Specialty guide

Best AI scribe for psychiatry

Psychiatry fit judged on sourced facts: BAA, retention, training policy, templates, and price. Independent research. No paid rankings.

Short answer: For solo and small outpatient psychiatry, Freed and Heidi are the easiest to buy and both document a BAA. Nabla has the most conservative data defaults but no public pricing. In Epic health systems, Abridge and Dragon Copilot are the main enterprise options. Note quality is not yet independently tested.

What matters most in psychiatry

  • BAA first: treat a documented BAA as an eligibility gate, not a feature.
  • Retention: prefer default audio deletion and short, configurable note retention for sensitive content.
  • Model training: get the training policy in writing.
  • Templates: med management, mental status exam, risk assessment, and therapy progress notes.
  • Psychotherapy notes and Part 2: keep process notes out of the chart, and if you run a federally assisted SUD program, review 42 CFR Part 2 (compliance date February 16, 2026; segregation not required; SUD counseling notes need separate consent).

Solo and small practice options

ToolStarting priceFree optionBest for
Freed
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  • Note quality and accuracy: Not yet independently tested by ClinicalAIWeekly Not yet independently tested
  • EHR integrations: EHR push to browser-based EHRs on Premier ("send notes straight into any browser-based EHR with one click"); copy and paste on other plans Vendor-reported
  • Specialties and templates: Specialty-specific templates for 20+ specialties, including psychiatry and mental and behavioral health; personal templates; instant template builder (Core and up) Vendor-reported
  • Data retention and deletion: Audio deleted after the note is processed (recoverable up to 48 hours; troubleshooting copies up to 14 days). Notes deletable anytime or auto-deleted after 30 days (backups up to 7 more days). Custom retention on Groups. Documentation reviewed
  • HIPAA BAA (and which plan): Yes. BAA is Schedule A of the Platform Terms and applies from sign-up on every plan; signed copy on request; organization-wide BAA on Groups Documentation reviewed
  • Data used for model training?: Vendor says PHI is never used for training and models are trained only on de-identified notes; Terms also allow training on your data with consent given in Platform settings Vendor-reported
  • Where data is stored: United States (Microsoft Azure) Documentation reviewed
  • Sources: Freed pricing, Freed security, Freed BAA help article, Freed privacy and audio retention, Freed Platform Terms of Use, Freed Series A press release
Starter $39/mo (up to 40 notes/mo); Core $79/mo (unlimited notes); Premier $119/mo monthly or $104/mo billed annually; Groups: custom quote Documentation reviewedNo permanent free plan. 7-day free trial, no credit card. Pricing page offers Core free to residents, students, and trainees. Documentation reviewedSolo psychiatrists, mostly med management; published pricing
Heidi
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  • Note quality and accuracy: Not yet independently tested by ClinicalAIWeekly Not yet independently tested
  • EHR integrations: Native athenahealth integration (schedule sync, structured writeback); Epic via SMART on FHIR; desktop app integrations; EHR integration is an add-on on some plans Vendor-reported
  • Specialties and templates: Standard templates on Free; advanced templates and team template sharing on paid plans; template configuration 1:1 on higher tiers Vendor-reported
  • Data retention and deletion: Audio deleted once the transcript is created unless you enable a recording-saving feature. Organization auto-deletion configurable from 1 to 90 days; otherwise retained until deleted. Flexible retention on team plans. Documentation reviewed
  • HIPAA BAA (and which plan): Yes. Heidi states it makes a BAA available to every covered entity it works with; plan-level conditions: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Documentation reviewed
  • Data used for model training?: Safety page says identifiers are stripped before processing. Explicit model-training policy for customer data: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Vendor-reported
  • Where data is stored: Regional hosting; US customer data hosted in the United States (also AU, UK, EU, Canada, Switzerland) Documentation reviewed
  • Sources: Heidi pricing (US), Heidi HIPAA and BAA, Heidi privacy policy (certifications, retention), Heidi Trust Centre, Heidi Series B announcement
Free $0; Clinician $150/mo monthly or $110/mo billed yearly; Practice $180 per seat/mo billed yearly; Max seat upgrade $409/mo monthly or $299/mo yearly (Clinician) and $399/mo (Practice); Enterprise: custom (US prices) Documentation reviewedYes. Free plan with unlimited transcription and standard templates; Ask Heidi and advanced templates limited Documentation reviewedStarting free; broad template library
Nabla
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  • Note quality and accuracy: Not yet independently tested by ClinicalAIWeekly Not yet independently tested
  • EHR integrations: Epic and athenahealth integrations; Nabla Connect for other EHRs; export to EHR Vendor-reported
  • Specialties and templates: Help Center and third-party listings cite 55+ specialties and custom templates; current list: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Third-party sourced
  • Data retention and deletion: No audio stored by default. Notes retained for a configurable period, 14 days by default. Documentation reviewed
  • HIPAA BAA (and which plan): HIPAA documentation available on request in the Trust Center; BAA plan availability: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Documentation reviewed
  • Data used for model training?: Vendor states it does not train its models on your data Vendor-reported
  • Where data is stored: US clients on Google Cloud US regions; others in EU Google Cloud Documentation reviewed
  • Sources: Nabla homepage (free trial, scale figures), Nabla Trust Center, Nabla data retention help article, Nabla HIPAA help article, Nabla EHR integration, Nabla Series C release
Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor). nabla.com/pricing returned 404 on 2026-10-12. Third-party trackers report a historical $119/mo Pro plan; treat as unverified. Not verified"Try it for free" signup on the homepage; current free-tier limits: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Documentation reviewedTherapy-heavy practices wanting no audio retention and a 14-day standard data retention
Tali
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  • Note quality and accuracy: Not yet independently tested by ClinicalAIWeekly Not yet independently tested
  • EHR integrations: US: Net Health, Practice Fusion, Veradigm; Canada: Accuro, Med Access, PS Suite, OSCAR Pro, and others; dictation and search work in any EHR Vendor-reported
  • Specialties and templates: Customizable templates (Starter and up); custom clinic templates on Enterprise; psych-specific templates: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Vendor-reported
  • Data retention and deletion: Audio streamed in real time with no PHI stored beyond the conversation; custom retention (for example auto-delete every 30 days) on Enterprise Documentation reviewed
  • HIPAA BAA (and which plan): States HIPAA compliance; BAA availability and plan: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Documentation reviewed
  • Data used for model training?: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Not verified
  • Where data is stored: Canadian data stored in Canada; US storage location for US users: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Documentation reviewed
  • Sources: Tali US pricing, Tali security and privacy, Tali FAQ, Tali seed financing
US site: Personal free; Starter US$68/mo monthly or US$60/mo annual (40 scribes/mo); Pro US$100/mo monthly (annual price shown inconsistently on the page, ask vendor); Enterprise: custom; part-time accounts $80/mo Documentation reviewedYes. Personal plan: 14 days of Pro, then 5 AI scribes and 60 minutes of dictation a month Documentation reviewedCanadian clinicians (Canadian data residency)

