Best Family Tree Software to Find Your Roots

Since building up your family tree is all based on data search, comparison, and analysis, the deeper you dig, the more complicated and confusing the whole process might become. In the end, you can find yourself lost in facts and details and unable to match the puzzle of family ties. Hence, the ease of use is an essential aspect when it comes to genealogy software. And this is where the Ancestry excels.

Ancestry is a web-based service you can access from your PC, laptop, tablet, or even mobile from literally anywhere subject to a reliable Internet connection. The site provides access to generous resources. You can search among more than 20 billion records from 80 countries which is times more than other competitor services provide. Besides, the service constantly adds new info shared by users and all those records are updated and further expanded on a daily basis. So, you can trace your family lineage several centuries back and learn a lot of interesting facts about your ancestors and their family stories.

Whether you use a desktop version or an app, you’ll quickly get the hang of it, even if it’s your first experience with this sort of genealogy services. The website boasts an intuitive interface and offers a variety of guidance options. You can either start your search from scratch or upload an existing genealogy file such as GEDCOM, Family Tree Maker or Legacy. Whatever method you choose, well-thought hints and tips will guide you to the right root. By clicking on little shaking leaves that will emerge as you add family members, you can view such public info as birth, death, marriage, adoption, and census records and some other biographical data that can be crucial for your survey and give you a clue how to proceed.

Providing access to reliable information resources and accurate data and facilitating the whole research to the maximum, the Ancestry online family tree software will help you create your family tree much quicker and easier than you expect.

The most important thing about a genealogy search, as well as any other study, is the verity of results. Meanwhile, the form in which you obtain the final information is not less important since well-structured data and duly visualized outcomes provide a complete and comprehensible overview of research results. And this is exactly what you will get with the Legacy 9.0, the software that is considered one of the most reliable genealogy programs out there.

The Legacy 9.0 is the latest version of the downloadable software. Currently, the program is compatible only with Windows or can be run on Mac with a Windows emulator. However, the manufacturer states that a full Mac version will be available in the near future. While most other programs of this kind provide a short trial period, the Legacy 9.0 is available in a free standard version. It means you can download the software to your PC and use it as long as you need it for free.

Installing a program is a real snap. You simply enter your contact data and let the installation wizard do its job. Once installed, you can customize the program interface to your liking and convenience by moving toolbars, changing fonts, controlling formats, etc. The basic functionality you will get is decent and will let you easily build your family tree by uploading GEDCOM files or Personal Ancestry Files. A paid deluxe version also provides a number of extra features such as the SourceWriter for correct sources citation and a mapping option for marking plots and locations and even viewing 3D and satellite images of those sites.

Easy-to-install and customizable, the Legacy 9.0 is extremely easy to use. Though some consider the program interface design a bit outdated, it's still efficient and does what it's supposed to do perfectly well. Thanks to a floating-tab module, you won’t have to pen several separate windows at a time. The data entry process is really quick and won’t take much of your time. The program searches info through key sources (including FindMyPast, My Heritage, Genealogy Bank, and FamilySearch) to provide only accurate and true data on your ancestors. In case you study the family history of two individuals with the same name, a compare-two-people tool will put them side by side to find out if they are the same person. To avoid any possible confusion and mistakes, the program will also alarm you about potentially incorrect data so that you can double check.

Offering a functional and helpful free standard version and a fully fledged paid version, the Legacy 9.0 genealogy software is a solid and reliable genealogy tool suitable both for amateurs and for experienced genealogists.

If you are new to family tree building but eager to dip your toe into a close and detailed research of your lineage, you definitely need some simple yet helpful genealogy software that will make your survey maximum convenient and resultative. This is where the Family Heritage Platinum 15 will come in handy. Packed with easy-to-use yet powerful tools and a number of efficient features, this software will guide your search and help you create an accurate and well-organized family tree in several clicks.

