AI Therapy Apps & Mental Health AI Compared 2026

The terminology varies too. Some services explicitly talk about AI therapy or an AI therapist, while others describe themselves as tools for wellbeing, self-reflection or mental health support.

This comparison looks at several well-known services primarily from a practical perspective: how conversations work, whether you can speak to them, whether they remember previous conversations, how structured their use is and what they are intended for.

WWAIT is included because someone looking for AI therapy or AI mental health services may consider it as an option. However, WWAIT does not define itself as AI therapy or an AI therapist, but as an AI process that models a psychotherapeutic process.

This comparison is published by WWAIT. WWAIT is one of the services compared. Information about competitors is based on their own websites, app store listings and other sources they have published. Features and availability may change.

Last checked: 18 October 2026

Services at a glance

Service	What kind of service?	Voice	Continuity	Key difference
WWAIT	Ongoing process based on time-limited sessions	Yes	Yes	50-minute Regular sessions + 30-minute Acute · Acute purchased separately
Ash	Open-ended AI mental health conversation	Yes	Yes	Voice, text and personalised insights
Headspace Ebb	AI companion for self-reflection	Yes	Yes	Links to Headspace meditations and exercises
Wellness AI	AI conversation and personalised meditations	Depends on the service	Yes	Meditations generated from the conversation
Wysa	More structured mental health self-help service	Text-focused	Depends on the service	Exercises, CBT and other guided content
Woebot	Early-generation conversational mental health service	–	–	No longer generally available as a consumer app

A feature list alone does not tell you much about what using a service feels like. The differences become clearer when you look at each service in turn.

WWAIT

Who is it for?

Someone looking for an ongoing, structured process rather than an always-open chatbot.

WWAIT differs from most services in this comparison in that its starting point is not unlimited conversation whenever you open the app.

The work usually takes place in 50-minute Regular sessions, once, twice or four times a week depending on your subscription. You can talk by voice or text.

The central idea is continuity: the next session does not start from scratch, and the process can build on previous conversations over weeks and months.

Alongside Regular sessions, 30-minute Acute sessions are available for times when something significant comes up between sessions and you do not want to wait until your next Regular session. Acute is a separately purchased 30-minute extra session for users with an active Regular plan.

WWAIT currently works in 22 languages.

WWAIT’s strengths

voice and text
regular 50-minute sessions
continuity from session to session
30-minute Acute sessions when needed · Acute purchased separately
22 languages
free introductory conversation before the first full session

When might WWAIT not be the right option?

If you are mainly looking for quick answers, advice or an always-open AI chatbot, WWAIT’s time-limited session model may not be what you want.

WWAIT is also not a human therapist, a healthcare service or a crisis service. It does not diagnose conditions or provide medical treatment instructions.

Ash by Slingshot AI

Who is it for?

Someone who wants open-ended AI mental health conversations by voice or text.

Ash is a mental health AI service developed by Slingshot AI. According to its official app information, it can be used by both voice and text, and conversations can cover topics such as stress, anxiety, relationships and life changes.

Ash also aims to create continuity between conversations. The service says it remembers users’ previous conversations and identifies recurring themes and patterns of behaviour.

The service also provides personalised insights and weekly summaries for the user.

Ash’s strengths

voice and text
memory between conversations
a focus on mental health
personalised insights and recognition of recurring themes

How does it differ from WWAIT?

The most significant difference is the structure.

Ash is closer to an always-available AI mental health conversation. WWAIT, by contrast, is built around time-limited 50-minute sessions and a longer-term process.

Headspace Ebb

Who is it for?

Someone who wants to combine AI conversation, self-reflection and Headspace’s meditation and exercise content.

Ebb is Headspace’s conversational AI companion. You can use it by voice or text, and Headspace says it can remember content from previous conversations.

However, Ebb is not intended to act as an AI therapist. Headspace describes it as a self-reflection tool that can, for example, help organise your thoughts and recommend Headspace meditations and other exercises based on the conversation.

This makes Ebb particularly interesting for someone who already uses Headspace or wants a large library of ready-made wellbeing content alongside conversation.

Ebb’s strengths

voice and text
continuity between conversations
Headspace’s extensive library of exercises and meditations
clearly limited to self-reflection and wellbeing

How does it differ from WWAIT?

Ebb primarily acts as a bridge between conversation and Headspace’s other content.

In WWAIT, the conversation process itself and regular sessions form the core of the service.

Wellness AI

Who is it for?

Someone who wants to combine AI conversation with personalised guided meditations.

Wellness AI explicitly uses the terms AI therapy and AI therapist in its own marketing. Its distinctive feature is combining conversation with meditations tailored to the user.

Users can talk about their situation and generate a personalised meditation based on it. The service also lets them choose things such as the meditation’s topic, length, voice and background sounds.

Wellness AI also says it remembers context from previous conversations.

