Familysearch or Ancestry

Question

I would like to know which would be the best to subscribe to as far as amount of information one can get: familysearch.org, ancestry.com, findmypast.

Comments

FamilySearch is free and has many of the same records as Ancestry.  

Answer 1

Familysearch is free.  The others, you have to pay for.

Comments

SurnameDB.com is also a free site with surname origin information.

Answer 2

I'm not familiar with findmypast.

About Ancestry.com, I belonged to that site for several years and admit that I did find the "hints" helpful, and that is what they are, just hints.  The downside is that much of it was not sourced, and because of that I opted to NOT upload my ancestry file onto WikiTree, but added each one separately  and sourced them one at a time.

My suggestion is to use familysearch and see if it works for you.  Since it's free, you will not be out any cash.

Comments

Find My Past is owned by Ancestry, I believe. I think it's more of an Ancestry for UK, give or take, these days. And has similar fees to Ancestry.

---

Well - I guess I was wrong - it does not appear that it's owned by Ancestry - at least not that I can tell. But it is essentially Ancestry for UK and has similar fees.

---

Findmypast is definitely not under the same ownership as Ancestry. They are competitors.

Answer 3

I use all three, but it depends on where you are researching. I took a quick look at your tree and see that among the locations you have are Durham and Lancashire so you might also find these two sites useful:

https://Durhamrecordsonline.com

http://www.lan-opc.org.uk

 

Answer 4

FamilySearch seems to be the most recommended site I have noticed when looking for census reports, birth and marriage records etc. I learned to like going there because unlike Ancestry, you get the whole picture, not bits and pieces especially if you are not a paid member of Ancestry.

I do use all three though, to get hints or a direction to look into if there is a roadblock etc. But for sources, "FamilySearch: links seem to work the best.

Comments

Thanks Dorothy, I will check them out. I do use familysearch but was told that a site like Ancestry where one pays I might get more info to sort out my brick walls

Answer 5

My personal opinion is - it depends.

If you're interested in getting good sources, for free, you really can't beat Family Search. But, keep in mind they will have limitations. A lot of good sources are available there, but it can be a trap to only use FS, as there are a lot of good sources elsewhere too.

So Ancestry, I tend to not be interested in a subscription as I'm in the US, and at most public libraries, I can get on the local internet and get their information for free. So it's a bit inconvenient to either wait for a free weekend (some holidays they will open it up a bit) or travel to the library, but I think it's worth it.

That leads to Find My Past. I believe this focuses more towards records from the UK, and if your research is taking you in this direction, you might consider this.

Personally, I try to make do with what can without a subscription and I'm able to find a pretty significant amount of information this way.

Comments

Thanks Scott. Your reply actually does answer what I needed to know. I won't be subscribing to a site where one must pay. I wil stick to family search, OPC etc

Answer 6

I find Family Search useful for records, although they don't have everything.  Also, Family Search trees are deplorable, and some of the most inaccurate trees I have seen online. I do give them high marks for making the records free to the public.

Comments

I agree, my Family Search tree has been messed up many times due to inaccurate data being added. People do not always do a full search to find if the  info is true. However, for sources it can be great since it is free.