Family Tree DNA Reviews

(based on 42 reviews)

501 of 951 people found this review helpful

As another person commented, the FTDNA user interface is, to be kind, poor, but their customer support is stellar, they have the largest database of DNA tests (very important when looking for matches), they are affiliated with the top scientists in the field, they have made more (genealogically-relevant) discoveries than all their competition combined and they are focused on genealogy and helping other genealogists find their missing family ties.

There is only one other DNA testing company that even comes close to FTDNA and that is 23andme, but their focus is on medical health traits. Their user interface is great, but they do not encourage genealogical endeavors. For example, they do not offer ancestry projects (e.g. surnames or geographical or haplogroup, etc.) and do not have project administrators or facilitators to help people with common goals analyze their data and understand the meaning of the matches they have. They are a company founded to investigate genetics in health and human traits and genealogy is way down the list of their priorities. The founders of 23andme are not genealogists whereas the founder of Family Tree DNA is a genealogist who founded the first company to use DNA as... (Read the full review)

In summary, I would recommend Family Tree DNA to a friend.

455 of 888 people found this review helpful

It is hard to fathom how a company with so much potential could get by with offering such an abysmal user experience. I am so excited about the results, but just do not have the patience for this low-budget database. I am an experienced genealogist and experienced database user but this is impossible. Hopefully there will be other services coming down the pike, or else these folks will get their act together.

In summary, I would not recommend Family Tree DNA to a friend.