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It depends on what your priorities are. Family tree? DNA matches? Ancestral composition?
Considering the non-credible DNA results results from MyHeritage, I’ve written them off and simply check matches occasionally. 23andme has suspended almost every feature I found helpful so I just check matches. I go to Gedmatch occasionally for some interesting tools.
I still rely on Ancestry for my family tree research and matches. Their DNA results seem close to what I know -mostly confirmatory. The DNA matches will respond to messages better than other platforms. I haven’t seen a better site for my uses.
What other service/site would you suggest for unhappy Ancestry.com customers?
I would recommend 23 and Me, it still has some options that are free, though I suspect eventually it will start sending the dunning emails. However, when you get an email from 23 and Me about new realtive matches you are allowed to view them and message them if you want without having to pay a monthly fee. That dunning email come on's from ancestry.com is why I would never recommend them and their data is lacking a lot.
MyHeritage are probably the next best option in terms of providing the second largest genealogical records database on the internet, and also offering DNA services. Their ethnicity report is poor though, and their DNA match database is much smaller. Their records database is about half the size of Ancestry's, but they charge you more than half of Ancestry's prices. So it's overall lesser value if you ask me. And if you're looking for subscription free DNA services, this is not it - they have certain DNA tools behind their subscription paywall.
23andMe have better ethnicity reports, but they are not a genealogy website so you don't get as much out of your DNA matches for genealogy purposes in my experience. They also cap your DNA match list so you only get a couple thousand matches to work with and they paywall more advanced tools with a subscription.
FTDNA at least allow users to upload a gedcom, but they are not a genealogy website so you can't do traditional research there. Their ethnicity reports are poor, and their matching database is small.
FamilySearch is of course the biggest free genealogy records resource on the internet, but it's only a fraction the size of Ancestry, their family tree is crowd sourced (you can't keep an individual tree there), and they do not offer DNA. Since it's free, everyone should already be taking advantage of the records they offer, but beyond that, it's not for everyone.
FindMyPast have a small records database (smaller than FS), and don't offer DNA.
There's other sites for genealogy or DNA, but in my experience, it just gets worse from there.
My wife has been working with genealogy for 50+ years and said if you're just wanting to do research, use www.familysearch.org and it's free.
The issue with family search is that you can not back up the tree that you make. Family search is a public family tree site, there is one profile per person alive or dead, so a tree you make can also be someone else's tree.
They can be a gold mine for records, like you said they are free.
Both of my parents immigrated from Hungary in the late 50's plus my mother in law immigrated from Germany in the 40's. Family search has had more records then Ancestry does.
My Heritage is also a genealogy site like Ancestry that also has DNA. My Heritage is free to upload DNA, they offer some tools to free accounts, if you want ethnicity, shared matches and other advanced DNA features, it is a one time fee of $29. My Heritage is worldwide, it can be a gold mine for DNA matches and records, especially in Europe. I do not suggest anyone buys a DNA test there because they will need to purchase a data plan for $99 a year. It is cheaper to do Ancestry DNA on sale, then upload to my heritage, as I said it is a one time fee of $29 for the DNA tools.
The issue with family search is that you can not back up the tree that you make.
Well, you can download a portion of the tree with Family Tree Maker or RootsMagic, but if you continue to sync it, it will continue to download changes that other people made.
Well, you can download a portion of the tree with Family Tree Maker or RootsMagic, but if you continue to sync it, it will continue to download changes that other people made.
Thanks, I didn't know that. I have RootsMagic installed but haven't used it on this computer. I tried it out a few years ago.
It didn't seem easy to use. I had to manually match my person with their profile on family search. I don't recall whether it did save the profiles.
My computer that I had from my MIL, eventually wouldn't start almost two years ago, I ended up losing whatever I did. I haven't tried to slave the hard drive from my old computer to see what I could recover. I was using a thumb drive for my documents and important files, so it hasn't been high on my list of stuff I need to do.
Thanks, I didn't know that. I have RootsMagic installed but haven't used it on this computer. I tried it out a few years ago.
It didn't seem easy to use. I had to manually match my person with their profile on family search. I don't recall whether it did save the profiles.
Yeah, I tested RootsMagic years ago and didn't like it as much as Family Tree Maker. It's a half decent lower cost option to FTM, but I think you get what you pay for in this case.
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