Billions of records available to search from
Ability to upload images, documents and attach them to family trees
Mobile app works on all platforms
Relevant blog articles giving up-to-date information
Social Media presence with helpful tips and useful research information: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr
Instructional YouTube videos for beginners as well as more advanced research tips to more seasoned genealogists
Community message boards and opportunities to collaborate with others sharing common ancestors
Comprehensive learning center
Differing levels of membership based upon your individual needs
Customer service representatives available 7 days per week from 9AM-11PM Eastern Time
Publishing options for your findings
Software and books available
Industry-leading software which is easy to use
Ancestry.com DNA tests are cutting edge and link members to their ethnic backgrounds, but to relatives also taking the tests. Adopted individuals have flocked to take these tests and many have found their birth families through Ancestry.com DNA matching.

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The Bad

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Ancestry.com is expensive and their pricing may be out of reach for some. The most comprehensive membership option has a hefty price tag of $199/annually. Pages can be slow to load, depending on the traffic on the site. Additionally, there are regular late-night upgrades to the service which make the site inaccessible at those times. (The times and dates for updates are published on the site as a bar across the top of pages.)

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The Bottom Line

For those able to afford an Ancestry.com membership, the quantity and quality of what is available surpasses the records by the for-profit competition in the field. Ancestry.com is a solid company with the resources to back up their claims and is constantly looking for new ways to innovate and stay on top of the competition. We recommend Ancestry.com and are confident they will help with your genealogy needs. When purchasing a membership and setting up an account, setting privacy options can be tricky. One should explore the privacy policies very carefully and determine which settings are appropriate for their needs. Maintaining more private settings make collaboration more challenging (even impossible in some cases), so this information should be carefully considered.

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Glenda Channel Kansas City, KS

I have been a subscriber to Ancestry since the very beginning and have generally found it to be excellent. However, the recent changes to the search function appear to have been implemented for the sole purpose of "looks" not for ease of use. Were any end users involved in this change????? Also, the print function is ridiculous. I have not seen printing like this (small picture in the middle of a full sized page) since the late 1980s when vendor software was in the early development stages. Is this printing problem because the new Ancestry is not compatible with Family Tree Maker (the software I use)? Sometimes changing for the sake of change (or appearing to change) is not as helpful as you might imagine.

11 years ago

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Thomas C Saint Petersburg, FL

I have been a member of ancestry.com for a few years now. I thoroughly enjoy utilizing this product. First, I have learned a great deal about my family tree. I've obtained a lot of valuable information via the U.S. Census, state census records (mostly from NY, NJ, and PA), military records. However, it is quite frustrating that death records are not available unless your purchase them (such as NY death certificates). Second, I've met many distant cousins via ancestry.com. We've exchanged information, as well as old family photos. This has been very exciting to catch up with relatives I never even knew or thought existed. I recently became acquainted with the new release of ancestry.com, which incorporates historical data into your family tree. This is an excellent feature, and a great addition to ancestry.com. However, where is the "share" on Facebook feature? It appears to be gone. I called the ancestry.com customer service number, and they were unable to assist me with locating the option to share my ancestry.com information on Facebook. In my view, this is a lost opportunity for free marketing and advertising for ancestry.com. Basically, I am happy with the ancestry.com product. Of course, as any novice genealogist, I hit dead ends in my researching efforts. However, the benefits far outweigh the costs and frustrations associated with this unique product.

11 years ago

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Linda Smith Daytona Beach, FL

My mother passed away approximately 20 years ago and at that time, I didn't know of any living relatives that I had ever met or known. I was curious and so I tried Ancestry.com on the free trial basis. I could never find anyone this time, so I left a message asking that if anyone had any info regarding my mothers' family to please contact me - so I left my email. I waited but I never saw any response, so I gave up. Then 10 years later, my daughter got on Ancestry.com and put my mothers' name in and she saw my message along with a message from someone with information. She told me about it and so I got on it again - never found the message she was telling me about; however, I did come across something that opened the secret door. I contacted this person by email and gave some specifics about the family. She contacted me back and asked some questions that I answered. I hit the jackpot!! She gave me access to her family tree and when I got on it, I couldn't believe my eyes. I never saw so many relatives - from my Great Great Grandfather all the way down to 3rd cousins. I was able to contact one of my 2nd cousins that lived only 3 hrs from my home and we met for the very first time. I couldn't believe how much she and my mother resembled each other. From this point, I met her children and also drove up North to Vermont to meet other relatives at the Family Reunion they have every two years. I highly recommend Ancestry.com as it is very informative and easy to use.

