SOAP vs DAP vs BIRP Notes: Which Progress Note Format Should Therapists Use?

Every clinician needs a progress note format that is defensible, insurance-ready and quick to write. In mental health the three most common are SOAP, DAP and BIRP. They capture the same clinical reality in slightly different structures. Here is how they compare and how to choose.

SOAP notes

SOAP stands for Subjective, Objective, Assessment and Plan. It is the most widely recognized format across all of healthcare, which makes it a safe default when you coordinate care with physicians or submit to insurers.

Subjective, what the client reports: mood, symptoms, life events, and their own words.
Objective, what you observe: affect, appearance, mental status, and measurable data.
Assessment, your clinical interpretation: progress toward goals, diagnosis, risk.
Plan, next steps: interventions, homework, referrals, and the date of the next session.

DAP notes

DAP stands for Data, Assessment and Plan. It folds SOAP's subjective and objective sections into a single "Data" section, which many therapists find faster for talk therapy where the line between reported and observed is blurry.

Data, everything relevant from the session, both reported and observed.
Assessment, your clinical judgement and progress.
Plan, what happens next.

BIRP notes

BIRP stands for Behavior, Intervention, Response and Plan. It puts the clinician's intervention and the client's response front and center, which is why it is popular in community mental health, case management and settings that must demonstrate medical necessity.

Behavior, presentation and reported symptoms.
Intervention, what you did in session and why.
Response, how the client responded to that intervention.
Plan, the next steps.

Which format should you use?

There is no single "correct" format, pick the one that best documents medical necessity for your setting and payers:

Choose SOAP if you coordinate with medical providers or want the most universally understood structure.
Choose DAP if you want a leaner note for psychotherapy and find splitting subjective from objective artificial.
Choose BIRP if your payer or agency wants a clear intervention-and-response trail.
Or build your own template, you are not limited to the standard formats. With NotedTherapy you can design a custom section layout that matches exactly how you document (for example a medication-management note, an EMDR processing log, or a GIRP variant), save it once, and have every future note drafted straight into that structure.

Writing any of them faster

Whichever format you use, the slow part is turning a 50-minute session into clean prose. NotedTherapy listens to the session, transcribes it in seconds, and drafts a SOAP, DAP, BIRP or custom note in your own clinical voice for you to review and edit, no audio is ever stored. You can start a free trial without a credit card and see your first note in about a minute.