📚 Reading apps and reading coaches · 🎨 Art, music and story makers · ✍️ Writing help
Storybird
By Storybird Corp.. Visit Storybird
Desk research from the maker's own pages. Not yet tried by us. Checked 2026-10-24.
A creative writing site where kids write picture books, comics, longform stories, flash fiction and poems using a library of art from professional illustrators. Members get hundreds of writing lessons and challenges, earn badges and 'Crowns', and can submit stories to staff who review them before they appear in the public library, with written feedback. Teachers can run classes and assign work. Families can print finished books or download PDFs.
Our take: A good fit for kids who love to write and draw inspiration from pictures; families wanting a lasting free tool should know the free part is only a week long.
| Ages it suits | about 6-16 |
|---|---|
| What its terms say about age | The terms say educators and parents signing up a child under 13 must be 18 or older. Users under 18 should review the terms with a parent. A child under 13 signs up with a parent's email, and Storybird asks the parent for consent before the account works. (terms) |
| Price | Free, with paid extras. Seven-day free trial; an annual membership is $29.99 a year, with monthly, family (up to six members) and school plans also offered (Oct 2026). |
| Works on | Web, iPhone and iPad |
| Account | The child's own account |
| Ads | None |
| In-app purchases | Yes |
| The AI in it | No AI found. |
What's good
- Beautiful art helps reluctant writers start
- Staff review stories before they go public
- Clear COPPA parent-consent step for under-13s
- Lots of guided writing challenges
Watch for
- After the seven-day trial, new stories need a paid plan
- Prints, PDFs and extra reviews cost money or earned points
- Other users can comment on public stories (filtered)
- The iOS app was last updated in 2021
Data and privacy
The privacy policy (June 2023) says members give a username, password and birth month and year; under-13s give a parent's email, and if the parent does not consent the data is deleted. Stories and comments are filtered for personal information and rude words and may be moderated live; parents get emails about their child's activity. Read the privacy policy.
Does it work?
No independent studies found. The maker's own claims only: it says 85% of members feel more creative and 75% say their grades improved.
In the Big Index
Alternatives to Storybird
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Book Creator
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Brisk Teaching
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Claude
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Curipod
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A sensible choice for classrooms that want more writing with quick feedback and a teacher in the loop; not a home product.
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Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM)
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A strong study aid for teens working from their own readings; younger children should use it only through a school account.
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Grammarly
Superhuman (the company formerly called Grammarly) · ages about 13-18 and adults (high school, college)
Useful for teens 13+ who want cleaner writing and will use it as a checker, but parents of kids still learning to write should know how much of the writing it can do for them.
Where these facts come from
- https://storybird.com/
- https://storybird.com/terms-of-service
- https://storybird.com/privacy
- https://storybird.com/api/About/DocumentInfo
- https://storybird.com/assets/js/shared~app.7485080f.js
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/storybird/id1461691231
Prices, terms and features change. Nobody paid to be listed, nothing here is an affiliate link, and Peabody never rates itself. Where we and the maker disagree, the maker's own pages are the ones to trust.