11 years ago

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Kaylee Gay Columbia, MO

I love how easy it is to get DNA results for your family history. All you have to do is mail-in DNA kits to get your whole family genealogy. I love history and it is very important to me to know the background of my family. These results can shape your identity. I also love how easy the website is to navigate. The kits tell you who you are connected to.

4 years ago

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Michelle Crossville, TN

The service is rather expensive now that I added the premium services. I found valuable documents on Fold3. Never found anything usefully on the international search and will probably downgrade my service in the future. Also, I would like to see the ability to search specific criteria and not have to sort through millions of entries. For example if I am looking for a record in one state, I don't need to see possible records for other states. Even when I know there is info available and not being able to find it, is really frustrating.

11 years ago

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Jill Collier Red Oak, TX

Very affordable and have found tons of information for my husbands side of the family for his 92 yr old dad before he passed away. I did get very frustrated over not finding out what happened to his grandmother who I assume died around 1869 to 1870. The only records were of her growing up and getting married. We assumed she died giving child birth cause her husband re-married. I just want to know what happened to her. I am willing to give this site another shot. Ancestry will jump thru hoops to help you in every way!!

11 years ago

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Virginia Barnett Mabelvale, AR

I love Ancestry.com for so many reasons. I have found so much on so many family members and found so many family members I had never heard about. There are so many ways and places you have the option to use. When I post photographs and someone copies it, I can check their site to see if they have something I did not have or know. I also have done the DNA and it has proven to be right on with my relatives. I am never bored because there is so much to do on Ancestry.

11 years ago

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Sue Mulberry, FL

I have used Ancestry.com for about 25 years. The improvements over the years have been fantastic for researching. I also teach Researching your Family History and use Ancestry as my main tool to research. Thank you for all the work that goes into putting all those records and information on your website. I have recommended Ancestry to many people to help them with their family search.

11 years ago

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Bonnie Smith Franklin, OH

I love Ancestry.com!! Have been using their site since 1997 when I first became interested in researching my ancestors. The site is easy to navigate. One caution is sometimes it will give you the same info 2 or mores times and before you know it you have added one person three times so I find myself erasing as fast as I add at times. I love the way they can add lots of dates with the click of a button! You need to weigh the accuracy of family trees because sometimes the info is not corredt. But overall it is my very favorite genealogy site to use!!

11 years ago

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Sam Anders Orem, UT

A lot of my family and I have taken the AncestryDNA test and I have the All Access subscription with them. While the DNA test is accurate, I feel that they rely on their marketing to make up for the science not being all there yet. For that, I've seen a lot of people disappointed in their results. As for the subscription service, I find it worth the price if you are >3 generation American and Genealogy is your main hobby. With so many records made available digitally, it's made the process easier. For someone just getting started, I recommend doing at most a 6 month subscription for the US Discovery subscription and don't forget to cancel. For monthly subscriptions, they can be really stingy about refunding you even if you try reaching out immediately after being charged for a new month.

7 years ago

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Fred O'Fallon, IL

I really overall enjoy Ancestry.com, but what happened to the option for the military page that used to be part of the person's profile? I thought it was nice. Why was it removed? Is there a plan to update and bring it back? I’m a veteran & would like to see it!

7 years ago

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Kari Staheli

I have used Ancestry.com in my geneology searches and like their service. I don't like the price however. I just recently did a DNA test that my children gave me for Mother's day. I am anxiously/excitedly waiting for the results which could take up to 8 weeks. Ancestry.com is a nice option for those looking for their ancestors.

9 years ago

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Shelly Thomas West Jordan, UT

I love Ancestry.com! My one and only complaint I have is each time I get on I wish that when you put down some information the company could stick with it! Or at least have it in alphabetical or numerical order for easier findings.

11 years ago

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christina gwynn Philipsburg, PA

This was great registered and did the free trial period for a project my niece was doing for school and ended up finding my great grandmothers true birth parents (she was adopted) and a second cousin just in that short period of time

11 years ago

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Peter Coyne Middletown, RI

I had amazing results during the years I was a member. Found and met an unknown cousin, my wife's half sister and brother that we had been searching for and relatives in Ireland and England who filled in missing info in my tree. Really enjoyed my research time but it just got too expensive.

11 years ago

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Vicki Doetsch Belleville, IL

I accessed Ancestry thru my local library. I have done Genealogy since the Bicentennial year off and on. I am picky about accepting a potential ancestor. I like to do it with legal records. I must say- I was impressed with Ancestry. If I did not live near a Library that had their service, I would pinch pennies somewhere else and subscribe!

