7 Cups

What 7 Cups does

7 Cups, operating as 7 Cups of Tea, CO (Delaware-incorporated, founded 2013), runs what it terms the world's largest online mental health community, providing free 24/7 anonymous emotional support through a network of more than 563,000 trained volunteer listeners. The platform's core free offering consists of 1:1 chat with listeners, structured group support rooms (Sharing Circles, Exploration Garden), and topical community forums covering depression, anxiety, relationships, LGBTQ+ and other issues. As of 2025 the platform reports having helped 73 million+ people across 189 countries in 140 languages, with 1.8 billion+ messages exchanged cumulatively and 35+ million hours of free support delivered by volunteers.

The product surface is anchored on three tiers. The first, free peer support, is delivered through a web application and iOS/Android apps and is supported by the 7 Cups Academy volunteer training curriculum. The second, paid Online Therapy, provides monthly subscriptions starting at $150/month with licensed clinicians via video, phone, chat, and messaging, delivered under HIPAA-compliant and SOC 2 Type II-certified infrastructure. The third, AI-driven support, centers on the Noni chatbot — a generative-AI counsellor trained to listen, help users explore emotions, identify triggers, and problem solve — supplemented by a Pi chatbot and proprietary computational linguistic safety models that monitor for banned members and unsafe language across the platform. Analytics are powered by Amplitude, integrated since 2015 to optimize engagement and freemium-to-paid conversion.

The business model is freemium by design: the company states that 99.8% of services are free, funded by the 0.2% of users who upgrade to paid therapy. A second monetization layer is B2B — licensed therapists pay $39.99/month to claim their profile and gain visibility in the therapist directory. Display advertising provides an additional, lower-margin revenue stream. Distribution is primarily self-serve and product-led through the website and mobile apps, amplified by earned media coverage (WSJ, The New Yorker, TechCrunch) and an Apple App Store rating of 4.5. Recent strategic action includes a February 2026 partnership with FC Mother to integrate 7 Cups into maternal-health protocols, expanding into adjacent verticals through channel partnerships.

Name

7 Cups

Legal name

7 Cups of Tea, CO

Website

https://7cups.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

7 Cups operates the world's largest online mental health community, providing free 24/7 emotional support through 563,000+ trained volunteer listeners across 189 countries, supplemented by paid online therapy, an AI chatbot (Noni), and a licensed therapist directory.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Mental Health Services

NAICS

Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers (621420), Other Individual and Family Services (624190)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

General Mental Health Therapy Platforms (Talk Therapy) (HLALAEAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Membership/Subscription Concierge Virtual Care (HLALAAAH)

Keywords

• Online therapy services
• Emotional support platform
• Mental health community
• Peer support chat
• AI counseling chatbot

Headquarters

HQ city

Palo Alto

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Freemium to Paid Therapist Upgrade: Platform is 99.8% free services funded by 0.2% of users who upgrade to paid therapist access. Users receive free peer support and community access, with optional paid therapy with licensed professionals.
2. Online Therapy Subscriptions: Paid monthly therapy with licensed therapists starting at $150/month. Generates revenue through ongoing subscription fees from users seeking professional mental health support.
3. Therapist Profile Premium Features: Therapists can pay $39.99/month to claim their profile and receive additional benefits in the therapist directory. Basic listings remain free.
4. Advertising & Sponsorships: Display advertisements shown contextually to support free services. Advertisements may be served based on general interest categories or aggregated data to keep platform free.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

7 Cups operates a mental health support platform that connects users to trained volunteer listeners for free 24/7 anonymous chat, provides paid online therapy with licensed therapists starting at $150/month, and delivers AI-powered emotional support via the Noni chatbot. The platform also offers community forums, support groups, self-help guides, growth paths, and a teen-specific support service for users aged 13-17.

