The short answer
- Parent likes to write, you want a hardcover: StoryWorth.
- Parent will speak into a phone, you want a hardcover: Remento, or Meminto if you’d rather pay once.
- Parent has no smartphone: Storii (it phones them), in the 17 countries it covers.
- Parent lives in another country or speaks another language, and the whole family wants to hear the answers as they come: Mulam.
- One recorded conversation, free: the StoryCorps app.
Side by side
The questions that decide it when a parent won’t type, or lives far from you. “Not stated” means we could not find it on the vendor’s own pages.
| Service | How your parent answers | Languages | Book | Price (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| StoryWorth | Writes by email reply or on the website; or tells it on a phone call, written up word for word | Service in English and Spanish; stories can be written in any language | Hardcover included; ships from the US or Europe | $69, $99 or $199 for a year of questions |
| Remento | Records voice or video from a link sent by email or text; no app or login | English and Spanish | Hardcover included; extra copies $69 | $99 first year, then $99 a year or $12 a month |
| Meminto | Types, sends voice messages in the app, or Meminto phones them at agreed times | “Speak in any language”, transcribed | Hardcover included; worldwide shipping from $7.99 | $99, $149 or $397, paid once |
| Storii | Automated phone calls, up to three a week; press 1 to record | Calls in US, UK and Australian English, French, Spanish, Japanese and Italian | Print or audiobook download; hardcover not stated | Monthly or annual; not shown on its pricing page |
| Mulam | Answers a question each morning by voice, photo or text in the browser on a phone or tablet | Prompts in English or 10 others in English letters (incl. Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali); voice in any language | Digital (PDF) book $19, or $14.99 on Pro; no hardcover yet | Free to start; Pro $4.69 a month or $36.99 a year |
| StoryCorps app | You and your parent record one conversation together in the app | Not stated | None | Free |
1. StoryWorth: for a parent who enjoys writing
The original. A question arrives by email each week for a year; your parent replies in writing or on the website, or tells the story over a phone call that is written up word for word. Family members you add get each story by email as it is written and can comment. At the end you get a hardcover book (two on Unlimited). It has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Drawback: it is built around writing a book for one storyteller, with one question a week by default. Outside the US you pay shipping for the hardcover, and some countries add import fees.
2. Remento: for a parent who will speak into a phone
Prompts arrive by email or text; your parent taps a link and records voice or video, with no app or password. Remento turns the recordings into written stories and prints a hardcover whose QR codes play the original voice.
Drawback: stories are written up in English and Spanish only, and its FAQ names US shipping plus Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand for a fee. A parent in India can record, but the book is a US-first product.
3. Meminto: pay once, answer any way
No subscription. Your parent can type, send voice messages in the app, or be phoned by Meminto at agreed times. It says your parent can speak in any language and it turns it into text, and it ships the hardcover worldwide from $7.99. You can start free with a nine-question mini book.
Drawback: the book is small (5.8 × 8.3 inches), and the $99 plan stops at 100 pages and 100 photos; unlimited photos start at $149.
4. Storii: for a parent with no smartphone
Storii phones your parent with a question, up to three times a week, on a landline or mobile, and records the answer when they press 1. No internet needed. The family hears and reads the recordings in an app and can download them as an audiobook.
Drawback: it calls 17 listed countries (the US, Canada, UK, Australia, the Philippines and others); India is not on the list. Answers are voice only, so no photos from your parent.
5. Mulam: for families living far apart
Mulam asks your parent one question about their own life every morning at 9. They answer by voice, photo or text, and the whole family hears it the same day, can react and ask more. Your parent can switch the app to Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada, Bengali, Tagalog, Swahili, Yoruba or Arabic (written in English letters) and speak in any language. Their saved answers become memory games built from their own life, and grandchildren get culture games of their own.
Drawback: no printed hardcover yet (only a PDF book), it doesn’t phone your parent, and it installs from the browser rather than an app store, so your parent needs a smartphone or tablet.
6. StoryCorps app: one recorded conversation, free
Not a service but a recorder: you sit with your parent, in person or remotely, and record a conversation in the app. StoryCorps keeps it in its archive at the Library of Congress.
Drawback: it is one conversation you run yourself. Nothing prompts your parent between calls, and there is no book.
How we checked
We read each service’s own pricing, FAQ and home pages between 11 and 13 November 2026, and took every price and feature from there, not from comparison blogs (most of which are written by one of these companies). Where a vendor’s page did not say something, the table says “not stated”. We left out services whose own pages we could not read. Prices are in US dollars and change; follow the link beside each one before you buy.
Questions to ask first
- Will your parent write? If not, rule out anything text-first.
- Which phone do they have? No smartphone means a phone-call service.
- Where do they live, and what language do they think in? Check the country and language lists above.
- Is the goal a book on the shelf, or a family hearing the stories now? The first four are built for the book; Mulam for the conversation.
Weighing just two? See Mulam vs StoryWorth side by side. Parent in another country? Read how to record a parent’s stories from abroad. Not sure what to ask them once you’ve chosen? Start with 100 questions to ask your parents.