Health system options

ToolStarting priceFree optionBest for
Abridge
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  • Note quality and accuracy: Not yet independently tested by ClinicalAIWeekly Not yet independently tested
  • EHR integrations: Deep Epic integration (Abridge Inside: Haiku, Hyperspace, Hyperdrive) plus other enterprise EHRs; full list: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Vendor-reported
  • Specialties and templates: 50+ specialties including behavioral health (vendor support docs as reported) Vendor-reported
  • Data retention and deletion: Audio, transcripts, and drafts retained per the organization's configured policy, then audio permanently deleted; early deletion of single encounters not supported Documentation reviewed
  • HIPAA BAA (and which plan): Yes. Published Business Associate Agreement terms; signed as part of the enterprise contract Documentation reviewed
  • Data used for model training?: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Not verified
  • Sources: Abridge Trust Center, Abridge BAA terms, Abridge data security support article, Abridge retention (support article), Abridge languages (support article), Abridge Series E
Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor). Enterprise contracts only; no self-serve plan or published price Not verifiedNo free plan or self-serve trial; pilots are arranged through sales Documentation reviewedEpic health systems (enterprise contract)
Dragon Copilot
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  • Note quality and accuracy: Not yet independently tested by ClinicalAIWeekly Not yet independently tested
  • EHR integrations: Epic (embedded, including Haiku and Rover), plus athenahealth and MEDITECH listed on Microsoft's health solutions pages; other EHRs via integration Vendor-reported
  • Specialties and templates: Specialty-specific, customizable notes across ambulatory, inpatient, and ED; nursing flowsheets; radiology reporting Vendor-reported
  • Data retention and deletion: Audio, recognized text, transcripts, and flowsheet values retained up to 90 days; deletion via Microsoft Purview lifecycle management; customer data deleted when the contract expires Documentation reviewed
  • HIPAA BAA (and which plan): HIPAA commitments are in the Microsoft Products and Services DPA and Product Terms; confirm BAA coverage in your enterprise agreement Documentation reviewed
  • Data used for model training?: Customer data is de-identified or anonymized before use for model improvement; not used to train general LLMs Vendor-reported
  • Sources: Microsoft Dragon Copilot product page, Dragon Copilot licensing guidance, Dragon Copilot data FAQ (retention, certifications), Dragon Copilot privacy white paper, Dragon Copilot security white paper, Dragon Copilot announcement
Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) for the Physician Per User license. Physician Flex: per-user dictation license plus pay-as-you-go AI-Assisted Sessions at 25 consumption units ($0.25) each, with 10 sessions per license per month included (Microsoft licensing guidance) Not verifiedNo free plan; organizational licensing only Documentation reviewedHealth systems on Microsoft and Epic or Oracle EHRs

