Story app guides and comparisons
The best Oscar Stories alternatives (2026)
Full disclosure: we make one of the alternatives below. Oscar Stories is good value and runs almost everywhere. These are the options worth knowing when it isn't quite right, including when to stick with Oscar.
| App | Best for | Price | What it does that Oscar doesn't |
|---|---|---|---|
| Branchlings (ours) | a story your child steers as it goes | From $9.99/month; sample stories free to read, no free trial | Choices at every fork, or their own idea; every page painted |
| Night Night by StoryHero | a free library of bedtime stories, with a chapter starring your child | Free story library; Pro $6.99/month or $59.99/year; credit packs from $1.99 | A free story library; an AI-made chapter starring your child, with a choice to make |
| Gemini Storybook | a free one-off book, made by a grown-up | Free | Free; uses your photos or your child's drawing; 45+ languages |
| Giant | starring as an avatar in stories with choices, on Android too | $9.99/month; yearly plans listed at $59.99 and $79.99; star packs; free daily stars | Interactive stories with choices, animated episodes and voice chats |
| Moonbeam | the cheapest app with a pick-your-path mode | $2.99/month or $19.99/year | An interactive mode where you choose the path |
Why people look for an Oscar Stories alternative
- The story doesn't branch. You pick the characters, the place and the moral, then the story reads straight through.
- The free allowance is small. Your first stories are free, and reviewers say it doesn't take long to use them up.
- Limited characters and settings. A complaint that comes up in reviews.
- A European privacy policy. It's GDPR-based and stores data in the EU, which many people like, but it doesn't mention COPPA, the US children's privacy law, or name its AI providers.
When to stick with Oscar Stories
If you want the lowest price for a new story every night, on Android or the web as well as iPhone, in a language other than English, or pay-per-story coins instead of a subscription, Oscar is the better pick, and it's cheaper than us.
1. Branchlings ours
- Best for
- a story your child steers as it goes
- Price
- From $9.99/month; sample stories free to read, no free trial
- What it does that Oscar doesn't
- Choices at every fork, or their own idea; every page painted
This is ours. Your child dreams up the story or picks where it happens and who comes along, then decides what happens at every fork, or taps My idea! and adds their own. Every page is painted, with each character painted once and used as the model so they stay themselves.
Grown-ups set the words and topics to leave out and how exciting stories get, and a calm bedtime mode winds down to goodnight.
What it won't do: beat Oscar on price (from $9.99 a month, no free trial), run on Android yet, or tell stories in anything but English.
2. Night Night by StoryHero
- Best for
- a free library of bedtime stories, with a chapter starring your child
- Price
- Free story library; Pro $6.99/month or $59.99/year; credit packs from $1.99
- What it does that Oscar doesn't
- A free story library; an AI-made chapter starring your child, with a choice to make
From the team behind the former StoryHero app, Night Night is a library of narrated bedtime stories, each written by an author or with AI and checked by a person before it's published. At the end of each story, an AI-made "Adventure" chapter stars your child, drawn from a photo if you like. The library and one adventure choice per story are free; Pro ($6.99 a month) unlocks all four choices.
The catch: it's new (it launched in July 2026 and has no ratings yet), English only, and the main stories are fixed: only the last chapter is about your child.
3. Gemini Storybook
- Best for
- a free one-off book, made by a grown-up
- Price
- Free
- What it does that Oscar doesn't
- Free; uses your photos or your child's drawing; 45+ languages
Google's Gemini writes and illustrates a story of about 10 pages from your prompt, reads it aloud and lets you print it, free. It can build the story around photos or your child's drawing.
The catch: it's for users 18 and over, and each change makes a whole new version.
4. Giant
- Best for
- starring as an avatar in stories with choices, on Android too
- Price
- $9.99/month; yearly plans listed at $59.99 and $79.99; star packs; free daily stars
- What it does that Oscar doesn't
- Interactive stories with choices, animated episodes and voice chats
Giant turns a parent's photo of your child into a cartoon avatar and stars them in interactive stories, animated episodes and voice calls with AI characters, on iPhone, iPad and Android. It's in PRIVO's COPPA Safe Harbor program.
The catch: it's as much a play app as a story app, with stars to spend on top of the subscription ($9.99 a month, or $59.99 or $79.99 a year).
5. Moonbeam
- Best for
- the cheapest app with a pick-your-path mode
- Price
- $2.99/month or $19.99/year
- What it does that Oscar doesn't
- An interactive mode where you choose the path
Moonbeam writes bedtime stories with six narrators and background music, and has an interactive mode where you decide where the story goes. It's $2.99 a month or $19.99 a year.
The catch: one picture per story, iPhone only, English only, and it hasn't been updated since May 2025.
How to choose
- Want your child choosing as the story goes, with every page painted? Branchlings.
- Want a free plan? Night Night's free library, or Gemini Storybook for a grown-up to use.
- Want Android? Stay with Oscar, or try Giant.
- Want choices for as little as possible? Moonbeam, if one picture per story is enough.
Questions
- Is there an app like Oscar Stories where my child makes choices?
- Yes. In Branchlings your child decides what happens at every fork, or adds their own idea. Giant's interactive stories have choices too, and Moonbeam has an interactive mode.
- What's cheaper than Oscar Stories?
- Gemini Storybook is free for grown-ups to use, Night Night by StoryHero has a free story library, and Moonbeam is $19.99 a year. Branchlings costs more than Oscar, from $9.99 a month.
- Which alternative works in languages other than English?
- Gemini Storybook writes in 45+ languages. Branchlings is English only. If you need another language, Oscar Stories is one of the best choices.
Try Branchlings
Your child dreams up the story and picks what happens at every fork, and Branchlings writes and paints it. Free to download, with in-app purchases. You can read the sample stories before you choose a plan. Painting your character and new stories come with a plan. Plans start at $9.99 a month, and there's no free trial. For iPhone and iPad in the US.
Pricing and features for every app on this list checked October 2026. Apps change fast, so double-check on each app's own site before you buy. Names of other apps are trademarks of their owners and are used here only to identify them; we're not connected with any of them.