Best website builder for therapists in 2026: 4 picks and HIPAA basics

What a therapist website has to do

A therapy site has to help a nervous visitor feel safe reaching out, and it has to keep health information out of the wrong places. That second job rules out a lot of default contact forms. This page is general information, not legal advice; check your setup with a healthcare attorney or HIPAA compliance adviser.

• The basics, stated clearly. Your services, specialties, fees and the insurance you accept.
• A safe first contact. A booking or consultation-request form that doesn’t collect health details unless it is HIPAA-compliant.
• Intake and a client portal. HIPAA-compliant intake forms and a portal, usually from a practice-management tool.
• A BAA from every vendor that touches client health info. A Business Associate Agreement is the contract HIPAA generally requires with those vendors.
• Careful tracking. Limited use of tracking pixels and analytics on booking and intake pages.
• A privacy notice.
• Telehealth. A session link handled by a compliant video service.
• Directory profiles. Listings such as Psychology Today that link back to your site.

The simplest pattern: the website explains and reassures, and a HIPAA-compliant tool handles booking, intake and messages. Only one general builder on this list says it will sign a BAA for forms on the site itself.

How we picked

This list comes from research, not our own testing. We ranked builders on what their pricing pages and help centers say, with extra weight on what each vendor states in writing about HIPAA and BAAs, plus true 3-year cost and how easily you can leave. Each pick gets an exit score out of 10 from our exit scores tool; our full method is on the how we research page.

1. Wix: best for HIPAA booking and forms on the site itself

Wix is the pick if you want clients to request or book a session on your own website. Wix’s help center says it offers HIPAA compliance with a signed BAA on the plans it lists as Business, Plus, Elite, Business Elite and Enterprise Premium or Studio. Coverage includes the new Wix Forms, Wix Bookings and Wix Inbox.

Of the plans on Wix’s current pricing page, Business is the lowest one on that list, at $39 a month billed yearly; Light and Core are not on it. Wix shows month-to-month prices only at checkout. Our 3-year estimate for Business is $1,692.96.

What to watch: old Wix Forms are not covered, so rebuild any older form with the new Wix Forms. Wix warns that adding notes to a booking may break HIPAA, and says “You are responsible for how you use and configure your site.”

Exit score: 3/10. Wix says sites must run on its servers and blog posts can’t be exported. You keep the domain. Read our Wix review.

2. Squarespace with Acuity Scheduling: best design, with booking handled by Acuity

Squarespace is a good fit for a calm, polished practice site. But be clear on the limits: Squarespace’s help center says its general platform, “including contact form features like the form block, can’t be used as part of a HIPAA compliant solution.” Only Acuity Scheduling, Squarespace’s scheduling product, can be, on eligible plans with a signed Business Associate Addendum.

Squarespace Core is $29 a month billed yearly ($39 billed monthly). Acuity is a separate bill: Starter, Standard and Premium are $16, $27 and $49 a month billed annually ($20, $34 and $61 billed monthly). Acuity’s plans page shows the BAA only on Premium, while Squarespace’s help article names “Powerhouse” and “Premium,” so check the current plan before you buy. With Acuity Premium billed annually, our 3-year estimate is $3,096.96.

What to watch: Acuity’s HIPAA mode turns off calendar sync with Office 365, Outlook and iCloud, the Email Campaigns integration, invoices and Google Reserve. It also removes form answers from notification emails and times sessions out after 4 hours. Keep form blocks to general questions that never invite health details.

Exit score: 5/10. Basic pages and one blog export to a WordPress file; the design stays behind. Acuity is billed separately. Read our Squarespace review.

3. WordPress (self-hosted) with a practice-management tool: best if you want to own the site

Self-hosted WordPress makes a strong public face for a practice: pages on what you treat, fees, insurance and articles, all on a site you own. Keep health details off it and link to a HIPAA-compliant tool for booking and intake. We build on WordPress every week, and our agency builds WordPress sites for clients, so weigh that.

Bluehost Starter is $3.99 a month on a 36-month term, then renews at $9.99 a month. Pair it with practice-management software such as SimplePractice, which signs a BAA and lists Starter at $49 a month, Essential at $79 and Plus at $99. With SimplePractice Starter, our 3-year estimate is $2,196.60.

