MyHeritage Review

MyHeritage Review!

There are many genealogy search websites for you to discover your ancestors. Here in this MyHeritage review, I will show you how this site will help you along your genealogy journey.

MyHeritage Review

* Affiliate Disclaimer *

If you want to learn more then please read on. I have a lot to cover so this may take a while.

MyHeritage Rating and Details

RatingRating Stars - 4(4/5)
SubscriptionPremium$9.17 / month (billed annually)
Premium Plus$10.95 / month (billed annually)
Data/Record Search$9.95 / month (billed annually)
Complete Plan$20.89 / month (billed monthly)
Free?
Yes, but there are limitations with free membership
Records
11.1 Billion Records
Family Tree Builder
Yes
Other FeaturesSuperSearch, Matching Technologies, Timebook
Help & Support
Message board, Help Center, and Telephone support
Bottom Line
This Site Offers A Lot To The Family Historian!
CHECK IT OUT  ==>
www.MyHeritage.com

What is the MyHeritage site?

This powerful genealogy search website was brought to the public way back in 2003. The site has been helping countless people from all over the world to trace their family history ever since.

MyHeritage provides support in 42 languages!

The company behind the site is based in Israel and has its headquarters in Or Yehuda.

They also have another office in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, besides two in the United States. One is in Lehi, Utah while the other is in Burbank, California.

Credit:   MyHeritage

Tons of records and members!

As with any genealogy site you can imagine that they have many records at their disposal for you to access. Billions of records!

And you are also able to create your very own family tree right on their site. So as you find new pieces of information about your ancestors you can immediately plug it into your tree.

The MyHeritage community has presently 94 million users which thus far have created 40 million family trees.

As you can imagine with this number of people you can surely get the help that you are after from fellow members.

And finally, the low price MyHeritage DNA testing kit that is offered has proved very popular with its members, as well as any one else who is interested in their ancestry.

Discussed in this post:

When you have finished checking out this site review why not check out my Best Genealogy Sites For Your Family History Research post.

And then after that head on over to Top Ten Reviews where they review the ten best genealogy search websites that are both free to use and subscription-based.

Express Your Thoughts Below

Express Your Thoughts Below!

I would love to hear from you.

Tools and Features!

I have already briefly discussed what MyHeritage has to offer but let’s just look a little closer, shall we?

Before I do continue though I must point out that all of the services that are offered can be accessed via tablet, mobile, or desktop.

So, you keep on researching your ancestry no matter where you are.

And you can sync between the different devices!

Isn’t that great?!

The tools and features that are on offer:

Billions of historical records

Currently, the number of available records is 11.1 billion.

The records that you will find amongst the collection include birth, marriage, and death certificates, census records, military, and immigration documentation, and yearbooks.

Besides these billions of records, you can also view historical newspapers to help you with your genealogy research.

SuperSearch Feature

Within the SuperSearch feature, you will find all the records that I have listed above.

Also available within this feature are the family trees, photos, videos, and documents posted by other members.

MyHeritage members that have set their privacy to the public can also be searched for through this feature, as well as the family sites that they have created.

So, this feature is a search for everything and anything that is stored on the site.

There are 4 collections within the SuperSearch feature:

  1. Family Sites
  2. Family Trees
  3. Members
  4. Photos

Please note: Some records can be accessed for free but most will require a paid subscription in order to access them.

Family Tree Builder

All of the major genealogy search websites will provide a family tree builder feature. It pretty much comes as standard these days.

It’s free to start using this feature. You begin by adding your first and last name, then enter your email address and your year of birth.

Then add your parents’ full names. There’s no need to worry if you have created your family tree elsewhere as you can easily upload a GEDCOM file to the site.

Credit:   MyHeritage

To make your family tree more visual you can upload photos of your ancestors.

So, you can put a face to the information that you have about the person in your tree.

And to make the process of researching your family tree easier you can view charts and produce statistics as well.

Check out the MyHeritage Online Family Tree Builder.

Matching Technologies

MyHeritage uses several matching technology to help you find your ancestors and information about them.

  • Smart Matching – Get further information about your ancestor by cross-referencing the details that you have in your family tree with other members’ trees.
  • Record Matching –  Similar to Smart Matching this feature looks at the historical records within members’ trees to join the dots.
  • Record Detective – This will help you to find other historical records featuring your ancestors based on what records you have within your family tree. It can also use trees to make these connections as well.
  • Instant Discoveries – The feature can potentially create a new branch of your family tree instantly by checking information found within other family trees and records.
  • Global Name Translation – This can help you to find your ancestors’ records in their mother language.
  • Search Connect – This will index search queries and be able to connect you with others who have performed similar searches.

