The bilateralstimulation.io alternative that lives in the chart

bilateralstimulation.io is a best-in-class, single-purpose bilateral-stimulation instrument. It delivers visual, auditory, and tactile BLS straight from the browser, and the company says more than 40,000 therapists actively use it (its own self-reported figure). Basic BLS is free with unlimited usage and no signup, and a 15 dollar per month Professional plan unlocks a personal link, saved client preferences, a full sound library, extra visual patterns, and a Business Associate Agreement.

CoralEHR approaches the same moment from the other direction. Its free EMDR BLS tool is also free in the browser, but it is one tool inside a full private-pay EHR that also handles notes, SUD/VOC capture, treatment plans, scheduling, telehealth, and payments from 29 dollars per month, with BAAs signed.

If your goal is the richest standalone stimulation surface, bilateralstimulation.io may fit better. If your goal is BLS that flows into the chart, CoralEHR may fit better. This page lays out both honestly so you can tell which one you are.

What bilateralstimulation.io does well

It is worth being clear up front: bilateralstimulation.io is a genuinely excellent, founder-built tool, and for pure BLS delivery it is more specialized than CoralEHR. Here is what it does well, drawn entirely from its own pages.

Free, unlimited, no-signup BLS in the browser. Its basic functionality is free with no usage limits and no signup. The Free plan is listed at 0 dollars and includes basic visual, auditory, and tactile BLS. It works for both telehealth and in-person sessions, uses a temporary one-time client link, tracks sets, passes, and time, and includes a BLS kill switch. Nothing to download or install: it runs from the browser, the therapist controls it, and the client joins via a link.

Platform-agnostic by design. The tool has no built-in video chat; it is meant to run alongside whatever video platform you already use, including Zoom, SimplePractice, Doxy, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. That is a real strength: it slots into any existing telehealth stack without forcing you to switch.

Deep BLS controls on Professional (15 dollars per month). The Professional plan adds your own personal link, saved client BLS preferences, advanced visual patterns (diagonal, vertical, infinity), a full sound library with volume control, color and background customization, randomize and desynchronize, keyboard shortcuts, priority support, and a BAA. For clinicians who want to fine-tune working-memory taxation to each client, that depth is hard to match.

Its own hardware tappers. bilateralstimulation.io sells Remote Tactile BLS Buzzers (USB, wired) at 129 dollars per set, with 40 vibration-intensity levels and 20 speed levels, a 30-day money-back guarantee, and a one-year warranty. Clients can order directly, and the buzzers can even be controlled on the free plan, with the hardware as the paid component. Physical tactile stimulation is something pure-software tools simply cannot replicate.

Scale, focus, and compliance. The company says more than 40,000 therapists actively use the tool, in tens of thousands of sessions every week, across countries including the US, India, Chile, and Uganda. Those usage figures are the company's own self-reported numbers, not independently verified, but the founder origin story (built at the start of COVID to help a therapist deliver EMDR online) and the product focus are real. The site describes itself as HIPAA-compliant, with the BAA included on the paid Professional and Enterprise plans and not on the free Basic plan.

Where CoralEHR fits differently

CoralEHR's difference is not the BLS engine, it is the workflow around it. Both tools give you free browser BLS; what changes is where the session goes next.

CoralEHR's free BLS tool. The CoralEHR EMDR BLS tool is therapist-controlled and free, with visual and auditory BLS, speed control, atmosphere presets, in-session SUD/VOC capture, reusable templates, session export, and keyboard shortcuts (spacebar to start and stop, arrow keys to adjust). It is built for the reprocessing set itself: start, run, pause, capture the SUDS reading, repeat.

The real difference is continuity. CoralEHR is the EHR, so after the set you stay in one system: you write the note, persist SUDS and VOC trends across sessions, update the treatment plan, schedule the next appointment, run telehealth, and take payment, all under one login. bilateralstimulation.io intentionally stays a BLS instrument; we found no session notes, charting, documentation, or record-storage features on its pages. That is a deliberate, defensible product choice, but it means pairing it with an EHR is two subscriptions and copy-paste between tabs. CoralEHR's wedge is collapsing that into one.

An honesty box on what chart continuity does and does not mean. CoralEHR's public, free BLS tool does not store PHI. It runs in your browser and explicitly warns against entering identifying client details. The chart continuity described above is the paid CoralEHR EHR, not the free public page. So both free tools are, on this point, similar: free, in-browser, no PHI. The continuity advantage only appears when you adopt the EHR. We want that distinction crystal clear rather than implied.

Pricing is apples-to-oranges, and we will not pretend otherwise. bilateralstimulation.io's free tier is genuinely free forever for basic BLS, and CoralEHR's BLS tool is free too. The paid comparison is not like-for-like: 15 dollars per month buys deeper BLS features at bilateralstimulation.io, while CoralEHR's plans (Starter at 29 dollars per month, Professional at 79 dollars per month, with a 30-day free trial and no credit card required) buy an entire EHR. CoralEHR is not cheaper BLS; it is a different product wrapped around the same free tool. If all you need is BLS, the honest answer may be that you do not need CoralEHR at all, you need bilateralstimulation.io's free tier.

Where CoralEHR is genuinely weaker. CoralEHR's free BLS tool focuses on visual and auditory BLS; it does not offer tactile or haptic BLS, and CoralEHR does not sell hardware tappers. It also does not currently match bilateralstimulation.io's deepest standalone BLS controls (the full sound library, diagonal, vertical, and infinity patterns, desync and randomize). If those specific capabilities are central to how you run EMDR, bilateralstimulation.io is the stronger tool, full stop.

How CoralEHR's AI works. Where CoralEHR adds AI, such as drafting clinical notes, it uses Anthropic's first-party Claude API directly, never a third-party reseller, and patient data is not used to train models. AI drafts stay preliminary until a clinician reviews and signs them. The free BLS tool itself has no AI and no PHI; this matters only once you adopt the EHR. CoralEHR is HIPAA-aligned and signs BAAs; we do not claim SOC 2 or HITRUST certification.

Which should you choose?

Choose bilateralstimulation.io if you want the deepest dedicated BLS surface, with a full sound library, diagonal, vertical, and infinity patterns, and desync and randomize; if you want physical tactile buzzers as part of your protocol; if you already love your current EHR and only need a BLS layer on top of it; or if you want a tool that pairs with any video platform without changing your stack. It is the more specialized instrument, and it is excellent at exactly that.

Choose CoralEHR if you want free BLS that records into the chart, so SUDS and VOC readings and session notes live in one place; if you want SUDS and VOC trends, notes, treatment plans, scheduling, telehealth, and payments in one private-pay system; if you would rather not run and pay for a separate BLS subscription alongside your EHR; or if you are a private-pay therapist evaluating a whole-practice switch, not just a BLS add-on. For that head-to-head, see CoralEHR vs SimplePractice.

The two products barely overlap on price for a reason: one is a specialized instrument, the other is a practice platform that happens to include a free instrument. Pick based on which problem you actually have.

Free tools you can try now

All of CoralEHR's clinical tools are free, need no login, and store no PHI, so you can try them before you switch anything.

• EMDR Bilateral Stimulation (BLS), with visual and auditory BLS, speed control, atmosphere presets, SUD/VOC capture, templates, and session export.
• EMDR Safe / Calm Place Exercise
• EMDR Container Exercise
• EMDR Target Sequence Planner
• Browse all free clinical tools

Want a deeper look at compliance? Read our HIPAA guide for private-practice therapists.