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. Test MSE and risk sections on a demo with your own templates.
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).
- Med management: follow-ups with medication, dose, side effects and labs captured accurately.
- Mental status exam: a section you can edit quickly.
- Risk documentation: suicide and violence risk documentation that you control, not the model.
Solo and small practice options
| Tool | Starting price | Free option | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
FreedMore
| 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 reviewed | No permanent free plan. 7-day free trial, no credit card. Pricing page offers Core free to residents, students, and trainees. Documentation reviewed | Solo psychiatrists, mostly med management; published pricing |
HeidiMore
| 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 reviewed | Yes. Free plan with unlimited transcription and standard templates; Ask Heidi and advanced templates limited Documentation reviewed | Starting free; broad template library |
NablaMore
| Ask vendor. nabla.com/pricing returned 404 on 2026-10-12. Third-party trackers report a historical $119/mo Pro plan; treat as unverified. Ask vendor | "Try it for free" signup on the homepage; current free-tier limits: Ask vendor Documentation reviewed | Therapy-heavy practices wanting no audio retention and a 14-day standard data retention |
TaliMore
| 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 reviewed | Yes. Personal plan: 14 days of Pro, then 5 AI scribes and 60 minutes of dictation a month Documentation reviewed | Canadian clinicians (Canadian data residency) |
Health system options
| Tool | Starting price | Free option | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
AbridgeMore
| Ask vendor. Enterprise contracts only; no self-serve plan or published price Ask vendor | No free plan or self-serve trial; pilots are arranged through sales Documentation reviewed | Epic health systems (enterprise contract) |
Dragon CopilotMore
| 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) Ask vendor | No free plan; organizational licensing only Documentation reviewed | Health 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: Ask vendor.
Heidi
Heidi publishes progress note resources on its site (psychiatry-specific templates: 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: 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: 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: 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: Ask vendor.
Behavioral health criteria
| Criterion | Freed | Heidi | Nabla |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intake and initial evaluation notes | Psychiatry and mental and behavioral health templates listed Vendor-reported | Session notes, progress notes and psychiatric evaluations from user templates Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified | Ask vendor |
| Medication management follow-ups | Psychiatry template listed Vendor-reported | Ask vendor | Ask vendor |
| Mental status exam (MSE) | Ask vendor | Example "Mental State Examination" section in a psychiatrist template Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified | Ask vendor |
| Suicide-risk documentation | Ask vendor | No clinical decision-making; sensitive content such as suicide risk is documented only if said in session or added as context Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified | Ask vendor |
| Note formats | Structured SOAP notes per Help Center FAQ Vendor-reported | Any structure via custom templates Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified | Ask vendor |
| Named EHR and practice-management integrations | EHR push to browser-based EHRs on Premier Vendor-reported | Epic, Oracle Health (Cerner), eClinicalWorks, athenahealth, PracticeQ, IntakeQ Vendor-reported API or SDK widget; Chrome extension for web-based EHRs Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified | Epic, athenahealth, eClinicalWorks Vendor-reported |
| Telehealth sessions | Yes. Captures browser-tab telehealth (Zoom web, Google Meet, Teams web, Doxy.me) via Chrome extension; Zoom Marketplace app Documentation reviewed | Yes. Heidi Desktop "captures telehealth audio straight from the call" Vendor-reported | Ask vendor |
| Individual vs group pricing | Individual: $39, $79, $119/mo (Premier $104/mo annual). Groups: custom quote Documentation reviewed | Individual: Free; Clinician $150/mo or $110/mo yearly. Practice: $180/seat/mo yearly; Enterprise custom Documentation reviewed APA response (July 2025): paid tiers $66 to $100/month; use the current pricing page Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified | Ask vendor |
Sources, checked 2026-10-13: Freed telehealth capture, Freed FAQ, Freed pricing, Heidi integrations, Heidi pricing, Nabla EHR. Heidi eClinicalWorks and IntakeQ listings and Nabla eClinicalWorks per vendor integration pages.
Suki (APA vendor response)
- Behavioral health notes: Customizable templates, including therapy sessions and psychiatric evaluations Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified
- EHR integration: Bidirectional FHIR integration or API embedding Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified
- Emotional and nonverbal cues: Does not detect emotional or nonverbal cues (APA response) Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified
- Pricing: Per-user and consumption-based models; solo to enterprise Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified
About the APA label: the APA Committee on Mental Health IT sent questions to AI scribe developers in July 2025 and published the answers on its AI Scribe Tools page. APA states the answers were not independently verified and that it does not endorse any tool. Neither does this site rely on them as verified facts. See our questions to ask before you buy.
