10 Best CBT Apps Of 2024 To Improve Your Mental Health

Cognitive-behavioral therapy, more commonly known as CBT, is a psychotherapy approach that can help you identify and reframe negative thought patterns and help you heal. CBT is one of the most recommended therapy approaches and the most convenient and accessible.

Now, if we’re talking about convenience and accessibility, did you know that you can learn CBT techniques and skills, or aid your existing therapy, through CBT apps?

Don’t worry, I won’t let you wander off on app stores looking for the right CBT app. In this blog, I’ve compiled the 10 best CBT apps to help improve your mental health. You can try any of these apps and choose the one that fits best according to your needs.

No need to feel overwhelmed by so many apps anymore!

Here are the 10 Best cognitive-behavioral therapy apps for you;

10 Best CBT Apps to Use in 2024

Out of so many CBT apps available, most of the apps will either teach you CBT techniques or offer some kind of therapy. If your negative thought patterns continue, then they can contribute to anxiety, depression, insomnia, sleeplessness, and even your general mood.

With the right CBT app, you can find tools and techniques to help you feel better. Plus, you can use these apps as an aid for your in-between therapy sessions.

Let’s take a look at the 10 best CBT apps;

1. Sanvello

Best For Overall CBT Coaching And Therapy

Our Rating: 4.5/5

Free Trial Available: Free to try (but features limited without a premium subscription)

Cost: $8.99/month

Features: Journals, mental health coaching, and CBT therapy

Pros:

• The app has a free version that can be a good introduction to what’s there in the subscription
• CBT journals in the app are good for beginners to the therapy approach
• Anyone can access mental health coaching
• Your therapy might be covered by insurance (depending on your insurance company)
• There’s a community space to connect with like-minded people

Cons:

• The coaching is via text only
• Therapy is not for people who want to pay out-of-pocket
• Some chat rooms are not as active as others and may not fit every individual’s needs

About the app:

Sanvello is a good app for anyone who’s looking for therapy, especially CBT. The app offers a text-based approach to mental health coaches or teletherapy. The app might also accept some insurance plans (depending on the state you reside in and your insurance company). However, the app might not be a good fit if you’re looking for a personal touch and are not willing to pay out-of-pocket for therapy.

It’s a good CBT app with in-app learning, journals, coaching, and therapy. If you’re seeking help with your symptoms of depression or anxiety, then Sanvello could be a good choice.

Download the app For Android | For iOS

2.MindDoc

Best For: General CBT Skills

Our Rating: 4.5/5

Free Trial Available: Available for free (with in-app purchases)

Cost: Starting at $29.99/three months

Features: Modules available on anxiety, postpartum depression, sleep disorders, eating disorders, and more

Pros:

• Free version of the app allows access to some activities
• You have a choice out of three, six, or twelve-month subscription
• There’s one premium module available for free each month
• A dedicated module on how to cope with mental health during COVID-19

Cons:

• Much of the content on the app is only available through purchase
• It takes 14 days of tracking to see what is affecting your low mood
• There’s no in-app therapy or coaching (it’s only offered through the website)

About the app:

MindDoc is another CBT app that offers a mood tracker, a journal, a symptom screener, and even a monitoring tool. It’s a good app for anyone wanting to use CBT for anxiety and depression. However, the benefits are not limited to depression and anxiety; the app can also help with sleep disorders, eating disorders, postpartum depression, and even phobias.

Based on your assessment when you sign up, you’ll be directed to learning modules based on your needs. Through this app, you can also sign up for therapy that is provided by BetterHelp. However, it is unclear if MindDoc shares information with BetterHelp.

Download the app For Android | For iOS

3.Bloom: CBT Therapy & Self-Care

Best For: Learning Coping Skills

Our Rating: 4/5

Free Trial Available: Yes, a 7-day trial

Cost: $14.49/month

Features: Guided CBT journals

Pros:

• Video sessions in the app have journaling and mindfulness exercises
• The app is user-friendly and easy to use even if you’re a beginner
• There’s a 7-day free trial to explore everything on the app
• Journals are available (without guide) and are centered around gratitude

Cons:

• The app is NOT available for Android users
• Most of the app content is accessible only via purchase
• The app mostly delivers pre-recorded videos as a guide through CBT activities

About the app:

Bloom is another app for cognitive-behavioral therapy that provides guided video journaling and mindfulness exercises on topics such as anxiety, stress, sadness, self-care, and more. The app is a great choice for people who need help reframing their negative thoughts. While the app might be considered “self-therapy”, the app does not provide any psychotherapist or counselor.

