There are many websites that you can search for information. Many of them have a monthly or an annual subscription fee which can get quite pricey. There are some that are free.  

It depends on how serious you are about seeking out your ancestry and how much you can afford. It is best to start with free sites and information and then move into the paid sites if you have a choice. 
 

In this blog article I will review the top 15  genealogy websites. I will explain what each  site offers for they memberships,  how much it costs and which ones are  free. 

Ancestry.com 

This website is the most well known and possibly the largest membership genealogical research site. This site is continually being added to.  

• They have U.S. and Canadian census records, city directories, newspaper, probate records, yearbook photos, vital records (birth, death, marriage and divorce)  Military collection, immigration records, ship manifests, tax records, a ton of family trees, passport records, draft registration records and more.  
• They have a search field that you can enter a name in to to search their databases. A list showing you  everything comes up that has a connection to the  person’s name. 
• They have a two week free trial with a credit card and will bill you automatically if you don’t cancel before the end of the two weeks.  

• They  have a three types of memberships: U.S. Discovery, World Explorer, and All Access which includes all of Ancestry’s databases, Fold3, and Newpaper.com Basic. You can sign up for a monthly membership starting at 19.99 for U.S, 34.99 for World, and $44.99 for All. The 6 month membership starts at $99. for U.S., $149 for World, and $199 for All Access.   
• You can get a membership for a specific area such as census records for  $16.50 per month for 6 months or $19.99 for a month. 

Archives.com 

• This site has a collection of 1.3 billion digital documents  with 50,000 new records being added daily. They have 4.8 million photos, newspapers and vital records!  

• They have many divorce records from San Diego, CA 1979-1999, passenger records for eastern Canadian ports before 1865; the death records from Eagle Count, Colorado from 1913-2000. They also have Florida divorce records from 1980-2009.  There are War of 1812 veterans from Maine, soldiers that were held prisoner by the Japanese 1941-1945,  Gorgas Hospital Mortuary records 1906 to 1991 and US newspaper obituaries from 2004 to 2009.   
• They offer a 14 day free trial with a credit card. Their monthly membership is $9.99 plus tax.  

• This site have a comprehensive, categorized and cross referenced list of links that point you to a ton of  genealogical research sites online.  
• There are over 900 categories connecting to over 332,000 individual links to a variety of websites that are all to assist you in doing family history research.  This is a nice site to explore.  
• This site is free, but the websites that are linked to may not be free.  

FamilySearch.org 

• This site is  provided by the Church of the Latter-Day Saints out in Salt lake City, Utah. It is a free site and has family histories, family trees and several types of records from all over the world.  
• They have  government records, churches and other public researchers, including SSDI records. 
• They provide  document digital  images of census, birth, marriage and death records. They also have records on Canadian Births starting at 1661, marriage records  for Mexico and France and Civil war pension cards.  
• They have a program call Family Search Pilot. 
• They have an app that you install on you ipad, tablet or phone. 

• Lots of information and it is all free.  

FindMyPast.com 

• This site has lots of features including 8 Billion  digital records and adding new records every week. They have UK census records that go from 1841 1911. There are military records that cover the British World wars One and Two.  Church records dating back to 1538 on births, baptisms, marriages and deaths. There is 24 million migration records.  An unusual listing of civil servants in the UK from 1752 to 1948. 

• There is  complete records for U.S. Census 1790-1940. BMDs records including land, court and valuation records, Newspaper records, both historical, U.S. & World more. 
• There is a place to register and import you family tree in a GEDCOM file. 
• You can build your family tree online and store all of your discoveries safely, including images, records and even voice recordings. 
• They do offer a trial membership period so you can do check to see if you have any ancestry documents there. 
• They have a Starter Subscription that has 2 options: 1 month for $9.95 per month and 12 months for $2.91 per month. These are limited to: US BMD records, US immigration records, US newspaper articles, UK/Ireland census records plus access to family tree records. 

• Their Premium Subscription options are 1 month for $19.95 or 12 Months for $19.96 per month, which includes access to 1939 Register. They also have a Prefer PayAsYouGo option which for 90 days you get 60 credits for $10.95, or 300 credits for $37.95 or 900 credits $82.95. Records cost between 5 and 60 credits to view. Once you purchase a record you can view it unlimited times for the 90 days. 

Find A Grave.com 

• This site is a great resource for finding graves. They have 162 million  of grave records.  

• You can browse by location, date or persons surname. 
• There are many photos with grave information, interesting monuments and epitaphs. 
• You can join and contribute.  
• These are cemeteries from all over the U.S. 
• This site is free 

Fold3.com 

 
This website has access to military records, including stories, photos and personal documents of the  men and women who served.   

