Best AI Scribes for Psychiatry in 2026: 7 Tools Compared for Mental Health Notes

Most AI scribes were built for a 15-minute primary care visit. A 45-minute medication management session with suicidal ideation, multiple medication changes, and a detailed risk assessment needs a note that captures MSE findings, risk language, and prescribing rationale. The plan section must be detailed enough to support the billing code. Most general-purpose scribes do not structure notes that way.

We compared seven AI scribes on the criteria that matter for psychiatry. Those criteria are structured note formats (SOAP with MSE, DAP, custom templates), ICD-10/CPT coding from clinical context, and EHR integration depth. Self-serve trial access and pricing fit round out the evaluation.

This guide is written for independent psychiatrists and small group outpatient practices. It also covers larger practices evaluating AI scribes for the first time or switching from a tool that is not working.

What You Need to Know

• Commure Scribe is best for structured psychiatry notes with suggested ICD-10/CPT coding, Admin Copilot, and 60+ EHR integrations. 7-day free trial, then $59 to $89/mo.
• Freed is best for solo psychiatrists who want the fastest setup and a low-commitment way to trial ambient scribing. Note customization is lighter than purpose-built tools.
• JotPsych is best for psychiatry-only practices that want templates built specifically around psychiatric workflows. EHR integration is copy/paste and export only.
• Mentalyc is best for therapists and behavioral health counselors using DAP or EMDR formats. Not built for medication management or prescriber workflows.
• Suki AI is best for psychiatrists already embedded in Epic or Cerner who want a voice-command-plus-ambient model. Pricing is contract-only with no public rate card.
• Nuance DAX Copilot is best for large health systems with existing IT infrastructure. Not suited for independent or small group practices.
• Heidi Health is best for practices that want a free starting point with psychiatry-specific templates and broad EHR integrations. Paid plans required for sustained use.

What Is an AI Scribe for Psychiatry?

An AI scribe records the clinical encounter and generates a structured note for the clinician to review, edit, and finalize.

For psychiatry, the relevant question is whether the tool produces note formats specific to the specialty. A generic SOAP note built for a 15-minute primary care visit is not the same as a psychiatry note. A psychiatry note needs an MSE section, risk language, and a medication rationale that supports the billing code. Most general-purpose scribes produce the former.

Why Psychiatrists Are Evaluating AI Scribes

Documentation in psychiatry competes directly with clinical attention. Typing into an EHR mid-session pulls focus from the patient at precisely the moment that focus matters most. That cost is well documented in the research.

A 2025 review in the American Journal of Psychiatry introduced AI scribes to psychiatric practice.⁷ The authors concluded that AI scribes may improve efficiency and reduce burnout. They also stressed privacy, accuracy, bias, and loss of nuance in psychiatric narratives as key concerns. The review calls for cautious adoption. Patients should be informed when a recording tool is in use. Workflows should keep the clinician in control of the note. Oversight structures are needed for safety and quality.

A 2025 NEJM AI trial randomized 238 outpatient physicians across 14 specialties to DAX Copilot, Nabla, or usual care.⁸ Nabla significantly reduced documentation time versus control. DAX showed no significant change on that primary endpoint. Both tools were associated with improved burnout scores compared with usual care. A Yale-led study found that ambient AI scribes were associated with 74% lower odds of physician burnout.⁹ Clinicians also reported greater ability to focus on the patient.

A 2025 JAMA Network Open analysis reviewed 20,302 primary care visits.¹⁰ It compared notes from ambient AI scribes, human scribes, and no scribes. AI-scribed notes documented more neuropsychiatric symptoms across all six RDoC domains. But those same notes showed a lower likelihood of documented depression interventions and diagnosis codes. More detailed symptom documentation did not ensure more complete treatment decisions. That gap is not one the AI closes on its own.

The evidence supports real reductions in documentation time and burnout. But safety documentation, risk language, and treatment decisions need a human review step. The Capture, Edit, Finalize model is not a workflow option in psychiatry. It is a clinical requirement.

AI Scribe Comparison Table for Psychiatry

The comparison below is based on internal modeling and publicly available pricing. It is meant as a directional framework only, not a substitute for a detailed quote from each vendor.

How Did We Evaluate These AI Scribes for Psychiatry?