Timebook

Timebook is only available for the top tier of members at MyHeritage who join the Premium Plus subscription package.

The feature will show all the information that you have entered for a person, together with their family, all in chronological order.

This feature helps you to identify any missing gaps of knowledge about your ancestor. It is a great way that you can glean more information to put into your family tree.

If you wish to print out the time book for your ancestor then you will need to pay an additional fee. The price depends on the paper size that you select.

MyHeritage DNA

Popular with genealogists is the desire to get their DNA tested to further their genealogy research.

And it is great to know that MyHeritage also offers this service.


Subscription Packages

Originally this site did provide a free service. As you can imagine though with so much on offer from this company they had to make it a paid site.

It is free to join but in order to access full genealogical records and newspapers to help you with your family history journey, you will need to pay a subscription.

Snippets or excerpts of records can be viewed freely but the full versions are only accessible for the paid members.

There are a couple of limitations for the free user of this site when it comes to the family tree builder feature.

  1. Cannot confirm relationships between members of MyHeritage.
  2. Cannot contact other members of the site.

Cost of the Subscription Packages

  • Premium$9.17/month (billed annually)
    • Access only MyHeritage family sites and MyHeritage members
    • Can add 2,500 people to your family tree
    • 1,000MB of storage
  • Premium Plus$10.95/month (billed annually)
    • Access MyHeritage family sites, MyHeritage family trees, MyHeritage members, and MyHeritage photos
    • Can add unlimited people to your family tree
    • Unlimited storage
    • Timebook
  • Data/Record Search$9.95/month (billed annually)
    • Access all collections, be able to confirm/reject record matches, and save/extract information from the records as well.

Check out the site for free first!

I would suggest before you do part with your money to first check out the site for free. Signing up to MyHeritage costs nothing, but there will be limitations with this subscription.

But at least you will have an idea of what is on offer with this site. And also you will become familiar with the layout of the site and how to use the included features.

Then when you are happy with the service provided you can opt with any one of the above subscription packages.

Do bear in mind that the prices that I have listed above are per month but each of the 3 subscription packages is annually billed.

You may only be interested in connecting with other members of the site and viewing their sites, (Premium package).

But if you want to gain the full potential of this site, (at under $2 more per month), then this option will help you to propel your genealogy research.

At least that’s my opinion!

Complete Plan Subscription Package – Special Plan & Offer!

I am pleased to announce that there is a 4th subscription package called the Complete Plan.

This subscription package has everything that MyHeritage has to offer you.

What’s included in the Complete Package:

  • Private family site with unlimited capacity
  • Automatic Record Matches
  • Vital records from 48 countries
  • Smart Matches™ with 38 million trees
  • Record Detective™ II
  • Book Matching
  • PedigreeMap™
  • Sun Charts™
  • Consistency Checker
  • NEW! Photo Discoveries™
  • Over 11.1 billion historical records
  • Start a new tree or import GEDCOM
  • Unlimited photo storage
  • Apps for iOS/Android smartphones and tablets
  • Military and immigration records
  • 1790-1940 US census
  • 1841-1911 England & Wales census
  • Compilation of Published Sources collection with over 450,000 books and 91 million pages
  • Family Tree Builder premium software

Genealogy Guide readers can check out this plan on a 14-day free trial. When that period ends you would normally have to pay $20.89.

However, I am pleased to announce that through this site you can get a 52% saving on this price.

Yes, that’s right when the free trial period has ended you will pay just $9.95 a month.

So, you can get full access to MyHeritage features and collections at more than half the normal price.

Registering your account

To be able to start using this site and searching for your ancestors you will need to create a tree. All you need to do to start on your family history journey is to enter what you know.

And that is your details as well as your parents’ full names.

You will need to select a plan type and add your billing details as well.

After that, you will be sent a confirmation email where you will be provided with a link to create your password and complete the registration process.

And that is it!

You can then start finding records about your ancestors and build your family tree.

Please note:

If you upgrade or make any purchases MyHeritage will call you from an automated system. This is a security feature that I like about the site.


Get Free Access!

I did mention in the previous section that you can start using the MyHeritage site for free. But I just wanted to make it clear to you what exactly you can do for free on this site here.

