Tellyng vs MemoirMaker: Which memoir tool is right for you?
MemoirMaker is a $99 one-time tool that turns your voice recordings or typed notes into chapters, with a setting for how much creative license the AI takes. Tellyng is also $99 one-time. It asks you follow-up questions, then develops only what you shared into prose in your own written voice.
| Tellyng | MemoirMaker | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $99 one-time | $99 one-time, or family packs (3 memoirs for $270) |
| How you share memories | Type, paste, or import notes or a manuscript | Record your voice or type, with automatic transcription |
| How the AI works | Asks you follow-up questions, then develops only what you gave it | Writes chapters from your material, with a creative-license setting from 2 (stick to your facts) to 10 |
| Your voice | Develops your story in your own written voice. Nothing invented. | Aims to keep your voice and tone. Higher settings give the AI more creative latitude. |
| What you get | A PDF or Word file of your story, with your photos and captions | PDF and Word files, AI cover art, and an optional narrated film at extra cost |
| Access | 6 months and up to 60 sessions. Your PDF is yours to keep. | One memoir project per credit, open for one year |
| Training AI on your stories | Never | Not stated in their FAQ |
| Try before you buy | One free session, no account needed | Free starter with up to 3 generated sections |
| Refunds | Full refund if you haven't used a session yet | Unused credits within 14 days |
Competitor details reflect publicly listed plans and features at the time of writing. They may change.
Questions people ask before choosing
Does the AI train on my stories?
No. Your writing is used only to generate the questions and passages you ask for. Tellyng does not use your stories to train AI models, and they are never shown to other users.
Read how the AI works with your stories →What happens after my 6 months?
Your story stays yours. When the access period ends, your account becomes read-only — you can still sign in, read everything, and download your PDF, which is yours to keep. If you want to keep developing new passages, renew for another $99 for six more months.
Why not just use ChatGPT?
You could, but you'd have to know what to ask it and keep steering it. Tellyng does the asking. It asks the follow-up questions a good listener would, then develops only what you told it, in your own voice, without making details up. Your stories stay private, they are never used to train AI, and everything lives in one place you can download as a PDF or Word file.
Same memory, two results
In August, before school, she would send me down with a colander to gather what was ripe. I still remember the tomatoes in my hands, warm from the sun.
Clean, but it only rearranges what was typed. It also guessed "warm from the sun," which wasn't in the memory.
In August she'd hand me the colander before school. Go get what's ready. I'd go down the back stairs in my school clothes, and the tomatoes would still be warm from the night. That's the part I remember most. Not the taste, the warmth.
Tellyng asked one question first, about standing there before school. The answer is what made the passage: not the taste, the warmth.
The ChatGPT text is real, unedited output from a fresh chat given the same memory. The Tellyng passage is a written example, not a customer's story.
Who it's for
MemoirMaker works well for people who would rather talk than type, or families buying several memoirs at once.
Tellyng works for people who want to write or bring notes they already have, and want every sentence to stay true to what they said.
Questions people ask before they start.
Hear how your story reads.
Share one memory, answer a question or two, and see a developed passage in your own voice — free, about two minutes.