Bloom CBT app offers guided journals on gratitude, intention settings, and morning journaling. If you’re looking for an app that provides in-app therapy and guidance, then this app might not be the right choice for you as it offers only pre-recorded videos.

Unfortunately, this app is also not available for Android users, only for iOS users.

You can download the app from the Apple App store here.

4. Happify

Best For: Fun Learning

Our Rating: 4/5

Free Trial Available: No free trials

Cost: $14.99/month

Features: Offers in-app CBT activities, journal, and meditations for fun learning

Pros:

• Free version of the app allows you to get a sense of the app – including learning games, exercises, and other activities
• You can choose from several learning tracks and meditations, specified for coping with racial trauma, stress, and discrimination
• The app offers short activities that do not take much time and can easily fit in with your daily schedule

Cons:

• The app does not offer a free trial
• The CBT-centered games are geared more towards having fun rather than developing skills to cope with challenges
• The app is said to lag too much and load slower than others

About the app:

Happify is an app that focuses on teaching you tracks, games, and other fun activities to improve your wellness. It’s a good app to pick if you’re new to CBT. The app offers short courses (created by MDs, therapists, PhDs, and professional coaches) to help you improve your health.

Happify app also offers features such as journals and mindfulness tracks to help cope with your negative thoughts. The best part of the app is that it offers special materials to help deal with racial trauma, stress, and discrimination.

Download the app For Android | For iOS

5.Evolve CBT Coach

Best For: LGBTQIA+ Community

Our Rating: 4.5/5

Free Trial Available: 7-day free trial

Cost: $5.40/month

Features: Guided courses on gender identity, self-love, and more, specially created for the LGBTQIA+ community

Pros:

• The app is user-friendly and easy to use, even for beginners
• The app provides a free trial so you can explore what the app has to offer before you subscribe
• The subscription fee of the app is lower than other CBT apps
• There is more content and activities centered around CBT, even if you’re new to the practice
• There’s content that especially explores your identity and coming out along with great resources for help for the LGBTQIA+ community

Cons:

• Limited content is available on the free version
• There are only a handful of LGBTQ-focused learning and no meditations
• It might not be a helpful app for those who are already familiar with CBT techniques
• The app is said to lag and crash more than the other apps

About the app:

If you belong from the LGBTQIA+ community, then Evolve is an app that you might be comfortable with. The app has a lot of self-love, self-care, and CBT-related skills that can help you explore your self-relationship. It also offers features such as mindfulness, journaling, DBT techniques, and more content that is centered around the LGBTQIA+ community.

This app mainly focuses on helping you emotionally but also supports personal growth. You can explore many topics within the app from work and relationships to self-expression. There are also different meditations for work, focus, morning, anxiety, and more that can help you daily.

Download the app For Android | For iOS

6. CBT-i Coach

Best For Insomnia And Sleep Troubles

Our Rating: 4.5/5

Free Trial Available: App is free

Cost: Free

Features: Offers content for people suffering from sleep issues such as insomnia and PTSD-related insomnia

Pros:

• The app is free to download and free to use. No hidden subscriptions
• User-friendly and easy to use, even for beginners
• The content of the app is delivered in a way that can be easy to understand for everyone

Cons:

• There’s not much content to explore
• There are very few meditations to help improve sleep
• No premium content is available on the app

About the app:

CBT-i coach is another app for cognitive-behavioral therapy that was created by Veterans to help with sleep troubles such as insomnia. The app aims to help you understand the causes of your insomnia, give you tools to help you fall asleep, and create habits to improve sleep at night. The app can be used by veterans and civilians.

The app is made for people who are having sleep troubles and want to improve sleep and quiet their minds to sleep better. The app has features that allow users to log their sleep and come up with ways to improve sleep.

The app also has a journal that can allow you to log your thoughts and reframe them. If you’re struggling with insomnia that is caused by PTSD, then this app is a great choice.

Download the app For Android | For iOS

7.CBT Thought Diary

Best For: Journaling

Our Rating: 4.5/5

Free Trial Available: 7-day free trial

Cost: $2.49/month

Features: Guided journals to ease journaling

Pros:

• The app is good for beginners to help track negative thought patterns
• The content and materials offered on the app about CBT is easy to understand
• Learning through the app centers around stress, sleep, relationships, and more to help change your thought patterns

Cons:

• Core content is available only through purchase
• The series offered has heavy text
• The tracking and insight might require at least four days of activity on the app

About the app:

CBT Thought Diary offers CBT-based techniques and tools to help improve your mood, reflect on your thoughts, and practice gratitude. The app teaches you how you can identify your emotions and analyze them. Once you do that, it teaches you how to challenge those thoughts and reframe them.

