Hiring a DNA Testing Company

DNA

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.

23andme

23andme was founded in April 2006 and is based in Sunnyvale, California. They sell autosomal DNA kits with two options. Ancestry + Traits (base price $99) and Health + Ancestry (base price $149). The latter includes everything in the former plus health reports. They also sell memberships for $29 which grant access to additional features. The main benefit of the membership for genealogists is that it allows you to see your top 5000 matches whereas without it, you can only see your top 1500.

For genealogists, the biggest strength of 23andme is their chromosome browser. Unlike the chromosome browswers provided by FtDNA and MyHeritage, 23andme will show you if you share X-DNA with a match. This can help you more easily determine how you are related to a genetic match by eliminating several lines. Also unlike FtDNA and MyHeritage, 23andme's chromosome browswer allows you to compare any two of your matches against each other whereas both FtDNA and MyHeritage only allows you to compare them against yourself. This means you can more easily determine if two matches are closely related such as mother-son, siblings, or second cousins. The difference can be important as you try to use DNA to prove your descent from a common ancestor.

Another advantage to 23andme is they predict your paternal and maternal haplogroups meaning they predict what branches of the human family your Y-DNA and mtDNA belong in. They do not provide match lists for these parts of your DNA but you can check to see if your haplogroups match another test taker when trying to find the common ancestor.

23andme has a unique tree feature. Instead of uploading your tree, 23andme compares your DNA against everyone else in the database and tries to construct a genetic tree for you and predicts where your top matches belong in your tree. The initial tree is usually not perfect, but is fairly accurate. This generated tree can be adjusted meaning more people can be added and people can be moved from there predicted locations to their true ones. The tree is more of a tool to show how you are related to your other matches than a traditional pedigree.

The biggest disadvantage to 23andme is their tree feature only lets you add up to 300 relatives and only 5 other people can have permission to view it at a time. They do have a place where you can provide a link to your tree somewhere else like Ancestry or MyHeritage, but most test takers have not included one or they have linked to their FamilySearch tree, not realizing only they can see it because they are living and therefore marked as private in FamilyTree.

Ancestry

Ancestry was founded in 1996 and has been selling DNA tests since 2012. They are based in Lehi, Utah. They sell Ancestry kits for $99 and Ancestry plus traits for $109. Often you can also add a three month membership to Ancestry's record database for $1 when you purchase a kit through them.

The biggest advantage to AncestryDNA is their database. As of November 2018, they have sold over 18 million DNA kits. The sheer size of their database makes it more likely that you will find a genetic relative of interest to your problem. The other major advantage to Ancestry is the ability to link your DNA and pedigree together. You can upload your tree, link your DNA to yourself in the tree and then Ancestry will start comparing your tree against all your genetic relatives who also have linked their trees to their DNA. Not everyone has done this and many users have both DNA and a tree, but have not linked the two.

Another major strength is their Thrulines feature. After Ancestry has compared your tree and tried to find as many genetic connections as possible, Ancestry will allow you to see all of these possible connections using Thrulines. Thrulines allows you to click on an Ancestor, and then it shows you all the other matches it thinks descends from that Ancestor and their relationships. It can even use their massive database of online trees to fill in some of the gaps when a match of interest only has a partial tree. One important thing to know about Thrulines is that it does not "go through the DNA" despite what many people seem to think. The formulas is simple, if two people share DNA their trees are sought for a common ancestor, but the DNA still needs to be analyzed to make sure that Thrulines found the right common ancestor. For example, Tanner Tolman has a match that according to the paper trail should be related on his grandmother's side. However, there was a non-paternal event and this particular individual is actually genetically related on his grandfather's side. This is obvious when looking at the shared matches, but Thrulines incorrectly assumes the relationship is on grandmother's side. In other words, Thrulines is great, but do not accept it without verifying the conclusions.

One more strength of Ancestry worth mentioning is their dot system. You can create custom groups, assign each group a color and then place colored dots on each match you believe belongs in that group. You can use these dots with the Leeds method to help identify matches that may be related to your brick wall ancestor.

