Ava AbbottStoryWorth is a subscription service that allows users to record their life stories and turn them into books. Based in San Francisco, California, the company was founded in 2011 by Nick and Kristi Baum.
StoryWorth started as a social event planning platform WhereBerry. Its founder, Nick Baum, worked at Google as an engineer and product manager for five 5 years before developing WhereBerry. After WhereBerry flopped, Nick spent his free time collecting his dad’s stories.
He started sending weekly emails to his dad abroad with questions to simplify the story-gathering process. And StoryWorth was born! By 2014, StoryWorth users had submitted more than 30,000 stories. The company has raised $150,000 in funding backed by Y Combinator. [1]
StoryWorth helps families record their stories and turns these memories into books. The platform automatically sends emails to customers each week with a question about their life. For example, “What did you do this week with your daughter?”
Customers reply via email or phone, allowing the app to capture their stories and store them securely in the cloud. The platform converts text and audio responses into stories and shares them privately with the user’s family.
Users pay $99 for one year of storytelling and a beautifully bound storybook of their life. They can also purchase additional hardcover books for $39.
StoryWorth books are ideal, heartfelt gifts for loved ones on any occasion, from holiday seasons to birthdays. But the company faces stiff competition from other platforms, including Saga and LifeArk Family Diary. [2]
Here is an in-depth analysis of top StoryWorth’s competitors and alternatives:
1. Saga Voice Journal
Year founded: 2019
Headquarter: Mountain View, California
Saga Voice Journal is a voice-based platform developed by Amelia Lin and Nicole Wee. The app helps families record and share life stories with their loved ones. In 2021, Saga had around 25 employees and generated about $5 million in revenue. [3]
The main competitive advantage for Saga is its user-friendly voice record feature. It operates as a private family podcast, allowing users to ask their friends and family questions that spark conversation. This approach can help users record memories in perpetuity and build an audio archive of unearthed stories. Saga is the best low-tech alternative to StoryWorth. [4]
2. LifeArk
Year founded: 2017
Headquarter: Los Angeles, California
LifeArk is a family diary owned by Generation Transfer Inc. Parents can use this platform to record life stories, family history, and interests to share with their children in the future. The app also offers daily curated questions to help users create an honest portrait of their personalities.
Both LifeArk and StoryWorth are dedicated platforms for the family. But LifeArk is more family-focused than StoryWorth. Using LifeArk, parents can build lasting connections with their children.
The platform also helps children understand their parents better through their life stories, family history, and life lessons. LifeArk is the best family-focused alternative to StoryWorth. [5]
3. FamilySearch
Year founded: 1894
Headquarter: Salt Lake City, Utah
FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization that offers genealogical records, education, and software. It provides several services, including the Memories app and the Family Tree, a genealogical database with over 1.3 billion individuals.
In 2021, FamilySearch’s historical records database had more than 5.7 billion digital images and books.
Like StoryWorth, the FamilySearch Memories app allows users to record, store, and share their memories. The platform stores photos and audio recordings to safeguard users’ legacy and life stories.
Users can work independently or invite loved ones to capture and save memories. Collaborating with family and friends can enhance the experience and surface more photos, stories, and videos to add to the timeline. The FamilySearch Memories app is a worthy StoryWorth competitor. [6]
4. No Story Lost
Year founded: 2018
Headquarter: Vancouver, Canada
No Story Lost is an online platform that captures families’ stories and turns them into coffee table books. Users can access this service by visiting the company’s website, nostorylost.com. The way the platform works is similar to StoryWorth.
Like StoryWorth, No Story Lost interviews the user’s family and friends to collect their memories, stories, and advice. The company works with a team of professionals who transcribe, write, and edit users’ family stories.
Then, they print a beautiful coffee table book and ship it to the user. At the end of the process, users get a family keepsake that conveys their life stories and lessons to their kids and grandkids. No Story Lost is one of the best StoryWorth alternatives. [7]
5. Chatbooks
Year founded: 2014
Headquarter: Orem, Utah
Chatbooks is an app that allows users to create photo books from digital photos. Its founders, Nate and Vanessa Quigley leveraged their parenting experience to create a viral marketing video that targets busy parents.
By 2017, the video had reached 58 million views and helped raise $20 million. This strategy pivoted Chatbooks from a struggling startup into a multi-million-dollar company with more than 200 employees. [8]
The main competitive advantage for Chatbooks is its use of photos stored on phones or shared on social media. Users collect photos from their phones, Instagram, and other digital sources and turn them into books. They can connect Chatbooks to their Instagram account and set up a recurring order. The app automatically creates a mini photobook by compiling 60 new photos posted on Instagram. Then, it sends the photobook to the user via mail. Chatbooks is the most user-friendly StoryWorth alternative.
6. PastBook
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: Amsterdam, Netherlands
PastBook is an app for creating photo books and photo products. Users can collect photos from their phones, Facebook, and Instagram and turn them into beautiful photo books. The app also allows users to create photo tiles, calendars, posters, and cards with a single click.
