Storyworth vs Prime Life Stories: An Honest Comparison

We are one of the two things being compared here, so read it with that in mind. We have tried to write the version we would want to read.

Making the Book  ·  September 2, 2026  ·  4 min read

We are one of the two things being compared here, so you should read this the way you would read any comparison written by a competitor. What we have tried to do is write the version we would want if we were the one deciding, which means saying plainly where the other one is better.

What each one costs

Where Storyworth is the better choice

Three situations, and they are real ones.

• You want a bound book to arrive and you do not want to deal with printing. This is the big one. Their price includes a printed book. Ours does not, and if the idea of taking a file to a print shop is the thing that would stop this happening, that difference is worth more to you than the price gap.
• You want somebody to conduct interviews by phone. Their top tier includes weekly guided phone interviews. We do not offer anything like that at any price, and for a parent who will talk but will not type, having a person on the phone is a genuine solution.
• You want a proofreader built in. Their colour tier includes one. We publish what your family writes, as they wrote it, which is a deliberate choice and not to everyone's taste.

Where we are the better choice

• Price. $29 against $59 or $99. If the budget is what is stopping this from happening at all, that is the whole argument.
• You own the print-ready file. You download it, and after that printing is a conversation with a print shop rather than with us. Print one copy or eleven, print it again in twenty years, and there is never another charge from us.
• Places, dates and a bucket list are structured, not just mentioned. A map they can pin, a timeline of the years, and the list of what they still want to do. If your family's story is tied to specific places, that is not a small difference.
• A mission book that is actually built for a mission. $39 for a missionary still serving, written as it happens, and a mission book for one already home. Nobody else in this category has this and for a lot of our families it is the entire reason they are here.
• Covers made by hand, if you want one. Engraved wood $129, leather $149, wood and resin $189, shipping included, and nothing is made until you approve a mockup.
• What your money funds. Every book bought here pays for our work making people untraffickable. That matters to some buyers and not to others, and it is worth knowing either way.

The difference most people miss until afterwards

It is not the price and it is not the cover. It is what happens the second time somebody wants a copy.

A family book is almost never wanted in a quantity of one. There are siblings now and there will be grandchildren later, and there will be a death in the family at some point after which several people want a copy at once. Whether that is easy depends entirely on whether you are holding a print-ready file or a relationship with a company.

We give you the file because that question is the one we would care most about if we were buying. It also means we are never the reason a second copy does not get made.

Who should pick which

If you are still weighing it up, our nine questions to ask any family story service is written to be used on us as much as on anybody else.