StoryWorth vs Storii

Storii wins if the storyteller has no smartphone: it phones any landline, about $99 a year. StoryWorth wins if you want a hardcover book at the end, from $59 a year. Neither builds a voice clone; MemoriesBox does, at $139 a year, hosted in the EU.

Prices checked 17 August 2026 from each company's own site.

Neither of these is our product. They are compared here because they answer the same family question in opposite ways, and because the choice between them is decided by one thing: whether the person telling the story will use a phone screen at all.

The short version

How each one actually works

StoryWorth

One question arrives each week, by email or SMS. The person answers it, in writing or by recording the answer on a phone, and the reply becomes a chapter of a book that grows through the year. Nothing is installed and no session is scheduled. After twelve months the chapters are laid out and printed as a hardcover, which is included at every tier, from $59 to $199 a year. An audiobook can also be produced from the answers that were recorded rather than typed out. The whole product is arranged so that a printed book exists at the end of the year, and that book is the object the family actually keeps and hands round.

Storii

The phone rings. The person picks it up, hears a recorded question, and answers out loud, and the call is recorded. There is no app, no account and no screen involved at the storyteller's end, and a landline works exactly as well as a mobile. Storii draws on a library of more than 1,000 fixed prompts, so the questions do not run out, and the calls are placed automatically rather than relying on the person to remember. The audio is kept and can be listened to by relatives afterwards. There is no printed book at the end. The product is arranged so that a recording happens without the person having to do anything technical at all.

What they cost

Two honest notes on price. First, Storii's annual figure is not published on its own site the way StoryWorth's tiers are, so treat about $99 as an estimate and confirm it at checkout. Second, the Storii gift box is not hardware. The box contains an activation card, an instruction booklet and a questions card. No hardware. That is not a criticism of the product, which works over the telephone by design, but people buy the box expecting a device and it is worth knowing in advance.

Renewal terms are the part buyers get caught by in this category, and they are not consistently published. Before paying either company, read its own terms on what happens to the recordings and any book credit when a subscription lapses.

Where they genuinely differ

Who has to do the work. StoryWorth asks the storyteller to open an email and reply. Storii asks them to answer a ringing phone. Which means: if the person has a smartphone and reads their email, both work, and if they do not, only one of these two products will ever produce a single minute of recording.

What exists at the end. StoryWorth ends with a printed hardcover in the price. Storii ends with a library of recorded calls. Which means: one family has an object to hand round at a gathering, and the other has the person's actual voice, at the length and in the order it was spoken.

Fixed prompts versus a weekly rhythm. Storii has more than 1,000 prompts on file and calls as often as you schedule. StoryWorth sends one question a week for a year. Which means: Storii can go much faster when time is short, and StoryWorth's slower pace is easier to sustain and easier to gift.

Where the recordings sit. Storii states that it runs on AWS and makes no EU residency claim. StoryWorth does not disclose a hosting country at all. Which means: neither will satisfy a family that needs recordings held in Europe, and Storii at least tells you the provider.

What each one does better

StoryWorth is better at

Producing something you can hold. The hardcover is included at every tier, and a printed book needs no account, no password and no company still trading in 2050. It is also the easier gift to explain, because everybody already understands what a book is. Written answers suit people who compose better than they speak, and a person who freezes in front of a microphone will often type four paragraphs without noticing. A weekly question asks very little. StoryWorth publishes all of its prices plainly on its own site, which is less common in this category than it should be.

Storii is better at

Getting a recording made at all. A ringing telephone needs no app, no password, no software update and no smartphone, which removes the single most common reason a family project of this kind produces nothing. It works on a landline, so it reaches people no other service in this comparison can reach. More than 1,000 prompts means the questions do not run out, and the calls are placed automatically rather than relying on anyone to remember. For someone with poor eyesight, arthritic hands, or no patience for screens, it is the only one of the two that is usable.

Which to choose

Choose StoryWorth if you want a printed hardcover included in the price, the storyteller reads email or SMS comfortably, they would rather write than talk, or you are buying this as a gift that has to look like a gift.

Choose Storii if the person does not use a smartphone, a landline is what they answer, you want recordings rather than a book, or you want to move faster than one question a week.

For some people neither is right. A voice recorder is already on the phone in your pocket and costs nothing. StoryCorps is free, has recorded more than 700,000 people since 2003, and its archive is held at the Library of Congress (storycorps.org/about). If the concern is a parent who will not participate at all, no subscription solves that, and a Sunday afternoon with a recording app running usually does.

Questions people ask

Is StoryWorth or Storii cheaper?

StoryWorth at its entry tier, $59 a year with a hardcover included, against about $99 a year for Storii. Storii's annual price is not published on its site, so confirm it at checkout.

Does Storii work without a smartphone?

Yes. Storii telephones the person, a landline works, and the storyteller needs no app, no account and no screen.

Does Storii send you a device?

No. The Storii gift box, $59.99 on sale against a $119.99 list price, contains a card with a phone number. The service runs over the ordinary telephone network.

Can you get a printed book from Storii?

No. Storii keeps recordings. StoryWorth includes a hardcover at every tier, from $59 a year.

Which one keeps the actual voice rather than a transcript?

Both keep audio. Storii records the phone calls, and StoryWorth keeps recorded answers and can produce an audiobook. Neither builds a voice clone, and neither can answer a question that was never asked.

A third option, briefly

We build MemoriesBox, so treat this paragraph accordingly. It records a long interview, keeps and clones the person's own voice, and lets the family ask it a question later, for $139 a year, hosted in the EU. Our answer to the no-smartphone problem is a $79 device that ships in 2027, which is no help this year. Storii solves that today.

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