You’ve narrowed the choice for capturing your parent’s life story to the three names that keep coming up: StoryWorth, Remento, and MyDear. Rather than re-list each one’s features (we do that in our StoryWorth alternative guide), this is a head-to-head: the five questions that actually decide it, and which service wins on each.
This page is maintained by MyDear. We’ve tried to represent StoryWorth and Remento fairly. Prices and features are as of 2026, so check each company’s site before you buy.
The 10-second verdict: pick StoryWorth for the most-established name and a parent who loves to write; Remento for video and a collaborative family experience; MyDear for a parent who’d rather talk than type, a senior-first feel, and paying once ($45) instead of yearly.
1. How will your parent actually answer?
This is the question that decides whether the project gets finished, so answer it first.
- StoryWorth: a weekly emailed prompt, answered by typing. Great for a parent comfortable with email and writing.
- Remento: voice or video prompts, recorded in an app.
- MyDear: voice-first, a guided back-and-forth conversation (they can type too), built so an 80-year-old never has to write a paragraph.
Winner depends on your parent: if they find typing tiring, StoryWorth will stall. Choose Remento or MyDear. If a camera makes them self-conscious, MyDear’s talk-only flow is the gentlest.
2. One-time project, or a yearly subscription?
- StoryWorth: ~$99/year subscription.
- Remento: ~$99 for a year.
- MyDear: $45 one-time, no subscription.
Winner: MyDear if you think of a memoir as a finite project (capture it, print the book, done) and would rather not pay every year for something you do once.
3. Who is it designed for?
StoryWorth and Remento are built for a general adult audience; Remento leans into the whole family participating. MyDear is senior-first by design (large type, plain language, calm pacing, adjustable text size) for the parent doing the talking, not the adult buying the gift.
Winner: MyDear if your parent is older or less tech-comfortable; Remento if you want siblings and grandkids actively collaborating.
4. What do you get at the end?
All three produce a real printed book. That’s the point of the category. Remento adds an app with the saved videos; MyDear adds instant digital delivery and a printable gift card so you can hand it over in person. If a parent’s actual voice or face on record matters most to you, Remento’s media focus is the edge; if a clean keepsake book is the goal, all three deliver.
5. How much do you trust a newcomer?
Honest disadvantage for us: StoryWorth has years of reviews and the longest track record. MyDear is the newest of the three. We’re earning that trust one family’s story at a time. If a long review history is what makes you comfortable spending, StoryWorth has more of it today.
MyDear is the voice-first, senior-first, pay-once option: your parent talks, and their story becomes a real book. $45, no subscription.
A real printed book · no subscription · their words stay private.
So which should you choose?
- StoryWorth: your parent enjoys writing, is fine with weekly emails, and you want the established leader.
- Remento: you want voice/video and the family following along together.
- MyDear: your parent would rather talk than type, you want a gentle senior-first experience, and you’d rather pay $45 once.
Still weighing the broader field? See the fuller StoryWorth alternatives comparison, or step back and look at every way to record a parent’s life story, including the free ones. Any of these beats the most common outcome: meaning to, and never doing it.