Choose Your Search Tools
Every researcher needs the right instruments. Here's a plain, honest look at the tools genealogists reach for most — and which ones are worth your time first.
The Online Landscape: Free vs. Paid Tools
Take a breath — you do not need to buy every premium subscription on day one. Most family historians build their toolkit slowly, adding one resource at a time as their research calls for it.
Broadly speaking, the online research world splits into two camps: giant commercial search engines with paid subscriptions, and free repository archives maintained by libraries and historical societies.
The Battle of the Giants
These two records anchor almost every serious family tree online.
The Commercial King
Ancestry.com
Best for quick matching and automatic hints.
- 40+ billion global historical records
- The famous “Green Leaf” automatic hinting assistant
- The world’s largest pool of interconnected family DNA matches
The Free Powerhouse
FamilySearch.org
Best for researching your ancestry on a strict budget.
- 100% free to use for anyone, anywhere
- Managed globally by the LDS Church
- Massive digital microfilm archive and a single shared global tree network
LOG
Lesson Resource
Your Free Genealogy Password & Account Tracker
Never get locked out of your research again. Print this handy log sheet to safely keep track of your usernames, passwords, and subscription renewal dates right at your desk.
Specialty Search Engines for Niche Research
- MH MyHeritage The premier international tool to reach for when you discover your family has deep, 19th-century European branches.
- F3 Fold3 The undisputed home for tracking down military draft cards, service folders, and historical pension files.