Storyworth Alternatives: 6 Options and Who Each One Suits

The main Storyworth alternatives are Kindred Tales, Remento and My Life in a Book. Kindred Tales, which we make, emails your parent a question each week for a year. They can answer by replying or writing online, or in the AI Edition by talking with Ali, a guided interviewer, and you pay once for a hardcover of up to 400 pages. Remento is built around recording on audio or video, as a yearly subscription. My Life in a Book is the closest to Storyworth's own format. If you'd rather not pay for a service, a fill-in journal or a free recording app works too, and if you want the least work, you can hire a writer.

Maybe someone gave Storyworth to your mom a few years ago, or a friend did it for her dad, and you liked the idea. Before the holidays, you want to know what else is out there. Below is each option, including the cases where Storyworth is still the one to pick. We read each company's own website in November 2026. Plans change, so check theirs before you buy.

What does Storyworth do well?

Storyworth sends your loved one a question every week, by email or text. They reply to the email or write on the web, and add photos as they go. At the end of the year, the stories become a hardcover book. It's a simple idea, and Storyworth does it well. A few things stand out on its own site.

• Phone storytelling. A parent who isn't a writer can tell stories over the phone, even on a landline, and Storyworth transcribes them.
• Magic Interviews. On its Unlimited plan, Storyworth asks follow-up questions over a phone call, then turns the conversation into a written story.
• Help with the finished text. The Color plan includes a built-in proofreader, and any plan can download a free e-book or audiobook of the memoir.
• A QR code on the last page of the book, which takes family to the stories and any audio recordings.

The plans are worth reading closely. The Basic plan prints a black and white interior with a color cover. The Color plan prints full color inside. Only the Unlimited plan renews automatically each year. When a Basic or Color plan ends, Storyworth emails you the option to renew for another year or print the book. If your parent writes easily and likes a weekly rhythm, Storyworth is a solid choice, and you may not need an alternative at all.

What are the best Storyworth alternatives?

The right one depends on how your parent likes to tell a story. Other services exist, and new ones appear every year. We only list ones whose own sites we read for this guide.

Kindred Tales (ours), for a parent who has the stories but not the habit of writing them down

Your parent gets a question by email each week and can answer just by replying. Each answer becomes a chapter. If they'd rather sit down and write, they can do that online. Signing in takes a link we email them, so there's no password to keep track of.

The AI Edition is for a parent who would rather talk. They can press record and talk while we turn it into text, upload recordings you already have, or be interviewed by Ali. Ali asks the next question a good listener would ask, like who else was there and what happened next. "We moved to Ohio in 1962" stops being one line and becomes the story of the move. Storyworth offers follow-up interviews only on its Unlimited plan, over a phone call. Remento suggests one follow-up question after each recording.

One payment covers the year of questions and a full-color 6 by 9 inch hardcover of up to 400 pages, twice what Remento includes, with a PDF copy at no extra cost. Nothing renews, and you keep full editing access. Photos go anywhere in a chapter, with a caption, beside the story they belong to. Extra color copies for brothers, sisters and grandchildren cost less than Storyworth's or Remento's. Here's how our memory books for parents work, step by step.

Where another service may suit you better: Storyworth if your parent would rather tell stories on a phone call, even a landline. Our side-by-side with Storyworth has the rest of the detail.

Best for: a parent who would talk for an hour if someone asked the right next question, but freezes in front of an empty page. Choose the AI Edition for that parent.

Skip it if: your parent would rather tell their stories over a phone call. Storyworth does that better.

Remento, for a parent who would rather talk

Remento is built around speaking. A prompt arrives each week by email or text. Your parent records an answer on a phone, tablet or computer, with audio only or on video. After each recording, Remento suggests one follow-up question they can choose to answer. Its Speech-to-Story feature turns the recording into a written chapter. Its site puts it plainly: "No writing required, they just speak." You can edit every story before it's printed and add photos to any story.

The book is a full-color 8 by 10 inch hardcover, a bigger format than most memoir books. Each chapter has a QR code that plays back the original recording, so the family can hear them, or see them, telling it. That's Remento's real strength.

The catch is the subscription. The first payment covers one year and one hardcover of up to 200 pages, and a longer book costs extra. To keep adding stories after that year, you renew. If you don't, the account turns view-only. Its help center says you can still read, download and order books, but you can't edit a story, change a photo or record anything new until you pay again. Extra copies cost more than ours, and the e-book is an extra charge.

Your parent can't write a Remento chapter. Every story starts as a recording, and the text is generated from it, so they can only edit afterward. If they would rather write, or dislike being recorded, that matters. Photos work differently too. The first one prints under the story's title, and Remento's own guide says the rest go at the end of the story, not beside the moment they show. For the full cost over a few years, see our Kindred Tales vs Remento comparison.

