Here are the major genealogy websites we find to be the most useful. Some of the websites may appear in more than one group. Most of the sites that allow you to build a family tree or find DNA relatives require an ongoing usage fee. However, these sites almost always provide a free trial period, and we would encourage you to take full advantage of that before signing up for a payment plan.
General-Purpose Genealogy Websites
General-purpose genealogy websites are often the one-stop shopping solution. They usually provide the tools and resources to facilitate tree building, research, and DNA testing.
WikiTree — In our opinion, WikiTree is far and away the best general-purpose genealogy website for building, documenting, and sharing genealogical information. Everything on the site is 100% free. It is a single global family tree, with more than 900,000 genealogists working on the same single tree, containing more than 32 million non-repetitive profiles. It has very good privacy controls to enable integration of your recent family history with the global tree.
Ancestry — This is the most popular general genealogy website, with excellent DNA facilities, and built-in research capabilities. The cost is $19.99/month or $99.00 for six months. They provide additional premium features at an extra cost. If you want DNA matching, then you must take their DNA test (cannot upload others). It has millions of users, with most of them working on their own individual trees. This leads to enormous duplicated efforts. We have found examples of some of our ancestors appearing in more than 200 different trees.
MyHeritage — This site provides a full range of general genealogy capabilities including DNA matching and DNA health. You can upload your DNA from Ancestry or other test companies. The free version has limitations but is probably worth the time and effort to set up, import your tree, and import your DNA. MyHeritage is a leader in photo enhancement technology, including tools for scratch removal, colorization, and animation. Premium plans begin at $129 per year.
FamilyTreeDNA — The site itself is free and includes the ability to upload both DNA and a tree, allowing for matching. However, its strength is in DNA testing, especially Y-DNA testing, which comes at a cost.
Find My Past — Appears to have the largest collection of Ireland and U.K. records. A basic account is free and premium versions begin at $14.95 per month
Geni — MyHeritage owns this site and claims to have more than 146 million people connected in its World Family Tree. It appears that the collaboration tools and a shared tree are functions it provides that are not directly in MyHeritage. We have not used it, although we have come across some of their records in Google searches. However, we view it as an “also ran” and not a serious contender. The basic site is free, and the premium version is $119.40 per year,
Research Sites
FamilySearch — In our opinion, this is the best place for census, birth, death, marriage, and other historical records. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns and maintains the free site, although you must register to access it. The site also has tree-building features.
FindAGrave — World’s largest gravesite collection with more than 210 million memorials. It is a free site, although not all memorials have a headstone photo or location.
BillionGraves — World’s largest resource for searchable GPS cemetery data. Each entry must have a headstone photo and GPS coordinates. It is a free site, although they offer premium upgrades starting at $4.58 per month.
Daughters of the American Revolution — The genealogy section contains very useful Ancestor (Veteran) and descendant databases. Most (perhaps all) Ancestor information is free. We have never encountered anything requiring payment, although we have not tried to access detailed descendant reports.
fold3 — Fold3 focuses on U.S. military records. Ancestry owns the site, and some of the Ancestry upgrade packages provide access to the site. The free version has limitations, and the premium membership is $7.95 per month.
DNA Testing and Analysis Websites
Genetic DNA testing comes in three basic forms: autosomal DNA, Y-DNA, and mtDNA. Autosomal is the most popular form of testing. It provides matching ability of all genetic relatives but is limited to about 5 or 6 generations. Y-DNA passes from male to male and is great for paternal surname research. Y-DNA mutates very slowly, allowing these tests to trace lineage for thousands of years. Maternal DNA (mtDNA) passes from the mother to each child. Unlike Y-DNA which only passes from father to son, mtDNA will pass from mother to son, and be testable in the son, but he cannot pass it any further.
Our Genetic Genealogy page has more information on this subject, and be sure to read DNA Testing: A Case Study With Staggering Conclusions before purchasing any tests.
Most DNA testing companies are now offering a “fourth” type of test — health. However, additional DNA samples are not required, as these health and attribute reports can be generated from the analysis of the sample supplied for your autosomal test.
