# SparkHours vs Tevera for LPCC

Are you an Associate Professional Clinical Counselor (APCC) tracking hours toward LPCC licensure? This page compares SparkHours and Tevera on what matters for that track. We checked every Tevera figure against Lumivero's own pages on 24 August 2026.

## Overview

Tevera is now Experiential Learning Cloud, sold by Lumivero. Most California APCCs first see it at their graduate program. The program licensed it, and the placement paperwork lives in it. It does not shut off when you graduate. Your account moves to alumni status, and you keep logging post-degree hours in the same database.

You buy SparkHours yourself, not your school. It is built for one board and three California license types. The comparison below starts the day your degree posts. On the LPCC track, that is the day your licensure count begins.

## LPCC-Specific Requirements

APCCs pursuing LPCC licensure must complete:

- **3,000 total hours** of supervised experience, all of it post-degree
- **0 pre-degree hours**: nothing earned as a PCC Trainee counts toward the 3,000
- **1,750 hours of direct counseling** as a minimum within that total
- **1,250 hours of non-clinical work** as a maximum, a category the Board defines to include your supervision
- **No specialty subset**: nothing is carved out of the 1,750. There is no couples and families figure, no crisis figure, and no setting figure.
- **104 weeks** minimum duration
- **40 hours** maximum credited in any seven consecutive days
- **Supervision requirements**: before your degree, 1 unit per 5 hours of direct clinical counseling, a 5:1 ratio, and never fewer than 1 unit in a week experience is credited. Once you have your degree, 1 unit in any week you are credited with experience at that setting, plus a second unit once you go past 10 hours of direct client contact there. Workshops, seminars and conferences are the exception and arm no obligation. No more than 6 hours of supervision are credited in a week in either phase.
- **Six-year window**: you have to earn the experience within the six years before the Board receives your application
- **Weekly supervisor signatures** on hour logs

One unit of supervision equals one hour of individual or triadic supervision, or two hours of group supervision.

That zero on pre-degree hours is what shapes this comparison. Tevera's home ground is practicum, and on the LPCC track practicum hours never reach the 3,000. The 5:1 practicum ratio is still a real obligation while you are a PCC Trainee, it just produces no countable hours. That is the Board's rule, not a flaw in the software. But it means Tevera is best at holding the one record you do not submit.

## Feature Comparison

### Logging After You Graduate

**SparkHours**: Built for the post-degree phase. You give us your graduation date and your 3,000 counts from there. Pre-degree hours stay in your record. They never inflate a total the Board will not accept.

**Tevera**: Yes, through alumni status. You start it yourself by adding your graduation date in your settings. Your student placements close as of that date and you add new ones as a graduate. Alumni access is included in what you already paid. Setting it up is self-service. Lumivero documents a manual step to line up your school track with the state track.

### BBS Form Export

**SparkHours**: Exports your hours onto the Board's weekly log of experience hours for the LPCC track, with your supervisor's signature already attached. It also builds the Experience Verification form, one per supervisor and work setting, out of the weeks you already had signed.

**Tevera**: Yes on the LPCC track. It publishes California's weekly hours report and an in-state Experience Verification report, both available to alumni. Lumivero says the weekly output matches the Board's form. It adds a "Signed in Experiential Learning Cloud" notice at the bottom.

### E-Signatures

**SparkHours**: Supervisors receive a secure link by email and sign without creating an account. It usually takes them under a minute.

**Tevera**: Yes. Supervisors sign electronically after creating a free account, and you can suggest a site and supervisor from outside your school.

### How You Get It

**SparkHours**: You sign up yourself. 14-day free trial, no credit card.

**Tevera**: Through a graduate program that licensed it, or that program's bookstore.

### Your Login

**SparkHours**: Your own email address, chosen by you.

**Tevera**: The email you signed in with as a student. It stays bound to your school email until a program administrator or Lumivero support changes it. Put that on your list before you leave.

### Dual Licensure

**SparkHours**: Full support for tracking LPCC and LMFT hours together, which is the pairing the Board allows. Each track gets its own dashboard, its own categories, and its own form.

**Tevera**: Upon request.

### Compliance Checking

**SparkHours**: Weekly supervision checked while the week is still open, so a shortfall shows up when you can still fix it. A current-week shortfall shows as a warning, a past-week shortfall as an error. SparkHours applies the 1,250-hour non-clinical maximum, the 40-hour weekly ceiling, and the six-year window to your total as you log.

### Progress Tracking

**SparkHours**: Your dashboard shows the hours that count toward your total, a progress bar, weekly pace, and a projected completion date after 12 weeks of data. Set a target date and see whether your pace will meet it.

### AI Licensing Assistant

**SparkHours**: An in-app assistant that answers Board questions against the real handbooks, so you are not reading a PDF at 11pm to settle whether a week counts.

