Storyworth is the name most people know, and for a good reason: it takes a vague wish ("I should get Mom's stories down") and turns it into something with a finish line, a printed book at the end of the year. If that is what you want, it is hard to beat.
But people go looking for alternatives for specific reasons. Their dad will never answer an email. They want to hear their mother's voice, not just read her words. They want something free. Or they have already done the book and want somewhere for the stories to keep living.
This guide compares the five services people usually weigh against Storyworth, including our own. Prices and features were checked on each company's website in September 2026. They change, so confirm on the company's site before you buy.
The short answer
- Want a printed book and your parent is happy to write? Stay with Storyworth.
- Want a book, but in their voice, without them typing? Look at Remento.
- Your parent has no smartphone, no email, maybe only a landline? Look at Storii or Senarra.
- Want it free and don't need a book? StoryCorps, or Senarra's free membership.
- Your family already uses MyHeritage? MyStories is its memoir service.
- Want the voice kept, stories added over years, and the whole family involved? That is what we built Senarra for.
Side by side
| How they answer | What you end up with | Price (first year) | After the year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storyworth | Email or website; phone on Color and Unlimited plans | Printed hardcover book | $69 / $99 / $199 | Questions stop; you keep access and can reorder books |
| Remento | Voice, by tapping a link on any device | Hardcover book with QR codes to the recordings | $99 | Recordings stay viewable and downloadable |
| Storii | Automated phone calls, landline works | Audio, downloadable audiobook, PDF | Around $100/year (published prices vary) | Read-only access, export stays free |
| StoryCorps | Recorded conversation in the app or a video call | Audio, kept on your phone or in the StoryCorps archive | Free | No subscription to end |
| MyStories | Weekly email question; voice answers transcribed | Printed hardcover book | $99 | Stories stay readable; printing needs a membership |
| Senarra | App, guided interview, or phoning in from any phone | A private family archive of voice, stories and photos | Free; paid from $4.99/month | Nothing is deleted; export everything any time |
Storyworth: best if the book is the point
How it works. One person, the storyteller, gets one question a week by email for a year. You can speed that up or slow it down. They reply by email or on the website. At the end of the year you get three months to edit and order the book.
Price. Basic is $69 and includes one black-and-white hardcover of up to 480 pages, with answers by email only. Color is $99, prints in full colour up to 300 pages, and adds phone answers. Unlimited is $199 with two colour books and weekly guided phone interviews, and renews automatically at $99 a year. Extra copies start at $39.
Where it wins. It is the most complete version of "a year of questions, then a book." It has the most printing options, and the $69 plan is the cheapest way on this list to put a real hardcover in someone's hands. For a parent who likes to write, it is excellent.
Where it falls short. The Basic plan has no voice at all, so you get their words but not how they sounded. The weekly email assumes a parent who reads email, and the ones most worth recording are often the least likely to.
Remento: best for a book in their own voice
How it works. Prompts arrive by text or email. Your parent taps a link and talks; there is no app to install and no password. Remento turns the recording into written text. You choose between a cleaned-up transcript of what they actually said and a rewritten narrative, and you can edit either one before it is printed.
Price. $99 for the first year, including one colour hardcover, then $99 a year or $12 a month. Remento's own pages disagree on how many pages the included book covers: the FAQ says 200 with a surcharge beyond that, and the homepage says 380.
Where it wins. Every page of the book has a QR code that plays the original recording, and the audio stays downloadable even if you stop paying. Of the book services, it takes voice most seriously.
Where it falls short. Your parent still needs a phone or tablet and has to be comfortable tapping a link. We found no option for answering over a plain phone call.
Storii: best for a parent who will never touch the internet
How it works. Storii phones your parent on a schedule, up to three times a week. An automated voice asks a question and they press 1 to record, for up to 15 minutes. It works on a landline, and they can also call in whenever they like.
Price. Storii's pricing page did not show prices when we checked. Its own comparison article lists $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, and its gift box was listed at $119.99, marked down to $59.99. Check before you buy.