A psychiatrist’s note is not a quick HPI and exam. It includes a mental status exam, risk assessment language, medication rationale, and a therapeutic narrative.

The criteria, in order of weight:

• Psychiatry-specific note format support (SOAP, DAP, MSE sections, custom templates)
• Risk language and safety plan documentation handling
• ICD-10 and CPT code generation
• EHR integration depth and breadth
• HIPAA compliance, BAA availability, and data-handling terms
• Pricing clarity and fit for provider practices
• Self-serve trial availability (can you evaluate without a sales call?)
• Multilingual support

Vendors on this list generally market HIPAA-aligned security controls. Confirm a signed BAA and data terms with each vendor before you start.

Five questions to ask every vendor before trialing:

• Will you sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) before I start a free trial, or only after I become a paid customer?
• How long is audio retained after the note is generated? Where is it stored and who can access it?
• Where is note data stored: US-based servers or offshore? Who has access?
• Is the product SOC 2 certified, and can you share the report or attestation?
• What is your breach notice process and timeline?

1. Commure Scribe: Best for Structured Psychiatry Notes with Coding and 60+ EHR Integrations

Price: Solo and small practices (1–5 providers): $89/mo or $59/mo billed annually. Medium and large group practices: custom pricing. 7-day free trial with unlimited notes, no credit card required.

Best for: Psychiatry practices of all sizes that need structured notes, suggested ICD-10/CPT coding, and broad EHR integration.

Commure Scribe is an AI medical scribe built for practices that need ambient documentation plus coding, multilingual support, and EHR workflow integration. After clicking End Recording, a structured SOAP note appears in seconds with suggested ICD-10 and CPT codes available. The plan section is often more detailed and better structured than their manual documentation. Clinicians report that notes often capture fine-grained details from the conversation that would have been time-consuming to type manually.¹⁰

Psychiatry visits carry different coding requirements than a standard follow-up. Medication management and risk assessment visits have distinct billing complexity. Having the note reflect that can help support billing requirements.

Features:

• 99.4% transcription accuracy; 90%+ of providers reduce clinical documentation time and digital fatigue; 91% of providers report feeling less fatigued
• Suggested ICD-10 and CPT code generation on paid plans; codes populated from the full clinical context of the encounter
• Custom template builder; configure note formats for initial evaluations, medication management, and therapy sessions; AI adapts to the clinician’s phrasing over time
• Admin Copilot: helps clinicians with documentation tasks generated from the encounter, including prior auth requests, work excuse letters, and patient emails
• Up to 2 hours of continuous audio per session; multi-speaker recognition; 90 languages with automatic detection
• Workflow is Capture, Edit, Finalize; clinician always reviews before finalizing
• Copy/paste into any web-based EHR for solo and small practices (1–5 providers); one-click sync with EHR for medium and large group practices
• 60+ EHR integrations including AdvancedMD, Athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, Elation, SimplePractice, and Tebra
• Fully HIPAA compliant, SOC 2 certified; audio is retained, encrypted, and used only to generate the clinical note; not used for AI training or product improvement; no third-party data sharing; onshore data storage
• US-based live phone support during setup and after
• 7-day free trial with unlimited notes, no credit card required

2. Freed: Best for Fast Setup and Low-Commitment Trialing

Price: Starter $39/mo (40 notes/mo cap); Core $79/mo (unlimited); Premier $119/mo (annual billing available — confirm current rate directly with the vendor); Groups custom. 7-day free trial, no credit card required.

Best for: Solo psychiatrists who want the fastest setup and a low-commitment way to trial ambient scribing.

Freed is an ambient AI scribe with a self-serve, browser-based signup. It is suited to solo psychiatrists and community clinics evaluating ambient scribing for the first time. Freed explicitly positions itself for independent and community practices, not large health systems. Continued use requires a paid plan after the trial.

Freed offers a library of prebuilt specialty templates. Clinicians can customize templates and reuse their preferred structures. The system generates SOAP notes and supports basic note customization.

