LifePages vs Storii: a book at the end, or a phone that rings
Storii calls your father's landline three times a week and records what he says. LifePages asks him to open an app. If he will not open an app, every other row on the scorecard is decoration.
LifePages wins on the finished book; Storii wins on reaching people no app can reach. LifePages edits 50 answers into up to 500 printed pages from about $60. Storii is $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, telephones the storyteller three times a week on any phone including a landline, and produces an audiobook and a PDF rather than a hardback.
The 60-second scorecard
Green cells mark the winner on that row — LifePages takes 4, Storii takes 5, the rest are level. Pricing verified 8 September 2026; this category moves, so check before you buy.
| What you care about | LifePages | Storii |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | About $60 (£44) to start | $9.99 per month, $99.99 per year |
| Works without a smartphone | No | Yes — any phone, including landlines |
| Works without home internet | No | Yes |
| Printed hardback included | Yes | No — audiobook and PDF transcript |
| Answers edited for grammar and flow | Yes, before printing | AI rewrite of the transcription |
| Photos in the finished object | Up to 100 | Images can be added to stories |
| Prompts delivered | 50 guided questions | Three scheduled calls a week, 1,000+ prompts |
| Original voice preserved | Not published | Yes — audio kept and downloadable |
| Family members can take part | Not published | Unlimited family profiles |
| How the commitment ends | Stops once the book is dispatched | Monthly or annual subscription |
The row that decides this for most families
Storii rings the storyteller. Three scheduled calls a week, on whatever phone they already have, including a landline, with no app to install, no account to log into, no home broadband and no password to lose. They can also call the number back at any time. The answers are recorded, transcribed within about two minutes, and kept.
If you are buying this for someone in their late eighties, or someone with a tremor, low vision or early dementia, that is not a convenience feature. It is the difference between a service that gets used and a gift that sits unopened. LifePages requires a smartphone, an app and a person willing to type or record into it, and no amount of good page design gets around that.
So we will say the useful thing first: if the storyteller does not use a smartphone, buy Storii. The rest of this comparison is for families where either would work.
What you are left holding
Here the products separate completely. Storii's outputs are an audiobook and a PDF transcript book, with a printing option for a Keepbook record. LifePages' output is a hardback of up to 500 pages with up to 100 photographs, edited for grammar and flow, delivered to the door.
A PDF and an audio file are archives. A hardback is an object that gets handed to someone at a funeral, or opened by a grandchild in twenty years without needing an account to still exist. Both are legitimate purchases. They are not the same purchase, and the price difference reflects it: $99.99 for a year of Storii buys you recordings, and about $60 on LifePages buys you a printed book.
The arithmetic, since the sticker prices mislead
Storii looks four times cheaper per month and is not, once you decide what you want at the end. A year of Storii is $99.99 and produces digital files. A LifePages membership finished inside its first quarter is about $60 and produces a printed book. A LifePages membership that overruns by one quarter is about $152, at which point Storii's year plus a printed Keepbook is competitive again.
The variable that decides it is not the price. It is whether the person answering finishes. On a phone-call model, unanswered weeks cost you a subscription month. On a question-count model, unanswered weeks cost you a renewal. Both punish the same failure; only one of them ends by itself.
scheduled phone calls a week, on any phone including a landline — the reason Storii reaches storytellers no app in this category can reach.Storii FAQs, verified 8 September 2026
Ian's take
Co-founder & CEOOf the seven comparisons in this set, this is the one where I would most often tell a reader to buy the product that lost. Not because the scorecard is wrong, but because the deciding row sits at the top and answers itself: does the person hold a smartphone, or not.
LifePages wins on the object. It is a real hardback, edited, in colour, with the photographs beside the right stories, and it exists whether or not any company is still running in 2036. Storii's outputs are files, and files need somewhere to live.
But Storii has solved a distribution problem nobody else in this category has taken seriously. Three calls a week to a landline, transcribed in two minutes, no app, no wifi, unlimited family profiles so the grandchildren can add to it. For a family whose storyteller is 89, that is the only product on this page that works at all.
What I would actually do, if the budget allowed: run Storii for a year to capture the voice while it is there, then have the transcripts typed into a printed book. Neither company sells that, and both should.
Who should choose which
Choose LifePages if…
- The storyteller uses a smartphone and will open an app
- You want a printed hardback rather than files
- You want the answers edited before they print
- You want the commitment to end when the book ships
Choose Storii if…
- The storyteller has no smartphone, or will not use one
- A landline, no wifi and no password is the only setup that will work
- You want the recorded voice kept
- You want several family members contributing to one archive
Choose neither if…
- Nobody in the family will follow up on either — both need a participant
- You want a designed photo book; these are text and voice services
Storii is the better pick, without qualification, whenever the storyteller does not use a smartphone. It is the only service in this comparison that reaches them, and a book nobody can answer questions for never gets printed.
Frequently asked questions
Is LifePages or Storii better?
LifePages if the storyteller uses a smartphone and you want a printed hardback: 50 guided questions, up to 500 pages, from about $60. Storii if they do not: it telephones them three times a week on any phone including a landline, from $9.99 a month, and produces an audiobook and PDF rather than a book.
How much does Storii cost?
$9.99 a month, $99.99 for a 12-month package, or $119 for a physical gift box, according to Storii's own published figures. All versions include three scheduled calls a week, unlimited call-ins, transcription and audiobook and eBook downloads.
Does Storii produce a printed book?
Not as standard. Storii's outputs are an audiobook and a PDF transcript book, with an option to print a Keepbook record. If a hardback is the point of the purchase, that is the gap.
Can a parent without a smartphone use LifePages?
No. LifePages needs a smartphone and someone willing to answer in the app, by typing or speaking. For a storyteller without one, a phone-call service is the workable option.
Sources
- Storii pricing — plans, three scheduled calls a week, prompt library, transcription and audiobook and eBook outputs. The live page renders its prices dynamically and returned no figure to our fetch on 8 September 2026. Verified 8 Sep 2026
- Storii, on its own pricing — $9.99 a month, $99.99 for 12 months and $119 for the gift box, as published by the company. Verified 8 Sep 2026
- Storii FAQs — three scheduled calls a week, unlimited call-ins, transcription within about two minutes, lifelong access to audiobook and PDF transcript. Verified 8 Sep 2026
- LifePages — membership terms, question count, book specification and renewal behaviour, read from its own site and terms of service. Verified 8 Sep 2026