Free Access

You will be able to create a basic site for free on this genealogy website. But there will be a limit to the number of people that you can store in your tree.

There is currently a limit of 250 of people in a family tree and storage space is topped at 500MB.

This means that you may not be able to store within your free tree every record and photo that you find about your ancestor due to this restriction.

So, it does mean that you will need to consider upgrading to a paid subscription if/when your family tree exceeds 250 ancestors.

And also whether you want to view all collections within the SuperSearch feature.


Help & Support!

No one likes to get stuck while they are researching their family tree. You can well into researching a particular family member only to be bamboozled by a feature or unsure how to proceed.

Help and Support

That is why MyHeritage offers many ways for you to get the help and support that you need.

Help Center

To help get the advice that you are looking for the Help Center is divided into 7 sections.

  1. Subscriptions & Payments – Learn the differences between the different subscriptions for the site, as well as what backup service is available.
  2. Family Site – Discover how to create charts and books, upload photos to your family tree, and more.
  3. Family Tree Builder – Learn how to start and build your family tree, export your tree, and more besides.
  4. MyHeritage App – Just what is the mobile app and how it can help you.
  5. Discoveries & Research – Learn all about the different research features that are included on the site.
  6. DNA – Learn how MyHeritage DNA testing can help further your genealogy research.
  7. Accounts & Settings – Everything else that regards your account and settings as well.

Message Boards

Whether you want to call them forums or message boards they are very much the same.

From here you will get help and support from not only the staff at MyHeritage but also other members as well.

The forums/message boards are broken up into 10 sections:

  1. Important Information – If you want any of your urgent queries to be answered immediately then this section is for you.
  2. Mobile App – Get help and support with the mobile app for this site.
  3. Family Site – Receive advice on the creation of your family site.
  4. Family Tree Builder – Get support with the family tree builder feature.
  5. Research – Learn how best to research your ancestors using the SuperSearch feature of the site.
  6. Accounts – Your membership and subscription queries will be answered here.
  7. Posters, Charts, Reports – Learn how to create posters, charts, and reports. And also get help if you have a problem.
  8. Product Suggestions – Get involved and help make MyHeritage better with your ideas and suggestions.
  9. Discoveries  – Share your discoveries from using this site within this section.
  10. FAQ – Always worth checking the Frequently Asked Questions section.

Contact Us

When you visit the Contact Us section of the site you will be first pointed towards the Help Center section.

If you have already been there and have not found what you were looking for then you can easily call MyHeritage toll-free.

So far 17 different countries are listed with a telephone number and what times you can call.


Pros & Cons

Pros

✔ Contains billions of genealogical records to help with your research
✔ Build your family tree online for free
✔ Interact with other users through the message board
✔ Smart matching technologies that will improve your genealogy research experience
✔ Get help through the help center, message board, and telephone support

Cons

❌ No monthly subscription offered
❌ Currently no Native American records


Do I Recommend MyHeritage?

I must say that MyHeritage does rank along with the other great genealogy search websites, (Ancestry and FindMyPast included).

It does give you everything that you want from such a site. You can create a family tree for free using this site.

And if you have already created a site elsewhere it doesn’t matter as you can easily upload your tree to the site and carry on with your research.

You can also tap into the 11.1 billion or so genealogical records that are stored within their collections. There are of course limitations as to what you can access depending on your level of access.

Give it a try first!

I do though suggest that you at least try it out for free to get a feel for the site. But once you are happy with it then definitely Premium Plus is worth the money in my opinion.

The reason I say this is twofold:

  1. You want value for money and this option ticks all the boxes for me.
  2. You want to get as much information as you possibly can right? So why would you want to limit the amount of information that you can access? Doesn’t sound right, does it?

Plus, the smart matching technologies that are incorporated into the site make the searching process not only easier for you but also you can find a ton of information.

This will greatly help discover as much about your ancestors as possible.

So, do I recommend MyHeritage?

Yes, I do recommend MyHeritage. This site will help you discover your ancestors and possibly connect with your distant cousins.

If you decide to subscribe to this genealogy site then please come back and let me know what you think of it. I would love to hear how it is working for you.

Can Help You A Lot!

So much is available to you, right here!

MyHeritage Website

Check Out MyHeritage Now


Thank You and Please Leave A Comment

I hope you enjoyed this post reviewing the MyHeritage site and what it has to offer. If you have any questions or comments then please leave a comment below.

