Storyworth vs Moonray
Two ways to turn a parent's life into a printed book. One has been doing it since 2013; the other is new and was 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 September 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 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 Telegram, any hour they like |
| Who is asking | A fixed list of prompts; the family can add questions | Sara, an AI interviewer who says she is one, and returns to gaps across weeks |
| Languages advertised | None other than English mentioned | Persian and English, 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 | $99 one time: a year of conversations, the digital book, one printed copy |
| Shipping | Included; 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 |
| Phone calls | Yes on the higher plans | No. Telegram only |
| Refund | See their terms | Full refund within 30 days, from the dashboard |
| Track record | Printing books since 2013 | New |
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.
And they have shipped a great many books. We have not. That is not nothing.
Where Moonray is the better buy
If your parent speaks Persian, the comparison is short. Their pricing page does not mention it, and a Persian speaker answering English prompts gives you an English summary of a Persian life. Sara asks in Farsi, the book is written in Farsi and typeset right to left. What "in Farsi" has to mean is its own page.
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 Persian and the grandchildren get theirs in English. Nobody else in this list offers that.
If the family is not in the United States. Our $99 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; Sara 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 in Persian, or talks rather than writes: 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.