Features:

• Prebuilt specialty templates; customizable note structure
• SOAP note generation
• Multilingual speech recognition (confirm current language support directly with the vendor)
• ICD-10 coding on Premier tier; CPT in beta; not included in Starter or Core
• Patient instructions, referral letters, visit summaries on Premier tier
• Copy/paste on all tiers; one-click EHR push on Premier tier only to supported browser-based EHRs (confirm supported EHRs directly with the vendor)
• HIPAA compliant, SOC 2 Type I and Type II certified, HITECH compliant; audio deleted after note generation by default; BAA available; US-only data storage on Microsoft Azure

3. JotPsych: Best for Practices That Want Psychiatry-Specific Workflows and Templates

Price: $150/mo ($135/mo annual); groups of 7–50 at $130/mo per user; 50+ providers custom; free trial available. (Confirm current pricing directly with the vendor.)

Best for: Psychiatry and behavioral health practices that want templates built specifically around psychiatric workflows.

JotPsych is built specifically for psychiatry and behavioral health. It starts with the mental health workflow, not a primary care engine. The template library is designed around psychiatric documentation. Psychiatric Intake Notes cover presenting problems, psychiatric and substance use history, sleep and functioning, and standardized scores including PHQ-9, GAD-7, and PCL-5. Notes include a DSM-5 diagnosis block and billing-ready outputs. Psychiatric Progress Notes organize visits into HPI, interventions, MSE, safety assessment, DSM-5-TR codes, and follow-up and billing sections.

JotPsych is EHR-agnostic. Clinicians generate notes in JotPsych and transfer them to any EHR via copy/paste or export. No named EHR integration list is published.

Features:

• Purpose-built for psychiatry and behavioral health; not a general medical scribe
• Psychiatric Intake Template: presenting problems, psych and substance history, sleep, PHQ-9/GAD-7/PCL-5 scores, DSM-5 diagnosis, billing-ready outputs
• Psychiatric Progress Note: HPI, interventions, MSE, safety assessment, DSM-5-TR codes, plan, billing, follow-up
• EHR-agnostic: copy/paste or export into any EHR; no named EHR integration list published
• Designed for behavioral health clinical documentation (confirm compliance and data-handling details directly with the vendor)
• English-first; behavioral health clinical English with DSM-5-TR/ICD-10/CPT terminology; multi-language support not confirmed

4. Mentalyc: Best for Therapists and Counselors Using DAP or EMDR Formats

Price: (Confirm current pricing directly with the vendor.)

Best for: Therapists, counselors, and behavioral health clinicians who primarily use DAP or EMDR formats.

Mentalyc is designed for the therapy side of behavioral health. Its speech recognition engine is trained on therapeutic language and psychotherapy phrasing. The template library covers SOAP, DAP, and EMDR note formats. The tool is optimized for psychotherapy documentation. Clinicians who need medication management, MSEs, or ICD-10 coding will find it lighter on those features. Mentalyc auto-computes CPT codes on Pro tier and above but does not generate ICD-10 codes.

EHR transfer works via a Chrome extension. No named EHR partners are published. It is designed to work alongside any EHR.

Features:

• SOAP, DAP, EMDR note formats (confirm available note formats directly with the vendor)
• One-click EHR insert via Chrome extension; EHR-agnostic; no named EHR integration list published
• CPT codes auto-computed on Pro tier and above; no ICD-10 code generation
• English psychotherapy focus; speech recognition trained on therapeutic language; multi-language support not confirmed
• HIPAA compliant; BAA available (confirm compliance certifications directly with the vendor)
• Optimized for psychotherapy documentation; lighter on medication management, MSE, and prescriber workflows

5. Suki AI: Best for Epic and Cerner Users Who Want Voice-Command-Plus-Ambient Documentation

Price: Contract only; no public rate card. Evaluation requires a sales conversation.

Best for: Psychiatrists already embedded in Epic or Cerner who want a voice-command-plus-ambient model.

Suki is a voice assistant, not a pure ambient scribe. Clinicians use voice commands alongside ambient capture, giving more explicit control over note structure during the visit. The template structure is section-based: HPI, ROS, A&P, and other EHR-native sections, configurable to match organizational formatting. ICD-10, HCC, CPT, and E/M coding are supported.

Features:

• Voice assistant combining voice commands with ambient note generation
• Section-based custom templates: HPI, ROS, A&P; configurable to organizational formatting
• ICD-10, HCC, CPT, E/M coding supported
• EHR-agnostic positioning; named integrations include Epic and Cerner; no full published EHR list
• 80+ languages with automatic detection; clinical notes in English; patient instructions available in 80 languages
• HIPAA compliant, SOC 2 Type 2 certified; BAA available (confirm compliance certifications directly with the vendor)
• Pricing: contract only; no public rate card; evaluation requires a sales conversation
• No self-serve trial

6. Nuance DAX Copilot: Best for Large Health Systems with Existing IT Infrastructure

Price: Enterprise contracts. Not published. No self-serve trial.