Please share with family and friends if you think this post will help others by using the social media buttons below.

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14 thoughts on “MyHeritage Review!”

  1. Have been trying for 3 months now to get onto the MyHeritage website with no success. Have you changed the website? Are you having trouble with your website? When will it be fixed? Am I able to get access to my Family Tree?

    I try daily to access as I am writing family history book. You can appreciate how disappointing it has been, not being able to get access to my family history

    Can I get a refund for the 3 months membership I have lost because MyHeritage website had gone down?

  2. Is a Premium Plus subscription required for each DNA test? For example, if my wife and I each have a DNA test, do we need two Premium Plus Subscriptions to build our trees?

    1. Hi James,

      Thank you for your query. It would make it a lot easier if you did have two subscriptions.

      The reason I say this is because of the potential of DNA matches. If your wife has a match and has her own tree then she can easily compare where this other person fits in. This would not be so easy if say her tree and your tree were combined on your account.

      If you’re not fussed about matches then this one subscription would be fine. However, every time she is analyzing her DNA and needs do some research on her tree then she will need to log out and log in as you on your shared account.

      It does get complicated, and sorry if I haven’t been too clear. It’s just easier with two subscriptions in my opinion, but whatever works best for you.

      Let me know how you go,
      Owain

  3. My daughter had her DNA test done. My DNA is 87% Irish, Husband German Scotch. Daughters came back at 3% Irish and 97% British? How could that be?

    1. Hi Suzanne,

      That does seem a bit odd. I would have expected a bit more of a balance there. As you may know we take 50% DNA from our parents, 25% from our grandparents and so on. But it could be from her test that she is getting 97% British from your husband.

      I suspect thought that there could be a problem with the sample that was used to test her DNA against. As Britain and Ireland are neighbours there would have been some immigration between them and there could be some errors due to this.

      The sample is a collection of people with unique heritage, i.e. roots coming from a particular region. There could therefore be a problem with the sample that was used as their heritage may not be unique.

      I would suggest that you download your raw DNA data and upload it to GEDmatch which is a free site where you can upload your results and get various kinds of results.

      I’m sorry that I couldn’t give you a clearer answer but I hope that you get some answers from GEDmatch.

      Hopefully in the future more results will come from the DNA testing company that you chose.

      All the best.
      Owain

  4. Your Heritage Review is certainly packed with very value information. This is a very great review outline. I believe your’s is the second one I encountered. But this one is in-depth. Your subscription price is ok. I am sure share your link to others that may be interested.
    Thanks for the invitation to use your service.

    LouisaB

    1. Thank you Louisa for your positive feedback. I am glad that I have set out what I intended with this post.

      Thanks also for sharing this review. It is greatly appreciated.

  5. This is a great review. I have looked at many companies like this but have not heard of My Heritage. I like the fact that they offer so many languages. This will be appealing to lots of people.

    Their price is very reasonable also. I have found some of these sites to charge way more and not have as many historical records available. 8.2 Billion records says a lot about this company.

    I have always wanted to dive more into my background as it relates to distant relatives and I really think I have found a site that I am willing to try with confidence thanks to your review.

    1. I am glad that you like the review Nate.

      There is certainly a lot of records here that are at an affordable price. And not only are there so many records for youto search through but also millions of family trees as well.

      And the community here is pretty awesome as well. I am sure that you will be able to further your genealogy research with MyHeritage.

      All the best.

  6. I have been tracing my family tree for the post 10 years and your review of MY Heritage is packed with a lot of detail. I am based in England and i am wondering if My Heritage caters for genealogy in My side of the world. If so i would definitely look into it to see if it benefits me.

    1. Thanks for your query Andrew. MyHeritage is geared towards the United States market. You could try either or FindMyPast. These two do have dedicated U.K. sites.

      If you haven’t already heard please check out my Genes Reunited UK Review. This site is based in the U.K. and will definitely help you.

      All the best with your genealogy research.

  7. Patricia Soberalski

    Hello Owain,

    Great review. I do not know very much about research genealogy but I am definitely interested in learning more. I have not heard of this site previously, but I am going to check it out, the free subscription anyways to get started. Thanks again for the great review.

    1. You’re welcome Patricia, glad that you liked the review. MyHeritage can certainly help anyone trace their family history. Yes try it out for free and see what it can offer you before you take out a paid subscription.

      All the best,
      Owain

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