Obituary vs Death Notice: What's the Difference and Which to Use

A death notice is a short, factual announcement of a death, with the details of the funeral or memorial. An obituary is a longer tribute that tells the person's life story. A death notice is usually the cheaper option in print, and many families publish a short notice in the paper with a link to a fuller obituary online.

What is a death notice?

A death notice is a brief announcement that someone has died. It gives the basic facts: name, age, location and date of death. In practice it also gives the service details, because that is why people read it.

Death notices are often paid listings. A family member or the funeral home places them in a newspaper or on the funeral home's website. Because many papers charge by the line or inch, a notice is kept short. It doesn't carry a life story.

What is an obituary?

An obituary starts with the same facts and expands them into a tribute. Legacy.com says an obituary should honor the person's memory with the most meaningful details of their life story. It usually covers where they were born and grew up, their work, what they loved, the family who survive them and those who died before them.

An obituary can be a few paragraphs in print or as long as you like online. Our guide on how to write an obituary walks through the steps.

How do an obituary and a death notice compare?

Some newspapers run both. Some families publish only one, or neither.

How much do they cost?

Many papers price print by the line or inch, not by the word, so shorter means cheaper. Legacy.com's 2025 cost guide gives these examples for a 150-word print obituary:

A longer obituary costs more. The same guide priced 600 words at about $290 in Everett and about $1,740 in Chicago, and photos add to the bill. A death notice, being shorter, will usually cost less. Papers set their own rates, so ask for a written quote. Our guide on obituary cost goes through the pricing in more detail.

Which should you choose?

Choose a death notice if you need to tell people about the service quickly, want to keep the cost down, or prefer to share little. It also suits papers where space is expensive.

Choose an obituary if you want a lasting account of the person's life, or you have a place where length isn't a problem, such as a funeral home website or a memorial page.

Choose both if you want people in the area to see a short notice in the paper and everyone else to find the full story. The cost guide on Tributes.com (Legacy.com) recommends exactly this: a smaller, cost-effective notice in the newspaper, with a link to a full tribute online. Our guide to online obituary platforms compares places to host it.

What about a notice to creditors?

A notice to creditors is not a death notice. It is a legal notice that, in many states, the personal representative of the estate must publish in a local newspaper during probate, so creditors know to make claims. In Florida, for example, the statute requires publication once a week for two consecutive weeks. The rules and the timing vary by state.

If a debt collector calls relatives after seeing an obituary, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says to ask for written details of the debt, because scammers do read obituaries. Our probate guide explains the legal notice, and an estate attorney can confirm what applies in your state.

What should either one leave out?

An obituary or death notice is public and stays searchable. Legacy.com advises against complete home addresses, full birthdates, and email addresses or phone numbers for family members. Give the age or birth year and the town, not the street. If the service is public, ask someone to stay at the house during it.

Naming the cause of death is optional in both. Agree on the wording with close family first.

What to do next

1. Decide whether you want a notice, an obituary or both.
2. Ask the funeral home what it writes, posts and submits, and what it charges.
3. Get a written quote and the deadline from any newspaper.
4. Have two people check names, dates and times before you submit.

For help with layout and word counts, see obituary length and format. If you would rather fill in the blanks, there is an obituary template download.