## Side-by-Side Summary

| Feature | Tevera | SparkHours |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $215 one time | $10/mo or $100/yr |
| Free to start | No | 14-day trial, no card |
| How you get it | Through a graduate program | You sign up yourself |
| Logging after you graduate | Yes | Yes |
| California LPCC weekly report | Yes | Yes |
| Experience Verification, LPCC | Yes | Yes |
| Electronic supervisor signatures | Yes, on a free account | Yes, no account needed |
| LPCC and LMFT in one account | Upon request | Yes |
| Setting up post-degree tracking | Documented, manual process | Enter your graduation date |
| Your login | Your school email | Your own email |
| Built for | School programs | California BBS licensure hours |

## Switching from Tevera

There is no importer between the two and no file import, so nothing moves across on its own. What people do instead:

1. Leave the weeks already signed in Tevera where they are. A signed record does not stop counting because you changed what you log in.
2. Create a SparkHours account (14-day free trial, no credit card).
3. Enter your graduation date, your sites, and your supervisors.
4. Log this week's hours in SparkHours and send them for an electronic signature.

On the LPCC track this is a cleaner break than it sounds, because your practicum hours were never part of the 3,000. If you graduated recently, you are leaving behind only a few post-degree weeks.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Do my practicum hours count toward my 3,000 hours as an APCC?

No. On the LPCC track, none of them do. You have to earn every one of the 3,000 hours after your degree posts. That is different from the LMFT track, where up to 1,300 pre-degree hours can count. Your practicum still has to happen, and your program still has to sign off on it. It is not part of the 3,000.

### Does Tevera stop working when I graduate?

No. Your account moves to alumni status. You keep logging new hours in the same database you used as a student. You start that yourself by adding your graduation date in your settings. Your student placements close as of that date, and you add new ones as a graduate. You already paid for alumni access.

### Does Tevera collect electronic supervisor signatures?

Yes. Your supervisor signs electronically after creating a free account, and you can suggest a site and supervisor from outside your school. SparkHours does the same thing without the account: your supervisor gets a secure emailed link, reviews the week, and signs. There is nothing to install and no password to remember. [See how SparkHours e-signatures work](/e-signatures).

### Does Tevera produce the California LPCC weekly report?

Yes. On the LPCC track it publishes California's weekly hours report, and a second report covers in-state Experience Verification. Both are available to alumni. Lumivero says the weekly output matches the Board's form. It adds a "Signed in Experiential Learning Cloud" notice at the bottom.

### Can I move my Tevera hours into SparkHours?

Not automatically. There is no importer between the two and no file import. Most people leave their signed Tevera weeks alone. They start logging in SparkHours from the week they switch. A signed record does not stop counting because you changed what you log in.

### Is there a minimum number of hours in a particular setting or specialty?

No. You need at least 1,750 hours of direct counseling inside your 3,000, and that is the whole rule. The LPCC track sets no smaller minimum inside it. There is no couples and families figure, no crisis figure, and no setting figure. Older printouts sometimes list a hospital or community mental health requirement. The Board dropped that rule. The current handbook prints no trace of it. [What counts as direct client contact](/guides/direct-client-contact-hours).

### How much supervision do I need each week as an APCC?

You need at least one unit in any week you are credited with experience at a setting. You need two units in any week with more than 10 hours of direct client contact there. It is a step, not a proportion. The second unit arrives once you go past 10 hours, and nothing above that adds a third. Workshops, seminars and conferences are the exception, so a week of only those does not owe a unit. One unit is one hour of individual or triadic supervision (you and one other supervisee), or two hours of group. The Board credits no more than six hours of supervision in a week.

### Can I buy Tevera on my own if my program never used it?

Not on your own. Lumivero sells Tevera to graduate programs, and you buy your access through the program or its bookstore. You sign up for SparkHours yourself, on your own email, with no school in the middle.

### Is Tevera cheaper than SparkHours?

Over enough years, yes. Tevera is $215 one time and SparkHours is $100 a year, so on price alone Tevera wins. The yearly cost buys a tool built for one board. It applies the LPCC rules by date, checks your supervision while the week is still open, and fills in and signs your forms. [See full pricing details](/pricing).

### Does SparkHours work outside California?

Not yet. SparkHours is built for California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) requirements and nothing else: the specific hour thresholds, the supervision rules, and the Board's own forms. Graduate programs across the country use Tevera. If you are licensing in another state, that is a real point in its favor. For California APCCs, being built for one board is the whole point.

## Pricing

SparkHours is $10 per month, or $100 per year, with a 14-day free trial and no credit card required to start. Tevera is $215 one time, bought through your graduate program. It does not renew, and alumni access costs nothing extra.

## Related

- [SparkHours vs Tevera for AMFTs](/compare/sparkhours-vs-tevera-lmft), where some pre-degree hours do count
- [SparkHours vs Tevera for ASWs](/compare/sparkhours-vs-tevera-lcsw)
- [SparkHours vs Track Your Hours for LPCC](/compare/sparkhours-vs-trackyourhours-lpcc)
- [APCC hour requirements](/apcc) for what the 3,000 has to include
- [Practicum tracking](/practicum) for the phase change

---

[Start your 14-day free trial](https://app.sparkhours.com/register)