Psychology.com is free for people seeking help, and it always will be. You will never pay to read our content, take our tests, use our tools, search the therapist directory, or get matched with a therapist. There is no premium version of the truth here, and we do not run banner ads.
Running a site like this still costs money: writers, expert reviewers, engineers, and the infrastructure behind a directory and matching service. Here is exactly where that money comes from.
Where our revenue comes from
- Affiliate and referral commissions. Some links to products we cover, mostly mental health apps and online therapy platforms, earn us a commission if you click through and sign up or buy. It costs you nothing extra, and the company you buy from pays it.
- Services for therapists. Listing a practice in our directory is free, with no per-lead fees. Over time we may offer therapists optional paid features for managing their practice and profile. Payment will never change who appears in your search results or who you are matched with.
- An ownership stake our founder holds. Our founder co-founded Quenza, a coaching software product. If Quenza ever appears in our content, that connection is disclosed on the page, and in full below.
How affiliate links work here
An affiliate link is a normal link with a tracking parameter. If you use it and then pay for the product, the vendor pays us a percentage. Your price is the same either way.
The rules we hold ourselves to are strict and simple:
- The verdict comes first. Reviews and rankings are finished as editorial judgments before any commercial consideration enters. Products with no commercial relationship to us regularly outrank products that pay us a commission. Our review methodology explains the full method.
- No commission, no problem. We cover what readers need covered. Whether a company has an affiliate program has no bearing on whether it gets reviewed, recommended, or criticized.
- Criticism stays put. A commission does not soften a review. If a product with an affiliate program handles crisis situations badly or plays games with pricing, the review says so.
The Quenza disclosure, in full
Quenza was co-founded by Seph Fontane Pennock, who also owns Psychology.com. We no longer publish software buying guides, but wherever Quenza is mentioned on this site, that connection is disclosed directly on the page, and we would rather tell you about it than hide it.
What we never do
- We never sell placement. No company can pay to appear in a ranking, a "best of" list, or a therapist match. Placement is not for sale at any price.
- We never sell your personal information. What you read, search, or type here is not a product. Our privacy policy spells this out.
- We never let a partner touch editorial. No advertiser, affiliate partner, or portfolio company sees content before it publishes or edits it after. Our editorial policy covers independence in detail.
- We never charge people seeking help. The consumer side of Psychology.com is free, permanently.
Why we publish this
Mental health content sits at the intersection of vulnerable moments and commercial interests, and that combination has burned readers on other sites before. We think the only durable answer is daylight: publish the business model, disclose every relationship where you encounter it, and let you judge our work with full information. If you ever find a page where the money and the message seem tangled, tell us at hello@psychology.com and we will look at it.