Hiring a DNA Testing Company

DNA in Genealogy Research

Hiring a DNA Testing Company

DNA Wiki Topics
DNA Companies
23andme Ancestry FamilyTreeDNA	LivingDNA MyHeritage
Public DNA Databases
Borland Genetics	GEDmatch
Classes
Online Learning
DNA Methodology
Automated Clustering Find a child you gave for adoption Find Your Unknown Father Chromosome Mapping Find both of your parents if you are adopted Visual Phasing
Scientific Details
DNA Basics SNPs STRs Hiring a DNA Testing Company How accurate are my ethnicity results? How accurate is my list of genetic relatives? Microarray vs Whole Genome Testing
Ethics
Ethics and DNA Testing

Hiring a DNA Testing Company

DNA testing has become an accepted tool for identifying ancestors and for verifying genealogical leads. It is also used frequently to learn about our deep ancestry. Testing your family DNA sometimes results in finding cousins who may have more genealogical information than you.

Disclaimer

Neither The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints nor FamilySearch International is associated in any way with any DNA study. As a non-profit organization, FamilySearch cannot recommend a specific DNA-testing company to you.

DNA Testing Companies

The main five main companies for genetic genealogy are 23andme, Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA, LivingDNA, and MyHeritage. All five of these companies sell DNA kits, predict your ethnicity results, generate a list of your genetic relatives who are also in the database, tell you the amount of centimorgans you share with each match, and predict the relationship between the two of you, let you see lists of people who match you and someone else on your match list, let you add your family tree, and allow you to download your raw data. All of them use a microarray to test between 620,000-665,000 SNPs and all have a base price on their basic autosomal DNA test between $79 and $99. All five companies are highly reputable and will do a great job if you choose to buy a DNA test from them.

In addition to these five companies, GedMatch is also a key genetic database. GedMatch, however, does not sell DNA kits, you must buy a kit from another company and then upload your DNA raw data file into GedMatch.

If you are looking for someone you gave up for adoption, it is important to get your DNA in all the databases. That way you have the best possible chance of finding the one person you are looking for.

Comparison Table of the Five Main DNA Testing Companies

The following is a table comparing the main features of the five main DNA testing companies. To see the full table please refer to the ISOGG wiki page Autosomal DNA testing comparison chart.

Comparison of the Five Main DNA Testing Companies

	23andme	FamilyTreeDNA	Ancestry	MyHeritage	LivingDNA
Website	www.23andme.com	wwww.familytreedna.com	www.dna.ancestry.com	www.myheritagedna.com	www.livingdna.com
People in Database (21 March 2023)	13,400,000	1,519,715	23,000,000	6,800,000	300,000
Base Price	$99	$79	$99	$89 (frequently on sale for $49)	$79
Shipping	$9.95	$9.95	$9.95	$5	$9.95
Free Return Shipping	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Uploads Allowed from Other Companies	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Cost to Get all Features from Uploaded DNA	NA	$19	NA	$20	$20
Method	Spit tube	Cheek Swab	Spit Tube	Cheek Swab	Cheek Swab
Chromosome Browser	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Matching X DNA Reported	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Means of Contacting Matches	Internal messaging system	Emails provided	Internal messaging system	Internal messaging system	Internal messaging system
Response Rate	Low	Medium	Low	Medium	Medium
Autosomal SNPs Tested	630,312	612,272	637,639	576,157	683,503
Y chromosome SNPs Tested	3733	0	1691	3495	34,216
X chromosome SNPs Tested	16,530	16,271	28,892 + 440 from the PAR region	26,694	15,028
Mitochondrial SNPs Tested	4318	179	263	none	3982
Special features	Neanderthal Ancestry, Y and mtDNA haplogroups	Y-DNA and mtDNA specialized tests	Thrulines	Theories of Relativity DNA clusters	High resolution ethnicity estimates for the UK

Public DNA Databases

Public DNA Databases do not sell DNA kits, but do allow uploads from the other companies. Here is a list of some of them.

• DNAGedcom.com
• Gedmatch - Autosomal raw data only
• GeneBase
• mitoYDNA.org - Crowdsourced Y and mitochondrial databases
• YHRD - Y-Chromosome STR haplotype reference database

Defunct Public DNA Databases

• Mitosearch - Site closed in May 2018 over concerns their data was not compliant with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• mtDNACommunity - As of August 2020 the site is down, but you may be able to contact them at info@mtDNACommuity.org
• Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SNGF) - Formerly sponsored by Brigham Young University, SMGF was acquired by Ancestry. The data is not publicly available.

Result Analysis

Organizations, such as The Genetic Genealogist, The Genetic Genealogy Consultant, and Your Genetic Genealogist provide services to help you interpret your DNA results and get the most out of what they can tell you about your roots.

DNA Projects

Thousands of DNA Projects, usually focused on a particular surname, location, or ethnicity, are active around the world. A listing of geographical projects can be found in the ISOGG Wiki.

A list of the over 11,000 FamilyTree DNA projects can be found on their FamilyTreeDNA Group Projects page.

Adoption-Specific Projects

These projects have created with the specific purpose of helping adoptees find their biological families.

• DNAAdoption
• Mixed Roots Foundation Global Adoptee Genealogy Project (GAGP)

Websites

• International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG). Site includes newsletters, a DNA Wiki, Y-DNA Haplogroup Tree, list of DNA consultants for hire, list of DNA speakers, DNA signatures of famous people, project listings and much more. To ask questions and read news, visit their Facebook page.
  
• Genealogy DNA Mailing List (RootsWeb). Active conversations about genetic genealogy.
• Chris Pomery: DNA & Family History. Online resources include DNA talks, books, papers, articles, blogs, presentations, podcasts, and websites by an expert in the field.
• Journal of Genetic Genealogy. Free articles from leading scholars in the field.
• Genetic Genealogy Consultant. Free tutorials and resources for understanding DNA results within a genealogical and ancestral context.
• Your Genetic Genealogist. This Blog strives to make the subject of genetic genealogy accessible and understandable for the non-scientist. Written by CeCe Moore, a professional genetic genealogist and experienced personal genomics consumer.
• Autosomal DNA Facebook group. Great place to learn more about your autosomal DNA results.