The biggest disadvantage to Ancestry is their strict privacy rules. They do not have a chromosome browser, they do not have an auto cluster tool, and although they let you see people who share DNA with both you and another genetic match, they do not let you see how closely those shared matches are related to the other person. This can make things difficult when trying to construct a hypothetical tree or when people do not respond to emails asking for more information (which happens frequently). Many people in Ancestry's large database, bought the test, looked at their ethnicity results once, and then never logged in again. Also, to get the full value out of your AncestryDNA test, you will need a membership to Ancestry. Otherwise, you will not be allowed to look at the trees uploaded by your matches.

FamilyTreeDNA

Family Tree DNA was founded in 2000 and is based in Houston, Texas. They are the only company that sells autosomal DNA, Y-DNA, and MtDNA tests. Their basic autosomal test is their "Family Finder" test and has a base price of $79. The Family Finder + myDNA wellness test has a base price of $119 and also includes "30+ actionable DNA insights into your health and wellness". Their mtDNA test is called the mtFull Sequence and has a base price of $159. It is named that because it tests all 16,000 base pairs included in mtDNA. They also sell three levels of Y-DNA tests: Y-37, Y-111, and Big Y-700 priced at $119, $249, and $449 respectively. Y-37 tests 37 Single Tandem Repeats (STR's), Y-111 tests 111 STR's, and Big-Y 700 tests 700 STR's as well as over 200,000 SNP's. Users of 23andme will probably notice that 23andme predicts your paternal and maternal haplogroups with their test. The difference between that and FamilyTreeDNA's tests is that FamilyTreeDNA's tests are more detailed and provide match lists for your Y-DNA and mtDNA. Anyone who matches you on those tests is related on your direct paternal line or direct maternal line respectively.

Concerning autosomal DNA, FamilyTreeDNA sells DNA kits, but also allows users to download their DNA raw data from another company and upload it for free into their database. The upload is free, and users will be able to see their match list for free, but users will need to pay a one time fee of $19 in order to get full access and do things like compare their matches in a chromosome browser. The one time fee of $19 only applies to uploads, if you buy the test from them in the first place, all the features are granted for free.

There is a common misconception that users can upload their DNA from another company and get FamilyTreeDNA's Y-DNA results or mtDNA results. This is not the case. If you want results for those types of test, you must purchase those kits from FamilyTreeDNA directly.

FamilyTreeDNA allows users to upload their trees, and they have a chromosome browser. They allow you to find a DNA match and not only allow you to see which of your matches also share DNA with that person like the other companies do, but they also allow you to easily see which of your matches do not match that particular person. For example, if you and your mom test, you could use that feature to quickly see everyone who does not match your mom and is thus related on your dad's side.

In particular FamilyTreeDNA excels in the Y-DNA domain. As of June 2022 FamilyTreeDNA hosts 11,327 free Y-DNA surname projects. These projects attempt to compare Y-DNA results of men with the same surname to determine if and how they are all related to each other. Check to see if your surname has a special Y-DNA project that you can join. If so, the project administrator may be able to give you unique insights into your paternal DNA.

Another potential advantage to FamilyTreeDNA is they use a cheek swab whereas 23andme and Ancestry both use spit tubes. If you are trying to test someone who is old and unable to produce enough spit, FamilyTreeDNA and MyHeritage are great options since they both use swabs.

Living DNA

LivingDNA was founded in 2016 and is based in Somerset, England. LivingDNA sells DNA tests Ancestry kits for $79, a Wellbeing kit for $95, and an Ancestry + Wellbeing kit for $140. You can also get a Personalized vitamins kit for $66. Those who purchase an Ancestry kit get the recent ancestry reports and Viking reports included in their purchase. LivingDNA allows free uploads from other companies, but if you upload then in order to get the Viking upgrade you would need to pay a one time fee of $20 and to get the Recent Ancestry upgrade you would need to pay a one time fee of $39.

LivingDNA predicts your paternal and maternal haplogroups like 23andme does, but it is only able to do so for customers who buy their test rather than simply upload it.

LivingDNA allows you to see your match list and people who share DNA with you and another person on your match list. They do not have a chromosome browser at this time, claim that they plan to release one soon.

MyHeritage

MyHeritage was founded in 2003 and has been selling DNA tests since 2016. They are headquartered in Or Yehuda, Israel.

MyHeritage sells DNA tests with a base price of $89. They also accept uploads from other companies. In order to get full access to an uploaded kit, you will need to either pay a one time fee of $20 or obtain a MyHeritage subscription.

