Free obituary template and how to write an obituary in 2026

Free copy-and-paste obituary template

[Full name], age [Age], of [City, State], passed away on [Date of passing] at [Place of passing]. Born on [Date of birth] in [Birthplace] to [Parents' names], [First name] grew up in [Hometown] and graduated from [School or college]. [He/She/They] worked as a [Occupation or career] for [Company or field], was known for [Hobbies, community roles, or personal traits], and often said, "[Favorite quote or saying]."

[First name] is survived by [Spouse/partner name], children [Children's names], grandchildren [Grandchildren's names], and siblings [Siblings' names], and was preceded in death by [Predeceased family members]. A visitation will take place on [Day and date] at [Time] at [Location and address], followed by a funeral service at [Time] and a reception at [Location]. A livestream link is at [Livestream link]. In lieu of flowers, please make memorial gifts in [First name]'s name to [Charity name and link].

How to publish your obituary for free with the Heya memorial template

You can turn your obituary into a free web page with our ready-made memorial template right in your browser, without an account, or on a phone. The home page sets up a portrait, full name, dates, buttons for service details and memories, two short life story paragraphs, a colored band for a favorite saying, and an in-lieu-of-flowers charity button. The service page puts visitation, service, and lunch side by side with the day, time, place, parking, step-free access, a map link, and a livestream button.

The memories page has four example memories and an Add a memory button. You can link the button to a Google Form or Tally form so you can copy guest stories and photos onto the page. You can start building without an account, and sign in with Google to publish at yourname.heya.bio on the $0 Free plan.

Costs, privacy, and limits that matter when choosing a platform

Newspaper obituaries run from $100 in a local paper to several thousand dollars in a national one like The New York Times, plus a 3-5% processing fee. Online options cost a lot less: $0 on Heya Free, 100% free on Ever Loved and ForeverMissed Basic, $159 on Legacy.com, $159.95 for ForeverMissed Lifetime, or $199.99 for Ever Loved Premium.

If you're collecting donations on the page, Ever Loved takes them via Stripe for a 2.9%+30c processing fee, while on Heya you link a button directly to the charity's donation page. For privacy, ForeverMissed lets you invite only selected guests, and Ever Loved has password protection on its $199.99 Premium plan. On Heya, anyone with the link can view your site, and you can turn on the Hide from Google setting so search engines don't list it.

Common mistakes to avoid when writing and posting an obituary

When you're writing under time pressure, it's easy to leave out practical day-of details like parking instructions, step-free access, or the reception location. Putting those in a dedicated service section helps guests, and you'll also want another relative to double-check the spelling of every surviving and predeceased family member's name before you publish.

If you're using a free plan, check the photo limits before you start digging through family archives. ForeverMissed caps its free Basic plan at 5 photos, while Heya Free lets you upload up to 200 image files (up to 20 MB each, resized to 2048 pixels on the long edge). Make sure you keep a permanent copy of everything you gathered, too. On Heya Pro Plus ($15 a month), you can download your site as an HTML ZIP with an index.html per page, styles, fonts, and images.

Open the memorial template in the editor or see what it includes.

More from Heya: Online obituary, Free memorial website builders, Memorial website template and Guides.