Genealogy software

Grrr....software applications for genealogy are such a nightmare right now. There aren't really great solutions. Here's some of the Pros and Cons of what's on the market.

Ancestry.com

Pros

• Excellent for finding source documentation and ancestry records
• Great matching of records so that you actually find your "John Doe" and not an unrelated "John Doe".
• Intuitive and easy to get started.
• Media is stored on their site, not locally on your PC. Easy to share records and media with others.
• Has DNA matches.
• Syncs with Ancestry and Family Search.

Cons

• Isn't really a good Family Tree application: inadequate reporting; inconsistent data management (same city can be listed multiple ways); lack of searching within your tree; hard to identify errors and manage database integrity.
• DNA Matches relate to living people, but living people are hidden in other person's trees. These privacy restrictions make true collaboration very difficult. Does not encourage registration using legal name; therefore, hard to map living persons to their correct tree. Lots of people also have Unlinked or 1-3 person trees that provide zero value; requires weeding through a lot of duds before getting to the meat. Unable to extract a list of DNA matches, or isolate only ungrouped matches.
• Media and records are subject to Ancestry.com's access restrictions. A great record attached only in Ancestry may no longer be available next year or 10 years from now. Losing source documentation isn't great and can require future rework to revalidate a previously proven fact.

RootsMagic

Pros

• The best of the worst! Is what I consider a "true" family tree application focused on building out relationships between family members, storing facts and pictures, and having good source & citation detail capture.

• Software installed on your PC and all data is held privately and can't be altered by others.

• Decent reporting and data extraction capabilities.

Cons

• User interface is outdated and is very similar to layouts of software we used back in the early 1990s. Long list of opportunities to modernize, but they seem to be prioritizing other upgrades that haven't generally been beneficial to me and seem to lack broad customer feedback. 
• Lost lots of data in 2024. Spent months going back and forth with their technical support about data that was getting lost. Insane amount of time trying to help them understand a problem they didn't believe existed. Finally acknoweldged the issue in December 2024 and they are pushing a code change, but I'm very hestitant going back to them after the prior headache.
• Media and records attached to the application can not be stored on the cloud. I'm paying for a backup of my hard drive and extra storage space on my laptop solely for my 5,000 records and media that are attached to my tree. Annoying because everything else I own digitally is stored on the cloud.

MyHeritage

Pros

• Has DNA matches that aren't on the other sites. Can upload Ancestry DNA to MyHeritage to not duplicate testing.
• Seems to have a broader international reach. For myself, most relatives on the site live outside the United States.
• Cluster reporting is very helpful.

Cons

• Similar cons as Ancestry.com.
• Seems like they are prioritizing upgrades without a great understanding of their broad customer base. One of the most recent upgrades is so confusing to me as an established geneaology researcher that I can't imagine that it benefits more than a handful of customers.

23 & Me

Pros

• Has DNA matches that aren't on the other sites.
• Has reporting about your health data. 

Cons

• Not a family tree application; has a genetic tree. Focus is on DNA data collection.
• Can't upload raw DNA from other sites; testing has to be redone and repaid for.

Legacy Family Tree

Pros

• Has really great search capabilities, decent reporting, and more general functionality than other applications
• Software installed on your PC and all data is held privately and can't be altered by others.

Cons

• Rough learning curve moving from RootsMagic to this application. 
• DNA matching reporting seems to be missing, but maybe I just haven't figured it out.
• Mapping of source details from GEDCOM files seems choppy. I had a very clean set of Sources & Citations in RootsMagic and have found capturing and reporting on that same data in Legacy as not possible, or not intuitive. 
• Reports frequently crash. I think my tree may be too large, and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to splice the data to make it more stable for extraction.
• Can't determine an easy way to sync updates to Ancestry. 

Family Tree Maker

Pros

• It's the basic family tree application.

Cons

• Looks and feels like the exact same program that I used in 1987.

FamilySearch

Pros

• Collaborative tree allows any one in the world to make updates to any part of the tree.
• Free records available for download; same records in some cases that Ancestry charges customers to access.

Cons

• Collaborative tree allows any one in the world to make updates to any part of the tree.

GEDCOM

Pros

• Central location to consolidate DNA tests regardless of DNA testing company. 
• Ability to extract DNA chromosone mapping.

Cons

• Tools can be difficult to understand and how to use. 
• Very technical. I'm always lost when using it.

Family Tree DNA

Pros

• Another DNA testing service with more DNA matches to investigate.

Cons

• Match data is very slow to load. I generally give up before it finishes. As such, I've found nothing new for my tree despite having some new matches on their site.