An obituary page and an online memorial sound similar but do very different jobs, and this guide is for anyone who has just been sent a link to one – or is choosing between them – and wants to know what they are actually looking at. You will learn what each format includes, how to tell which one you currently have, and how a written obituary can sit inside a fuller online memorial rather than compete with it.
TL;DR
- An obituary page is usually a single, static page: the written obituary text, perhaps one photo, hosted on a newspaper site, funeral home site or basic notice listing.
- An online memorial is an interactive, multi-section tribute: photo and video galleries, a life story, a guest book, service details, privacy controls and a QR code, designed to be added to and revisited over years.
- If the page you have only shows text and cannot be edited, commented on or added to, you have an obituary page, not a memorial.
- A Forever In Our Hearts online memorial can include the obituary text as one section of the page – it does not replace it.
- If you still need to write the obituary text itself, see our guide on how to write an obituary in Australia.
- Setting up a full memorial on Forever In Our Hearts costs $59 AUD once, with no ongoing fees and no expiry date.
Context and audience
This question usually comes up in one of two ways. Either someone has been sent a link – to a newspaper notice, a funeral home page or a memorial site – and is not sure what kind of page they are looking at, or a family is actively deciding what to set up for a loved one and keeps seeing “obituary page” and “online memorial” used as if they mean the same thing. They do not, and the difference matters for what you can actually do with the page afterwards.
This guide is for both situations: people trying to understand a page they have already been linked to, and families weighing up whether a simple obituary page is enough or whether they want something more. If you still need to write the obituary text itself – the wording, structure and templates – that is covered separately in our guide on how to write an obituary in Australia. If you are sorting out the short newspaper announcement rather than the longer tribute, see our guide on funeral notices in Australia. This article picks up a step further along: once the text exists, where does it actually live, and what can each format do with it?
What an obituary page actually is
An obituary page is, in most cases, exactly what it sounds like: a page that displays the obituary, and nothing more. In practice, an obituary page is usually one of the following:
- A newspaper or notice-platform page: a single static listing showing the published obituary text, the person’s name and dates, and sometimes one photo. Older entries are often archived behind a paywall or removed after a set period.
- A funeral home website page: a simple page generated automatically when a funeral home publishes a notice, typically showing the text the family submitted, basic service details and occasionally a comments or condolences box.
- A basic memorial listing: a no-frills entry on a directory-style site, often free, showing the obituary text and little else – no real photo gallery, no guest book moderation, sometimes no ongoing access at all once the listing window closes.
What these formats have in common is that they are built to display text, not to host an ongoing tribute. There is usually nowhere for extended family to add their own photos, no structured life timeline, no proper guest book, and often no way to control who can see the page or what gets added to it. The page exists, but it does not grow.
What an online memorial actually is
An online memorial is built around the opposite assumption: that the page should keep being useful long after the funeral, not just during the week the notice runs. A full online memorial, such as the kind families build on Forever In Our Hearts, is made up of several distinct sections rather than one block of text:
- A life story section – which can include the obituary text itself, alongside as much additional detail as the family wants to add over time.
- A photo and video gallery – contributed by the family and, with the right settings, by extended friends and relatives too.
- An online guest book – where visitors leave moderated tributes and memories, rather than a single static comments box.
- Service details – date, time, venue, livestream link and any donation requests, kept in one place rather than buried in a notice that may later be taken offline.
- Privacy controls – the family decides whether the page is fully public, link-only or restricted to invited visitors, and can change this at any time.
- QR code access – a scannable code that can be printed on an order of service or a graveside marker, so anyone present at the funeral can reach the page instantly from their phone.
The key practical difference is that an online memorial is designed to be added to. A grandchild can upload a photo eighteen months later. A friend who could not attend the service can still leave a tribute. The page does not freeze at publication the way a static obituary page does.
How to tell which one you actually have
If you have been sent a link and are not sure what you are looking at, a few quick checks usually settle it:
- Can you add anything to it? If there is no option to upload a photo, leave a tribute or add a memory, you are looking at a static obituary page.
- Does it have more than one section? A photo gallery, a guest book and service details displayed separately – rather than one block of text – point to a full online memorial.
- Is there a QR code attached to it? Memorials built for printed materials, such as order-of-service booklets, almost always generate one. A basic obituary listing usually does not.
- Does the family control privacy settings? Online memorials typically let the family set the page to public, link-only or restricted. A newspaper or notice-platform obituary page is usually public by default with no settings to change.
- Will it still be there in five years? Many newspaper and free listing sites archive or remove pages after a set window. A paid, purpose-built memorial is designed for long-term, often lifetime, access.