11 years ago

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Ellen Wallace

Ancestry is awesome! I have always had questions answered. The people there are understanding and very competent. I have recommended them many times. While it is a bit pricey, it is worth the price because of what they offer!

11 years ago

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Elizabeth Hancock Sparks, NV

wishing that YOU had family rates, can't afford to have all family member's working on the family line. Plus some of your hints do not erase once you add them, also many hints are repeated over and over, and they haven't been verified

11 years ago

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Alicia Mesa, AZ

I have used Ancestry in connection with another genealogy website to work on my own family history and have been very pleased with it. I've been impressed with the way the website is laid out and the records they have access to. I love the hints that they send, allowing me to continue to look deeper into my family history and find records I might not have looked for otherwise. I would definitely recommend this to someone else.

4 years ago

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Brian Cowley Riverton, UT

I use ancestry.com in conjunction with Familysearch.org. I like using both as they have slightly different content which helps with getting more information about my ancestors. Their interface sometimes tries to do too much and definitely tries to upsell way too much. But I like the company. I liked the DNA test as well. Interesting information from it.

4 years ago

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Calista Huber Phoenix, AZ

I had such a cool experience on Ancestry.com! It is a little obscure, but I needed to find some family members of a neighbor who passed away. I had limited information on my neighbor, but was able to search for and find some of his family from all over the country, and even in other countries. We were able to chat and figure out what we needed to in order to help with the neighbor's house how we could. I have tried using Ancestry.com for family history and tend to get confused, but I have family members who love it, so I know I just need to keep learning! It is such a wonderful resource!

4 years ago

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Mary Fernandes New York, NY

I really enjoyed using Ancestry to find my ancestors and to find pictures I had never seen before. The tips they give are very good and lead you to some interesting discoveries. It is way too pricey though to maintain an account for very long. While I am happy that I can still see all the genealogy work I did, I can’t find any new info without a pricey membership. I’d say this company is wonderful and so eye opening but that is hard to maintain a membership long term.

4 years ago

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Mary Talladega, AL

Ancestry has A LOT of information BUT you will pay dearly for it. I had used Ancestry to make my "free family tree" quite a while back. I quickly realized that I couldn't do much more than what I knew of my extended family because I would have to pay for a subscription (no problems!) So i purchased a disk (thats how long ago we talking here) and was able to start the tree. A few years later i wanted to work on tree again...its like $20 a month! WTH! I love the info but that's a lot of money!

5 years ago

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Christine Farmer Littleton, CO

I have used Ancestry for DNA testing and for research for family history. The DNA testing is fun and informative. I expected a little more detail, but I am satisfied. The kit was easy to use and the results came online. It is fun to compare with other family members and see who you are connected to online! The research tools are also valuable, I have used it to look for birth, death or marriage records and also immigration records.

7 years ago

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Angela Nelson Pleasant Grove, UT

I use Ancestry along with FamilySearch.org to do all my family history. Ancestry has a great collection of records and is always adding more. Also, I did the Ancestry DNA kit and I love having links to new relatives. I am still trying to put all the pieces together, but I am now in contact (messaging through Ancestry) with so many new relatives I never knew I had.

7 years ago

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Sofie Rosenvall Alpine, UT

Ancestry.com makes filling out your family tree a breeze. It has been so much fun to find ancestors that have passed on before me. Fun to see pics of gravesites, and learn more about my heritage... I also like the way multiple people can be working on the same family member and we can each enter all the info we have found... I also did the DNA test and I loved the results... Such a great company!

8 years ago

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Brayden Ibert Houston, TX

I used Ancestry.com to find out my background and it was so easy! The website was very simple to understand and when they sent me everything to do it all the instructions were very clear. I’m so glad I used Ancestry.com

6 years ago

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Cade Boudreaux , FL

Me and my family decided to try Ancestry a couple of years ago. It was amazing to see our family in such a massive place. Thanks to Ancestry I’m able to know my entire bloodline!

6 years ago

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Dick Gosinya

Good experience and interesting results and I learned some family history that it seems everybody should n my family is unaware of. I also paid to do Ancestry DNA test which was worth the extra money $$.

7 years ago

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Alice McGaughey

Researching family history very easy to use. Not time consuming like some sites. Prompts help you gather the information. You can save information and return to the site where you left iff

7 years ago

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Thomas Hullinger Pleasant Grove, UT

They have everything you need to find your ancestors and add information to your line if you have it. I like their DNA tracking and all of the other services that they provide.

8 years ago

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Coleen Daniels Myersville, MD

This is a great site for those who are looking to find their long lost relatives. It is user friendly and has lots of great documents and information that can help you on you genealogical path!