While many other similar genealogy programs are predominantly available only for Windows, the Family Heritage Platinum 15 is offered both for Windows and Mac. Once you download the program to your PC, you’ll get direct access to the world’s largest genealogy database with billions of records and all of the latest genealogy tools. The first thing you will like is a friendly and easy-to-navigate interface. The Family Heritage speaks your language allowing you to choose between English, French, German, and Spanish language options. While searching for your ancestor profiles and importing them into your family tree, a built-in TreeTip technology will give you hints for some useful info and records on the members of your family tree.

Highly functional and efficient design tools will let you cleverly structure and present the discovered data in colorful trees, quality charts, and comprehensive reports which you can share with your family and keep for your descendants. The color coding system will allow you to quickly identify and track relatives from maternal and paternal sides. The Research Timeline feature will enable you to uncover events (such as war or immigration) that have affected your ancestors and family history. In addition, you can use tags (up to 3 tags per each family tree member) to sort and code your ancestor similarities. The only limitation about this program is the lack of an in-app browser which means you’ll have to switch between programs when searching info online.

Rather simple than flashy yet fitted with a number of helpful tools and options, the Family Heritage Platinum 15 is a perfect choice for beginner genealogists and hobbyists.

A variety of available ancestry software and online genealogy services enable you to create your family tree from scratch step by step incorporating records and data. Meanwhile, the OneGreatFamily offers a completely different approach. Created around the idea of one big global family tree, this online platform will cross-link you to thousands of other family trees in its database to help you find more relatives and ancestors and track your family lines.

Just like many other online services, the OneGreatFamily gives you an opportunity to start with a free trial period. Within 7 days, you’ll be able to test the program and make a decision whether it is right for you or not. If you decide to subscribe, the site offers flexible and budget-friendly subscription plans. Depending on your needs, you can subscribe for a month, a quarter, or a full year.

When you sign up, the system records your personal data to create an entry that will serve as a starting point for your research. The site will automatically scour its extensive database and recommend a great number of records from other family trees for you to find possible matches. In case you have already begun your genealogy survey, you can simply upload your existing GEDCOM file and proceed with the OneGreatFamily to find out more about your relatives or add new ancestors.

If you need an in-depth insight into your family history, the OneGreatFamily is the right genealogy software to go for. By establishing connections, it will help you reveal the relationships you never knew about and find distant relatives.

Premium genealogy software and the latest web-based solutions provide a whole array of tools, features, technologies, and options to optimize, facilitate, and expedite your family history journey. However, those perks usually add some extra cost and some of them might appear unnecessary in practice. And it often happens that a well-balanced selection of standard tools is enough to perform a resultative search and build an informative family tree. This is what the Ancestral Quest is all about.

It is affordable traditional software that might lack some advanced functionality of more expensive competitor programs, yet, the latest Version 15 was updated with new features to maximize your genealogy research. And what you will like most is that the program is offered in two versions including a free Basics version providing all essential options to efficiently work with your family tree and some helpful updates and a paid Full version ensuring some advanced abilities making it a complete solution. If the basics meet your needs it means you can conduct your research without paying a cent. And even if you need some added functionality, you won’t have to pay a fortune for that. Both software versions are available for Windows and Mac users. Besides, on the Ancestral Quest website, there is a detailed comparison chart describing all features of each version to help you decide what is better for you.

To start building your family tree, you can upload your GEDCOM, FamilySearch, and even Personal Ancestry files (for full version users). The TreeTips technology will display hints for some useful records from other reliable informational resources. Meanwhile, the Memories Manager will let you exchange scrapbook items with FamilySearch. You can also do your own search by setting certain parameters like the birthdate, surname, or place of residence. The only downside is that the program won’t automatically transfer the matching data to your family tree. You’ll have to do it manually. However, this minor drawback is fully compensated by a variety of available chart types and publishing options. You’ll be able to create professional pedigree charts, ancestry charts, descendant charts, fan charts, and genealogy book reports and print all those charts directly from the software even in a wall format.

Though affordable and pretty simple, the Ancestral Quest has something to offer both to an enthusiastic genealogist and to a seasoned researcher.