Wellness AI’s strengths

open-ended AI conversation
continuity between conversations
personally generated meditations
conversation and relaxation in one service

How does it differ from WWAIT?

Wellness AI is structured more like an always-available AI therapy and wellbeing app.

WWAIT does not describe itself as AI therapy or an AI therapist. Its core is regular, time-limited sessions and the longer process they form.

Wysa

Who is it for?

Someone who likes guided exercises and a more structured way of working.

Wysa is one of the longer-established services in this field. Its approach combines conversation with various self-help exercises and psychological methods.

Wysa says its content draws on principles including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), solution-focused work and mindfulness.

The service offers AI conversation, but its overall approach is more structured than many newer generative AI services: users are also guided towards ready-made exercises and content.

Wysa’s strengths

a long-established service
many guided exercises
CBT, mindfulness and solution-focused content
AI conversation is also available free of charge, according to the service

How does it differ from WWAIT?

In Wysa, exercises and ready-made tools are a central part of the experience.

In WWAIT, the main tool is the conversation itself and its continuation from session to session.

Woebot

Woebot is part of the history of AI mental health services, but it is no longer a service consumers can download in the usual way.

Woebot launched before the breakthrough of today’s generative language models. It was largely based on clinician-written conversation pathways and predefined responses.

Woebot Health discontinued its direct-to-consumer app in 2025.

The service may still be available through some employers, healthcare providers, studies or other partners, but it should not be viewed as a freely available consumer option in the same way as the other services in this comparison.

Including it in the comparison is nevertheless justified because Woebot was one of the best-known early services in the field and people still frequently search for it by name.

How should you choose an AI mental health service?

No single service is best for everyone.

Much depends on the kind of interaction you are looking for.

Do you want to speak or type?

For some people, writing feels like the most natural way to think. For others, speaking changes the entire experience.

If voice matters to you, check whether it is a genuine conversation feature or, for example, just reading meditations or responses aloud.

Do you want an open chat or a defined session?

This is one of the biggest differences between services.

An open chat is available whenever you want to say something.

A session-based model gives the conversation a beginning, a middle and an end. It can help you pause and explore an issue differently from having a few minutes of conversation now and then.

Of the services in this comparison, WWAIT is most clearly built around this kind of time-limited session model.

Does the service remember previous conversations?

Memory is particularly important if you use the service over a longer period.

If every conversation effectively starts from scratch, users have to repeat the same things over and over. Continuity instead makes it possible to return to earlier themes and notice things that recur over time.

However, it is worth noting that the word memory can mean very different things in different services.

Do you want conversation alone, or exercises too?

Wysa and Headspace are good examples of services with plenty of other content around the conversation.

Wellness AI, meanwhile, combines conversation with meditations generated for the user.

If you mainly want to talk and let the process develop through the conversation itself, services such as WWAIT and Ash are closer to this model — although their structures are very different.

Why is WWAIT different?

WWAIT is included in this comparison because someone searching for AI therapy, an AI therapist or another AI conversation service may well compare it with the same options.

The distinction should nevertheless be clear.

WWAIT is not AI therapy or an AI therapist.

WWAIT’s central idea is ongoing work that models a psychotherapeutic process over time.

The conversation is not intended to be an endless chat. A Regular session lasts 50 minutes, and the next session can continue the process from where it left off.

If something significant happens between Regular sessions, 30-minute Acute sessions are also available. Acute is a separately purchased 30-minute extra session for users with an active Regular plan.

The aim is not to provide answers or solutions as quickly as possible, but to create a space where things can be explored and understanding can develop gradually.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best AI therapy app in 2026?

No single service is best for everyone. The right option depends on whether you want, for example, open-ended conversation, voice, meditations, structured exercises or a longer process based on regular sessions.

Are AI therapy apps the same as psychotherapy?

No.

The terminology services use and how they define themselves vary, but an AI service is not in itself psychotherapy provided by a human.

WWAIT, for example, does not describe itself as AI therapy or AI psychotherapy.

Which services support voice?

Among the services in this comparison, at least WWAIT, Ash and Headspace Ebb support voice-based use. However, how the voice feature works varies from service to service.

Which services remember previous conversations?

WWAIT, Ash, Headspace Ebb and Wellness AI say they use previous conversation context or memory in one way or another.

The extent and implementation of memory vary between services.

Is WWAIT AI therapy?

No.

WWAIT is an AI process that models a psychotherapeutic process. It is not AI therapy, AI psychotherapy or an AI therapist.

What alternatives are there to Wysa?

That depends on what you value in Wysa.

If you like guided exercises, Headspace may offer a more similar experience. If you want more open-ended conversation, Ash or Wellness AI may be options. If you want a process based on regular, time-limited sessions, WWAIT works differently from Wysa.

Can you use an AI service alongside psychotherapy?

Technically, yes, and some people use AI services alongside other support.

However, it is important to be clear about the service’s role. An AI service and psychotherapy provided by a human are not the same thing, and an AI service should not replace necessary professional care.