How Much Does Therapy Cost in Portugal?

Most cost pages for Portugal quote a number nobody stands behind. This page prints only fees that providers publish on their own websites, each with its source, read on 2 September 2026. It starts with the public route, because in Portugal the free layer is real, and it comes before any private fee.

The free route comes first

Therapy through the SNS (Serviço Nacional de Saúde) starts at your local centro de saúde, the health centre, where the family doctor can refer you to psychology within primary care or to hospital psychiatry and psychology. Reached by referral, that consultation costs you EUR 0: Decreto-Lei n.º 37/2022 of 27 May 2022 abolished the taxas moderadoras, the user co-payment fees, for almost all SNS care, and primary-care consultations had been fee-free since 2020.¹ The one exception is hospital emergency attendance without a prior SNS referral.² How long you wait for a psychology appointment depends on your area; no official waiting-time figure could be verified for this page, so it prints none.

There is also a line you can call today. SNS 24 Aconselhamento Psicológico answers on 808 24 24 24, option 4, at any hour, any day, and the calls are always answered by psychologists; English is available.³ Official reporting says the line was made free in 2020 and stayed free after the pandemic,⁴ though the official service page could not be read when this guide was compiled, so treat "free call" as reported rather than confirmed at the source.

What private care actually publishes

Private psychology or psychotherapy with a psychologist in Lisbon or Porto commonly advertises at EUR 40 to 70 per session of 50 to 60 minutes, with EUR 50 to 60 the most common consulting-room price; established or specialised practices reach EUR 85 to 90. Those are advertised prices, not official rates. The Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses publishes no recommended fee table, and a provider article reports the regulator saying there never will be one.⁵ The practices below are the evidence.

In Lisbon, Oficina de Psicologia, a group practice with rooms in Lisboa, Porto, Odivelas and Setúbal, advertises EUR 60 for a 50-minute individual session, in person or online, EUR 70 to choose a specific psychologist, EUR 39 on its junior tier under continuous clinical supervision, and EUR 75 for 90 minutes of couple therapy, with a 10 percent discount on a 10-session pack.⁶ António Jorge Andrade, a solo psychologist and psychoanalyst, lists EUR 65 for weekly individual psychotherapy and EUR 47 per session at three or more sessions a week.⁷

In Porto, the Clínica Universitária de Psicologia at Universidade Católica charges EUR 60 for a first consultation and EUR 50 for follow-ups for the general public, with EUR 35 to 45 under protocols, EUR 75 for couple or family work and a 10-session pack at EUR 450.⁸ Dias Úteis lists most clinicians at EUR 55 to 70, with José Armindo at EUR 85, rising to EUR 90 from February 2026.⁹ Crianças e Casais lists individual psychotherapy at EUR 55 to 70 per clinician, couple therapy at EUR 70 and child therapy at EUR 55 to 60.¹⁰ Débora Monteiro, a specialist in clinical and health psychology practising since 2009, advertises EUR 40 per consultation, first session included, with a reduced EUR 35 for unemployed people, under-16s and social projects.¹¹

Two multi-city networks sit below that band. PsiMed, with rooms in Lisboa, Porto, Oeiras, Carnaxide and Algés, lists EUR 35 for a 50 to 60 minute session with a full member of the psychologists' order and EUR 50 on its premium tier of clinicians with five to ten or more years of practice.¹² Aragens d'Empatia, a community association offering psychological support at social prices, lists EUR 20 with a supervised professional-year junior, EUR 30 with a full member and EUR 40 with its most experienced tier.¹³

A consumer study points the same way, with a date on it. In 2020, DECO PROTESTE phone-surveyed 244 private clinics and practices across mainland Portugal and the islands: a first clinical psychology consultation could cost EUR 10 or EUR 100, but the great majority quoted EUR 50 to 70, with EUR 60 the most common; follow-ups ranged EUR 5 to 90, most commonly EUR 40.¹⁴ Those figures are six years old and prices have risen since; two Porto price pages print their own increases for February 2026.⁹¹⁵

What moves the price

Seniority explains most of the spread. Supervised professional-year juniors list EUR 18 to 25, full members of the order EUR 30 to 42, and premium or specialist tiers EUR 40 to 70. Format matters where it is priced separately: Psionline lists EUR 58 in person, EUR 42 by video and EUR 36 by chat for the same tier.¹⁵ Couple and family work costs more everywhere it is itemised. Frequency has its own logic in psychoanalysis, where the per-session price drops at three or more sessions a week.⁷ Setting counts: university and third-sector clinics undercut private rooms. And time itself: fees drift upward, which is why every figure here carries its date. Region shows up too, though the 2020 survey found Lisboa, Setúbal and the Azores highest and Guarda lowest,¹⁴ and the same-city spread in Porto, EUR 35 to 90, exceeds the spread between cities.

