Ancestry, MyHeritage and Findmypast compared
These services largely resell the same record images with different search engines, interfaces and extra collections. The right choice depends on where your family lived and which records you are missing.
What each is genuinely best at
| Service | Strength | Weak spot |
|---|---|---|
| Ancestry | Largest combined US record and DNA pool; the strongest hinting engine and the most complete census and military indexes | Most expensive; aggressive upselling; weak outside the English-speaking world |
| MyHeritage | Strong European collections and a large non-US DNA pool; good for immigrant families from continental Europe | Smaller US record depth; search results can be noisy |
| Findmypast | Excellent British and Irish records, newspapers, and parish registers | Thinner US coverage, so of limited use unless your lines are British |
| FamilySearch | Free, enormous, and run by a nonprofit; many record sets have browsable images | Index quality varies; some collections are image-only and unsearchable |
The honest advice
Do not subscribe until a specific record is behind a paywall. Start free: National Archives census access, FamilySearch collections, state archives, and the National Park Service manifest search. When you hit an index without images, or a search that fails for a common surname, that is the moment a subscription earns its cost.
If you buy, buy a month, not a year, and use it hard against a written list. Most research is bursts of activity, and an annual plan bought in January is usually idle by March.
Watch the renewal terms
These services renew automatically at full price after an introductory period, and cancellation windows vary. Note the renewal date when you subscribe, and check whether a free trial converts automatically. The same applies to newspaper add-ons, which are billed separately and are easy to forget.
Also worth checking before you pay: whether your local library offers in-building access, and whether a state archive or historical society near you subscribes. Many do, at no cost to you.
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