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General => Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing => Topic started by: ails81 on Saturday 18 March 17 17:33 GMT (UK)

Title: Ancestry DNA or My Heritage DNA test
Post by: ails81 on Saturday 18 March 17 17:33 GMT (UK)
Hi
can anyone advise if there is any difference between these 2 companies DNA tests?  As the price is my main issue and ancestry charge £20 for delivery and my heritage "only" charge £12.  Are they exactly the same test?  This is all new to me and I cant afford to waste money.
Many thanks
Aileen
Title: Re: Ancestry DNA or My Heritage DNA test
Post by: BumbleB on Saturday 18 March 17 17:44 GMT (UK)
As a TOTAL sceptic of DNA testing  :o I can't answer your question BUT

1:  Why are you doing this?

2:  What do you hope to gain from it?

Title: Re: Ancestry DNA or My Heritage DNA test
Post by: ails81 on Saturday 18 March 17 17:48 GMT (UK)
Haha well that is a good question.  Firstly I am just curious as to whether my ancestry does stretch to other parts of the world when all my research has shown that we are pretty boring and have mostly never left Scotland or Ireland.
I am also looking for any clues to my fathers line as I am a bit stuck with the research prior to them moving to Scotland due to the lack of records, but I am not sure if DNA results will help with that.
Title: Re: Ancestry DNA or My Heritage DNA test
Post by: BumbleB on Saturday 18 March 17 18:10 GMT (UK)
Great, I'll now leave it to others to advise you  :)
Title: Re: Ancestry DNA or My Heritage DNA test
Post by: DevonCruwys on Saturday 18 March 17 18:16 GMT (UK)
I would suggest starting with AncestryDNA. They have the largest database (over three million people). You can currently use your AncestryDNA raw data to do a free transfer to MyHeritage. You can also do a free transfer to Family Tree DNA.

I have thousands of matches at AncestryDNA. I have just 10 matches at MyHeritage. MyHeritage has a good presence in many continental European countries so it might be good in the long run if you're looking for non-British matches.

See the comparison chart in the ISOGG Wiki:

https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_testing_comparison_chart

We're waiting to get data from MyHeritage to add to this chart.
Title: Re: Ancestry DNA or My Heritage DNA test
Post by: ails81 on Saturday 18 March 17 19:42 GMT (UK)
Thank you, that's really helpful.  do you know if you can transfer the data from my heritage to ancestry?  I couldn't find information on that.
Title: Re: Ancestry DNA or My Heritage DNA test
Post by: DevonCruwys on Saturday 18 March 17 19:51 GMT (UK)
AncestryDNA don't accept transfers.
Title: Re: Ancestry DNA or My Heritage DNA test
Post by: Kimbrey on Sunday 19 March 17 10:11 GMT (UK)

Who tests My Heritage DNA ?

For some reason I thought FTDNA tested for My Heritage as they do not have their own labs - not sure if I am right !!

Kim
Title: Re: Ancestry DNA or My Heritage DNA test
Post by: DevonCruwys on Sunday 19 March 17 14:54 GMT (UK)
The MyHeritage tests are processed in FTDNA's lab in Houston, Texas, but MyHeritage do their own matching and interpretation.

MyHeritage also own Geni.com. You can upload you autosomal results to Geni free of charge. I've actually got more matches at Geni (26) than I have at MyHeritage (10).

I don't understand why MyHeritage don't merge the MyHeritage and Geni websites rather than maintaining them as two separate entities.
Title: Re: Ancestry DNA or My Heritage DNA test
Post by: Seaton Smithy on Thursday 23 March 17 04:21 GMT (UK)
Just personal opinion, but I would avoid MH on the basis of their matching method.

I uploaded some Ancestry and FTDNA raw data to MH when they first offered that but took it back down after I found they were using the imputation method for finding matches.  My understanding is that "imputation" means they take and educated guess at the parts of your DNA that weren't tested and find "matches" based on that guess, with the end result you get a lot of so-called "matches" that probably aren't matches at all.

I found that DNA.LAND also use the imputation method.  In one case I had a supposed 5th cousin match but I didn't match either of his parents, one of who was in theory my 4C1R.  DNA.LAND told me that was "normal" and "to be expected".
Title: Re: Ancestry DNA or My Heritage DNA test
Post by: dnatestkitb on Friday 25 May 18 10:27 BST (UK)
Both companies are good for DNA testing. If you want to know about the cost of testing then check this link. After checking it you can definitely sure how much the exact cost of test (https://bestdnatestingkits.com/how-much-does-myheritage-cost/).