CBT Thought Diary also offers journaling through Mood Journal, Thought-Record Journal, and Gratitude Journal. There’s also the app’s educational content, but it might be too text-heavy. Although, you can explore topics such as negative thoughts, cognitive distortions, anxiety, depression, etc.

Download the app For Android | For iOS

8.CBT Tools for Healthy Living

Best For: Help Alongside In-Person Therapy

Our Rating: 4.5/5

Free Trial Available: App is free

Cost: Free

Features: CBT Journal and mood tracker, that you can easily share with your therapist or counselor

Pros:

• The app is user-friendly and allows you to write in a daily diary, build goals, and log in your activities and mood daily
• The app is free with no hidden subscription
• There are many types of activities that keep you engaged

Cons:

• The app has ads so it might be inconvenient for users
• The app’s point system might give a competitive feel that some users might be uncomfortable with
• There are links in the app that might send you to the website to engage in audios

About the app:

CBT Tools For Healthy Living is a CBT-training app that is great for users who want to keep track of their mood, analyze them, and reflect on their thoughts. It also allows you to set goals – physical and mental goals. The app could be helpful for people who want to experience an in-depth CBT session.

CBT Tools also features a daily diary and activity tracker to help you track your goals and mood. Plus, with its various quizzes and assessments, you can easily understand where your negative thoughts come from.

Download the app For Android

9.Stresscoach

Best For: Stress Management And Stress Relief

Our Rating: 4/5

Free Trial Available: No free trials at this time

Cost: $9.99/month

Features: Has in-depth CBT courses on various topics including negative thoughts, social anxiety, and stress

Pros:

• The app is user-friendly and easy to navigate for beginners
• The materials the app offers are easy to understand and fun!
• The app is perfect for people who are struggling with anxiety, stress, and worry

Cons:

• There are a few bugs in the app that might make the app lag and crash
• The core content of the app is available only through subscription

About the app:

Stresscoach is also a CBT app that focuses on stress management and stress relief and uses skills such as mindfulness, ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy), etc. to help you manage daily stress. The app focuses on teaching basic coping skills to help manage stress daily.

The learning content on the app focuses on letting go of negative thoughts, understanding your psychological process, compassion, social anxiety, and stress management.

However, the core content of the app is only accessible through subscription and is guided by AI. The main focus of Stresscoach is on stress management and stress relief, so if you’re looking for that then this app would be a good match.

Download the app For Android

10.MoodTools

Best For: Depression

Our Rating: 4.5/5

Free Trial Available:

Cost: $1.99/month

Features: Good for people who experience thoughts of self-harm and quickly create a safety plan, and share them with their emergency contacts

Pros:

• It is user-friendly and is easy to use
• All activities are easy to do and fun to practice
• You can take assessments to get an insight on your depression levels
• You can create a safety plan to help if you have harmful thoughts

Cons:

• The premium version does not offer a new content but just to change the app color
• The in-app videos direct you to YouTube

About the app:

MindTools is a CBT app that helps you combat negative thoughts and improve negative mood through activities and journaling. It’s an app that is designed to help people who are struggling with depression or depressive thoughts.

The app is user-friendly and offers journaling prompts, videos, and activities to help improve mood. Along with it all, the app also offers a safety plan that is designed to help if you’re having self-harming thoughts and need immediate help.

The videos the app offers include meditation videos, soothing background music, TED Talks, and more, however, the app will redirect you to YouTube to watch videos. The best part is that you can add your own activity and customize it according to your needs.

However, the best feature of the app would be its safety plan for people who often experience thoughts of self-harm. You can create your own plan including the warning signs, coping strategies, reasons to not give up, emergency contact, and more. There’s also a crisis section where you can access the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (988).

Download the app For Android | For iOS

Final Thoughts…

CBT is one of the most recommended therapy approaches to help improve various disorders and conditions. I hope the apps listed in the app will help you understand which one of these apps is the right one for you.

For more, you can write to us at info@calmsage.com or DM us on social media. You can also share your favorite CBT app with us in the comments section below.

Take care!

Next Read:

The Pros & Cons Of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

5 Commonly Used CBT Techniques To Combat Mental Health Issues!

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) For Kids | What Makes It The Right Therapy For Your Child