The Best Online Marriage Counseling Programs

They don’t say “the first year of marriage is the hardest” for nothing. For many, if not most couples, it is not all smooth sailing in the beginning.

Even if you’ve already lived together, adjusting to married life can be challenging. So, it’s no surprise that you might find yourselves considering marriage counseling services—and Relationship Hero is a great place to start.

Relationship Hero focuses solely on couples therapy and prompts you to choose your reason for seeking help from the very onset of visiting its site. Not sure? Simply choose “other,” and you will be taken to another page where you and your partner will be connected with a support person to further discuss your concerns and find a coach best suited for your situation.

Some of the perks include access to a coach 24/7—no appointment necessary—as well as a secure and easy-to-use platform through which to communicate. Each coach has their own rates, running between $80 and $250 an hour. Coaches also offer discounted bundles and new client packages.

If you and your partner can’t seem to nail down a day, or even a few hours, during which you can both focus your attention on couples therapy, ReGain can help with that.

With ReGain, you and your partner will fill out questionnaires before being matched to a therapist. You'll be asked to choose what issue you're looking to discuss, such as improving communication, intimacy issues, adultery, overcoming conflict, or preventing separation or divorce.

The online service offers both individual and couples therapy sessions via live chat, phone, and video sessions. ReGain adapts to whatever works best with you and your partner's schedule and the time you have available. This helps ensure that you both can commit to some form of consistency, which is paramount for the success of couples therapy.

ReGain offers varying tiers of membership, ranging from about $60 to $90 per week, billed monthly, based on the type of couples therapy that you choose. However, it doesn't work with insurance companies, so the cost is 100% out of pocket. 

We surveyed 105 users of ReGain in order to evaluate their experiences with the company's services. Seventy-eight percent of users rated ReGain as good, very good, or excellent overall, and 80% were able to find a therapist who met most or all of their needs.

Many couples opt to do premarital counseling ahead of saying “I do,” and experts attest to its benefits. “Most couples who partake in premarital counseling have a higher chance of succeeding in their marriage,” notes premarital counselor Rachel Lamson.

One great service that caters to premarital counseling in addition to marriage counseling and general couples therapy is Growing Self, which is based in Denver, Colorado, but they also offer online services as well.

You and your partner can choose the qualifications of your clinician, as each level of specialization comes with a different price. The cost of a doctorate-level clinician is around $160, while it costs about $135 for an advanced clinician. For approximately $115, couples can work with a master’s level clinician.

Growing Self also has earlier career clinicians with very affordable, income-based sliding-scale rates, with some starting as low as approximately $75 per session, and works with some insurance companies. If you're trying to simultaneously budget for your wedding and go into counseling, these low rates certainly come in handy.

You can choose to have a free consultation via its website.

Of the 105 users we surveyed, 68% were able to find a therapist who met most, if not all, of their needs. Thirty-nine percent expected that they would still be seeing their Growing Self therapist in six months' time, and 33% thought they'd still be with their therapist in a year.

Pride Counseling is a supportive organization that caters to the LGBTQ+ community and is affordable for many and accepting of everyone.

Before filling out a questionnaire, the site asks you to choose your gender online, which many clients appreciate as an alternative to talking about their identities during their actual therapy sessions.

It offers eight identification options, including male, female, transgender: female to male, transgender: male to female, and non-binary. Though these options use outdated language and have a narrow scope of gender, the counselors listed are more likely to be more trans-friendly than at other companies.

The service offers support from licensed psychologists, clinical social workers, or licensed professional counselors, who specialize in relationships, among other mental health issues. All counselors have experience with the LGBTQ+ community, which is beneficial especially if you're seeking help for your relationship.

The cost of sessions ranges from around $60 to $100, and you can cancel your membership at any time for any reason.

Overall, 85% of the 105 Pride Counseling users we surveyed rated the service as good, very good, or excellent overall, and 84% were able to find a therapist who met all or most of their needs.

