Online Therapy: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Talkspace remained the coverage leader in the current benchmark, with valid recommendation coverage of 64.5% in August 2026 against a July 2026 baseline of 68.5%. BetterHelp held second position at 52.8%, a 15.7-point gap behind the leader. August 2026 was a quiet month: all seven tracked brands were classified as stable on the primary metric, and none of the month-over-month changes exceeded normal month-to-month variation.

Talkspace recorded the largest raw decline in valid recommendation coverage, down 4.0 points versus the July 2026 baseline, and Brightside Health recorded the next-largest decline, down 3.7 points. No brand recorded an increase in valid recommendation coverage, and the baseline-to-current pattern for the category leader remains unchanged: Talkspace held the top position in both measured months. The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 496 qualified observations in August 2026 after qualification, compared with 473 in July 2026.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. All six families were represented in both months.

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The following table shows how source observations were qualified:

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

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio’s analysis of how AI search is recommending Online Therapy Brands.

Current Brand Standings

This table shows the primary current-month benchmark view, sorted by valid recommendation coverage:

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a valid recommendation shortlist.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in the first three recommended positions.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: positive minus negative mention tone, normalized to a -1 to +1 scale.

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

This was a quiet month with no significant movement. All seven tracked brands recorded small month-over-month declines, but none moved beyond normal month-to-month variation. Talkspace showed the largest absolute decline at 4.0 points, though this remained within expected variation. LifeStance Health, Rula, and Cerebral had the smallest absolute changes by count, with LifeStance Health having 16 valid recommendations in August 2026 and Rula holding steady at 21 valid recommendations.

No brand recorded an increase in valid recommendation coverage in August 2026, and no movement qualified as a significant riser or decliner.

Cerebral

Cerebral recorded a 15.5% presence rate and 7.1% valid recommendation coverage in August 2026, alongside a 1.0% top-three rate, a 0.0% rank-one rate, and 0.5 net sentiment. Its valid recommendation coverage declined from 8.9% in July 2026 to 7.1% in August 2026, a 1.8-point movement that remained within the benchmark's normal month-to-month variation.

Talkspace records 64.5% valid recommendation coverage, while Cerebral stands at 7.1%. The more important issue is what that recommendation gap means for Cerebral's competitive position: Cerebral is present in 15.5% of qualified observations, but appears in a valid recommendation shortlist in only 7.1%, while its rank-one rate is 0.0%. The current benchmark does not establish the cause of this gap, making the mechanism behind Cerebral's weaker recommendation position the clearest area requiring attention.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which AI/search surfaces, prompts, competitor attributes, or external evidence sources are contributing to Cerebral appearing less often in valid recommendation shortlists and not reaching the first recommendation position?

Category Leader: Talkspace

Talkspace remained the category leader with a valid recommendation coverage of 64.5% in August 2026, down from 68.5% in July 2026. The brand also led on presence rate at 98.8% in August 2026 and on top-three rate at 57.1% in August 2026, though its rank-one rate declined from 21.3% in July 2026 to 16.9% in August 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended within a shortlist. The following table shows placement for the leading cluster:

Talkspace and BetterHelp had similar top-three rates in August 2026, yet very different first-position rates: BetterHelp placed first in 25.4% of observations versus Talkspace at 16.9%. Close coverage can still hide very different first-position rates.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

In both months, all qualified observations fell into the Brand Recommendation class, meaning the public series measures discovery-style queries seeking brand recommendations.

The current public series measures brand-recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, 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 or attributable sales.
• Every possible AI response; it samples a defined set of prompt-surface combinations.
• Organic-search ranking outside the six tracked AI/search families.
• Social mention volume.
• Private or sponsored channels such as gated apps or paid placements.
• Causality from a metric movement alone; the benchmark records change, not why it occurred.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index is a neutral industry benchmark tracking how AI/search surfaces present and recommend brands within a vertical. It measures presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment across canonical AI surfaces using a consistent, transparent methodology.

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

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The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper. The public percentage cannot identify the prompts, competitors, or sources causing the result.

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