• They have an Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial page where you can leave a tribute, a story or a photograph. There is over 58,256 veterans that were killed or missing in the Vietnam War. You can also search for a soldier and see their name and what has been posted for them. 
• There is also a lot of information about WWII veterans, WWI, the War of 1812, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Mexican American and Early Indian Wars 

• There is access to US Historical records,, military records and genealogy records. 
• You can start your own memorial page. 
•  This site is connected to Ancestry.com 
• There are membership options: Premium membership is $79.95 a year, or 7.95 per month. There is a free 7 day trial. There is also a free basic membership with access to limited areas.  

Genealogy.com 

• Genealogy.com is basically a forum site. It originally posted in GenForum. This site is a part of Ancestry.com. 
• They have a very large forum base. You can join their forum for free. 

• They also have a large database of articles. 
• They have a search field where you can type in your surname and any forums or articles with that name will come up. 
•  Their Genealogy topics include: general genealogy, Immigration, Emigration and Migration, Military services, Religions, Wars and miscellaneous.  

• This site has all types of data on the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.  
• Their collection has over 6,690 transcriptions.  
• They some items that you  normally don’t find such as, funeral cards, railroad employees and business cards. They even have rosters from numerous fraternity lodges and civic organizations. They have cemetery records, insurance claims, church records and employment records. 
• They do have a mobile app that you can install on your device. 
• There is a registration process for access  

 
This site has over 7,000 newspaper titles from all 50 states, which include obituaries, birth, marriages, over 1 billion newspaper articles. These newspaper range from 1690 to today. 

• There is  membership options: 30 days trial for $9.95 and after the 30 days join for monthly membership for $19.95 per month or Annual membership for $5.83 per month after trial. You can join without doing the 30 day trial for the same prices.  

 Kindred Konnections 

• Their collection is not as large as Ancestry.com, but they state they have some 123 million names on record, which is quite significant.  
• They have records from all US States, Canada, Asian and European nations.  

• The have census records, obituaries, cemetery records, baptism and parish records, birth, death and marriage records and more.   
• They have a free search engine field that you can check if there is any information on the ancestors that you are researching.  
• If you prefer to keep your family tree off line, you can get free genealogy software – Legacy 9 Family Tree download through their site.  
• They also have other free perks such as Free Genealogy Newsletter, view  newsletter archives, Register Your Search with Notify Me, Genealogy Resource help and search the US Social Security Death Index.   
• You can open a free account and build your family tree online with pictures, create your own family newsletter, upload and display your family tree and more.  

• Their paid subscription  has more options: 10 days for $10, 1 month for $20, 3 months for $45, and 1 year for $120.  They also offer a  31 day full access free trial.  

US GenWeb Project 

• This website is a free site that is filled with a variety of  genealogical projects. 
• There are several links to different topics  that are related to each state. 
•  Under each state you will find are cemeteries, census listings, photos, state archives, names and locations of family history centers, and genealogical and historical societies for that state. 
• When you add a surname or town in that state in the search field you will  see what information  is available. 
• As it states, this website is always free.  

The Olive Tree Genealogy 

• This is a blog site has been around since 1996 and has some great links of resources. They have naturalization records, military records, church records, German, American Indian, Canadian, and American Genealogy records. They also have records on Orphans, land, Quakers, Huguenots, Mennonites, almshouse and census records.  Last but not least they have passenger ship lists with names, dates and ship names arriving to the US ports for nearly two hundred years! Nice site to explore. 
• This site is free, but the websites that are linked to resources are not all free.  

US National Archives 

• The US national Archives is made up of federal government documents that go back to before creation of this country. You can find information on passports, military records, federal court records, federal prisoners, immigration/citizenship, land, and census records.  
• They also have a section  for Chinese, Eastern European, African- American, etc ethnic records.  
• They have a copy of the declaration of independence, the constitution, the Bill of Rights, World War II photos and more  

• They have a catalog guide for genealogist  
• The is a registration  and not all of their records are free to access.  

World Vital Records 

• This website has databases that cover many of the European documents that include, German immigration from 1850- 1897. Russian immigration from 1834-1897, Hungarian and German censuses; 60 million biographies from the Godfrey library , Scotland death records from 1747-1868 and the Newspaper Archives collection with some 800 newspapers across the world dating from 19th century.   
• They have nearly 300 million military records. World vital records offers a massive selection of just US resources from 1790-1940 and more. 
•  They offer a free 7 day trial. 

