When someone you love passes away, creating their funeral program shouldn’t mean spending hours writing, formatting, resizing photographs, and figuring out printing.
Beautiful Obituary brings everything together. Answer a few questions about your loved one, and our platform helps write their obituary, place it into a professionally designed funeral program, and prepare it for printing. You can also create a matching death announcement and memorial page.
But how does that compare with making a funeral program yourself using Canva?
We’re the team behind Beautiful Obituary, so this comparison is written from our perspective. We’ll explain what each option does well, where they differ, and which might be right for your family.
Create a Funeral Program in Minutes
Tell us about your loved one. We’ll help write their obituary and turn it into a beautifully designed funeral program.
Free to write, design, and preview. No account required to begin.
Create Your Funeral ProgramWhat you get from one set of answers
- A written obituary, drafted from your answers about this one person, which you can edit line by line.
- A funeral or memorial program in four sizes: 1-Page, Bi-Fold, Tri-Fold or 8-Page Booklet, in more than a hundred designs.
- A digital death announcement in the same design, included free with the print-ready file, ready to share online.
- A print-ready file at 300 DPI with bleed and crop marks, yours the moment you pay, so the same day.
- Printed copies, if you want them: 25 to 250, mailed within the United States.
- A memorial page, if you want one, with a photo gallery, a guest book, and a video tribute with a QR code.
With a template you build each of these separately: the words, the layout for every panel, the announcement, the print setup and the page for relatives. Here they share one set of answers and one design, so they match.
How it works, step by step
| Step | Editing a Canva template | Beautiful Obituary |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Choose a design | Search templates, pick one, and make your own copy. | Pick a size and a design. Every design works at every size, and you see it with your own words on it. |
| 2. Add the photograph | Place it in a frame, then crop and position it. | Upload it. We can lift the background away if you like, and you can drag it into place or show the whole photograph. |
| 3. Write the obituary | You write it, or paste it in, from a blank page. | Answer questions about where they were from, their work, their family and what they were known for. We write the obituary from your answers. |
| 4. Fit it to the page | Resize text boxes and adjust until it fits the panels. | Nothing to build: the text is set into the design and fitted to the space. There are no boxes to drag or resize. |
| 5. Check it | Zoom around the design and proof each panel. | See the finished program, edit any line by tapping it, and save your place by emailed link without making an account. |
| 6. Get the file or the copies | Export a PDF and set up the print options yourself. | Download the print-ready file the same day, or have printed copies mailed. |
See your own program in minutes
It is built to take minutes, not an evening. Start with their name and dates; everything else can wait.
Try it here nowThe writing: their story, not a form
Most funeral program templates give you placeholder text and leave the hard part, the words, to you. The hard part is where families stall, and it is the part we built first.
- It starts from the person. The questions ask for the things an obituary is built from: where they were from, what they did, who they loved and what they were known for. Skip anything you do not know. Only the name and the two dates are required.
- It writes in your family’s voice. The draft is based only on what you tell us. We do not invent memories or facts, and a pet has its own set of questions.
- The family is handled with care. Survivors are entered by relationship, with spouses and grandchildren, and written into the prose in the right order.
- It is yours to change. Tap any line to edit it, or write the whole obituary yourself and use the tool for the design.
- You can take the words anywhere. Copying the written obituary, or emailing it to yourself, is free. Paste it into a newspaper form or a Word file.
If you would rather write it yourself, our guide to writing an obituary and the free obituary template cover the same ground.
The design: finished, not blank
- More than a hundred designs, each drawn for all four sizes, so changing size does not mean starting again.
- The photograph is handled for you. Lift the background, drag the photo to reposition it, or show the whole photograph for a full-length picture. Add more photographs as a collage on the cover.
- The text is fitted for you. Long names and long obituaries are sized to the panels, so you are not resizing boxes by hand.
- Everything matches. The program, the death announcement and the memorial page share the same design.
Print-ready, and printed if you want it
The file is made at 300 dots per inch with bleed and crop marks, which is what a print shop looks for. You do not choose export settings or hunt for the right print option. It is done.
- Download: $19 for a 1-Page, $29 for a Bi-Fold or Tri-Fold, $39 for an 8-Page Booklet. It is yours the moment you pay, so the same day.
- Printed copies: from $79 for 25 one-page programs, $99 for 25 bi-folds, $109 for 25 tri-folds, $139 for 25 booklets, delivered by mail in the United States and including the file. Mailed times are estimates, and the order screen shows an estimated arrival before you pay. For all quantities, see what funeral programs cost to print.
Beyond the page
- A digital death announcement in the same design, free with the file, to post online or send.
- A memorial page ($39 a year, or $99 for life) with their obituary and photographs, and a guest book where relatives can leave a message and add photographs. A video tribute and a QR code for the printed program come with it, and you can choose a song to play on the page.
A Canva design is a file you share. A memorial page stays online for family to return to, and the QR code on the printed program leads straight to it.
Side by side
| What you need | Editing a Canva template | Beautiful Obituary |
|---|---|---|
| The obituary text | You supply it. | Written from your answers; you edit any line. |
| Layout | You place and fit everything. | Set and fitted for you in four sizes. |
| Design freedom | Very high; change almost anything. | More than a hundred professional designs, with your photograph and your wording set in. |
| Print-ready file | Export a PDF and choose the print options. | 300 DPI with bleed and crop marks, the same day. |
| Printed copies | Printing is a separate step, usually at another website. | 25 to 250 mailed in the United States, from $79. |
| Death announcement | A separate design to make. | Included free, in the same design. |
| Memorial page | Not a hosted page with a guest book. | Optional: $39 a year or $99 for life. |
| Cost to start | Depends on the plan and the template; you assemble the rest. | Free to write, design and preview, with no account. |
Questions
Do I need an account?
Not to write, design or preview. You can save your place with an emailed link instead of making an account. An account is created when you pay.
Is the obituary written by AI?
An AI writing assistant drafts it from your answers. It does not invent facts, and you can rewrite any line or write the whole thing yourself.
What if I do not like the design?
Change it. The same words and photograph move into any design at any size, and you see it before you pay.
How fast can I have it?
The print-ready file is yours the moment you pay, so the same day. Printed copies are mailed, and those times are estimates, not guarantees.
Try it here now
Write the obituary and see the finished program, free, with no account.
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