Online therapy fees

Dedicated Portuguese online platforms undercut Lisbon and Porto consulting-room rates by roughly a third. Psionline lists EUR 42 for a video session, rising to EUR 44 on 1 February 2026, EUR 25 with a junior psychologist, EUR 34 for a first video session, or EUR 18 for a first junior session, and EUR 68 for couple or family video sessions of about an hour and three quarters.¹⁵ PsiNet lists senior psychologists at EUR 37, juniors at EUR 25 and couple therapy at EUR 49.¹⁶ Aragens d'Empatia charges the same EUR 20, 30 and 40 tiers online as in person.¹³ Established practices hold parity instead: Oficina de Psicologia, PsiMed and Dias Úteis all price online sessions the same as their rooms.⁶¹²⁹ Students have one more route: ANEP, the national psychology students' association, lists partner psychologists' online consultations at roughly EUR 20 to 40, mostly student rates conditional on saying you come via ANEP.¹⁷

Will insurance pay?

For public employees, ADSE covers psychology consultations. In the regime livre, the free-choice regime, it reimburses 75 percent of what you paid up to a cap; since January 2025 the reimbursement per psychology consultation is EUR 16. In the regime convencionado, the network regime, ADSE pays 80 percent and you pay 20 percent. A medical prescription is no longer required for reimbursement since the table in force on 1 May 2024, and ADSE guidance references up to 24 psychological acts per year.¹⁸ Those figures come from the psychologists' order announcing the changes, not from ADSE's own current tables, so check your ADSE table before counting on them.

Private insurance is moving the same way. Multicare has included psychology consultations in the standard package of all individual plans since October 2021, on the same terms as any other specialty consultation, with out-of-network reimbursement of 50 percent up to EUR 300 a year.¹⁹ What you pay per network session was not verifiable, so this page prints no copay figure. Many other private health plans now include psychology consultations with a copayment; the policy documents could not be read for this guide, so the question to ask your insurer is specific: does this plan pay for outpatient sessions with a psychologist, and how much do I pay per session?

Paying less without waiting

Portugal's low-cost layer is unusually well developed. Supervised junior psychologists list at EUR 18 to 25 per session on Psionline, PsiNet and at Aragens d'Empatia,¹⁵¹⁶¹³ and social-price associations run EUR 20 to 40. University clinics sit close behind: EUR 35 to 45 under protocols in Porto.⁸ Session packs and reduced tariffs are published rather than hidden; several practices above print discounts for students, unemployed people or families, so asking costs nothing. Read how to find affordable therapy for the approaches that work in any country, and how to choose a therapist before you spend anything.

If you need someone now

If you are in immediate danger, contact your nearest emergency department. From anywhere in Portugal, SNS 24 answers on 808 24 24 24, option 4, with psychologists around the clock.³ To speak to a practitioner, the Portugal listing on TherapyRoute shows who practises where, and profiles list a fee where the practitioner has given one; asking them is the way to be sure.

Sources

All provider fees were read on the provider's own website on 2 September 2026. Advertised prices change; the dates matter.

1. ERS, the health regulator: FAQ on taxas moderadoras in the SNS (accessed 2 September 2026)
2. SNS notice: end of taxas moderadoras (accessed 2 September 2026; the page refused our reader that day, so its content is cross-checked against the ERS FAQ above)
3. Government of Portugal: the SNS 24 psychological counselling line, number and hours (accessed 2 September 2026)
4. Jornal de Notícias: the SNS 24 line remains free after the pandemic (accessed 2 September 2026)
5. Psicovias: the Ordem dos Psicólogos publishes no price table (accessed 2 September 2026)
6. Oficina de Psicologia: honorários (accessed 2 September 2026)
7. António Jorge Andrade, Lisboa: psychotherapy fees (accessed 2 September 2026)
8. Clínica Universitária de Psicologia, Universidade Católica, Porto: preçário (accessed 2 September 2026)
9. Dias Úteis, Porto: consultation prices (accessed 2 September 2026)
10. Crianças e Casais, Porto: prices (accessed 2 September 2026)
11. Débora Monteiro, Porto: consultation fee (accessed 2 September 2026)
12. PsiMed: psychology prices (accessed 2 September 2026)
13. Aragens d'Empatia: social-price tiers (accessed 2 September 2026)
14. DECO PROTESTE: survey of 244 practices, psychology consultations between EUR 10 and 100 (accessed 2 September 2026; figures collected in 2020)
15. Psionline: preçário, including the 1 February 2026 increases (accessed 2 September 2026)
16. PsiNet: online session fees (accessed 2 September 2026)
17. ANEP: partner psychologists' online consultation rates (accessed 2 September 2026)
18. Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses: ADSE reimbursement for psychology consultations (accessed 2 September 2026)
19. Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses: Multicare includes psychology in all individual plans (accessed 2 September 2026)