For many families, this is Remento's biggest drawback. A memoir reads best when the photo of the farmhouse sits beside the story of the farmhouse, and a parent who thinks better on paper can't write a chapter at all. If either matters to you, Remento is the wrong choice, however good the recordings are.

Best for: a parent who loves to talk, or is happy on camera, and would never sit down to write.

Skip it if: your parent would rather write, you want photos beside the stories they belong to, or you don't want to pay every year to keep editing.

My Life in a Book, the closest to Storyworth

My Life in a Book follows the pattern Storyworth made familiar. Once a week, it emails your loved one a question about their life. They reply with a story, and maybe a photo, and the story is shared with you. They can type, or talk and let voice-to-text capture it. Each account starts with 52 questions, and you can swap any of them or add your own. When they're ready, the stories are printed as a keepsake book, and you can order extra copies at any time.

Best for: a family who likes the Storyworth format and wants to compare another take on it. Our comparison with My Life in a Book goes feature by feature.

Skip it if: you want a guided interviewer who asks follow-up questions. Its homepage doesn't describe one.

A fill-in journal, the low-cost option

Bookstores sell guided journals with a question at the top of each page and room to write underneath. You buy one, wrap it, and your parent fills it in by hand. Their handwriting is on every page. There's no login, and nothing renews.

A journal relies on your parent sitting down to write alone, with nobody nudging them. Without a weekly question arriving, it's easy to stall halfway. If your parent is a natural writer who likes pen and paper, that may not matter at all.

A recording you make yourself, the free option

You don't need a service to begin. Sit with your parent, set your phone on the table, and ask one good question. Record the answer. Do it again next week. You'll end up with their real voice. If you'd like some structure, try the free StoryCorps app. It guides you through an interview, helps you prepare questions, and can upload the recording to the Library of Congress. Our list of questions to ask your parents about their life is a good place to find the first one.

You won't end up with a book, though. Turning hours of audio into chapters is real work, and it's easy to put off. If recordings are all you want, that may not matter.

Hiring an interviewer or writer, the most hands-off option

You can also pay a personal historian to interview your parent over a few sessions and write the book. It usually costs the most of anything here, and it asks the least of your parent. It suits someone who will never use email or an app. Expect the book to sound partly like the writer, so ask for a sample first.

Remento vs Storyworth vs Kindred Tales: what's the difference?

Storyworth starts from writing. Remento can only start from a recording. Kindred Tales takes a written reply in either edition, adds talking, uploads and Ali's interview in the AI Edition, and asks for one payment.

• Answering. Storyworth works by email or the web, and stories can be told on any phone, even a landline. Remento records on a phone, tablet or computer. With Kindred Tales your parent can reply or write online, and in the AI Edition talk or upload a recording.
• Follow-up questions. Storyworth's Magic Interviews come on a phone call, on the Unlimited plan. Remento suggests one follow-up after each recording. Kindred Tales has Ali, who keeps asking, in the AI Edition.
• The book. Storyworth prints black and white inside on Basic and full color on Color. Remento prints a full-color 8 by 10 inch hardcover of up to 200 pages, with longer books at an extra charge. Kindred Tales prints a full-color 6 by 9 inch hardcover of up to 400 pages.
• Recordings. Each Remento chapter has a QR code that plays the original recording. Storyworth puts one QR code on the last page and offers an audiobook download. In the Kindred Tales AI Edition, recordings stay in your account to download.
• After the first year. Storyworth's Unlimited plan renews automatically, and its Basic and Color plans end with an email offering to renew or print. Remento renews yearly to keep adding stories, and goes view-only if you stop. Kindred Tales is paid once.
• Extra copies. Storyworth's color copies cost more than ours, though its black and white copies cost less. Remento's cost more than ours.

If your parent tends to stop after a sentence or two, compare the follow-up help each one offers, and which plan it comes on. For prices and every feature side by side, see our three-way comparison of Kindred Tales, Storyworth and Remento.

How do you choose a Storyworth alternative?

Answer these about your parent before you compare features.

1. Do they like to write? Then any of the email services works, and so does a journal.
2. Would they rather talk? Look at Remento, or at the Kindred Tales AI Edition, where they can press record and talk or be interviewed by Ali.
3. Do they have a smartphone, tablet or computer they're happy using? Remento records on one of those. If they would rather use the phone they already have, even a landline, Storyworth takes stories that way too.
4. Do they go quiet in front of a blank page? That's the parent Ali was built for. Storyworth's interviews come only on its Unlimited plan, by phone.
5. Want their voice, or their face, a scan away? Remento puts a QR code in every chapter.
6. Will brothers, sisters or grandchildren want their own copy? Compare the price of extra books before you choose.
7. How do you feel about renewing? Remento needs a yearly payment to keep editing or adding stories, and Storyworth's Unlimited plan renews each year. Kindred Tales and My Life in a Book are one payment.

At the holidays, tuck in a short note that says why you picked it, something like "I want the whole story, not the pieces I've heard at dinner." Then offer to sit with them for the first answer.