The best Storyworth alternatives
Every memoir service I considered to help my parents save their life stories, because Storyworth was too much homework.
By Jamay Lau · Updated
During the pandemic, my husband gifted his mom Storyworth, a service that emails a weekly question with the goal of creating a book that can be printed at the end of the year. Storyworth worked wonderfully for my mother-in-law, but my parents didn't answer a single question. With English as their second language, it felt too much like homework.
With my parents getting older, I wondered what else I could try to help my mom and dad preserve their life stories. I looked around, and there are a lot of options! Unfortunately, none of them fit my parents. I knew they wouldn't answer weekly emails, talk to an AI, or write in a journal, and a professional interviewer cost too much.
It became clear that the only way to gather the stories from my parents was by asking them questions myself. So I built Told Together to do just that—turn recorded conversations between loved ones into written stories that last.
While Told Together is the product that worked for my parents, that doesn't mean it's the right product for yours. Interviewing your parents yourself requires time that many people don't have. Choose what works for your family from the list below.
At a glance
| # | Product | Approach | Best for | How stories are captured | You end up with | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Told Together | You ask, they talk | Parents who'd rather talk to you | You record a conversation on a video call Told Together sets up, or on your phone | A written story in their words, minutes later | $69.99/yr or $4.99/wk |
| 2 | Storyworth | Weekly prompts, answered alone | Parents who like to write | A question by email every week; your parent writes, or answers by phone | Hardcover book after a year | $69–$199/yr |
| 3 | Remento | Weekly prompts, answered alone | A book without writing | Weekly prompt; your parent records a voice answer, and Remento writes it up as a story | Hardcover with QR codes to their voice | $99/yr incl. one book |
| 4 | Tell Mel | An AI calls your parent | AI phone interviews | An AI interviewer phones your parent for a back-and-forth conversation | Written stories, audio, private page; no printed book | $39–$219 first year |
| 5 | StoriedLife | Your parent talks to an AI | AI interviews in a web app | Your parent chats or talks with an AI biographer in a web app | Digital or printed book | $59–$118/yr |
| 6 | StoryCorps | You ask, they talk | A recording for the Library of Congress | Two people record in person in the app | Audio; no written story | Free |
| 7 | StoryTerrace | A person does everything | A professional interviewer | A professional writer interviews your parent and writes the book | 60–120 page hardcover, 4 copies | From $3,250 |
| 8 | "I Want to Hear Your Story" journals | Guided print journal | Parents who like pen and paper | Your parent fills in a printed book of questions | The handwritten journal itself | $14.99 list |
1. Told Together, for the parent who'd rather talk to you
Told Together turns recorded conversations into written, first-person stories. You can record the conversation through a video call Told Together sets up (your parent does not need to download anything) or record on your phone. You can speak in any of the 13+ supported languages and create a story written in English, minutes after the conversation.
What distinguishes Told Together is that nothing is asked of your parent except time with you. You ask the questions, and the stories that only come out in conversation with loved ones get told. Where it falls short: there's no printed book yet. Each story prints or saves as a PDF (the original audio is attached). And because you do the asking, it only works if you have the time to spend with your parents.
Price: $69.99 a year, or $4.99 a week with a 7-day free trial. See pricing · How it works
2. Storyworth, for parents who like to write
Storyworth emails weekly questions and the answers can be printed in a hardcover book at the end of the year. The parent can write or record their answers on the phone; on some plans, family members can join and participate in phone conversations. Phone transcripts are not turned into written stories unless you pay for the Unlimited plan.
If you want a beautiful book to pass down, Storyworth is a proven choice, with over 1 million books printed since 2013 according to their website. For people like my mother-in-law who like to write, it works great. However, finishing a book can be a big project. From my own experience with my parents as well as anecdotes I have heard from friends and seen online, many people never answer enough questions to order the book.
Price: Starting from $69. $199 a year for the Unlimited plan. Storyworth pricing · Told Together vs Storyworth
3. Remento, for parents who want to publish a book without writing
Remento sells a voice-recorded memoir book where weekly prompts are answered by voice. Your parent records an answer that Remento turns into a polished written story. The hardcover has QR codes that play the recordings. Families can add questions and vote on them.
Remento's "no writing required" angle solves the biggest Storyworth problem for those who want a book, but prefer talking over writing, and helped them raise $300K from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank in March 2025. Like Storyworth however, publishing a book is a big project that many people never finish.
Price: $99 a year including one hardcover. Remento · Told Together vs Remento
4. Tell Mel, for AI phone interviews
Tell Mel's AI interviewer, Mel, phones your parent for a back-and-forth conversation. You get written stories, audio, and a private page, and it works in several languages. Mel leaves a voicemail and tries again if your parents miss a call.
