Guides
A memorial website, a tribute book, or a life-story book?
Choose the right way to preserve a life: a shareable online memorial, a tribute book from family and friends, or a memoir in their own voice.
Our take
Choose a memorial website to share an obituary and gather memories after a death. Choose a tribute book to collect stories about someone from the people who know them. Choose a life-story book while the person can tell their own stories. Memorygram offers all three as separate products, so you can begin with the one your family needs now.
Sources reviewed September 5, 2026Written by Memorygram, a provider of memorial websites and life-story books. Comparisons reflect the sources linked below; prices and plans can change.
Start with who is telling the story.
A memoir begins with “I remember.” A tribute often begins with “I remember them.” An obituary introduces a life to the people who need to know about a death. These forms can sit beside one another, but they ask different things of the family.
Before choosing a product, decide who will contribute and who will read it. A parent telling childhood stories needs a different starting point from siblings gathering photographs for a memorial service.
| What you need | Start with | Who contributes |
|---|---|---|
| Share an obituary and service details | Memorial website | A creator, with tributes from visitors |
| Gather many people’s memories into a book | Tribute book | Family, friends, and other contributors |
| Capture someone’s own life story | Legacy Book | The storyteller, with help from family |
An online memorial gives everyone one place to return to.
Use a memorial website when the immediate need is a clear, shareable page. Begin with the obituary and a photograph. Add confirmed service details, then invite people to leave a memory when they are ready.
Memorygram offers free obituary publication and a basic memorial. Share the same link in messages and service materials so relatives can find updates without sorting through different versions of the announcement.
Sources: Memorygram memorial website features
A tribute book gathers the parts one person could never know.
A colleague may remember the first day at work. A childhood friend may have a photograph the family has never seen. A grandchild may tell a story about an ordinary afternoon that mattered more than anyone realized.
A tribute project gives those memories a shared destination. Memorygram’s memorial tribute book collects contributions from family and friends for a printed hardcover. It is a separate purchase from the free memorial website.
- Ask for one specific moment rather than a complete life history.
- Request the names and approximate year for each photograph.
- Choose one person to organize contributions and review the final layout.
- Let contributors know when you hope to send the book to print.
Sources: Memorygram memorial tribute book
A life-story book begins while they can answer back.
A life-story project lets you ask the questions only that person can answer: what home felt like, how a decision was made, why a family tradition began. Their account may surprise you, and you have the chance to ask a follow-up.
Memorygram’s Legacy Book supports written and spoken stories, including guided phone interviews for US numbers. It turns the collected stories into a hardcover book. Begin with a subject they like talking about, rather than treating the first session as a formal biography.
Sources: Memorygram guided phone interviews
You can begin with one story.
You do not need a finished archive to start. Choose a photograph, name the people in it, and write or record the moment it brings back. That small piece gives the next contributor something concrete to respond to.
If the person has died, build from the memories and recordings you already have; do not ask a memoir tool to invent their voice or experiences. If they are here to tell the story, make time to hear it. The right format is the one that helps your family preserve what is real.
Common questions
Does creating a free memorial also order a book?
No. The online memorial, tribute book, and Legacy Book are separate products. Creating a free memorial does not place a book order.
Which book should I choose after someone has died?
A memorial tribute book is designed for stories about the person from family and friends. A life-story project is designed around the storyteller’s own memories.
Sources & review
Reviewed . We compare the providers’ own published information and Memorygram’s current product features. This is a feature and pricing comparison, not an independent hands-on test of every service.
- Memorygram memorial website features
- Memorygram guided phone interviews
- Memorygram memorial tribute book
See something that has changed? Tell us so we can review it.