Product overview

7 Cups is a mental health support platform comprising multiple interconnected products: a free peer support network with volunteer listeners for 24/7 anonymous chat, paid Online Therapy with licensed therapists, the Noni AI chatbot for AI-powered emotional support, Community Forums and Support Groups for peer connection, Self-Help Guides and Growth Paths for self-guided healing, Teen Support services for users aged 13-17, a Therapist Directory for professional referrals, 7 Cups Academy for listener training, Daily Journal for self-reflection, Local Support Services for finding nearby resources, and Crisis Resources for emergency intervention. The platform operates on a freemium model where approximately 99.8% of services are free, funded by 0.2% of users who upgrade to paid therapist access.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Noni: AI chatbot counselor trained to listen, help explore and provide judgment-free support
• Pi

Products and services

• Free 24/7 Chat Support Anonymous virtual chat with 563,378 trained volunteer listeners available 24/7 for free emotional support. Users can connect instantly without account creation for judgment-free conversations on stress, anxiety, loneliness, and general mental wellness.
• Online Therapy with Licensed Therapists

Quantifiable outcome

• 73 million people helped through chats, communities, and self-guided tools
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• FC MothercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 February 2026FC Mother, a global movement leveraging football for maternal health, partnered with 7 Cups to integrate its emotional and mental health support platform into FC Mother's protocol. The partnership builds on FC Mother's validated research published in Early Childhood Matters journal showing 97% of mothers felt less anxious and 100% felt less lonely. Through this integration, fans globally can refer mothers to receive free mental health support. FC Mother aims to reach 600 million people by 2030 leveraging its five-year legacy partnership with FIFA World Cup 2026 Host City Monterrey.
• AmplitudecoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 20157 Cups switched to Amplitude Analytics in 2015 to gain deeper insights into user engagement and healing outcomes on their platform. The partnership enabled tracking of a larger volume of events at lower cost, helping optimize features like Daily Journal and convert free members to paid services. Amplitude analytics supports the company's freemium business model optimization.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• BetterHelp: Largest D2C online therapy subscription platform in the US, offering licensed-therapist messaging, chat, phone, and video sessions. Directly competes with 7 Cups' paid Online Therapy tier and shares the freemium/PLG funnel approach, though BetterHelp operates without a volunteer layer.
• Talkspace: Public online therapy platform providing licensed therapist access via messaging and live sessions, with both D2C and B2B (employer, health plan) distribution. Directly comparable to 7 Cups' therapy subscription offering and a key competitor for any enterprise contract expansion.
• Cerebral: Subscription-based online mental health platform combining therapy with medication management. Comparable business model (monthly subscription, telehealth delivery) and target conditions (anxiety, depression) overlap directly with 7 Cups' paid therapy product.
• Woebot Health: AI-chatbot-first mental health platform offering conversational CBT-based support, with both consumer and enterprise offerings. Directly comparable to 7 Cups' Noni chatbot on technology and user experience, and a likely competitor for B2B AI-mental-health contracts.
• Wysa: AI chatbot mental health platform combining conversational AI with optional human therapist escalation, sold to both consumers and employers/health plans. Comparable AI-plus-human hybrid model and similar freemium positioning make it a close peer in the AI mental health category.
• Togetherall: 24/7 peer-to-peer mental health support community moderated by trained clinicians, primarily sold to universities and employers. Closely mirrors 7 Cups' volunteer listener + community forum model and competes for the same institutional B2B contracts.

Broad incumbents

• Lyra Health: Enterprise-focused mental health benefits platform serving employers and health plans with therapy, coaching, and self-serve tools. Comparable therapy delivery layer but operates predominantly B2B and at materially larger scale, representing the incumbent 7 Cups would compete with in employer/payer sales.
• Headspace Health: Large consumer and employer mental health and meditation platform combining self-guided content with therapy (Ginger acquisition). Comparable in addressing anxiety, depression, and loneliness, with a much broader content library and stronger B2B distribution.

Emerging players

• Calm: Subscription meditation and mental wellness app that has expanded into therapy and mental health content. Adjacent rather than direct overlap with 7 Cups, but competes for the same anxious/stressed consumer wallet share and employer benefit dollars.
• Wisdo: Peer-support community platform focused on mental health and chronic conditions, with both consumer and health-plan offerings. Comparable community-led growth model and overlapping target population with 7 Cups' free listener and forum products.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/7cupsot
• Facebookfacebook.com/7CupsOfTea

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about 7 Cups