The Short Answer
You cannot use Woebot anymore. The Woebot consumer app was permanently shut down on June 30, 2025. If you are looking for an AI CBT-based mental health companion you can download today, the answer is Wysa. This comparison exists to explain why Woebot mattered, what Wysa is doing differently, and what you should know if you are considering an AI mental health chatbot in 2026.
Important context
Woebot Health discontinued its consumer-facing app on June 30, 2025 and pivoted to enterprise/payer licensing only. If you previously used Woebot, you cannot resume access through the consumer app. Wysa is the closest active alternative.
The Two Products
Woebot was founded in 2017 by Dr. Alison Darcy, a Stanford clinical psychologist. It used scripted, multi-choice CBT, IPT, and DBT-based conversations grounded in established therapy frameworks rather than free-form generative AI. It accumulated 14 randomized controlled trials — the most clinically validated AI mental health product in the world — before shutting down its consumer app in June 2025 citing FDA regulatory burden and unsustainable consumer unit economics.
Wysa was founded in 2015 in Boston with offices in London and Bangalore. It also uses CBT, DBT, and mindfulness-based AI conversations, but with a more flexible NLP layer and a 150+ exercise library. Crucially, Wysa offers a paid human coaching tier alongside its AI chatbot — the dual-track model that Woebot did not have. Wysa holds an FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for chronic pain-related depression and is available globally in 65+ countries.
Clinical Validation
| Metric | Wysa | Woebot (legacy) |
|---|---|---|
| Randomized controlled trials | Multiple peer-reviewed studies in JMIR | 14 RCTs |
| FDA recognition | Breakthrough Device Designation | None for consumer app |
| Founder credentials | Founded 2015, Boston/London/Bangalore | Stanford clinical psychologist |
| Methodology | CBT, DBT, mindfulness | CBT, IPT, DBT |
Woebot's 14 RCTs remain the high-water mark for clinical validation in AI mental health. Wysa's evidence base is meaningful but smaller. The FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for Wysa is a regulatory recognition that Woebot did not have for its consumer product, and it signals that Wysa is engaging proactively with FDA on the regulatory pathway that Woebot cited as a key reason for exiting.
Why Woebot Shut Down
Three factors converged. First, the FDA's evolving guidance on AI mental health tools created compliance costs that were difficult to absorb on a free or low-revenue consumer app. Second, the rise of large language model competitors made Woebot's scripted, multi-choice format feel dated to users who had tried ChatGPT-class conversational AI — even though that scriptedness was the property that made Woebot safe by design. Third, the unit economics of consumer mental health are brutal: enterprise licensing was the only sustainable business model, and the consumer app became a cost center the company could no longer subsidize.
The lesson is not that AI mental health chatbots are unsafe or unworkable. The lesson is that clinical rigor alone does not produce a sustainable consumer business — you also need conversational warmth, sustainable economics, and a regulatory strategy that doesn't depend on indefinite ambiguity.
What Wysa Is Doing Differently
Wysa has structurally diversified across four moves that Woebot did not. First, it offers a paid human coaching tier (Wysa Premium Plus at $99.99/month), which gives users an upgrade path beyond pure AI and gives Wysa a real subscription revenue stream. Second, it pursued FDA Breakthrough Device Designation proactively, anchoring a clear regulatory path. Third, it serves both consumer and enterprise channels in parallel, reducing dependence on any single revenue source. Fourth, its conversational style is somewhat more flexible than Woebot's scripted approach, which trades a small amount of safety constraint for noticeably better user experience.
Pricing
| Plan | Wysa | Woebot (legacy) |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes | Free (discontinued June 2025) |
| Premium | $99.99/year ($8.33/mo) | N/A |
| Premium Plus (with coach) | $99.99/month | N/A |
Verdict
If you are evaluating an AI mental health chatbot in 2026, the answer is Wysa — not because it is necessarily clinically superior to Woebot at its peak, but because it is the active product you can actually use. Woebot's published research remains the most rigorous evidence base in the category and is worth reading as a baseline for evaluating any AI mental health claim. If you want the closest experience to Woebot's CBT-grounded approach with a sustainable business model and active product development behind it, Wysa is the right choice. If you need licensed human therapists rather than an AI companion, BetterHelp is the largest network. If you are in crisis, call 988 immediately — no AI tool is appropriate for crisis intervention.