There are many websites that you can search for information. Many of them have a monthly or an annual subscription fee which can get quite pricey. There are some that are free.  

It depends on how serious you are about seeking out your ancestry and how much you can afford. It is best to start with free sites and information and then move into the paid sites if you have a choice. 
 

In this blog article I will review the top 15  genealogy websites. I will explain what each  site offers for they memberships,  how much it costs and which ones are  free. 

Ancestry.com 

This website is the most well known and possibly the largest membership genealogical research site. This site is continually being added to.  

• They have U.S. and Canadian census records, city directories, newspaper, probate records, yearbook photos, vital records (birth, death, marriage and divorce)  Military collection, immigration records, ship manifests, tax records, a ton of family trees, passport records, draft registration records and more.  
• They have a search field that you can enter a name in to to search their databases. A list showing you  everything comes up that has a connection to the  person’s name. 
• They have a two week free trial with a credit card and will bill you automatically if you don’t cancel before the end of the two weeks.  

• They  have a three types of memberships: U.S. Discovery, World Explorer, and All Access which includes all of Ancestry’s databases, Fold3, and Newpaper.com Basic. You can sign up for a monthly membership starting at 19.99 for U.S, 34.99 for World, and $44.99 for All. The 6 month membership starts at $99. for U.S., $149 for World, and $199 for All Access.   
• You can get a membership for a specific area such as census records for  $16.50 per month for 6 months or $19.99 for a month. 

Archives.com 

• This site has a collection of 1.3 billion digital documents  with 50,000 new records being added daily. They have 4.8 million photos, newspapers and vital records!  

• They have many divorce records from San Diego, CA 1979-1999, passenger records for eastern Canadian ports before 1865; the death records from Eagle Count, Colorado from 1913-2000. They also have Florida divorce records from 1980-2009.  There are War of 1812 veterans from Maine, soldiers that were held prisoner by the Japanese 1941-1945,  Gorgas Hospital Mortuary records 1906 to 1991 and US newspaper obituaries from 2004 to 2009.   
• They offer a 14 day free trial with a credit card. Their monthly membership is $9.99 plus tax.  

• This site have a comprehensive, categorized and cross referenced list of links that point you to a ton of  genealogical research sites online.  
• There are over 900 categories connecting to over 332,000 individual links to a variety of websites that are all to assist you in doing family history research.  This is a nice site to explore.  
• This site is free, but the websites that are linked to may not be free.  

FamilySearch.org 

• This site is  provided by the Church of the Latter-Day Saints out in Salt lake City, Utah. It is a free site and has family histories, family trees and several types of records from all over the world.  
• They have  government records, churches and other public researchers, including SSDI records. 
• They provide  document digital  images of census, birth, marriage and death records. They also have records on Canadian Births starting at 1661, marriage records  for Mexico and France and Civil war pension cards.  
• They have a program call Family Search Pilot. 
• They have an app that you install on you ipad, tablet or phone. 

• Lots of information and it is all free.  

FindMyPast.com 

• This site has lots of features including 8 Billion  digital records and adding new records every week. They have UK census records that go from 1841 1911. There are military records that cover the British World wars One and Two.  Church records dating back to 1538 on births, baptisms, marriages and deaths. There is 24 million migration records.  An unusual listing of civil servants in the UK from 1752 to 1948. 

• There is  complete records for U.S. Census 1790-1940. BMDs records including land, court and valuation records, Newspaper records, both historical, U.S. & World more. 
• There is a place to register and import you family tree in a GEDCOM file. 
• You can build your family tree online and store all of your discoveries safely, including images, records and even voice recordings. 
• They do offer a trial membership period so you can do check to see if you have any ancestry documents there. 
• They have a Starter Subscription that has 2 options: 1 month for $9.95 per month and 12 months for $2.91 per month. These are limited to: US BMD records, US immigration records, US newspaper articles, UK/Ireland census records plus access to family tree records. 

• Their Premium Subscription options are 1 month for $19.95 or 12 Months for $19.96 per month, which includes access to 1939 Register. They also have a Prefer PayAsYouGo option which for 90 days you get 60 credits for $10.95, or 300 credits for $37.95 or 900 credits $82.95. Records cost between 5 and 60 credits to view. Once you purchase a record you can view it unlimited times for the 90 days. 

Find A Grave.com 

• This site is a great resource for finding graves. They have 162 million  of grave records.  

• You can browse by location, date or persons surname. 
• There are many photos with grave information, interesting monuments and epitaphs. 
• You can join and contribute.  
• These are cemeteries from all over the U.S. 
• This site is free 

Fold3.com 

 
This website has access to military records, including stories, photos and personal documents of the  men and women who served.   

