Verke vs. Woebot: what replaces Woebot after the June 2025 shutdown

Woebot Health retired its consumer app on June 30, 2025. Founder Alison Darcy cited regulatory uncertainty for LLM-based therapeutic tools as the reason. About 1.5 million people had used Woebot over its lifetime. Woebot was the pioneer that proved a CBT chatbot could feel like a non-judgmental, always-available thinking partner — and that breaking overwhelming problems into small, concrete steps is something software can do well. If you used Woebot and are looking for a replacement, the current options include Verke, Wysa, and Youper. This page lays out the tradeoffs honestly. Source: STAT News, July 2025.

By Verke Editorial · Last verified: 2026-04-18

TL;DR

Pick Verke if

You used Woebot for CBT and want a direct replacement that goes further: Amanda for CBT, plus four other specialist coaches, voice, multi-week memory, and 55 languages.

Look elsewhere if

A free tier or a published outcome record matters more than specialist matching — Wysa and Youper are the honest alternatives we describe below.

What is Verke?

Verke is an AI coaching app with five specialist coaches — Anna (psychodynamic), Judith (CBT for social anxiety), Marie (relationships and EFT), Amanda (mental wellness, CBT with ACT and CFT), and Mikkel (executive coaching). It runs on iOS, Android, and web, supports voice and text conversations, ships in 55 languages, and is end-to-end encrypted. Verke is coaching inspired by evidence-based therapeutic methods — not a replacement for licensed therapy.

Where Woebot stayed CBT-centric, Verke lets you pick a specialist for the work in front of you — Amanda for concrete CBT exercises and structured goals, Judith for social anxiety, Anna for psychodynamic pattern recognition, Marie or Mikkel when the work is relational or career-focused. Each coach remembers what you have been working on across weeks, so you can pick up a thread from a session three weeks ago instead of restarting every time. Conversations are available 24/7 in text or voice. In the Stockholm University trial, participants often described being able to reach their coach in the moment they needed it.

What was Woebot?

Woebot was a pioneering AI CBT chatbot developed at Stanford by Alison Darcy, with multiple peer-reviewed studies over roughly a decade that made it one of the most science-grounded conversational CBT tools of its era. The consumer app closed on June 30, 2025. Woebot Health continues B2B integrations with employers, payers, and providers — the company is still operating, but there is no consumer signup. For Woebot Health's own current pitch, see woebothealth.com.

At a glance

Side-by-side comparison

Woebot column reflects the pre-shutdown consumer product, labeled where relevant. Verke column reflects current state. Last verified: 2026-04-18.

	Verke	Woebot
Status	Available	Consumer app retired June 30, 2025 — no new signups possible
Modalities	CBT, PDT, ACT, EFT, CFT, NVC — five specialists matched to the work, not one CBT-only bot	CBT-centric, with some DBT and mindfulness (historical)
Cost	7-day free trial, then $2.99–$9.99/mo	Free when available (no longer available to consumers)
Clinical validation	One published RCT (Stockholm University; Internet Interventions, 2026)	Multiple peer-reviewed published outcome studies — historically the gold-standard CBT chatbot
Voice coaching	Yes — WebRTC phone-call style, 20-minute cap per session, useful for talking things through when typing feels like too much	No — text-only CBT exercises (historical)
Session scheduling	Yes — recurring or one-off; coach initiates at the scheduled time	No — proactive check-in reminders rather than booked sessions (historical)
Anonymous start	Yes — try it with no email or phone; a free account to keep going	Required an email for account creation (historical)
Current availability	Yes — iOS, Android, Web	Enterprise partnerships only — no consumer app
Search chat history	Yes — freetext search across all conversations, plus the coach itself remembers context across weeks so you do not have to re-explain	Discontinued June 2025

Honest tradeoffs

Pros and cons

Verke

Pros

Five specialist coaches — Amanda (CBT) is the closest direct replacement for Woebot's approach, and you can switch to a different modality when CBT is not the right fit
Continuity of memory across weeks — the coach remembers what you have been working on, so you build on past sessions instead of restarting them
Concrete, in-the-moment coping tools — breaking overwhelming problems into small steps you can actually take today, available 24/7 in text or voice
Phone-call-style voice coaching with automatic summaries back to chat
55 localized UIs and LLM-native in-conversation language handling
Encryption and a paid subscription — reliability tied to a real business model

