Name: Ancestry.com
Rating: 4.2

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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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Alicia Larsen Gilbert, AZ

Despite the annual fee, Ancestry is the best paid family history site, hands down. Tons of records (and many different records than what you can get for free on FamilySearch), the ability to connect with other people, and their DNA service which is the biggest (by FAR) in the industry, helping you connect with other DNA relatives to learn more about your own roots. I'm a huge fan.

8 years ago

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Brittney Mac Gregor Louisville, KY

I have a neutral opinion of Ancestry. Though no fault of their own, the service was just not that useful for me. As an adopted woman, I wanted to learn more about my heritage and my history. What I learned was that there were not many documents related to me or my heritage. I was unable to find any information about my family through ancestry, however I do plan on giving it another shot now that it has been around for several years since I first tried.

5 years ago

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Helena Danby Shelley, ID

I love this website! All the tips they give you help with finding out about my family and our ancestors. It's also nice to get the kids involved! It's great for people of all ages!

5 years ago

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Rachel Davenport, IA

You get a lot of bang for your buck. The more time and effort that you put in, the more info you will find. Be mindful, it can cause a lot of family drama with the DNA kit. Have fun with that ride.

5 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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Chris P Katy, TX

They just want my money. I did the DNA test and then 1 year of membership. At that point I spent $424. I accidentally let it auto-renew for 6 months of "all access" (the most expensive). I called them 3 weeks after my $211 PREPAID 6 months and begged for a refund or at least prorated refund. Nothing, no help, did not care. The agent just kept repeating "we're sorry sir, the process won't allow a refund". I asked to speak to his supervisor. Same answer. Their Customer Service won't even help me a little bit. I'm so bummed and now feel cheated and taken advantage of. I wanted to like Ancestry but they act like a massive organization that won't work with me.

5 years ago

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Nikkia Hall

I was so amazed at how I was able to find family members whom I never knew existed.It took little to no time to get results.Now I feel I can learn in depth about my roots so my children and their c's

7 years ago

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Lauren

Found all of my extended family and more....I'm currently using this wealth of knowledge to name our newest addition! So many great names to choose from and it feels good to know I'm honoring an ancestor.

7 years ago

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lrs Philippi, WV

I just started ancestry.com and so far completely disappointed. The search engine is awful. I put in my exact grandmother's name, exact dates for birth and death, and even the exact address where she lived. I made sure I selected "female." I kept getting results for male names and female names, way out of date range. So I then made sure the dates were exact, you would expect a few people pop up, but no - I got an error saying "no information available." Then, when you try to go to different websites on your own through ancestry.com, like find a grave - you are asked to subscribe and pay another subscription fee. They also boast of DNA testing. All the DNA test tells you is what ethnicity you are - well it really isn't that complicated for my family (German and Irish) - and there is no help for formulating your family tree. If you want help, you have to click "Hire and Expert." The starting price? $2,500!!!! That's STARTING. The search engine does not give you the tools you need to do this on your own. It is almost like they have to force you to hire the expert to get your lineage.

7 years ago

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divan Chino, CA

I ordered a DNA kit to be sent to a cousin in Washington however the kit was sent to me instead (at the billing address). The order status info on Ancestry and my confirmation email clearly states the correct shipping address. I spoke with Kimberly at Ancestry who stated this has happened in the past. She apologized but stated if I wanted my cousin to receive the kit, I'd have to send it to her. I asked to have a shipping label sent to me, but was told they don't provide those. Really? Ancestry ships a DNA kit to the wrong address and it's the consumer's responsibility to forward it to the correct address??? I'd already been charged $9.95 by Ancestry to ship the test, but now they expect me to pay additional shipping fees? I asked Kimberly for the address to Ancestry headquarters. When she asked why, I informed her I planned to file a complaint. She provided Ancestry.com/Support saying I would find the info there. I explained that I'd already read that page and it didn't have any contact info for the company. Her comment? "that's all I'm allowed to give". If you look on Ancestry.com you'll notice there is NO contact information whatsoever. Apparently they want you to pay exorbitant fees for membership but don't want those members to ask for assistance - even when they're the cause of the problem.

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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Kymberlee Yack Orem, UT

My family loves ancestry. We've been using them for years. It's helped us locate other long distance members of our family. I also did the DNA kit and it was so interesting to see where I originate from.

