Almost every list like this is sorted by brand. Here is app one, here is app two, here are their features, good luck.
That is useless, because you do not have a brand problem. You have a specific thing going wrong, and the reason you are reading a page called “alternatives” is that something you tried did not fix it.
So this is sorted by the problem. Find yours, and the answer is one line down.
Three things worth knowing before you scroll:
Two of these companies will not tell you what they cost. Paired’s own support page declines to name a figure. Cupla’s premium price is not on their site either. Anybody quoting you an exact number for either is guessing, and we would rather flag that than invent one.
One of them is free if you are active-duty, Guard, or Reserve. OurRelationship, which is a genuinely substantial program, is free for active-duty military and their families. That is a real thing, it is not advertised loudly, and if it applies to you, it is the best value on this page by a wide margin.
One of them is being maintained less actively than it used to be. Relish sells six months upfront. Before you pay for six months of anything, it is worth knowing that its development has reportedly slowed.
”We keep having the same fight and it never resolves.”
LoveFix. This is our category and it is the reason the company exists, so weigh the recommendation accordingly.
Each of you talks it through privately with Sage. Separately. Then you both get one shared wrap: what each of you needs, and one next step you both agreed to. The private half exists because most people cannot say the true thing with their partner watching their face, and the shared half exists because a conversation only counts if you both leave with the same thing in your hands.
Then, and this is the part that most tools skip entirely, you can ask Sage to hold onto the topic, and it comes back later as a reminder. That is the difference between a good conversation and a change.
What it costs. A few free sessions to start. Essential $9.99, Thrive $19.99. One subscription covers both of you. Annual is roughly two months free. A one-off three-session pack at $9.99 if you do not want to subscribe.
Where it stops. Sage is an AI coach. Not a therapist, not a clinician, not a crisis line. Clinical territory needs a professional, and if anyone is in danger, that needs a crisis line today.
”We need a licensed human therapist.”
Regain, at $260 to $400 every four weeks. Note every four weeks, which is thirteen billing cycles a year, not twelve, so budget $3,380 to $5,200.
Talkspace, at around $436 a month, which looks worse until you notice Talkspace works with insurance and Regain effectively does not. If you have coverage, the expensive one is probably your cheap one. Check coverage before you check price.
Or a local therapist, at $100 to $250 a session in the US, typically eight to twenty sessions.
No app substitutes for this, ours included. If the problem is clinical, this row is your row and you should stop reading.
”We want to learn something. A real curriculum.”
Lasting. $29.99 a month, or $89.99 for six months, with a seven-day trial. One subscription covers both partners. It is a proper therapist-built syllabus and it is good, if you will both actually do the reading. It happens in calm moments, which is both what it is for and its limit.
”We want to pay once, not forever.”
OurRelationship. $79 to $249 as a single payment. No free trial, and free for active-duty military, Guard, Reserve, and their families. It is a structured program with a real evidence base behind it, and the one-time payment shape is genuinely rare in this market. Almost every “alternatives” list buries this.
Gottman Card Decks, which are free, and better than they have any right to be.
”We want to understand sex and desire better.”
Coral. Around $60 a year. Built with sex therapists, and as sexual education it is the best thing on this page. We do not do this and will not pretend to.
To be precise about what that means, though: Coral teaches. It does not mediate. If the actual situation is that neither of you can say the true thing about sex out loud, that is not a knowledge gap, that is the hardest conversation there is, and it is a conversation problem wearing a sex costume.
”We want a small daily habit.”
Paired. A question a day, answered separately, then revealed. Well made, and the right shape for a couple that is basically fine and wants to stay talking. If that is genuinely all you want, it is a good buy. The price, as noted, they will not publish.
”We are drowning in logistics and blaming each other for it.”
Cupla, or Google Calendar, and this is less of a joke than it sounds. A large share of what couples experience as a relationship problem is two calendars that have never been in the same place. Fix the arithmetic before you diagnose the relationship. Cupla is the couple-native version; Google Calendar is free and more reliable.
”We are far apart.”
Look for anything asynchronous, meaning it does not require you both to be present at the same moment. Distance destroys simultaneity and almost every couples tool quietly assumes it. That is why they fail at range.
Also: Between has no end-to-end encryption. That is a specification, not an accusation, but a lot of long-distance couples send things through it that they would not want a third party reading.
The one-line version
| The problem | The answer |
|---|---|
| Same fight, never resolves | LoveFix |
| Need a licensed clinician | Regain, Talkspace, or a local therapist |
| Want a real curriculum | Lasting |
| Want to pay once | OurRelationship (free for US military) |
| Want to understand sex better | Coral |
| Want a daily habit and nothing more | Paired |
| Drowning in scheduling | Cupla or Google Calendar |
| Long distance | Anything asynchronous |
| Someone is in danger | None of this. A crisis line, today. |
Frequently asked
Which is cheapest? The free Gottman Card Decks, then LoveFix’s free sessions, then OurRelationship if you are military. But cheapest is the wrong question if it buys you the wrong job.
Do these work if only one of us is interested? Most can be started solo. With LoveFix the shared wrap is the whole point, so solo is a beginning rather than the thing itself.
Is an AI coach a replacement for therapy? No. It helps two people have a conversation. A therapist treats. Those are different and it matters that they stay different.
Prices verified 14 July 2026 against each company’s own pages. Two companies in this category do not publish theirs, and we have said which. Re-verify before you buy.