Cons

No free tier — 7-day trial, then paid
One published RCT so far (social anxiety)

Woebot

What Woebot was good at

Multiple peer-reviewed outcome studies — the most-cited AI CBT chatbot in the listicles of its era
Pioneering CBT conversational design, developed at Stanford
Free consumer app while it operated; ~1.5 million users over its lifetime

What's no longer available

Consumer app closed on June 30, 2025 — no new signups
Enterprise-only pivot limits individual access today
Personal-data export was not offered as part of the shutdown communication

Decision

When to choose another alternative (if not Verke)

Verke is not the only option for former Woebot users. If Verke isn't the fit, Wysa offers a free unlimited text tier with an FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for AI-led CBT, and Youper has a published 2021 JMIR outcome paper showing GAD-7 and PHQ-9 improvement on a CBT-first mobile app. Both are honest alternatives alongside Verke — pick what fits your situation best.

Decision

When to choose Verke

Pick Verke if what you liked about Woebot was the CBT structure — Amanda is Verke's CBT coach and the closest direct replacement, with the same emphasis on breaking problems into manageable steps and concrete, structured exercises. Pick Verke if you want to go beyond CBT into psychodynamic, ACT, EFT, CFT, or NVC with a matched specialist instead of one general bot. Pick Verke if you want a coach that remembers your history across weeks, a non-judgmental space available at 3 a.m. as easily as 3 p.m., phone-call-style voice coaching, a UI in one of 55 languages, end-to-end encryption, or the reliability of a paid subscription and an active product team.

Verke's coaching design draws on a published Stockholm University randomized controlled trial and a network of peer-reviewed clinical-psychology literature — building on the evidence trajectory Woebot helped pioneer for conversational CBT. See our research page for the full methodology.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is Woebot still available?

No. Woebot Health retired its consumer app on June 30, 2025. Existing accounts are no longer accessible and new signups are not possible. Woebot Health continues to operate B2B integrations with employers and providers, but there is no consumer app to download.

Why did Woebot shut down?

Woebot Health founder Alison Darcy cited regulatory uncertainty for LLM-based therapeutic tools. Without FDA authorization to market the AI as a clinical tool, the consumer business model was no longer sustainable. About 1.5 million people had used Woebot over its lifetime.

What should I use instead of Woebot?

For CBT-led AI coaching, the current options include Verke (5 specialist coaches, voice, 55 languages), Wysa (FDA Breakthrough Device Designation, penguin bot, free tier), and Youper (published 2021 JMIR outcomes, English-only, mobile-only). Verke's Amanda is the closest direct replacement for Woebot's CBT style.

Is Verke as clinically validated as Woebot was?

Woebot had multiple peer-reviewed published outcome studies over its lifetime — a strong track record. Verke has one published 3-arm RCT, at Stockholm University (Internet Interventions, 2026). On paper, Woebot's larger body of published evidence was ahead of Verke's single trial.

Can Woebot users get their data out?

Per Woebot's shutdown communication, the consumer app closed without personal-data export. Notes you kept outside the app are still yours. Verke keeps you in control: conversations are encrypted and you can delete your history at any time — the opposite direction from Woebot's closure path.

Related comparisons

Verke vs. Youper
Youper has a 2021 published JMIR study; Verke adds specialist coaches, voice, web access, and 55 UI languages.
Verke vs. Noah AI
Noah AI is a single text-only companion; Verke has five specialists and voice coaching across iOS, Android, and web.
Verke vs. Ash (Slingshot AI)
Ash is a single CBT-leaning AI companion from Slingshot AI; Verke has five specialist coaches matched to your specific concern.
Verke vs. Earkick
Earkick is a mood-tracking AI companion; Verke is structured coaching across five specialist modalities with voice and memory.

See all comparisons →

Meet the closest direct replacement for Woebot's CBT approach: Amanda, our CBT coach.

Or read how the method works: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).