Like Told Together, Tell Mel's belief is that stories come out more naturally through conversations where follow-up questions help the storyteller fill in all of the rich details. However, there is no printed book. Some parents may find it uncomfortable or unnatural talking to an AI interviewer.
Price: $39 (2 hours), $129 (12 hours), or $219 (24 hours) for the first year. Tell Mel pricing
5. StoriedLife, for AI interviews within an app
StoriedLife is an AI biographer that your parent chats or talks with in a web app. It turns the conversations into a life story you can keep digitally or print into a book.
StoriedLife is a good fit for someone who is comfortable talking to an AI and using an app. Like Told Together, it works with several languages. However, because it's up to the parent to open the app on their own to talk to the AI, it may feel like homework.
Price: $59 a year for digital only, $98 a year includes a softcover book, $118 a year includes a hardcover book. StoriedLife
6. StoryCorps, for recorded conversations to add to the Library of Congress
StoryCorps is a non-profit organization dedicated to recording, preserving, and sharing the stories of everyday Americans. It has been recording conversations between people who love each other for two decades. Conversations can be recorded in their app and archived in the U.S. Library of Congress.
It's free, and its belief is the same as mine: a real conversation between two people beats any form. What you get is audio though, not a written story that is easier to read and share. And while it's possible to create private stories, StoryCorps is more about public story sharing than private family stories.
Price: free. StoryCorps
7. StoryTerrace, for a professional interviewer
StoryTerrace matches your parent with a professional writer. Over several sessions, the writer produces a book in their voice, and StoryTerrace designs and prints it as a hardcover.
It's the option that requires the least work from you and your parent, and the result is a professionally written book. It's also the priciest option; the Classic package costs many times more than anything else on this list. The process takes 2-3 months.
Price: Classic is $3,250 (or 5 payments of $650) for 4–10 interview hours, a 60–120 page book, and 4 hardcover copies. PRO starts at $24,000. StoryTerrace packages
8. "I Want to Hear Your Story" journals, for parents who like pen and paper
The best-known guided journal series, by Jeffrey Mason, comes in editions for moms, dads, grandmothers, and grandfathers. Each is a printed book of questions with space to answer by hand. Your parent fills it in at their own pace. The Mom edition has a 4.8 average (2.3K reviews) on Amazon.
It's the simplest, cheapest option on this list, and their handwriting becomes part of the keepsake. Like many of the options on this list however, it only works if your parent sits down on their own to write, and there's just one copy: if it's lost, so are the stories.
Price: $14.99 list price. Mom, I Want to Hear Your Story on Goodreads
Others I looked at
There are dozens of other products in this space. Most work like one of the products above. Here are a few of the others I looked at, grouped by how they work.
Weekly prompts for a book, answered alonelike Storyworth and Remento
Your parent gets a question on a schedule, answers it on their own, and the answers can be printed in a book. Most now accept spoken answers too. The difference is what happens to the audio: some keep a word-for-word transcript, others rewrite it as a written story.
- My Life in a Book: weekly email questions, typed answers and photos, full-color hardcover.
- MyStories: weekly questions answered by email or by recording a voice answer, which AI transcribes into text. Hardcover, plus a copy saved to your family tree.
- Memorygram: weekly prompts answered by phone, text, typing or recording, with QR codes in the book that play their voice. Transcripts need to be edited into stories.
- Meminto: weekly questions answered in the app, on the phone, by email, or with a voice recording. The book includes QR codes that play the recording.
An AI calls your parent on the phonelike Tell Mel
- Remember Labs: an AI biographer named Sarah calls weekly, family can add questions, and your parent can call back anytime. Audio and transcripts are not included with the written stories.
- Storii: an automated call plays a prompt, then gives your parent 15 minutes to answer; answers are transcribed and rewritten into stories. Comes in a physical gift box.
They talk to an AI in an applike StoriedLife
- Serund: a private family network where an AI named Vesta asks the questions and relatives answer from a link.
- Autobiographer: an iPhone app with an AI biographer. No app updates since September 2025.
A human interviewerlike StoryTerrace
- LifeBook Memoirs: a dedicated interviewer and editor work together to produce a luxury memoir book, taking 12-18 months.
So which one?
- Your parent likes to write: Storyworth. Prefer pen and paper? A guided journal.
- Your parent would like recording answers on their own: Remento.
- Your parent would like conversing with AI: Tell Mel or StoriedLife.
- Your parent prefers to talk to you, and you have the time and interest to interview them: try Told Together. Pick one question, call them this week, and see what comes back.
I wish I'd started sooner with my own parents. Whichever one you choose, start this month.
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Storyworth and the other names are trademarks of their owners. Told Together is not affiliated with any of them. Details come from each company's website, checked in October 2026, and may have changed. Spot an error? Tell me and I'll fix it.