Best for: Large health systems with existing IT and procurement infrastructure. Not suited for independent or small group practices.

DAX Copilot is a widely adopted enterprise ambient documentation tool built on Microsoft Azure. It is positioned for large health systems with existing IT infrastructure. It connects to 200+ EHRs via Dragon Medical One. Epic, including Haiku for mobile, and MEDITECH Expanse are the explicitly optimized targets. Templates are highly configurable with headers, placeholders, and conditional logic. A style wizard tunes note style, pronouns, and problem-based charting preferences. The specialty-optimized model includes psychiatry.

Language support covers English by default. Spanish encounter capture is supported with English summaries; Spanish requires a manual toggle and is a US-only feature. PHI is encrypted in transit and at rest.

Features:

• Deep Epic integration (embedded, including Haiku for mobile); MEDITECH Expanse; 200+ EHRs via Dragon Medical One
• Highly configurable templates with headers, placeholders, and conditional logic; style wizard for note tone and structure
• Specialty-optimized model includes psychiatry
• ICD-10, CPT, E/M coding supported
• English default; Spanish encounter capture with English summaries; Spanish requires manual toggle — not automatic detection; US-only feature
• Azure-hosted; PHI encrypted in transit and at rest; built on Microsoft’s SOC 2-compliant cloud infrastructure (confirm current data-handling and retention terms directly with the vendor)
• Enterprise analytics and reporting
• No public pricing; enterprise contracts only; no self-serve trial
• Positioned for large health systems with existing IT and procurement infrastructure

7. Heidi Health: Best for a Free Starting Point with Psychiatry-Specific Templates

Price: Permanent free tier with a cap on advanced features; Evidence Plus $30/mo; Clinician $110/mo billed annually; Team $50/user/mo; Enterprise custom; 14-day free trial on paid tiers. (Confirm current plan names and pricing directly with the vendor.)

Best for: Practices that want a free starting point with psychiatry-specific templates and broad EHR integrations.

Heidi Health offers a permanent free tier with a cap on advanced features. Paid plans are available for clinicians who need more. The platform has psychiatry-specific templates: a Full Psychiatric Assessment and an Initial Psychiatric Assessment. Both auto-populate from transcripts and cover history, MSE, risk assessment, and plan.

Named EHR integrations include Epic (SMART on FHIR), Athenahealth, Veradigm, Best Practice/Bp Premier, Gentu, MedicalDirector, and MediRecords. Practice management integrations include Halaxy, Semble, and Cliniko. Heidi does not publish a quantitative transcription accuracy figure. First-party materials describe context-aware specialty language models refined through clinician feedback.

Features:

• Permanent free tier with a cap on advanced features; paid plans available (confirm current plan names and pricing directly with the vendor)
• Full Psychiatric Assessment and Initial Psychiatric Assessment templates; auto-populate from transcript; cover history, MSE, risk, plan
• 110 languages supported; multilingual session mode available (beta)
• Named EHR integrations: Epic (SMART on FHIR), Athenahealth, Veradigm, Bp Premier, Gentu, MedicalDirector, MediRecords
• Practice management: Halaxy, Semble, Cliniko
• Coding assistance available (confirm availability by country and plan directly with the vendor)
• SOC 2 Type 2 certified, ISO 27001 certified (confirm compliance certifications directly with the vendor)
• No published transcription accuracy figure; context-aware specialty models refined through clinician feedback
• Free tier has usage caps; sustained clinical use will likely require a paid plan

How Do You Choose the Right AI Scribe for Your Psychiatry Practice?

The best evaluation happens during a real 7-day trial with actual patient visits.

• Pick your top two criteria: coding + EHR integration, free access + note quality, or whatever matters most to your practice
• Start a trial with one or two tools that match those criteria
• Record real visits across different types: initial eval, medication management, therapy session
• Review the generated notes: Is the MSE accurate? Is the risk language precise? Is the plan section detailed enough to sign?
• Test the EHR workflow: does the note reach your chart without friction?
• Check cost against your visit volume