Last updated: October 15, 2026. Forte publishes this guide, and Forte is one of the six platforms compared below.
- If your people are stretched thin but not in crisis, and nobody on your team has time to run a wellbeing program, Forte gives every person their own human Coach for everyday pressure.
- If you want a low-cost self-guided app, choose Headspace or Calm.
- If you need therapy and psychiatry coverage, look at Modern Health, Spring Health or Lyra Health.
What small teams actually need
You run a company of 10, 50 or 200 people. You probably don't have an HR team, and you don't have spare hours to run a program. But you know your people. And you know some of them are carrying more than they say.
A marriage under strain. An aging parent. A kid having a hard year. Those things rarely get said out loud at work, not to you and often not to anyone. You can't sit beside every one of your people. The right benefit puts someone there. Leaving it alone isn't free, either. Here's what poor wellbeing costs employers.
When you compare options, five things matter most for a small team:
- A cost per person you can predict.
- Something that runs without an HR team. Launch and outreach shouldn't land on your desk.
- Help for ordinary hard weeks. Most of your people aren't in crisis. They're stretched thin.
- Real confidentiality. People won't say the real thing if it might reach their manager.
- Something people will use.
Every platform in this guide falls into one of three groups:
- Meditation and self-guided apps (Headspace, Calm). A library of audio and video content people use on their own. Low cost and easy to launch, but there's no person on the other end.
- Clinical mental health platforms (Modern Health, Spring Health, Lyra Health). Therapy, psychiatry and coaching from licensed providers, often used to replace or extend an EAP. Built to treat mental health conditions, and usually sold through a sales team.
- Mental Fitness training with human coaching (Forte). Regular one-on-one time with a trained Coach, plus short exercises in between. It's for everyday life and the relationships that matter, before they turn into a crisis. It isn't therapy.
If the line between those last two feels fuzzy, our guide to Mental Fitness vs. mental health explains the difference.
Comparison at a glance
| Platform | Type | Human support | Best for | Pricing for small teams |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forte | Mental Fitness training with 1:1 coaching | Yes. A dedicated human Coach for every Member, as early as the next day | Small teams whose people are stretched thin and need someone to talk to before it becomes a crisis | Custom quote based on your team; individual plans also available |
| Headspace | Self-guided app | Not in the small business plan (AI companion included; clinical services sold separately) | Teams that want a well-known self-guided app at a predictable per-seat price | Self-checkout for teams of 10 to 999; listed at $69.99 per employee per year, with volume discounts |
| Calm | Self-guided app | No | Very small teams that want an easy, self-serve sleep and relaxation benefit | Self-checkout for 5 to 300 people; per-seat price drops as you add seats; paid annually upfront |
| Modern Health | Clinical mental health platform | Yes. Coaching and clinical care | Growing companies that want coaching and clinical care in one benefit | Quote through sales; per-employee or usage-based; no published minimum |
| Spring Health | Clinical mental health platform | Yes. Therapy, psychiatry, coaching | Companies that need comprehensive clinical coverage | Quote through sales; no published price or minimum |
| Lyra Health | Clinical mental health benefit | Yes. Therapy, coaching, psychiatry | Companies of 50 or more that want a large clinical network | Available to businesses with 50+ employees through ParetoHealth; otherwise quote through sales |
Scroll the table sideways on a phone. Competitor details come from each company's own public pages as of October 2026.
Forte
What it is. Forte is a Mental Fitness platform. Every Member gets a dedicated, trained human Coach for regular one-on-one Sessions, plus short exercises in the Forte app between Sessions. It isn't therapy, it isn't an EAP, and it isn't AI coaching. In plain words, it's someone by your people's side, outside your organization, whose only agenda is them.
Who it's best for. Small teams that want real human support for everyday pressure, before it becomes a crisis. It fits best when your people give a lot to others all day and rarely get asked how they're doing.
What's included.
- A Mental Fitness Scan to start, then a simple rhythm: Assess, Train, Coach, Apply, Repeat.
- A dedicated Coach. Members can keep the same Coach or switch any time, and Coaches come from backgrounds that include ICF-certified coaching, counseling, social work and pastoral care (Forte Coaches).
- Sessions of 30, 45 or 60 minutes depending on plan, and Members can connect with their Coach as early as the next day. You can see how Forte works step by step.
- Short exercises in the iOS and Android app.
- Confidentiality. Employers see only anonymized, organization-wide trends, never what any one person said.
- It works alongside your health plan, EAP and other benefits. When a Member needs clinical care, their Coach helps them find the right resource.
Members rate their Sessions 4.9 out of 5 across 2,000+ reviews, and 95% report improved overall well-being as a result of coaching, based on Forte's Member feedback. Here are two of them, in their own words:
Listen: An employee on realizing how much she needed Forte
Listen: A nonprofit employee on having a space just for her
Pricing and minimums. Organization plans are custom and quoted for your team. They include company-wide access, dedicated onboarding and a dedicated Forte contact, so you don't need an HR team to launch it. Details are on the Forte for organizations page. Individuals can also sign up on their own through Forte for individuals.