MyHeritage's biggest strength is their auto cluster tool. The autocluster tool analyzes your DNA matches from the 2nd cousin level and more distant to figure out which matches are all related to each other and probably represent one branch of your family. Once the autoclusters are generated, you can look at the matches in each to figure out which cluster if any represents the line you are interested in. You can then start focusing your research on the trees of the people in that cluster to try and find the common ancestor.

MyHeritage offers a chromosome browser that allows you to compare your DNA against up to seven genetic matches at a time. Like 23andme they are fairly liberal with the information they give. You can usually see about how old the match is which helps figure out how the generations line up and when looking at shared matches, you can see the predicted relationship between the match you are comparing against and their shared matches and the amount of centimorgans they share with each other. This means you can quickly see that to matches might be closely related such as brother-sister, father-son without having to contact both of them and ask for their trees.

Another potential advantage to MyHeritage is they use a cheek swab whereas 23andme and Ancestry both use spit tubes. If you are trying to test someone who is old and unable to produce enough spit, FamilyTreeDNA and MyHeritage are great options since they both use swabs.

MyHeritage is the best company for testing your small children who are too young to understand how to use a spit tube. A cheek swab is much easier to use on a child, but FamilyTreeDNA will not accept the DNA of any test taker under the age of 13. MyHeritage will allow samples from children if they are submitted by their parents or legal guardians.

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.

Borland Genetics

Borland Genetics is an autosomal matching database with emphasis on reconstructing DNA of deceased individuals. It was founded by Kevin Borland in 2019. The website is dedicated to reconstructing DNA of deceased individuals by using samples from their descendants. The raw data files for the deceased individuals can then be uploaded to other sites that accept uploads. Many of the tools on the website are free, but there is also a subscription version that grants access to more advanced tools. Here is a list of all the tools:

Core Utilities

*Ultimate Phaser: This free tool lets you compare two kits and then with the segments that match, assign the matching portions to an ancestor. You can instead choose to take the matching segments and take the DNA unique to one of individuals in that same spot (the dark side) and assign that DNA instead. (Can be accessed from the Chromosome Browser screen, by clicking the "Chromosome Browser" button on any of the matches to any of the kits in your DNA Inventory.)

*Extract Segments: This lets you move segments from any mono kit to another individual's mono kit. (Can be accessed from the Kit Attributes screen, by clicking the "Explore in Kit Laboratory" button on any of the mono kits in your DNA Inventory.)

*Chameleon: (Deprecated: Replaced by the Chameleon DNA Template Management Engine which automatically runs on the server and selects optimal settings. You no longer have to choose a project template and/or manually manage templates for use with tools that require multiple kits as input.)

*Humpty Dumpty: Arguably the most important tool on the website. As you use each of the successive tools, you will end up with multiple mono kit that each have up to 50% of the target person's DNA. To make a better reconstruction that has 50-100% of the target person's DNA, you will need to merge these drafts together using the Humpty Dumpty tool. (Can be accessed by clicking the "View/Edit Donor Profile" button on any of the eligible donors in your DNA Inventory.

Humpty Dumpty offers three options:

• • Humpty Dumpty Option 1: Merge Mono to Mono: This option is used to merge contributing mono DNA resources within a single child clade of the donor into a composite mono kit. From the resulting mono output kit, segments can be extracted that correspond to distinct ancestors of the donor, and therefore the output can be used as a building block for further DNA reconstruction. However, select this option only if the mono input kits were created by extracting only data from descendants of a single child of the donor.

• • Humpty Dumpty Option 2: Mono to Stereo: This option is used to merge contributing mono DNA resources across multiple child clades of the donor into a composite stereo kit. The resulting stereo output kit cannot be used to reconstruct individual ancestors of the donor, but may make a nice kit to generate matches on third party sites, as it will generally represent the most complete version of a reconstructed donor's genome that can be assembled using your available data. However, only select this option if the mono input kits were created by extracting data that spans multiple child clades with respect to the donor. For example, this is a great tool for merging data from multiple runs of the Missing Parent tool with the same available parent but multiple children. You will typically get the best results by first combining all data within clades using Option 1, and then merging the mono output kits corresponding to each clade using Option 2.

• • Humpty Dumpty Option 3: Merge Factory Kits on Different Templates: This option is used to merge multiple factory kits pertaining to the same living donor to create a single output kit capturing data recorded at all SNPs represented in the individual input kits. For example, if you tested at both Ancestry and 23&Me, this will combine the data and create a more detailed profile of your genome that will contribute to higher resolution reconstructions of your ancestors.