Psychiatry fit by tool

Freed

Freed lists psychiatry and mental and behavioral health among its specialty templates, and its blog and Help Center publish behavioral health note guidance. For therapy-heavy practices, check whether the default structure separates the progress note from anything you would treat as HIPAA psychotherapy notes, and confirm you can suppress sensitive details (trauma narratives, substance use, third-party information) before notes leave the tool. The 30-day auto-delete option and default audio deletion help minimize retained sensitive content. Freed does not publicly describe 42 CFR Part 2 specific controls: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor).

Heidi

Heidi publishes progress note resources on its site (psychiatry-specific templates: Not publicly disclosed, ask vendor), and its configurable retention (1 to 90 day auto-delete for organizations) and default audio deletion suit practices that want short retention of sensitive material. Because Heidi increasingly drafts patient-facing recaps and runs agents over chart data, behavioral health practices should decide which outputs are allowed for sensitive visits and keep patient recaps behind clinician approval (which Heidi says is the default). Heidi does not publicly describe 42 CFR Part 2 specific controls: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor).

Nabla

Nabla's no-audio-by-default and 14-day default note retention are among the most conservative in this group, which is attractive for behavioral health. Its 2025 funding release cited adoption growth in behavioral health settings. Short retention means you must export notes promptly, and you should confirm whether psychiatric templates (mental status exam, risk assessment, medication management) are available on your plan. Nabla does not publicly describe 42 CFR Part 2 specific controls: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor).

Tali

Tali's real-time streaming with no stored audio is a privacy plus for behavioral health. However, it does not publish psychiatry-specific templates, a BAA process, or a model-training policy on the pages we checked, so US psychiatric practices should get those in writing before use. 42 CFR Part 2 controls: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor).

Abridge

Abridge lists behavioral health among supported specialties, and its enterprise retention model means the health system, not the clinician, controls how long audio and transcripts exist. That is good for governance but means an individual psychiatrist cannot delete a single sensitive encounter early. Health systems running SUD programs should map Abridge data flows against 42 CFR Part 2 consent and redisclosure rules; Part 2 specific controls are not publicly disclosed (ask vendor).

Dragon Copilot

Dragon Copilot's 90-day retention and its use of de-identified data for model improvement are central questions for behavioral health. Organizations should confirm how sensitive encounters are handled, whether ambient capture can be disabled for specific visit types, and how Part 2 records are segregated. Microsoft's documentation addresses HIPAA but does not publicly describe 42 CFR Part 2 specific controls: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor).

Who should pick which

  • Solo psychiatrist, mostly med management: Freed (published pricing, BAA in Terms) or Heidi (free plan to start).
  • Therapy-heavy practice wanting short retention: Nabla or Freed with 30-day auto-delete.
  • Epic health system behavioral health department: Abridge or Dragon Copilot, after a Part 2 and retention review.
  • Canadian psychiatrist: Tali, given Canadian data residency.

Sources and last checked

All facts come from the vendor pages linked in each comparison and review, checked 2026-10-12. See the methodology.

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