Most people capture memorable moments daily using their phones and post them on Facebook or Instagram. Leveraging these sources increases PastBook’s competitive advantage over StoryWorth.
Users can upload photos from Dropbox, Google Drive, PC, laptop, or any other source and create a photo book within 60 seconds. The app uses artificial intelligence to select the best pictures on iPhone and transform them into a photo book. PastBook is the best StoryWorth alternative for converting Facebook moments into photobooks. [9]
7. Memorify
Year founded: 2019
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
Memorify is a platform for recording and sharing video messages. Users can create videos to be sent to loved ones in the future or after passing away. Memorify also offers curated photo booth experiences for private and corporate events.
Memorify markets its app as emotional insurance because it provides a way to preserve messages of love, wisdom, and gratitude. The platform stores audio recordings, photos, and videos for a specified period set by the user.
It is also a Dropbox for the afterlife that delivers users’ messages and stories to designated family members after they’re gone. Memorify’s unique offering provides an alternative to StoryWorth. [10]
8. Artkive
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: Los Angeles, California
Artkive is an app that allows parents to store, share, and print their kids’ artwork or schoolwork. Its first seed funding round raised $500,000, accelerating the company’s innovation and growth. Today, Artkive generates around $1.6 million in revenue annually.
Both Artkive and StoryWorth help families capture and share memories. But Artkive focuses on documenting children’s schoolwork and celebrating their creative and academic achievements. The app scans papers with artwork or schoolwork to capture high-quality photos and creates a memory book or mosaic frame.
In Mar 2021, Artkive won GH’s Storage Award for the Superb Artwork Collector category. Artkive is the best StoryWorth alternative for preserving children’s creative and academic work. [11]
9. Mixbook
Year founded: 2006
Headquarter: Redwood City, California
Mixbook is a web-based photo design tool and service that allows customers to create customized photo books, cards, calendars, and canvas prints. The company generates revenue by printing and shipping these photo products to customers. In 2021, Mixbook had around 60 employees.
Mixbook started as a solution to help high school students create yearbooks. In 2009, Mixbook introduced an editor tool for creating fully customizable photo books. The company added photo cards and calendars in 2010 and launched Montage and Mosaic for canvas prints in 2015.
Users can design their photo books from scratch using a Blank Canvas. They can also choose from over 200 fonts, stickers, and backgrounds for their photobooks. Mixbook is one of the best photobook-making sites and an alternative to StoryWorth storybooks. [12]
10. Safe Beyond
Year founded: 2015
Headquarter: Las Vegas, Nevada
Safe Beyond offers a digital time capsule through an online platform and mobile app. Users can record life stories and messages of love and wisdom to be accessed by their loved ones after they’re gone. Its online platform and mobile app capture written notes, poems, stories, videos, and karaoke songs.
Both Safe Beyond and StoryWorth preserve users’ stories and memories. However, Safe Beyond acts as a Dropbox for the afterlife that allows users to create personalized messages for their family and friends.
Its platform and app offer several filters, including date, event, and location. Users can also create a last message and schedule to be posted on social media to groups of friends and family. Safe Beyond is one of the best StoryWorth alternatives for preserving life stories. [13]
References & more information
- Wexler, S. Z. (2021, May 10). This Gift Let My Dad Tell All the Stories He Wanted. NY Mag
- Thompson, C. (2021, Dec 21). StoryWorth is the ultimate last-minute gift to give this holiday season. CNN
- Walker, G. (2021, Apr 28). Female Founder Feature – Amelia Lin, Saga Voice Journal. Grahamwalker.com
- Lewinski, J. S. (2020, May 17). New Saga App lets Users Record their COVID-19 Tales for Future Use. Forbes
- App Store Preview (2021, Nov 20). LifeArk by Generation Transfer. Apple.com
- Wasden, M. (2021, Apr 6). Stories and Photos: FamilySearch Memories App. FamilySearch Org
- Grieser, S. (2020, Nov 18). No Story Lost. Product Hunt
- Jones, M. (2021, Mar 20). Founders of Chatbooks explain what they’ve learned about prosperity as parents. LDS Living
- Hargraves, K. (2021). PastBook: One-Click Photo Products. Pinterest
- App Store Preview (2021, Feb 18). Memorify App. Apple.com
- Redmile, L. (2021, Feb 23). Good Housekeeping’s 2021 Storage Awards. Good Housekeeping
- Webb, J. (2021, Dec 21). Celebrate the best moments from 2021 with Mixbook’s custom photo books. Yahoo Finance
- Bishop, K. (2021, May 7). Inside the Apps That Prepare You for Loss. The Observer
- Featured image by Yiqun Tang
Tell us what you think? Did you find this article interesting? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.
S.K. Gupta
Kevin Johnson
Brianna Parker
Yes, part of my longing is for me to be able to learn more about my adult children. We know each other. However we don’t know each other as individuals. Also searching for my birth parents made me a curator of some of the stories I gathered over time to pass on and try to fill in blanks for future generations. Thank you for a chance to research what would work best over all! 🙏🌺