Heirstory and StoryWorth, compared
Checked 28 October 2026
StoryWorth is the best-known life-story gift. A parent or grandparent receives a question each week by email or text, and answers in writing or by phone. After a year, the answers are printed as a hardcover book. It is simple for the person who gives it, and it ends with something to hold.
Heirstory keeps a parent’s stories with the family they belong to. Gene, an AI genealogist, talks with your parent about the people on the family’s tree. What they remember is kept beside those people, with the records that prove the dates.
The short answer
Choose StoryWorth for a gift with a printed book at the end, for someone who likes to write or to answer the phone.
Choose Heirstory to keep a parent’s stories with the family’s tree, records and photographs, added to by the whole family, private to the family.
Side by side
| StoryWorth | Heirstory | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is for | A printed book of one person’s answers | A family’s record: tree, records and memories |
| How stories are told | Weekly questions by email or text; answers written or by phone | Conversations with Gene, aloud in a web browser or by typing |
| Follow-up questions | Magic Interviews, phone calls that ask them (weekly on Unlimited) | In every conversation, remembering what was said last time |
| Family tree | No | Yes, and Gene asks about the people on it |
| Records | No | Gene searches public records for those who have died |
| What you keep | A hardcover book; e-book and audiobook downloads | A living record; download it all at any time |
| Who sees it | Those on the sharing list | Private to the family; each living person decides what relatives see |
| Price | US $69 to $199, Unlimited then $99 a year; UK from £49 | Free to build; Gene’s work uses credits, 100 free, then from £5 |
Where StoryWorth is better
- A printed book at the end, ready to give. Heirstory does not print books.
- Nothing to learn. Questions arrive by email or text, phone calls work from a landline, and there are no passwords.
- A simple gift with a clear price, and the stories stay open to edit and reprint afterwards.
Where Heirstory is better
- Stories with their setting. What a parent says sits beside the people it is about, with the census returns and certificates that prove the dates.
- The whole family. Every relative can add their part, not one storyteller alone.
- Questions that follow the family. Gene asks about the people on the family’s tree, and remembers what was said last time.
- It keeps growing. A family record does not end after a year.
Questions
Is StoryWorth worth it?
It is if a printed book is what you want. It is simple to give, works from any phone, even a landline, and ends in a hardcover. In the US it costs $69 to $199, and the Unlimited plan renews at $99 a year.
Is Heirstory a StoryWorth alternative?
Yes, for a family who wants a parent’s stories kept with their tree and records rather than in a book. If a printed book is the point, StoryWorth does that well.
Can my parent talk instead of type?
Yes. They can talk aloud with Gene in a web browser, as they would to someone sitting beside them, and stop and carry on another day. Gene does not make phone calls.
Can I give Heirstory as a gift?
Yes. Start the family, add your parent, and give them credits for Gene’s conversations. See a life story gift for a parent.
Sources
- StoryWorth plans and prices: welcome.storyworth.com/storyworth-pricing, read 28 October 2026.
- UK prices: welcome.storyworth.com/gb, read 28 October 2026.
- Magic Interviews: StoryWorth help centre, read 28 October 2026.