Choose Storyworth if your parent enjoys writing, in English; at $69 it is also the cheaper experiment. Choose Moonray if they would rather talk than write, would rather not tell it in English, or live outside the United States: $149 once, with international shipping included.
Two ways to turn a parent's life into a printed book. One sends a question a week by email; the other is a conversation, built for the families the first one leaves out. We are the second one, so here is the comparison in a form you can check rather than trust.
Storyworth's figures are as shown on its own pricing page in October 2026. Prices change; check before you buy.
Side by side
| Storyworth | Moonray | |
|---|---|---|
| How the questions arrive | One a week, by email or text, for a year | In a WhatsApp or Telegram chat, one at a time, with follow-ups based on the answer |
| How your parent answers | Writes, or on the $99 and $199 plans records by phone | Voice note or text on WhatsApp or Telegram, any hour they like |
| Who is asking | A fixed list of prompts; the family can add questions | An AI interviewer that says it is one, and returns to gaps across weeks |
| Languages advertised | English and Spanish; stories can be written in any language on the website | English and other languages, captured, written and printed in the storyteller's language |
| Price | $69 black-and-white, $99 colour, $199 for two colour books, renews at $99 a year | $149 one time: a year of conversations, the digital book, one printed copy |
| Shipping | Free within the US; extra copies $39 to $99 | Included internationally; import duty, where charged, is not; extra copies $59 |
| A second language | Not offered | $59 for the same memoir in the other language |
| The book | 6 by 9 inch hardcover; black-and-white inside on $69, full colour on $99 and $199 | A5 full-colour hardcover, up to 300 pages, stories in the order the life happened |
| Photos | Attach them to email answers | A photo on each story, added on your own page, plus a cover photo |
| Voice recordings | Phone stories are transcribed | Every voice note kept, and all of them downloadable |
| Phone calls | Yes on the higher plans | No. WhatsApp or Telegram |
| Refund | Full refund within 30 days, as long as no books have been printed | No refunds; the first two weeks are free |
Where Storyworth is the better buy
If your parent likes to write, and likes to write in English, the weekly email is a small pleasure rather than a chore, and a year of it produces a book that is entirely in their own sentences with nobody in between. Storyworth's black-and-white plan is also cheaper than anything we sell.
If your family wants a phone call rather than a phone screen, Storyworth's guided interviews on the $199 plan are the closest thing to a person on the line, and we do not make calls at all.
Where Moonray is the better buy
If your parent's first language is not English, the comparison is short. Storyworth's questions come in English or Spanish (it says stories can be written in any language on its website), and a parent answering prompts in their second language gives you a summary of a life rather than the life. Moonray works in English and other languages, and the book is written and typeset in the language the story was told in, right to left where the script needs it.
If your parent will send a voice note but will never write a page or keep an appointment, the difference is the shape of the thing: a question in a chat that they answer walking to the shops, not a form or a scheduled call.
If you want one memoir in two languages. The $59 second edition is the same book translated and printed again, so the grandmother gets hers in her language and the grandchildren get theirs in English. Nobody else in this list offers that.
If the family is not in the United States. Our $149 includes posting the book to the country you choose.
What neither of us will do
Neither product writes the book for you the way a human biographer would. Storyworth prints what your parent wrote; Moonray shapes what your parent said into chapters in their own words, and you read and approve every story before anything prints. If the story is significant and money is not the constraint, a human biographer beats both of us.
The one-line version
Writes in English and enjoys it: Storyworth. Talks rather than writes, or would rather not tell it in English: Moonray. Not sure which parent you have: their black-and-white plan costs less than ours, so the cheap experiment is theirs, and if the weekly email goes unanswered for a month you will know.