GramGrams

Your parent's stories are worth keeping. They just don't write English.

Most products in this category work the same way: a question arrives each week and your parent answers it alone, by writing or by recording themselves. If your parent doesn't read and write English comfortably, that model has nothing to offer you — and a translated interface doesn't fix it, because the writing is the part they can't do.

GramGrams is built for the other shape. You sit down together and talk, your parent speaks their own language, you understand them as they go, and what you keep afterwards is their actual voice with a transcript in both languages.

Record your first conversation freeOr try it on yourself first — it takes twenty seconds

Side by side

Every figure below was read on each company’s own website, not from a roundup, and re-checked on August 27, 2026.

GramGrams compared with StoryWorth, Remento, Storii, Baohua Stories
FeatureGramGramsStoryWorthRementoStoriiBaohua Stories
What your parent has to doTalk, in their own language. No writing, no typing, no app to install.Write their answers, by email or on the website. Phone recording with transcription is included from the $109 tier up.Speak into their phone on their own, answering a prompt. No writing.Answer a scheduled phone call and talk. Nothing else.Answer a weekly written prompt, on their own.
LanguagesChinese, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, EnglishThe site itself is in English and Spanish. Stories can be written in any language, but printing may not support it.“We offer Storyworth in English and Spanish. […] stories can be written and viewed in any language on our website. Our printing software supports most but not all languages.”Not published. The product and site are English.Calls go out in English or Spanish only. Questions in other languages have to be submitted by hand.“At current we are only sending out calls in English or Spanish”Chinese only — Mandarin and Cantonese in, English out. More immigrant-family languages are on their roadmap.
Translation between youYes, live — while the conversation is happening, so you can actually talk to each other.None. A story written in Chinese stays in Chinese.Not offered.Not offered.Yes, after the fact: the finished story is delivered in both languages.
Price$99 one-time — first 3 conversations free$59, $109, or $199 depending on tier$99 for the first year$59.99 for the gift box, listed as reduced from $119.99$99 one-time, first story free
Subscription?One payment. No subscription, no renewal, ever.One-time for the $59 and $109 tiers. The $199 tier auto-renews at $99 a year.“auto-renews yearly at $99, cancel at any time”One payment for the year. Renewal is optional, at $99 a year or $12 a month, and recordings stay yours either way.Twelve months of calls on an activation code. Renewal pricing is not published; the FAQ says payment applies only while calls are being sent.One payment covering the year.
Printed bookNo. Audio, a transcript in both languages, and a keepsake page.Yes — one hardcover included, shipping included in the US.Yes — one full-colour hardcover included, with QR codes to the original audio on every page.Audio-first. A book is not the deliverable.Not published.

What each one asks your parent to do

Every comparison in this category compares features. The row that decides it for a family with a non-English-speaking parent is the one nobody else puts in their table: what the product asks your parent, personally, to do — and whether they can do it.

GramGrams

Talk, in their own language. No writing, no typing, no app to install.

StoryWorth

Emails your parent one question a week for a year, then prints their written answers as a hardcover book.

Write their answers, by email or on the website. Phone recording with transcription is included from the $109 tier up.

Remento

Sends a weekly prompt your parent answers by voice, alone; turns the recording into a written chapter and prints a book with QR codes back to the audio.

Speak into their phone on their own, answering a prompt. No writing.

Storii

Phones your parent three times a week and records their answers. Nothing to install, nothing to touch — the one other product usable by someone who won't use a screen.

Answer a scheduled phone call and talk. Nothing else.

Baohua Stories

Built for Chinese-American families specifically: a weekly question your parent answers in Chinese, returned to the family as a written story in both Chinese and English.

Answer a weekly written prompt, on their own.

What GramGrams doesn’t do

StoryWorth's entry tier is cheaper

GramGrams is $99 — the same as Remento and Baohua. StoryWorth's cheapest tier undercuts all three, for a black-and-white book your parent writes themselves. What the money buys here is the translation: your parent talking in their own language and you understanding them in the moment, rather than reading a translated version of it afterwards. If you and your parent are comfortable in the same language, one of the others will serve you better, and you should take it.

There's no printed book

StoryWorth, Remento and Baohua all end with a hardcover in your hands. We don't print one yet. What you get instead is the recording in their actual voice, a transcript in both languages, and a page you can send to the whole family. If the object on the shelf is the point of this for you, buy the one that prints it.

Questions people ask

Does StoryWorth work if my parent doesn't speak English?
Only partly. StoryWorth's site is available in more than one language and stories can be written in any language, but the product still asks your parent to write the answers themselves, and it does not translate between them and you. If your parent can write comfortably in their own language and you can read that language, it works. If either of those isn't true, the format is the obstacle rather than the interface.
Is there a version where my parent just talks instead of writing?
Yes, several. Remento sends a prompt your parent answers by speaking into their phone alone, and Storii telephones them on a schedule and records the call. Both remove the writing. Neither translates, so if your parent speaks a language you don't read well, you end up with recordings you can't fully understand. GramGrams is the one built around a conversation between the two of you, with the translation happening in the room.
What if my parent can't use a smartphone or an app?
Then there are two realistic options. Storii calls their landline or mobile on a schedule and needs nothing installed. GramGrams runs on your phone, not theirs — you sit next to them and hold it, so there is nothing for them to learn, install, or log into. Products that email a weekly question and expect an answer back are the ones that quietly fail here.
Can I get their stories in both their language and English?
That's what GramGrams produces: the original audio in their voice, plus a transcript in their language and in English. Baohua Stories delivers finished written stories in Chinese and English for Chinese-speaking families. The rest of the category leaves a story in whatever language it was told in.
Do I get a printed book?
Not from GramGrams — we don't print one. StoryWorth and Remento both end with a hardcover, and if the object on the shelf is the point of this for you, that's a real reason to choose one of them instead. What you get here is the recording, the two-language transcript, and a page you can share with the family.
What does it cost to start?
Your first three conversations are free and nothing is charged up front. There is no subscription — the paid tier is a single one-time payment, and it never renews.

Have the conversation while you still can

The first three are free, and you don’t need a card to start. Sit down next to them, press record, and ask one question.

Record your first conversation free

How we checked

Every claim on this page was read on the vendor’s own website — never from a comparison roundup, including the ones these companies write about each other. Claims are re-read at least every ninety days; the oldest on this page was checked on August 27, 2026. If you find something out of date, we want to know.