Online Therapy: AI Visibility Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Questions This Section Answers

• Which online therapy brand leads the category in valid recommendation coverage, and by how much?
• Which brands moved beyond normal variation this benchmark month, and in which direction?

Talkspace led the Online Therapy category with 75.8% valid recommendation coverage in October 2026, up from 66.7% in July 2026, leaving a 11.6-point gap to BetterHelp, the next brand at 64.2% in October 2026, up from 55.7% in July 2026.

Grow Therapy recorded the largest increase in valid recommendation coverage, rising from 39.4% in July 2026 to 51.7% in October 2026, an increase beyond normal variation that grew in each of the three months since July 2026. 7 Cups recorded the largest decline, falling from 13.1% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 6.6% in October 2026, a decline beyond normal variation that also moved down in each of the three months.

The benchmark month was mixed, with three brands recording increases beyond normal variation and four recording declines beyond normal variation.

The funnel for the benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 545 qualified observations in October 2026.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI and search surface families with at least one qualified observation. The benchmark tests six families: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. August 2026, with 540 qualified observations, and September 2026, with 586 qualified observations, fell between the baseline and current months.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Online Therapy

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. See the AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology for full details.

Current Brand Standings

Questions This Section Answers

• How do the ten tracked online therapy brands rank on presence, valid recommendation coverage, and placement?
• How does Cerebral's recommendation position compare with Talkspace and BetterHelp in the current standings?

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand appears in the AI or search response.
• Valid recommendation coverage: Share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a valid recommendation shortlist. This is the primary benchmark metric.
• Top-three rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand is placed in the top three recommended slots.
• Rank-one rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand is the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: Positive minus negative sentiment across mentions, on a scale from -1 to 1. This describes benchmark framing, not customer sentiment.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Visibility Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Cerebral in the Category Standings

Cerebral recorded a 7.2% presence rate, 2.9% valid recommendation coverage, a 0.2% top-three rate, a 0.0% rank-one rate, and a net sentiment of 0.4 in October 2026. Valid recommendation coverage fell from 7.6% in July 2026 to 2.9% in October 2026, a decline of 4.7 points, and Cerebral's 0.4 net sentiment is the lowest recorded among the ten tracked brands.

Talkspace records 75.8% valid recommendation coverage, while Cerebral stands at 2.9%. The more important issue is what that gap means for Cerebral's recommendation position. BetterHelp achieves 64.2%, compared with 2.9% for Cerebral, and the gap extends to placement as well: Talkspace's 27.3% rank-one rate and 71.2% top-three rate stand against Cerebral's 0.0% rank-one rate and 0.2% top-three rate. Although Cerebral maintains a measurable 7.2% presence rate, that presence is converting into recommendations at a far lower rate than the category leaders. The coverage trend is moving further in the wrong direction rather than closing the gap.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Why is Cerebral's presence in AI responses failing to translate into valid recommendation coverage, top-three placement, or any first-choice recommendations, while Talkspace and BetterHelp convert comparable or higher presence into substantially stronger recommendation outcomes?

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Questions This Section Answers

• Which online therapy brands gained the most recommendation coverage since the July 2026 baseline?
• What drove Grow Therapy's increase and 7 Cups' decline in valid recommendation coverage?

Moving from September 2026 to October 2026, Talkspace rose from 67.1% to 75.8%, and BetterHelp rose from 57.7% to 64.2%, both increases beyond normal month-to-month variation. Amwell also rose significantly, from 6.8% in September 2026 to 12.3% in October 2026.

Largest Increase: Grow Therapy

Grow Therapy recorded the largest increase in valid recommendation coverage, rising from 39.4% in July 2026 to 51.7% in October 2026, an increase beyond normal variation. The brand's coverage grew in each of the three months since July 2026. Its presence rate also rose, from 49.6% in July 2026 to 62.7% in October 2026, and its top-three placement rate climbed from 26.1% to 41.5% over the same span.

Largest Decline: 7 Cups

7 Cups recorded the largest decline in valid recommendation coverage, falling from 13.1% in July 2026 to 6.6% in October 2026, a decline beyond normal variation. The brand's coverage fell in each of the three months since July 2026. Its presence rate fell from 17.2% in July 2026 to 8.6% in October 2026.

Category Leader: Talkspace

Talkspace remains the coverage leader, with 75.8% valid recommendation coverage in October 2026, up from 66.7% in July 2026, an increase beyond normal variation. The leader also recorded the highest presence rate at 98.0% and the highest top-three rate at 71.2%.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Questions This Section Answers

• How do top-three and rank-one rates differ among the leading online therapy brands?
• Why can similar coverage levels still hide different first-position rates between Talkspace and BetterHelp?

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Among the leading brands by coverage, first-position rates reveal a distinct pattern. Talkspace held a 71.2% top-three rate in October 2026, with a 27.3% rank-one rate. BetterHelp posted a 58.7% top-three rate and a 24.0% rank-one rate.

Similar coverage levels can still hide different first-position rates. BetterHelp's rank-one rate of 24.0% in October 2026 was behind Talkspace's 27.3%, even though both brands saw their coverage increase over the same period.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

Questions This Section Answers

• Which buyer-intent classes do the qualified observations fall into, and which remain empty?

All qualified observations in the current public series fell into the Brand Recommendation class.

The current public series measures the Brand Recommendation class of discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the empty classes.

Historical Measurement Record

Evidence and Source Layer

Questions This Section Answers

• What public evidence types support the recommendation patterns, and where should readers be cautious about causation?
• Which domains were most cited across AI platform responses in October 2026?

This benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, the AI/search surface, the full answer, the brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure:

• Market share, revenue, or attributable sales.
• Every possible AI response for a given query.
• Organic-search ranking positions.
• Social media mention volume.
• Private or sponsored channels.
• Causality from a metric movement alone.

Top 10 Cited Domains

Across all AI platform responses in October 2026, a total of 6,011 citations were observed, drawing on 967 unique domains.

Citations are broadly distributed, with the top ten domains accounting for a modest share of the 6,011 total. Two tracked brands' own domains appear in the top ten: betterhelp.com at rank one and talkspace.com at rank four, with growtherapy.com appearing at rank ten. Health and medical information sites feature prominently, alongside review and news outlets.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Visibility Market Discovery Index is a neutral, industry-level benchmark tracking how often and how prominently brands are recommended across major AI and search surfaces. It is built from repeated, query-level observations across ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. New measurements are added to the same report over time. Canonical research links:

• AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Visibility Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Visibility Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Visibility Authority Value

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