The list below consists of genealogy websites focusing on genetic testing. Some of these sites also appear in the General Purpose grouping above.
Ancestry — This is the most popular autosomal testing service with the largest database. We recommend it as the starting point for anyone wanting to find DNA relatives and matches. You cannot upload other DNA tests to the Ancestry site, but you can download your Ancestry results and then upload them to other sites. The test costs $79 and health reports are typically about $50 extra (look for sales).
FamilyTreeDNA — FTDNA is the premiere Y-DNA testing site with the world’s largest Y-DNA database. They also provide autosomal and mtDNA testing. You can upload autosomal results from other companies, but you must use their Y-DNA tests. The autosomal test is $49, the mtDNA test is $159, and Y-DNA testing starts at $119 and can go as high as $449 for the Big Y-700 test. However, the company offers substantial discount sales multiple times a year.
MyHeritage — DNA testing at MyHeritage is $79, and the health screening report is $120. However, you can use the site and its tools with DNA results uploaded from other companies. MyHeritage has some unique DNA resources including its autoclustering tools.
GEDmatch — This is a site where you can upload your DNA results from other companies and compare results to others in the database. It was probably one of the first public DNA databases and became the source of many research projects. As such, it can generate many unique analysis reports that were born out of those research projects. Today, it is estimated to contain 1.2 million DNA profiles. Many options are available for free, and the more advanced Tier 1 program is $10 per month. Verogen acquired GEDmatch on December 9, 2019.
23andMe — This is a popular testing company, and their basic test provides autosomal along with with a limited Y-DNA and mtDNA identification. They also have a substantial array of health reports. Their basic test costs $99 and the full array is $199. However, this site is not very helpful for anyone building a family tree — you cannot enter or upload a tree, and therefore it cannot identify any DNA matches with a shared ancestor in their tree.
DNA Painter — This site provides useful tools for genetic genealogy. Tools include the Shared cM Tool, Cluster Auto Painter, Cluster Formatter, What Are The Odds, and the Individual Match Filter. The free level includes access to all tools. Premium subscriptions are $55 per year and remove restrictions on file sizes and trees.
Family Tree Builders
There are probably dozens of software packages and sites that will sell you a solution to building and displaying your family tree. However, we are of the opinion that these are all relics of the past. We can think of no reason that one of the general-purpose genealogy websites listed above cannot accomplish this task for you.
Personally, I perform 100% of my tree-building activity on WikiTree. Since it is a 100% free site, any of my relatives can get access to the tree. About once a year, I download my tree into a GEDcom file, then upload that file to Ancestry and other sites. With the latest version of my tree now at multiple sites, I can then use their DNA matching tools to find more relatives and potential tree extensions.
Miscellaneous Genealogy Websites
Our list of Rowland-specific websites is on our Rowland Resources page.
Bob’s Genealogy Filing Cabinet with a focus on Interpreting Colonial Records
Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet
Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County 1745-1800, by Lyman Chalkley, Complete in Three Volumes
Free Irish Genealogy eBooks, index and links to more than 4,000 free books and journals
Library of Congress, digital collections
Maps & Tables, by Jim Jackson. Follow the Berrys and Allied families through Time and History from our maps and tables, covering the British Isles, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and beyond.
Rambling Roots is “a website dedicated to the pioneer families of Washington County, Virginia.” It is operated by Diana Powell and contains a very extensive database of individuals, families, and their interconnections.
The Soldier in Later Medieval England is a searchable database provided by the University of Southampton.
Newspapers
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (1789-1863), part of the Digital Collection at the U.S. Library of Congress
GenealogyBank, newspapers, obituaries, and other records (requires fee/subscription)
Georgia Historic Newspapers, part of Georgia’s Virtual Library “Galileo” and initiative of the University System of Georgia
Newspapers, the largest online newspaper archive with 18,400 newspapers (requires a fee, limited access via some Ancestry.com subscriptions)
What’s Missing?
Are we missing any of your favorite genealogy websites? If so, then drop a comment below and we will see about getting it added to this list.
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