Heirleaf vs Storyworth
The short version: Storyworth sells a year of weekly questions and a printed hardcover, from $59 to $199. Heirleaf sells the book of your own answers as a PDF, for $49 once, with no time limit, and we never turn your answers into prose.
They are different products for different people, and Storyworth does some things better. Here is all of it, with their own pages linked so you can check.
Side by side
| Heirleaf | Storyworth | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $49, one payment | Their pages show two prices for the same plans: Basic at $59 or $69, Color at $99 or $109. Unlimited is $199. Each is for one year. |
| Renewal | Nothing renews | Unlimited “auto-renews yearly at $99, cancel at any time”. On Basic and Color you get an email offering to renew or print. |
| Time limit | None. Write for as long as you like. | A year of weekly questions, then 3 more months to edit before they ask you to print; you can ask for more time. Your stories stay in your account after that. |
| What you get | Your book as a PDF you can save and print at home, and, if you ask, print-shop files (pages and cover) that we email you. A5, 5.8 × 8.3 in. | One hardcover book (two on Unlimited), with economy shipping included in the US. A free e-book and audiobook. |
| The printed copy | Not included. Where our print shop delivers, we show you its real price and date for a paperback, and you order it from them. About $8.50 to $11 in the US with shipping, before tax. | Included. Extra copies from $39. |
| How you answer | Writing, or speaking into a phone or computer | By email on every plan. By text, and by phone calls to any phone including landlines, from Color up. |
| Rewriting | Never. The book has what you wrote, or the transcript of what you said once you've checked it. | Story Calls transcribe “exactly as you told it”. Magic Interviews, on Unlimited, “transform the conversation into a polished narrative”, which you can then edit. |
| Trying it first | The first three questions are free, and you see your first page before you pay. | You pay when you sign up, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. |
| Refunds | 30 days, no questions asked, even after you download. For a gift, while the code is unredeemed. | 30 days, “as long as no books have been printed”. |
Storyworth details checked on 26 September 2026 against their own pages, listed here. All prices are in US dollars as charged in the US, before sales tax. Where you are, Heirleaf is $49. Prices change: if something here is out of date, write to hello@heirleaf.com and we'll correct it.
- Storyworth home page
- Storyworth pricing
- Storyworth FAQ
- When does my subscription end? (Storyworth help)
- Book pricing (Storyworth help)
- Audio recording (Storyworth help)
- Magic Interviews (Storyworth help)
Storyworth is a trademark of its owner. Heirleaf is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Storyworth; we name it only to compare.
What Storyworth does better
- Their hardcover is included and shipped to your door. Ours you order yourself from a print shop, in paperback, and we show you the real price first.
- They call any phone, even a landline, with no app. With us, answering out loud means using a phone or a computer.
- They have been doing this since 2013 and have printed a million books. We are new, and have no reviews yet.
Where Heirleaf is different
- One payment, and no clock
- $49 once, and the book is yours to finish whenever you finish it. Nothing renews and your book never expires. (A gift code has to be redeemed within twelve months.)
- We never turn your answers into prose
- If you answer by speaking, a machine writes down what you said and you read it over and correct it before it goes in. Your recording is kept while your book is with us, so it can be checked word for word.
- Try it before you pay
- The first three questions are free. By then your book already has a cover and a first page, and you decide with your own book in front of you.
- A gift they can open today
- Buy it as a gift and you get a code and a card to print straight away. Nothing has to be shipped.
What your book looks like
A page from our sample book, set in one of the designs you can choose. Ruth Ellen Mercer is an invented narrator.
Which one to choose
Choose Storyworth if the printed hardcover arriving at the door is the point, or if the person telling the stories would rather talk on a landline. Choose Heirleaf if you want one payment, no deadline, and every answer kept as it was given, never turned into prose.