7 years ago

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R. Wilkes Memphis, TN

Poor shipment delivery service. Purchased two DNA kits from Ancestry.com who uses UPS to pickup and deliver shipment to destination city. At destination city, UPS transfers the shipment to USPS for home delivery. That logistical hand-off proves to be inefficient and can add days to final delivery time. As for my shipment, UPS delivered it to the correct city but the wrong post office location. Instead of transferring the shipment to the correct local post office for delivery, USPS forwarded the shipment to another city 200 miles away for a delivery date 3 days later! Yes, USPS shipped it 200 miles away, to ship it back 200 miles for delivery. Genius! When I called Ancestry.com the customer service rep told me that this was a USPS issue, not Ancestry.com. I purchased the DNA kit from Ancestry.com, who selected this UPS/USPS tandem for its delivery option. So, yes, this IS an Ancestry.com issue. So, please lower your standards and expectations for shipment delivery from Ancestry.com/UPS/USPS. I would suggest exploring 23 & Me who may have a better shipment and delivery process. P.S. I asked the customer service rep if by chance my order does not arrive within the delivery window outlined by Ancestry.com could I cancel my order for a refund. She said, yes, but there would be a $25 restock fee. What? As the customer I have to pay a fee for Ancestry.com's/UPS/USPS mistake and poor logistics model? In good faith, I cannot recommend Ancestry.com to a friend based on its poor delivery and customer service (deflection of the problem onto USPS).

7 years ago

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Avery Fowler Pleasant Grove, UT

I have loved using Ancestry.com. I have been able to find family members I would never have known about without Ancestry.com. It's fast and not very complicated! It has changed my life and I highly recommend it!

8 years ago

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Jim Stewart Queen Creek, AZ

Great company providing a great service for families. Easy to use. As a beginner I have found over 3000 ancestors. Many with pictures and stories. Helps families connect to the past.

8 years ago

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Donna McLaughlin Redding, CA

If you want to talk to a Customer Service rep. be prepared to wait up to an hour. They can't really even do anything except refer you to their supervisor, who makes a note, and then..... well, you wait...and wait...and wait. Never to hear back anything. That leaves you with having to call again. Same story; no results. In addition, the customer service representative can't even connect with a supervisor; I've been left waiting on hold for up to 25 minutes just to have her check with a supervisor. Unacceptable! Been with ancestry over 2 years; I've built quite a tree, lots of unknown links found, i.e. to Thomas Jefferson, Charlemagne, Chaucer, Kings and Queens. Very informative. But when something goes wrong on their end, they are VERY hesitant to admit fault. I've finally threatened to close my account, and now they are supposedly working hard(er) to address my problems.

8 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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Kathy Hughes Covington, LA

I have been with Ancestry since 2007 and really love it. Have found so many relatives I never knew I had. DO NOT like the new format at all and went back to the classic .. hopefully I can stay there.

11 years ago

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Shirley Tomlin Lumberton, TX

Ancestry.Com is a great site for records but so is a free site, FamilySearch.org. However, a lot of people involved in genealogy feel their ads and promotions are very misleading. The recent one about checking your surname as it might show you are royalty. That is BS. Having a name of a royal house doesn't even indicate a person has royal ancestry. Also it should mention in the ads that family trees on Ancestry.Com are not records. A person should distinguish between subscriber submitted family trees and actual records. I saw where someone found her family going back to 1150 on Ancestry.Com. Poor dingbat. Ancestry.Ciom does not have records going back to 1150. That person took information from family trees which are full of errors. Now family trees on any website are not to be trusted until verified with records but when your ads show someone pointing to a family tree it makes it appear that is how a person finds their genealogy.

11 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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lynda crabill Palatka, FL

it is a very good tool with helping to find your ancestors. But getting out and seeing the real documents, graves sites and meeting any of them that are still alive is the only thing better.

11 years ago

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Linbell Papillion, NE

I had great success connecting a family, most of whom did not know each other! I am hoping for more marriage records to be loaded. It sure helps with finding female ancestors.

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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Nanci Hoover Edwardsville, IL

Great if you can afford it. But they are gobbling up other sites that used to be free and have reformatted rootsweb.com to the 'diggers' detriment. Cut the price drastically and i will renew. I had to go to a new operating system to continue to use it when i had a membership.I bought a DNA kit but now that i don't have a membership i can't follow up on that aspect of my search for kin.

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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gracie s. hernandez apodaca Rio Rancho, NM

I found a lot of things about my family however, I need to find out more. My Mexican family immigration papers photo were very hard to see. I have some missing pieces that were from Mexico. I would love to view them. I only hope that Ancestry (since it is the only website of honorable ancestry findings) will include Mexico birth & baptisms perhaps. Plus my ancestry DNA of what specific Native tribes in my family. The price is high for someone like me. I hope they will someday give a lower price range.