Privacy by vendor
Freed
- BAA: Yes. BAA is part of the Platform Terms on every plan Documentation reviewed
- Audio and transcript retention: Audio deleted after processing (recoverable up to 48 hours; troubleshooting copies up to 14 days). Notes deletable anytime or auto-deleted after 30 days Documentation reviewed
- Model training: "Protected health information is never used for AI training purposes" (Help Center) Vendor-reported
Checked 2026-10-13: BAA article, Privacy and audio retention
Heidi
- BAA: Yes. "We make a BAA available to every covered entity we work with" Documentation reviewed
BAAs in place with all subprocessors Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified - Audio and transcript retention: Audio deleted once the transcript is created unless a recording-saving feature is on; organization auto-delete 1 to 90 days Documentation reviewed
No audio stored by default; transcripts deletable or auto-expire per clinic settings Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified - Model training: "Heidi does not learn from user inputs or patient data" Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified
Privacy policy (2026-09-29): no customer data or health information used to train AI models on organization and paid individual plans; de-identified free-plan data may be used under the Terms of Service Documentation reviewed
Checked 2026-10-13: HIPAA and BAA, Privacy policy
Nabla
- BAA: HIPAA documentation on request in Trust Center Documentation reviewed; BAA by plan: Ask vendor
- Audio and transcript retention: No audio retained; patient data kept per retention settings, standard 14 days (help article edited 2026-08-24) Documentation reviewed
- Model training: Vendor states it does not train its models on your data Vendor-reported
Checked 2026-10-13: Data retention article, Trust Center, EHR page ("No model training on your data")
Tali AI
- Audio and transcript retention: Audio streamed in real time, no PHI stored beyond the conversation; custom retention on Enterprise Documentation reviewed
Checked 2026-10-12; sources on the psychiatry guide
Abridge
- BAA: Yes. Published BAA terms, signed with the enterprise contract Documentation reviewed
- Audio and transcript retention: Organization-configured retention; single-encounter early deletion not supported Documentation reviewed
Checked 2026-10-12; sources on the psychiatry guide
Dragon Copilot
- BAA: HIPAA commitments in Microsoft DPA and Product Terms; confirm in your agreement Documentation reviewed
- Audio and transcript retention: Audio and transcripts retained up to 90 days Documentation reviewed
- Model training: De-identified data used for model improvement; not used to train general LLMs Vendor-reported
Checked 2026-10-12; sources on the psychiatry guide
Suki
- BAA: Listed as BAA documented on our scorecard (checked 2026-10-12). SOC 2 Type 2 (Suki homepage, "SOC2 Type 2 certified", as checked 2026-10-13) Vendor-reported; HIPAA compliant and SOC 2 Type II Vendor response to APA, July 2025, not independently verified
- Audio and transcript retention: Developer Platform ambient sessions: audio and transcript permanently deleted after 30 days; final note kept for the contract term (Suki security FAQ, as checked 2026-10-13) Documentation reviewed
- Model training: Only de-identified, anonymized data used for model training (Suki security FAQ, as checked 2026-10-13) Documentation reviewed
Checked 2026-10-12; sources on the psychiatry guide
Psychotherapy notes and HIPAA
What HIPAA calls psychotherapy notes. Under 45 CFR 164.501, psychotherapy notes are notes by a mental health professional documenting or analyzing the contents of a counseling session that are kept separate from the rest of the medical record. They exclude medication prescription and monitoring, session start and stop times, modalities and frequencies of treatment, results of clinical tests, and summaries of diagnosis, functional status, treatment plan, symptoms, prognosis, and progress. Under 45 CFR 164.508(a)(2), with few exceptions a covered entity needs the patient's authorization before disclosing psychotherapy notes, even for treatment by another provider.
Why it matters for AI scribes: a scribe note that goes into the chart is part of the medical record, so it is a progress note, not a psychotherapy note. If you keep separate process notes, decide whether they should ever pass through a scribe vendor, and ask each vendor in writing how it handles them.
Sources: HHS, Does HIPAA provide extra protections for mental health information? (content last reviewed by HHS 2017-09-12; checked 2026-10-13); 45 CFR 164.501 (eCFR); 45 CFR 164.508 (eCFR). Not legal advice.
Guides by audience
- Best AI Scribes for Psychiatric NPs
- Best AI Scribes for Therapists
- Best AI Scribes for Group Practices
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.
Research scores
Scores are documentation-based. Vendors without a publicly documented BAA are shown as "BAA not publicly documented: not ranked, confirm with vendor". See the scorecard.
FAQ
Which AI scribe has a mental status exam section?
Heidi told the APA (July 2025) that a psychiatrist template can include a "Mental State Examination" section. Freed lists psychiatry templates. For others, ask vendor and request a live demo note.
How do these scribes handle suicide risk?
Heidi told the APA it documents sensitive content such as suicide risk only if it is said in the session or added as context. For other vendors, ask vendor. Always finalize risk documentation yourself.
Which is cheapest for a solo psychiatrist?
Heidi has a free plan; Freed starts at $39/mo. For Nabla pricing, ask vendor.
Related
- Freed vs Heidi Health
- Heidi Health vs Nabla
- Nabla vs Freed
- Tali AI vs Freed
- Abridge vs DAX Copilot (Dragon Copilot)
- Freed vs Abridge
- Heidi Health vs DAX Copilot (Dragon Copilot)
- Freed review
- Heidi Health review
- Nabla review
- Abridge review
- Dragon Copilot (DAX) review
Sources and last checked
All facts come from the vendor pages linked in each comparison and review, checked 2026-10-12. Behavioral health criteria and privacy facts for Freed, Heidi and Nabla were checked on vendor pages on 2026-10-13. See the methodology and corrections.