Things to consider. Forte isn't a clinical service. If your team needs therapy or psychiatry coverage, pair it with a clinical benefit or an EAP. Organization pricing also takes a short conversation rather than a credit card checkout.
Headspace
What it is. Headspace Core for Small Businesses puts the Headspace app on your team as a benefit. It's a self-guided library of meditation, mindfulness, sleep, movement and focus content (Headspace).
Who it's best for. Teams that want a well-known self-guided app at a predictable per-seat price.
What's included.
- 1,000+ hours of on-demand content and guided programs Headspace describes as clinically validated.
- Ebb, an AI companion that gives personalized recommendations.
- An admin portal with aggregate, anonymous reporting.
- With 50 or more seats, each employee can add up to five friends or family members.
Pricing and minimums. Self-checkout is sized for teams of 10 to 999 employees. It's listed at $69.99 per employee per year, with volume discounts shown at checkout. The plan is annual and paid upfront; Headspace doesn't offer invoicing for this plan. It doesn't auto-renew, so you renew each year (Headspace).
Things to consider. The small business plan doesn't include human coaching or therapy. Headspace sells clinical services and EAP as a separate package through its sales team.
Calm
What it is. Calm for Organizations gives each covered person the full Calm content library, the same experience as an individual Calm Premium subscription (Calm).
Who it's best for. Very small teams that want an easy, self-serve sleep and relaxation benefit.
What's included.
- Guided meditations, Sleep Stories, music, soundscapes and Calm Kids content.
- Access for up to five family members or friends per license.
- The Calm Partner Portal, for managing who has access and viewing your team's usage.
Pricing and minimums. Calm sells this plan to groups of 5 to 300; larger groups book a demo. Your per-seat price depends on how many seats you buy, and more seats bring a bigger discount. You pay once, upfront, for the full year by ACH or most major cards, with no invoices or purchase orders. The plan auto-renews each year, and you can turn that off. You can add seats mid-year but can't reduce them until renewal (Calm).
Things to consider. It's self-guided, with no person to talk to, and you're locked into your seat count for the year.
Modern Health
What it is. A workplace mental health platform that covers a range from self-guided tools to crisis care, including one-on-one coaching (Modern Health).
Who it's best for. Growing companies that want coaching and clinical care in one benefit, especially with employees in more than one country.
What's included.
- Self-guided tools, one-on-one coaching and clinical care.
- A provider network across 200+ countries and territories and 80+ languages.
Pricing and minimums. Modern Health doesn't publish prices or a minimum company size. It offers per-employee-per-month or usage-based pricing through its sales team (Modern Health).
Things to consider. It's built for organizations with broad, often global needs. A 30-person company should confirm fit and full cost before booking a demo.
Spring Health
What it is. A clinical mental health platform that employers and health plans offer to their people (Spring Health).
Who it's best for. Companies that need comprehensive clinical coverage.
What's included.
- Therapy, psychiatry and medication management, plus coaching, self-guided tools, specialty programs and critical incident response.
- Guide, an AI assistant that supports members along the way.
- Providers who are in-network with many health plans (Spring Health for employers).
Pricing and minimums. Spring Health doesn't publish prices or a minimum company size. Pricing is quoted through its sales team.
Things to consider. Clinical depth is its strength. If most of your team is stretched rather than unwell, you may pay for coverage they won't use.
Lyra Health
What it is. A clinical mental health benefit offering therapy, coaching, psychiatry and specialty care (Lyra Health).
Who it's best for. Companies of 50 or more that want a large clinical network.
What's included.
- Therapy, coaching, psychiatry and specialty care.
- Through the ParetoHealth arrangement, employees and family members can typically see a qualified provider within one day.
Pricing and minimums. Since October 30, 2025, businesses with 50 or more employees can access Lyra through ParetoHealth, which brings together employers with 50 to 1,000 employees (Lyra Health). Outside that route, Lyra doesn't publish small-business pricing, so you'd contact its sales team.
Things to consider. Teams under 50 have no published route in, and the ParetoHealth route comes with Pareto's wider health benefits model.
How to choose: six questions to ask any vendor
Before you sign anything, ask every vendor these questions. And ask yourself one more: would you use it? When the leader goes first, everyone else follows.
- Who will my people talk to? A person, an AI or a content library? Each is a different kind of help.
- Is it built for ordinary hard weeks or only for a crisis? Ask what happens for someone who's just worn down.
- Who runs it day to day? Find out who handles launch and outreach, and whether you need an HR person.
- What exactly will I see as the employer? Aggregate trends are fine. Anything about an individual isn't.
- What happens when someone needs clinical care? Ask how the vendor connects people to therapy, your EAP or other support.
- What are the full-year cost and contract terms? Ask about minimums, auto-renewal, and whether you can reduce seats if your team shrinks.
The bottom line
Your people already carry things they don't bring to work. The benefit you choose decides whether anyone helps them carry it.
Want to see what Mental Fitness training feels like before you decide? Take the free Five Days to Train Within PACER plan: one short practice a day for five days. Get the free plan
Want every person on your team to have a real human Coach by their side? We'll show you what Forte looks like for a team your size. Request a demo