The comparison
An honest side-by-side
Both platforms preserve meaningful stories. They just start from opposite ends — one person writing, or everyone contributing.
| Feature | Preserve | Storyworth |
|---|---|---|
| Contributors | Unlimited — friends, family, colleagues | One person answering weekly prompts |
| AI's role | AI interviews contributors and helps organize; contributors do the telling | Compiles the subject's own written answers |
| Photos | Yes — from every contributor | Yes — from the subject |
| Videos | Yes — short video clips supported | Not a core feature |
| Voice notes | Yes — real voices in the memoir | Not a core feature |
| Collaborative memories | Built for it — one Preserve, many voices | Single-author autobiography |
| Digital experience | Shareable digital memoir + Reveal moment | Primarily a printed book |
| Printed keepsake | On the roadmap | Hardcover book included |
| Living tribute | Designed to be experienced while they're here | Autobiography delivered after a year |
| Occasion gifting | Birthdays, retirements, anniversaries, milestones | Typically gifted at the start of the year |
| Guided memoir creation | Guided prompts for each contributor | Weekly emailed prompts to one person |
Who it's best for
Both are good tools. They solve different jobs.
Choose Storyworth if...
- Someone wants to write their own autobiography.
- They enjoy answering weekly prompts.
- A printed book is the primary goal.
Choose Preserve if...
- You want someone to experience their impact while they're still here.
- Friends and family want to contribute.
- You want photos, videos, voice notes, and stories in one place.
- You're celebrating a birthday, anniversary, retirement, or milestone.
The biggest difference
A story they tell themselves, or a Preserve gathered from everyone who loves them.
Storyworth is a beautiful way to capture someone's story from their own perspective — the memories they'd choose, the way they'd tell them, in their own hand.
Preserve captures something different: their impact. The moments they'd never think to tell about themselves. The lives they've shaped. The people who quietly carry a version of them everywhere they go.
One is a memoir written from the inside. The other is a living tribute built from the outside in.
Keep exploring
More on collaborative memoirs and meaningful gifts
Frequently asked
Preserve vs. Storyworth: common questions
Is Preserve a Storyworth alternative?
Yes. Preserve is the collaborative alternative to Storyworth. Instead of one person answering weekly prompts for a year, everyone who loves the person you're honoring contributes memories, photos, videos, and voice notes into a single Preserve — AI asks the questions, contributors do the telling.
Can multiple people contribute?
Yes. Preserve is built for many voices. You invite family, friends, colleagues, and old friends, and each of them adds their own stories, photos, videos, and voice notes. Preserve weaves them into one shared living tribute.
Can I include videos?
Yes. Preserve accepts photos, short videos, and voice notes alongside written memories, so a grandchild's clip, a friend's toast, or a colleague's message can live inside the memoir itself.
Can I create one for someone who is still alive?
Yes — that's the point. Preserve is designed as a living tribute so someone can see and feel their impact while they're still here to experience it. Many families create one for a birthday, retirement, anniversary, or milestone.
Is there a printed version?
Preserve's default output is a beautifully designed digital experience that can be shared privately, revealed as a gift, and revisited over time. Print keepsakes are on the roadmap; Storyworth's core deliverable is a hardcover book.
What's the biggest difference between Preserve and Storyworth?
Storyworth captures someone's story from their own perspective. Preserve captures their impact through the people whose lives they've touched — a Preserve gathered from everyone who loves them, not a self-told story.
Don't wait until it's too late to tell someone what they meant to you.
Help someone see the impact they've had — through the voices, memories, and moments of the people whose lives they've shaped.