Where it wins. It needs nothing from your parent except picking up the phone. For someone with no email, no smartphone and no interest in either, that matters more than anything else on this list.
Where it falls short. What you end up with is an audiobook and a PDF transcript. We could not confirm a printed hardcover. The written version is an AI rewrite of what they said.
StoryCorps: best if you want it free and permanent
How it works. StoryCorps is a nonprofit. You record a conversation with someone using the free StoryCorps app, or over a video call with StoryCorps Connect. There is no subscription and no weekly question. You sit down together and one of you interviews the other.
Price. Free.
Where it wins. It is free, and if you choose to, your interview can be kept in the StoryCorps archive at the Library of Congress. Its question lists are some of the best around, whichever service you end up using.
Where it falls short. There is no book and no written memoir. Transcripts are machine-generated and unchecked. Someone has to run every interview, and Connect needs a computer at both ends. Check the privacy setting before you upload.
MyStories: best if your family already uses MyHeritage
How it works. MyStories is MyHeritage's memoir service. Like Storyworth, it sends one question a week and your parent answers by email or in their account. Voice answers are transcribed. An optional AI editor can fix errors or adjust the style, and nothing changes unless you accept it.
Price. $99 for a year with one colour hardcover, shipping included. When we checked, a sale price was showing. MyHeritage members get a discount.
Where it wins. It has the largest book on this list, up to 500 pages before it splits into volumes. The AI editor is opt-in rather than the default. And if your family tree is already on MyHeritage, the stories sit alongside it.
Where it falls short. Once the year is over you need an active membership to print. The recordings can only be reached through the QR codes in the printed book.
Senarra: best for keeping the voice, and the story, going
We make Senarra, so read this section with that in mind.
How it works. You set up the people you love in the app: parents, grandparents, a partner, a pet. There are three ways to add their stories. You can follow Senarra's guided interview questions, or just start recording or writing whenever you want. Your parent can also call Call Senarra from any landline or cell phone, enter the family's private code, and simply talk. Senarra asks gentle questions and saves the conversation to their archive, with no app, account or email on their end. You can also share an old voicemail into Senarra from your phone's Share button.
Price. The free membership never expires. It covers one loved one, two family members and two phone calls a month. Paid memberships run from $4.99 to $39.99 a month and add more people, storage and call time. Voice cloning, which lets you hear answers in their real voice, starts at $19.99 on Legacy. See pricing.
Where it wins. The recording is the heart of it rather than an extra, and the archive doesn't end when a year runs out. If you stop paying, nothing is deleted, and you can export all the audio, photos and transcripts in one tap on every membership, free included. The whole family can add to it and listen, and it keeps growing for as long as you do.
Where it falls short. Senarra does not print a book. If a hardcover on the shelf is the gift you have in mind, Storyworth, Remento or MyStories will serve you better. And unlike Storii, Senarra does not ring your parent on a schedule. They call in, or you record with them.
How to choose
Three questions settle it for most families.
1. How will your parent actually answer? Be honest here, because it decides everything else. If they write emails, any of these will work. If they would talk but won't type, choose Remento, Storii or Senarra. If the phone on the kitchen wall is the only technology they trust, choose Storii or Senarra's phone line.
2. Do you want a book, a voice, or both? A book is something to give and something to shelve. A voice is the thing you cannot go back and get later. Remento does both in a single product. You can also combine two services, for example Storyworth for the book and a recording app for the voice.
3. What happens after year one? Most of these are built around a year and a book. Find out what you can still reach, download and add to once you stop paying, and put the raw audio somewhere you control, whichever service you choose.
Before you buy
- Ask them first. Nearly every service here works better when your parent wants to do it than when it arrives as a surprise.
- Start with the questions. Our 50 questions to ask your parents work with any of these services, or with no service at all.
- Save what you already have. If there are voicemails from them on your phone, export those now. No service can recover a message a carrier has already deleted.
- One recording beats a plan. If you are still deciding a month from now, record a phone call with them this week anyway.