If you and your partner aren’t hung up on the idea of having a face-to-face session with a therapist, but prefer the ability to reach out to a professional anytime, then Talkspace is for you. The company offers all sorts of therapy services, with couples therapy being one of them.

The sign-up process is easy: Enter your information, and you’ll be matched with several therapists that you can choose between. You can also select how you want to communicate, either via text, audio, or video messaging. The main perk of the service is that you can score quick responses to your inquiries and feedback on-the-go, via the app.

While it’s not touted as the most personal and intimate of therapy options, it may be best for couples who don’t want to limit themselves to once-weekly or once-a-month sessions. Prices start at $69 per week. Insurance plans may cover online therapy through employee assistance programs, so check with your provider.

Talkspace rated highly among our 105 surveyed users, with 78% able to find a therapist who met most or all of their needs, and 91% rating the company as good, very good, or excellent overall.

If you and your spouse have been around the block in terms of your time together, you might be looking for something a bit more all-encompassing. Through Couples Therapy Inc. you will be matched with a therapist who is tasked with finding out what you and your partner are each doing that helps or hinders your communication process.

To get started, you and your partner will be provided with a detailed questionnaire, and you’ll receive follow-up feedback thereafter. You'll spend around two hours with your therapist, so that they can get to know you better. The cost for this is not cheap, with appointments ranging from around $500 to $950.

If you don't have time for weekly marriage counseling, Couples Therapy Inc. offers weekend couples retreats that allow you to get a more immersive experience. There, you and your partner can take the time and space to really understand what's wrong and practice changing it.

“Our experience at Couples Therapy Inc. is that many marriages who have not found help with a weekly generalist have turned their marriages around with a science-based specialist over an intensive weekend,” says Kathy McMahon, a psychologist and president of Couples Therapy Inc.

The cost for couples therapy is set by the clinician's experience, level of training, and location. Couples Therapy Inc. does not take insurance.

Our users were overall pleased with Couples Therapy Inc., with 91% of respondents rating it as good, very good, or excellent overall. Seventy-one found the site easy or very easy to navigate, and 82% of users found a therapist who met all or most of their needs.

If you and/or your partner are in the military, it brings a new set of challenges to a marriage. There’s a strong grief of separation that partners deal with, and the time apart can bring about a great deal of frustration.

One byproduct is miscommunication, as these couples do not have the luxury of seeing each other frequently to resolve long-standing issues.

E-Therapy Cafe provides all sorts of couples therapy, but caters specifically to individuals and families in the military, which many companies do not. All seven therapists are board-certified and are willing to chat on a short- or long-term basis. They have extensive training in trauma and military combat issues and can help those dealing with stress, anxiety, and isolation. 

You and your partner can try an online session for around $50, and all additional sessions cost about $55. Students, veterans, and first responders receive a discount if they use E-Therapy Cafe.

Eighty-two percent of the 105 users of E-Therapy Cafe we surveyed were able to find a therapist who met most or all of their needs, and 68% found its services affordable or very affordable.

Being in an ethically nonmonogamous relationship means that communication and other relationship skills are even more important to develop. Poly Friendly Professionals offers listings for many kinds of specialists knowledgeable about nonmonogamy, including relationship counselors and therapists.

The simple website shows poly-friendly relationship therapists based on states, but many of the therapists listed offer online services and are able to counsel individuals and partners in 40 American states and the District of Columbia, as well as 14 other countries.

There is also a section for location-nonspecific online counselors.

It can be difficult for members of open relationships, polycules, constellations, and practitioners of relationship anarchy to find providers who are understanding of their lifestyle and place no judgment.

Even if the tension in the relationship is not centered on ethical nonmonogamy, it can still be helpful to not have to worry about not being accepted or having to explain your choices.

The relationship professionals each have specific costs for sessions, but due to the wide variety of therapists listed, you are sure to find one that fits your budget and/or is covered by your insurance.