• They have an Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial page where you can leave a tribute, a story or a photograph. There is over 58,256 veterans that were killed or missing in the Vietnam War. You can also search for a soldier and see their name and what has been posted for them. 
• There is also a lot of information about WWII veterans, WWI, the War of 1812, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Mexican American and Early Indian Wars 

• There is access to US Historical records,, military records and genealogy records. 
• You can start your own memorial page. 
•  This site is connected to Ancestry.com 
• There are membership options: Premium membership is $79.95 a year, or 7.95 per month. There is a free 7 day trial. There is also a free basic membership with access to limited areas.  

Genealogy.com 

• Genealogy.com is basically a forum site. It originally posted in GenForum. This site is a part of Ancestry.com. 
• They have a very large forum base. You can join their forum for free. 

• They also have a large database of articles. 
• They have a search field where you can type in your surname and any forums or articles with that name will come up. 
•  Their Genealogy topics include: general genealogy, Immigration, Emigration and Migration, Military services, Religions, Wars and miscellaneous.  

• This site has all types of data on the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.  
• Their collection has over 6,690 transcriptions.  
• They some items that you  normally don’t find such as, funeral cards, railroad employees and business cards. They even have rosters from numerous fraternity lodges and civic organizations. They have cemetery records, insurance claims, church records and employment records. 
• They do have a mobile app that you can install on your device. 
• There is a registration process for access  

 
This site has over 7,000 newspaper titles from all 50 states, which include obituaries, birth, marriages, over 1 billion newspaper articles. These newspaper range from 1690 to today. 

• There is  membership options: 30 days trial for $9.95 and after the 30 days join for monthly membership for $19.95 per month or Annual membership for $5.83 per month after trial. You can join without doing the 30 day trial for the same prices.  

 Kindred Konnections 

• Their collection is not as large as Ancestry.com, but they state they have some 123 million names on record, which is quite significant.  
• They have records from all US States, Canada, Asian and European nations.  

• The have census records, obituaries, cemetery records, baptism and parish records, birth, death and marriage records and more.   
• They have a free search engine field that you can check if there is any information on the ancestors that you are researching.  
• If you prefer to keep your family tree off line, you can get free genealogy software – Legacy 9 Family Tree download through their site.  
• They also have other free perks such as Free Genealogy Newsletter, view  newsletter archives, Register Your Search with Notify Me, Genealogy Resource help and search the US Social Security Death Index.   
• You can open a free account and build your family tree online with pictures, create your own family newsletter, upload and display your family tree and more.  

• Their paid subscription  has more options: 10 days for $10, 1 month for $20, 3 months for $45, and 1 year for $120.  They also offer a  31 day full access free trial.  

US GenWeb Project 

• This website is a free site that is filled with a variety of  genealogical projects. 
• There are several links to different topics  that are related to each state. 
•  Under each state you will find are cemeteries, census listings, photos, state archives, names and locations of family history centers, and genealogical and historical societies for that state. 
• When you add a surname or town in that state in the search field you will  see what information  is available. 
• As it states, this website is always free.  

The Olive Tree Genealogy 

• This is a blog site has been around since 1996 and has some great links of resources. They have naturalization records, military records, church records, German, American Indian, Canadian, and American Genealogy records. They also have records on Orphans, land, Quakers, Huguenots, Mennonites, almshouse and census records.  Last but not least they have passenger ship lists with names, dates and ship names arriving to the US ports for nearly two hundred years! Nice site to explore. 
• This site is free, but the websites that are linked to resources are not all free.  

US National Archives 

• The US national Archives is made up of federal government documents that go back to before creation of this country. You can find information on passports, military records, federal court records, federal prisoners, immigration/citizenship, land, and census records.  
• They also have a section  for Chinese, Eastern European, African- American, etc ethnic records.  
• They have a copy of the declaration of independence, the constitution, the Bill of Rights, World War II photos and more  

• They have a catalog guide for genealogist  
• The is a registration  and not all of their records are free to access.  

World Vital Records 

• This website has databases that cover many of the European documents that include, German immigration from 1850- 1897. Russian immigration from 1834-1897, Hungarian and German censuses; 60 million biographies from the Godfrey library , Scotland death records from 1747-1868 and the Newspaper Archives collection with some 800 newspapers across the world dating from 19th century.   
• They have nearly 300 million military records. World vital records offers a massive selection of just US resources from 1790-1940 and more. 
•  They offer a free 7 day trial.