Storyworth alternatives in 2026: how the life story services compare

Storyworth made a simple idea popular: send someone a question every week for a year, and turn their answers into a book. It’s a lovely gift, and for many families it’s exactly right. But it isn’t the only way to capture a life story any more, and depending on who’s telling the story, another approach might suit them better.

A note before we start: we make Ever Journal, one of the options below, so we’re not neutral. We’ve described the others as fairly as we can, from their own websites, in October 2026. Prices and features change, so check the current details before you buy.

The short answer

• Storyworth if the storyteller likes to write and you want a printed hardcover at the end of a year.
• Remento if they’d rather talk than type, and you want their voice kept alongside the book.
• My Life in a Book if you want the same weekly-question gift for less: a year of questions and a hardcover of up to 500 pages for $79.
• StoryKeeper if you don’t want a deadline or a subscription: one payment, no time limit, and write, record or (on Plus) phone in the stories.
• Meminto if you prefer a one-time price, a longer timeline and the whole family chipping in.
• Autobiographer if they’d enjoy talking with an AI interviewer on an iPhone.
• StoryCorps if you want one recorded conversation, for free, and no book.
• Ever Journal if the person wants to write their own story over time, with an AI biographer drafting and organizing the chapters, and doesn’t need a printed book.

What to look for

Before comparing services, it helps to know what matters to the person telling the story.

• How do they like to tell stories? Some people love writing. Others freeze in front of a keyboard but can talk for an hour. Pick a service that matches.
• Who writes the book? In some services the book is the storyteller’s own answers, lightly tidied. In others, AI turns spoken answers into polished chapters. Both are valid; they just read differently.
• Do you want it printed? Several services include a hardcover book. Others give you a digital book or a recording.
• One year, or ongoing? Most gift services run for about a year. If the story will take longer, check what happens after that.
• Privacy and ownership. Check who can read the stories, and whether you can download everything if you leave.

Storyworth

How it works: Storyworth sends a question each week by email or text, chosen from a library of hundreds or written by you. The storyteller answers by email or on the website, or tells stories over the phone and has them transcribed. After a year, the stories become a hardcover book.

What it costs: At the time of writing, plans range from $69 (one book with a black-and-white interior) to $99 (one full-color book) and $199 (two color books plus guided phone interviews). Extra copies are extra.

Best for: Storytellers who enjoy writing, and families who want a classic printed book as a gift.

Worth knowing: The book is essentially the storyteller’s answers, collected. That’s its charm. If they don’t like writing, you may end up with short answers. For a closer look at what you get, and what people love and complain about, see is Storyworth worth it?

Remento

How it works: Remento sends a prompt each week by email or text. The storyteller records a voice answer from a link, with no app or login. Remento turns each recording into a written chapter, either word for word or as a narrative, which you can edit. The printed book has a QR code on each chapter that plays the original recording.

What it costs: $99 for the first year, including unlimited prompts and one color hardcover book of up to 200 pages (up to 380 pages for $30 more). After that, $99 a year or $12 a month to keep going, and extra books are $69, or $99 over 200 pages.

Best for: People who’d rather talk than type, and families who want to keep the voice as well as the words.

Torn between the two best-known options? Our Storyworth vs Remento comparison goes through both in detail, with what each really costs.

My Life in a Book

How it works: My Life in a Book emails the storyteller a question once a week for a year. The account starts with 52 questions, which you can swap for others from a library of thousands or replace with your own, and question sets come in several languages. The storyteller types an answer or speaks it, with voice-to-text, and can add photos. Each story is shared with the family by email as it comes in, and at the end the stories are printed as a hardcover book.

What it costs: $79 for one storyteller, a year of questions and one hardcover book of up to 500 pages. Each extra copy ordered at the start adds $40, and a second storyteller makes it $128. The first print run ships free to the US and the UK.

Best for: Families who want the classic weekly-question gift at a lower price, or in a language other than English.

Worth knowing: Its site doesn’t say how big the book is or whether the inside is printed in color, so ask before you buy if that matters to you.