8 years ago

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Jim Robinson Pinckney, MI

I found my Birth Father's family through Ancestry DNA!! They are wonderful We had a reunion just this Saturday. The new format is rather hard for me to use. The Data Base is amazing.

11 years ago

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Mandy Pesce Laurelton, NJ

I enjoyed seeing all of the hints of my family tree once I signed up. The only thing I don't like is that my family is really huge and it just keeps showing me the same people over and over again, nothing about extended family, cousins, etc. Only my grandparents on both sides. Weird.

4 years ago

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Chrissi Parrish Dallas, TX

Family and I have built a our ancestors tree it has helped us to connect to one another. This has helped us to connect to other family members you would have nor know about. I love how we can find out where we are from and go from there.

4 years ago Edited January 14, 2022

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Joy V Salt Lake City, UT

I got a testing kit for my Dad’s birthday and he loved it! It was super easy to use, but it does take 6 weeks to get your test results in. We found out a ton about our family and it even gives you a map that breaks down the timeline of where and when your family was there. Definitely worth it.

5 years ago

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Jason Burt Riverton, UT

Ancestry.com has a lot of great records, such as census records that really make family history work great! I have an account with Ancestry and often search these records to identify my ancestors. I have also had a DNA test done, which was great and gave me some very cool information!

5 years ago

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Myah Freeman Jacksonville, FL

What I like best about Ancestry is their ability to help me uncover my ancestors. One difficulty I didn't like much is the uncertainty of not knowing for sure if the connection was correct. Black Ancestry is a different battle because we have no confirmation past the 1870 Census.

5 years ago

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Ryan Harpenau Fayetteville, AR

I liked being able to trace my heritage back and learn more about where my family is from. It was very informative and I enjoyed reading the attached documents on some of my ancestors. I wish there was a way to ensure that the ancestry is accurate, but I am not sure how this could be accomplished.

5 years ago

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Karen Torino Tallahassee, FL

Ancestry helped me figure out where older generations of my family are from and what makes up who I am. It was interesting seeing how far back my Italian lineage goes. Website is nice if you want to find out a little more about yourself.

6 years ago

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Jaci Rhoades Arlington, TX

I have used this company for the last 10 years. It's a great way to start a family tree. The only problem is it's dependent on the people before you that have started the tree. For example I opened our family tree account. Because of that there is zero history recorded of our family.

6 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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Nathan D. Warrendale, PA

Ancestry.com is great for signing up and tracking your genealogy and family tree- you can sign up for a trial period of premium (I think they give you a week or two for free) I actually found an emigration document for my Great Grandfather that showed he was born in Turkey, we all thought we were Greek!

6 years ago

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Ron Durfey Pleasant Grove, UT

Love my ancestry. com account. I have used this every week and feel like the information I receive from them is accurate. I especially love the extras that are within my account (find a relative). Great service and company!

7 years ago

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Dean Ogden, UT

Ancestry.com has been a very interesting experience. If you are a diehard genealogy researcher Im not quite sure if they would be for you but being a novice it was super interesting to get lost in what they have to offer. It has been a fun experience but since I don't know if I will do a ton of it, I don't know if the cost will be worth it.

7 years ago

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Nathan Hill Pleasant Grove, UT

I just did a DNA test with Ancestry in the last few months and I have really enjoyed going back and looking at all my matches and learning more about where I am from. This is an easy to use software and product and I look forward to using it more.

7 years ago

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JAKE American Fork, UT

I have used Ancestry.com multiple times. It was very helpful for researching our family tree. We also used it for a church youth group activity. It was a lot of help using Ancestry.com to help them find information about their geneology. Sometimes it can be a little difficult to navigate the website. It did take some getting used to.

7 years ago

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Erika American Fork, UT

My family has had a lot of fun looking up our family tree. Ancestry.com is easy to use as soon as you get the hang of it. The only thing I don't like is having to pay for a subscription. I also found it was difficult to cancel.

7 years ago

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Shawn American Fork, UT

Ancestry is a great company for genealogy. Their platform is friendly and easy to use. I have worked on and viewed my family tree a few times. I also like their genetic testing and just sent off a package to see where family origins are from.

7 years ago

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Jacobrobot321 Folsom, LA

My grandparents and I use this to find out our origins and figure out just which branch of the world we’re from. We’re cajun, so of course we would have a lot of french!

6 years ago

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Lindsey Haight Logan, UT

It's amazing that so much information about my ancestors can be right at my fingertips. I've been happy that Ancestry and Family Search have collaborate a lot and I have access to so much information.

4 years ago