What to watch: a form plugin that stores client health details would bring your host and plugin vendor into the chain where HHS says a BAA is generally needed. We did not research which hosts sign one, so keep the WordPress site informational.

Exit score: 10/10. You own every file and the database, and any WordPress host can run the site. Read our WordPress review.

4. Carrd: best for a one-page site that links out

If you are just starting out, or you mainly get clients through a group practice or directory, one page may be enough: who you are, what you treat, fees and insurance, and a button to your booking tool. Carrd builds that for $19 a year on Pro Standard, billed yearly only, with a custom domain name you buy elsewhere.

We found no HIPAA or BAA statement from Carrd, so don’t use its forms for anything about a client’s health; link to your HIPAA-compliant tool instead. With SimplePractice Starter, our 3-year estimate is $2,121.24.

What to watch: Carrd is built for one-page sites, so there’s no real blog if you later want to publish articles.

Exit score: 6/10. Pro Plus ($49 a year) downloads the site as HTML, CSS and JS, though forms stop working in the copy. Read our Carrd review.

Compare the picks

The Wix total is lowest because the site and the HIPAA tools share one bill. The others add a separate HIPAA tool, which you may want anyway for intake, notes and a client portal. For what each exit score means, see our guide to leaving your website builder.

What HHS says about websites and BAAs

Two pieces of federal guidance shape a therapy website.

• Business associates. HHS says a business associate is a person or company, outside your workforce, that performs services for a covered entity involving access to protected health information (PHI). HIPAA generally requires covered entities to have contracts, called BAAs, with those business associates so the information is safeguarded.
• Tracking tools. HHS’s online tracking guidance says tracking technologies on pages that don’t need a login may have access to PHI, for example when someone schedules an appointment or enters registration details. It also says login or registration details collected on a patient portal page are a disclosure of PHI.
• The court ruling. On June 20, 2024, a federal court in the Northern District of Texas (AHA v. Becerra) vacated the part of that guidance covering an IP address plus a visit to a public page about health conditions or providers. HHS says it is “evaluating its next steps.” Tracking on booking and intake pages is still covered.

In practice, keep ad pixels and analytics off your booking, intake and portal pages unless the vendor will sign a BAA. Our US website laws guide covers privacy notices and other rules that apply to most sites.

HIPAA-compliant tools for intake and booking

We don’t review these tools, but their own pages state the following. Confirm the current terms before you sign up.

• SimplePractice. Therapy practice-management software, HIPAA compliant with a BAA. Its pricing page lists Starter at $49 a month, Essential at $79 and Plus at $99, with online intake forms and a client portal. The appointment-request widget for your website is listed on Plus. Group practices of 6 or more get custom pricing.
• Acuity Scheduling. Booking that Squarespace says can be part of a HIPAA-compliant setup on eligible plans with a signed addendum. The plan names differ between sources, so check the current plan.
• Jotform. For intake forms you embed or link to. Jotform’s HIPAA FAQ says its HIPAA features, including signing a BAA, are available only on its Gold plan (and Enterprise), with no extra fee beyond the plan price.
• Wix’s built-in tools. The new Wix Forms, Wix Bookings and Wix Inbox, on the plans Wix lists for HIPAA.

Whatever you use for video sessions should also be a compliant service that signs a BAA.

Helping new clients find you

• Directory profiles. Profiles such as Psychology Today should link back to your site, and your site should repeat the same specialties, fees and insurance.
• Plain answers. Fees, insurance, session length and how the first call works are the questions people want answered before they reach out.
• Phones. StatCounter put mobile at 49.1% of US page views in September 2026, so test your booking button on a phone.

Skip the list if…

• You run a group practice of 6 or more. Start with practice-management software, where SimplePractice quotes custom pricing at that size, then pick a site to point to it.
• Your practice-management tool already offers a website. Check what your plan includes before paying for a builder. We could not confirm on SimplePractice’s pricing page whether current plans include one.
• You don’t want to build it yourself. Compare the real costs in our builder vs WordPress vs agency guide.

Some links on this page are affiliate links: if you buy, we may earn a commission at no cost to you. It never changes our verdicts or rankings. Affiliate disclosure.