StoryKeeper

How it works: StoryKeeper emails a prompt each week, from its library, from a photo or written by you. The storyteller can write, dictate, or record audio or video online, and on the Plus plan they can also tell stories in an automated phone call, which is recorded and transcribed. StoryKeeper helps with clarity and flow while keeping the storyteller’s tone, and you approve every edit before printing. QR codes in the book play the original recordings. There’s no deadline: the book is printed when you’re ready.

What it costs: One payment with no subscription. In the US, Classic is $99 for one full-color hardcover of up to 500 pages, and Plus is $129, adding a second copy, unlimited family contributors, the phone service and photo colorization.

Best for: Families who don’t want a deadline or a renewal, and storytellers who’d like to mix writing and recording.

Worth knowing: StoryKeeper is based in the UK and ships to the US, Canada, Australia and many European countries. Its books are A5, about 6 × 8 inches, and it offers a 60-day money-back guarantee from the day the gift email arrives.

Meminto

How it works: Meminto sends questions weekly by text, email or phone, or the storyteller can answer them all at once. They can write or speak their answers, relatives can contribute, and AI tools help polish the wording. Answers are arranged into chapters, and the project can run for up to two years. There’s a web app and apps for iPhone and Android.

What it costs: A one-time price with no subscription: $99 for up to 100 pages, $149 for up to 300 pages, or $397 for three printed books.

Best for: Families who prefer paying once, want more than a year, or want several relatives involved.

Autobiographer

How it works: Autobiographer is an iPhone app where the storyteller has voice conversations with an AI biographer. From those conversations, it writes their life story as a book.

What it costs: $99 as a one-time payment (marked as a limited-time price), or $16 a month, for unlimited conversations and a digital autobiography of up to 250 pages.

Best for: Storytellers who are comfortable on an iPhone and like the idea of a conversational AI interviewer.

Worth knowing: Its site describes a digital book and doesn’t say whether a printed copy is included.

StoryCorps

How it works: StoryCorps isn’t a book service. It’s a nonprofit that helps people record meaningful conversations. With its free app you record an interview in person; with StoryCorps Connect you record over the internet with someone far away. If you publish the interview to the StoryCorps archive, it’s also preserved at the Library of Congress.

What it costs: Free.

Best for: One meaningful recorded conversation, preserved in an archive, with no book at the end.

Ever Journal

How it works: Ever Journal is a journal with an AI biographer called Eve. You tell her the basics, when and where you were born and who raised you, and she drafts a first chapter straight away, marking what she doesn’t know yet instead of inventing it. Then she asks one question at a time about the biggest gap in your story. You answer by typing, by talking or with an old photo, and she weaves each answer into the book, organizes the chapters as it grows and shows you exactly what changed. You approve every change, and the book is private by default.

What it costs: Free to start, with a first chapter and five questions from Eve a week. Eve+ is $7.99 a month or $59.99 a year (with seven days free on the yearly plan) and adds unlimited questions, voice answers, photos woven into chapters and PDF export.

Best for: Someone telling their own story over months or years, who wants a book that keeps growing and stays organized, rather than a fixed set of answers.

Worth knowing: Ever Journal doesn’t print books. You can export your book as a PDF to print yourself, and download everything at any time. It’s on the web today, and the iPhone and Android apps are on the way.

Side by side

Which should you choose?

If you’re buying a gift and the printed book is the point, start with Storyworth, Remento, My Life in a Book, StoryKeeper or Meminto, and choose by how the storyteller likes to answer: writing, talking or a mix. If you’d rather pay once, with nothing to renew, StoryKeeper and Meminto both work that way, and StoryKeeper has no deadline at all. If you just want to capture one conversation, StoryCorps is free and wonderful.

If the person wants to tell their own story properly, at their own pace, and would like help turning scattered memories into chapters, that’s what we built Ever Journal for. You can try Eve for free: she’ll draft your first chapter in a couple of minutes.

Whichever you pick, the most important thing is to start. If you’d like to begin without any service at all, our questions to ask your grandparents and our guide to interviewing a parent about their life need nothing more than a phone and an afternoon. If a parent is seriously ill and a year feels too long, our questions to ask your parents before they die begin with six for when time is short.

Sources

Checked in October 2026: Storyworth pricing, Remento pricing, My Life in a Book, StoryKeeper, Meminto, Autobiographer, StoryCorps and Ever Journal pricing.