None of this makes a simple obituary page the wrong choice for every family – it does the one job of announcing and recording a passing perfectly well. The distinction matters mainly when a family wants the page to do more than that: hold photos from different decades, let scattered family and friends contribute, or remain a place people can return to years later.
Why families end up needing both, not one or the other
In practice, the obituary page and the online memorial are not competing options – they usually serve the same family at different stages. The obituary text is written first, often quickly, to announce the death and meet a newspaper or funeral home’s immediate needs. The online memorial is where that same text, and everything that did not fit around it, ends up living long-term.
On Forever In Our Hearts, the obituary does not disappear into the memorial or get rewritten – it becomes the life story section of the page, sitting alongside the photo gallery, guest book and service details rather than being replaced by them. A family who has already published a short obituary on a newspaper site can drop that same text straight into their memorial’s life story section, then build outward from there as more photos and memories come in. You can see how these sections fit together in our walkthrough of what an online memorial page looks like and how it is organised.
Setting one up takes a one-time payment of $59 AUD through hub.foreverinourhearts.com.au, with no recurring fees and no expiry date – which addresses the main limitation of a basic obituary page: that it was never built to last.
A note on privacy when the obituary text goes online
Whichever format you choose, it is worth thinking about who can see the page once an obituary is published online, particularly because both notice platforms and free memorial listings are often public by default and indexed by search engines indefinitely. The eSafety Commissioner has practical guidance on managing a person’s digital footprint after death, which is a useful read before deciding how publicly a tribute page should sit. An online memorial with adjustable privacy settings gives a family more control here than a static obituary page typically allows, since the family can choose to keep the page link-only rather than fully public.
If grief is making any of these practical decisions feel harder than usual, that is normal, and support is available through Beyond Blue. There is no need to resolve every detail at once.
FAQs
What is the difference between an obituary page and an online memorial?
An obituary page is usually a single static page showing the written obituary text and maybe one photo, hosted on a newspaper, funeral home or notice site. An online memorial is an interactive, multi-section tribute with a photo gallery, guest book, service details, privacy controls and QR access, designed to be added to over years rather than published once and left as is.
Can I turn my obituary page into a full online memorial?
Yes. The obituary text from an existing notice or obituary page can be copied into the life story section of a new online memorial, where it sits alongside a photo gallery, guest book and service details rather than being replaced. Most families do this once the initial notice has been published and there is time to build something more lasting.
Do I still need an obituary page if I create an online memorial?
Not necessarily, but many families keep both for a period. A short obituary page or newspaper notice reaches people quickly in the days after a death, while the online memorial becomes the permanent, fuller version that the notice can link to once it is ready.
Why does my obituary page disappear or become hard to find later?
Many newspaper and free notice-listing sites archive or remove pages after a set window, and some are placed behind a paywall. This is one of the main reasons families move the same content into a purpose-built online memorial, which is designed for long-term access rather than short-term announcement.
Is an online memorial more expensive than an obituary page?
A basic obituary page on a free listing site can cost nothing, while newspaper notices are typically charged per word or line, and some paid notice platforms add ongoing hosting or renewal fees. The ACCC advises families to check exactly what is included before paying for any funeral-related service. A full Forever In Our Hearts online memorial costs a one-time $59 AUD, with no ongoing fees, no expiry date and no per-word limit on the life story, photos or guest book entries.
I just need to write the obituary text – where do I start?
If you have not yet written the obituary itself, start with our guide on how to write an obituary in Australia, which covers structure, templates and wording. Once the text is written, it can be placed on a simple obituary page, in a newspaper notice, or as the life story section of a fuller online memorial.
Does a Forever In Our Hearts memorial replace the need for a newspaper obituary?
No, and it is not designed to. Many families still publish a short notice or obituary page in a newspaper or on a funeral home site to announce the service quickly, then build a Forever In Our Hearts memorial as the lasting home for the fuller story, photos and ongoing tributes that the short notice was never meant to hold.
A practical next step
If you have been sent a link and were not sure what you were looking at, you now have a quick way to check: a page that only shows text and cannot be added to is an obituary page; a page with separate sections for photos, a guest book, service details and a QR code is a full online memorial. Neither one is wrong – they simply do different jobs, and many families end up using both at different stages.
If you already have an obituary written and want it to live somewhere that keeps growing – with photos, family contributions and a guest book alongside it – you can bring that text straight into a Forever In Our Hearts memorial rather than starting from scratch. Browse memorials.foreverinourhearts.com.au to see how other families have combined the two.
