Mentalyc vs Upheal (2026)
These are the two most buyable products in behavioral health documentation for solo clinicians and small practices, and the only two in this index's behavioral health lane publishing both full pricing and a SOC 2 Type II attestation, with HIPAA and Canadian PHIPA coverage besides. The split is scope and stewardship. Mentalyc is a documentation specialist with the strongest privacy posture in the lane: it states plainly that it does not train on clinician or client data and does not retain session recordings, and recording is optional rather than required. Upheal is an AI native EHR: notes plus scheduling, billing, telehealth, client portal, and compliance checking in one platform at $1 per session capped at $69 a month, with Golden Thread maintaining the diagnosis to treatment plan to progress note continuity that payers audit for medical necessity. If your failure mode is where session data goes, start with Mentalyc. If your failure mode is running a practice across too many tools, start with Upheal.
- Data stewardship decides it: the company states it does not train on clinician or client data and does not retain session recordings, the specific disclosure this index has not found from any other behavioral health vendor.
- You will not record therapy, or your clients will not: notes generate from uploaded audio, dictation, transcripts, or typed summaries as well as recordings, so capture is an option rather than a requirement.
- Therapy native formats and low entry cost: SOAP, DAP, BIRP, PIRP, GIRP, PIE, and SIRP plus a reported 100 or more custom templates, with published tiers from a Mini plan near $19.99 a month.
- You want the practice stack, not another tool: AI notes, scheduling, billing, treatment plans, a client portal, forms, payments, and HIPAA secure telehealth in one platform.
- The pricing model matches a variable caseload: $1 per session capped at $69 a month per provider with no seat fees and no AI add on, so a lighter month costs less.
- Audit continuity is your exposure: Golden Thread links diagnosis, treatment plan goals, and session progress notes automatically, and the compliance checker flags documentation gaps before submission.
This comparison is published by AI Health Index, an independent research platform that compares healthcare AI vendors objectively. Mentalyc and Upheal are each graded against the same capability taxonomy, from each vendor's own public materials and the regulatory record, under the AI Health Index verification standard. No vendor pays for placement, and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Plain facts
| Fact | Mentalyc | Upheal |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Behavioral Health AI | Behavioral Health AI |
| Headquarters | New York, New York, United States | New York, New York, United States |
| Website | mentalyc.com | upheal.io |
Side by Side
Each record in one paragraph
Written to be quoted whole. Each paragraph states what the AI Health Index verified about the vendor, with the caveats attached. Generated from this pair’s live capability grades, so it moves when a grade moves.
The AI Health Index awards Mentalyc its top capability grade on several axes, including AI Centrality, AI Safety and PHI Stewardship and HIPAA and BAA Posture. Set against Upheal, Mentalyc grades higher on Model Supply Chain Disclosure and AI Safety and PHI Stewardship. Its thinnest published disclosure sits on AI Liability and Recourse. Grades reflect evidence the AI Health Index could verify at the last review, so a low grade records disclosure the vendor has not published rather than a capability it has been shown to lack.
Source: AI Health Index, July 2026
The AI Health Index awards Upheal its top capability grade on several axes, including AI Centrality, HIPAA and BAA Posture and Security Certifications and Trust Center. Set against Mentalyc, Upheal grades higher on FDA and Regulatory Status and EHR and Interoperability Depth. Its thinnest published disclosure sits on Model Supply Chain Disclosure and AI Liability and Recourse. Grades reflect evidence the AI Health Index could verify at the last review, so a low grade records disclosure the vendor has not published rather than a capability it has been shown to lack.
Source: AI Health Index, July 2026
Questions buyers ask
Should we choose Mentalyc or Upheal?
On the axes where the AI Health Index separates them, Mentalyc grades higher on Model Supply Chain Disclosure and AI Safety and PHI Stewardship, and Upheal grades higher on FDA and Regulatory Status and EHR and Interoperability Depth. Neither leads on the greater share of scored axes, so the decision turns on which constraint is binding rather than on an overall winner.
Where do Mentalyc and Upheal differ most?
The widest separation the AI Health Index records between Mentalyc and Upheal is on EHR and Interoperability Depth, where Mentalyc grades C and Upheal grades A. That axis sits in the Integration and Deployment group, so it should carry the most weight for a buyer whose binding constraint is how the product lands in the stack already in place.
Where do Mentalyc and Upheal grade the same?
The AI Health Index grades Mentalyc and Upheal the same on several axes, including AI Centrality, Autonomy and Oversight Model and Model and Technology Transparency. Neither holds an advantage the index can evidence on those axes, so they should not carry weight in a selection between these two.
What have Mentalyc and Upheal not disclosed?
At the last review, at least one of Mentalyc and Upheal published thin or absent detail on Model Supply Chain Disclosure and AI Liability and Recourse. The AI Health Index treats an absent disclosure as a gap in the public record rather than a failure of the product, so these are the axes to get in writing during diligence instead of inferring from the grade.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers. The full set for this category is on the Ambient Scribes page.
Both vendors' feature and adoption claims are vendor published. Both carry a clinical evidence grade of C: neither has a peer reviewed outcome study on record with this index. Mentalyc publishes extensive comparison content evaluating its own competitors, including vendors indexed here; this comparison relies on the index's independent capability records rather than either vendor's competitive materials. Upheal restructured its tiers into the usage based model in 2026, so older third party descriptions of Free, Starter, and Premium plans no longer reflect current pricing.