Special Phase Scripts

*Two-Parent Phase: This free tool creates high resolution phased output kits when DNA of both parents of a child donor is available.

*Missing Parent: This free tool creates a partial reconstruction of an unavailable parent when the DNA of the opposite parent of the child donor is available. Typically this creates a 50% reconstruction, but creates a 47% reconstruction if the child is a male and the missing parent is also a male because men do not inherit an X chromosome from their father.

*Reverse Phase: This tool allows users to phase their DNA using the DNA of a child rather than a parent. In the free version of the tool, users are instructed to follow a multi-step workflow including phasing and chromosome mapping. There is also an automated subscription version of the workflow which can be initiated by creating a smart project.

*Phoenix: This free tool partially reconstructs a parent of a selected child donor by extracting shared DNA from family members on the same side of the family as the target parent. This is the tool works the same as the Lazarus tool on GedMatch.

*Darkside: This free tool partially reconstructs a parent of a selected child donor by isolating DNA from the opposite copy of the child's chromosomes across regions where the child shares DNA segments with family members on the opposite side of the family as the target parent.

*Create a Private Project: This subscription tool allows users to organize their DNA kits into projects. Users can also invite other users who have matching kits to submit them to their projects and collaborate. There are also three types of special Smart Projects (Reverse Phase, Visual Phasing and Creeper), in which the Creeper (the site's automated assistant) guides users through complex reconstruction workflows. Visual phasing and generic Creeper Smart Projects are currently under construction, but the unfinished versions are already available to subscribers for beta testing. The Creeper-assisted Reverse Phase Smart Project workflow is already completed.

*Global Surname Search (Beta): This free tool allows users to search the database for profiles with a given surname.

Version 2 Tools

*Visualize and Export Reconstructed Segment Data: (Deprecated: Replaced by Ultimate Chromosome Browser and Kit Attributes screens. Ultimate Chromosome Browser can be accessed by clicking the "Chromosome Browser" button on any of the kits in a DNA Resource's match list. Kit Attributes can be accessed by clicking the "Explore in Kit Laboratory" button on any of the kits in your DNA Inventory.)

*Script Manager: (Deprecated: To be replaced by a combination of premium web tools.)

*Imputer: (Coming soon!)

Version 3 Tools

*Creeper: (Original stand-alone version deprecated. Now integrated into Premium smart projects)

New Free Web Tools

*Chromosome Browser: (Can be accessed by clicking the "Chromosome Browser" button on any of the matches to any of the kits in your DNA Inventory.)

*Regional Project Pilot Program Membership: (Qualifying kits can be submitted from the Kit Attributes screen)

*Family Project Pilot Program Membership: (Qualifying kits can be submitted from the Kit Attributes screen)

*Build 36 to Build 37 Conversion Tool: This free tool allows users to paste a list of Build 36 segments from Excel and have them converted to Build 37 coordinates. This tool used to be more important when FamilyTreeDNA was using build 36 and all the other companies were using build 37. However, all the companies are now on build 37.

New Premium Web Tools

• HIR Mapper V2.0 (Can be accessed from the Kit Attributes screen, by clicking the "Explore in Kit Laboratory" button on any of the mono kits in your DNA Inventory.)

*Phase Map Locker: This subscription tool allows users to store chromosome maps in the Borland Genetics database where they can be integrated into a variety of tools and workflows. Typically you will create your chromosome maps in DNA Painter.

• Create a Private Project

• Advanced Raw DNA data export options: Subscribers have access to advanced download options that solve compatibility issues with sites that accept uploads. Subscribers can create custom headers, decide how the X chromosome is represented, insert white noise to simulate stereo output, choose between 4 and 5 column format, choose between tab and comma delimiters, apply file compression, and select other options. (Can be accessed from the Kit Attributes screen)

• Ultimate Ethnicity Tool (Coming soon!)

• High-speed unlimited Phoenix and Darkside tools (Coming soon!)

• 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.

Genetic Genealogy Standards

In 2015, a group of expert DNA genealogists developed a set of standards to help people accurately interpret their DNA test results. The standards are available on the group's website The Genetic Genealogy Standards.

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.