11 years ago

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Patricia Davidson Nashville, TN

A couple of years ago I would have given a 9 or 10 rating, but things were changed and the site is a mess to use. If I put in a name, birthdate, place of birth, etc. - I might get that name on top of the list and it might be a hundred or so down the list with totally unrelated names in between, all mixed up. We no longer have the little "magnifying glass" that was so useful in identifying numbers and letters. In the past year and 4 months we have had Ancestry there has not been one thing I could use added - it's all England, Australia, obscure items from the US - I'm happy for the people who can use those things, but would like to have something new for Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas and a few other Southern states. If my husband wants to renew the end of this year, ok - for me, I don't think so.

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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Ann Dines Phoenix, AZ

Ancestry.com has been good for my family. We found and connected with lost family members, found ancestry members that we are related to, and love sharing and finding new records. As retirement approaches just not sure we can keep our membership at the hefty price Ancestry.com charges. Maybe they will think about a senior discount in a few years or a discount for longevity members.

11 years ago

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Tonya Luker Memphis, TN

We have recently connected with family members through ancestry. This is an amazing and exciting site to find lots of information. They have many resources to verify information. I have started a family tree and they have been very helpful in linking me to my relatives. Great site!

4 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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Shopman Herriman, UT

I love Ancestry.com. Having an account with them has changed my ability to find my ancestors. They have so many records to search through. When you find one record that has your family member in it, Ancestry will give you hints of other records that my have them also. If you are interested in family history, Ancestry is a must have!

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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Luke Swierczynski Waterford, MI

Was fun to see my last name given how unique it is to see how many others out there have it. Not too surprising that only a couple 1000 people have my name. Was very interesting going through old census data and learning more about my heritage.

4 years ago

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Michelle Chandler, OK

I love Ancestry.com. I've been trying to trace my Native American roots through Ancestry. I can't give enough props to them. I have been able to trace my lineage as far back as the 1500's. I have discovered many, many interesting and historical facts about my ancestors. I definitely recommend Ancestry.com.

4 years ago

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Anita Brooks Denver, CO

I like the way the website because I think it is user friendly. I have been using Ancestry for over 8 years and I think it has the most information that I am researching for. There has been a couple of times that I needed to call them for a support issue, and they were very pleasant and knowledgeable and solved my issue very fast.

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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Brooklyn Jensen Provo, UT

This company provides a great way to learn more about your family. As I was researching and working to find family members, Ancestry was super helpful. They provided hints and records that I could use to find even more members of my family, and to learn a lot more about my ancestors.

5 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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Jason Spokane, WA

I love Ancestry.com!!! I like to do a lot of family history research and ancestry.com is super helpful I don't know what I would do without it. It has tons of records and its easy to use this has helped me out so much over the years.

5 years ago

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Madisen Cluff Los Angeles, CA

My Grandma loves Ancestry.com. Last summer I helped her navigate the app so she could figure out how to do it herself. It is very easy to use which is important if the user isn't exactly adept at using technology. Sense then, she has found a lot of relatives and filled in many gaps in our family tree.

5 years ago

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peter harmatuk Poolesville, MD

I infrequently use this site/service but my sister is heavily engaged in family tracing both for our immediate family and for a service called "find a grave" where she tags gravesites with their GPS coordinates so that relatives can find where their families past generations are buried. Their on-line tools are easy to use and understand

5 years ago

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Kent Fuge Phoenix, AZ

I love the automation that goes on behind the scenes to help me find information about my progenitors. It's not the only family history site I use but it's what I always use when I am trying to track down an ancestor or a piece of documentation for what I might be currently working on.

5 years ago

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Katrina Breithaupt Provo, UT

Ancestry.com offers a unique interface that displays the family tree in a very personal way, complete with profile pictures of the ancestor and how they are connected to you. It also provides good documents if you're looking for more sources on a specific ancestor.

5 years ago

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Hannah McGuire Los Angeles, CA

Ancestry is awesome when is comes to searching for documents! They have the best online library in my opinion of documents. Very easy to use, very accessible, and your account with ancestry can connect with your family search account.

5 years ago

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Jake Mecham Lehi, UT

At first I thought Ancestry.com was just a company that would help me identify my ancestors. I was very wrong. They have their own TV shows too! I love watching their shows and I also can identify with the feelings of those characters as I have reconnected with my family too.

5 years ago

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Mary Alice M. Orem, UT

I have found a lot of helpful information on Ancestry while trying to do my family history. It is good to use as many websites as you can in order to find the most information, but the one thing I really like about Ancestry is it seems like they have a lot of census records that I couldn't find anywhere else.

5 years ago

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Jared Provo, UT

I have used Ancestry.com multiple times as I've searched for information about my ancestors. My searches through Ancestry.com have helped me get valuable information that wasn't available anywhere else. Very happy with their service!

5 years ago Edited September 14, 2021