice says it adds automated verification of benefits, AI-powered Claim Assistant suggestions, payment autofill from uploaded EOBs, personalized insurance onboarding, and phone access to Insurance Specialists. Compare the two offerings.
At 100 claims, Navigator would cost $179 in claim fees versus $39 for Insurance Essentials—a $140 difference before other charges. That does not make Navigator automatically bad or good. It gives a practice a concrete hurdle: are the added tools and support likely to save more than $140 of staff time, outside help, or preventable billing loss in a typical 100-claim month? SimplePractice says a 30-day trial will be available beginning in November 2026, and practices can switch back without a penalty, with the downgrade taking effect at the next billing cycle.
What Therapists Should Do Before October 1
Pull your real monthly claim count. Review at least three recent months and separate electronically submitted claims from paper claims or claims filed through another system.
Rebuild the filing-fee line. Use the new volume bands rather than multiplying every claim by the first-tier rate if you submit more than 250 claims.
Count status checks separately. Starter and Essential practices should estimate how often they run manual insurance-status checks and add $0.15 for each one.
Price Navigator against a measurable problem. List the time spent on benefits checks, claim errors, EOB entry, onboarding, and support. Upgrade only if the added workflow has a realistic chance of covering its incremental cost.
Do not switch systems based on one fee in isolation. Compare data migration, documentation, scheduling, client communications, payment processing, staff training, clearinghouse work, and the risk of interrupted claims. An outside submission route may avoid this particular electronic filing fee, but it can also create duplicate work.
Recheck the announcement before the effective date. The support pages are current as of August 31, 2026. Save your calculation, then confirm the final terms and your account notice before making a lasting workflow change.
What This Could Mean Next
For small insured practices, EHR pricing is becoming less useful as a single monthly number. A meaningful comparison now needs to include subscription fees, payment processing, insurance submissions, eligibility or benefit checks, add-ons, extra clinicians, and the labor that remains after the software is paid for.
The change may also push group practices to track claim volume and billing labor more carefully. Plus no longer carries the lowest SimplePractice claim rate simply because it is the highest subscription tier. Practices should expect insurance tools to be evaluated more like operational services: by volume, outcomes, and time saved.
This fits a broader pattern in which behavioral-health platforms are changing how administrative convenience is priced. Our guide to therapy platforms and the reimbursement squeeze focuses on payer-contract control; this SimplePractice update is different, but the practical lesson is similar: understand which part of your workflow a platform controls and how that cost can change.
Shameless plug: Bomi can help a therapy practice model the new claim cost and run billing inside the EHR, so the decision is based on claim volume and actual administrative work instead of guesswork. Plus practices can add Bomi as a Practice Biller in SimplePractice at no extra team-member charge. That does not erase SimplePractice’s filing fees; it gives the practice an accountable billing workflow around them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is SimplePractice raising its monthly subscription price?
No. SimplePractice says the monthly Starter, Essential, and Plus subscription fees are not changing on October 1, 2026. The change affects electronic insurance claim fees and certain insurance-status checks.
How much will SimplePractice charge per insurance claim?
Insurance Essentials will charge $0.39 for each of the first 250 electronically submitted claims per month, then $0.37 for claims 251-600, $0.35 for claims 601-1,000, and $0.33 for each claim after 1,000.
Are SimplePractice free claims going away?
Yes. Essential currently includes 10 claims per month and Plus includes 35. SimplePractice says no subscription plan will include free claims beginning October 1, 2026.
Is Insurance Navigator required to submit claims?
No. Insurance Navigator is an optional $1.79-per-claim upgrade. Practices can continue using Insurance Essentials for self-service insurance billing at rates starting at $0.39 per claim.
Should therapists leave SimplePractice because of this change?
Not based on this fee alone. Calculate the change using your actual claim volume, then compare the total cost and labor of SimplePractice, Navigator, an outside submission route, or a different EHR before switching.
Bottom Line
SimplePractice’s October 1 change is a price increase for many Essential and Plus practices that submit insurance claims electronically, but it is not a universal subscription increase. Starter claim filers get a lower rate. Essential and Plus lose included claims and move to a higher starting rate. Navigator is a separate, optional bet that more automation and human guidance are worth $1.79 per claim.
Run the calculation with your own claims before reacting. The increase may be modest for a solo therapist and material for a group. Either way, the useful response is the same: know the new line item, measure the work it buys, and keep control of the data needed to change course.
Scope note: This article explains SimplePractice’s published national pricing announcement as of August 31, 2026. It is educational and is not legal, coding, tax, or contractual advice. Confirm the charges shown in your own account.
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