Which genealogy subscription? Ancestry, FindMyPast, The Genealogist

[andreabro]

Hi

i have a world subscription to Ancestry.  I also had a subscription to Findmypast, which has just auto renewed.  I have emailed Findmypast to cancel as I have not used it too much due to being busy with my house.  They have offered me two further months free.

My question is, I dont know whether to take this subscription or try the Genealogist.  I am quite far back in most of my trees, so I am thinking  the parish records with the Genealogist may be helpful.  But are these similar to the ones on Familysearch?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

[Christine53]

I'm not particularly impressed with what is on offer at the Genealogist , but it does depend on what areas you are interested in at present. Have a good look at their website and see what is available - they don't make it very easy to see :

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/coverage/parish-records/?level=diamond#includes

[andreabro]

Thanks for your reply. Its not easy trying to work out if each site has anything much different.

[dawnsh]

I would suggest that the Genealogist may be the way to go if you have non-conformists in your family tree as they have the records from the National Archives from RG4 and RG8.

I make do with FindMyPast and Ancestry. If funds are tight, check out your local library as many now offer free access inhouse to one or both.

Also check out what family History Societies in your locations of interest can provide for you in the way of their transcriptions. Could be cheaper buying a couple of their cd's rather than take out another annual subscription.

[smudwhisk]

I would suggest that the Genealogist may be the way to go if you have non-conformists in your family tree as they have the records from the National Archives from RG4 and RG8.

All the non-conformist records from The Genealogist are now available on both ancestry and findmypast and have been for some months following the expiry of their exclusivity period.

[alpinecottage]

The Genealogist have the Tithe records, which Anc and FindMyPast don't have.  I also think their transcriptions are better, certainly than Ancestry's.  I use The Genealogist on the grounds that you can access ANC and FindMyPast at the library, but sometimes you want to do a quick census look-up at home and The Genealogist is the cheapest option for this.  I also like to support the smallest company to provide a bit of competition to the two giants!

[Connie Sparrow]

i have a world subscription to Ancestry.  I also had a subscription to Findmypast, which has just auto renewed.  I have emailed Findmypast to cancel as I have not used it too much due to being busy with my house.  They have offered me two further months free.

My question is, I dont know whether to take this subscription or try the Genealogist.  I am quite far back in most of my trees, so I am thinking  the parish records with the Genealogist may be helpful.  But are these similar to the ones on Familysearch?

Any thoughts appreciated.

I was always a long time user of FindMyPast (FindMyPast). It was very user friendly until they "improved" the site. I had a grumble to them and they added two free months to my sub. It didn't magically make it any easier. I cancelled.

Ancestry is much easier to use now that it used to be and I can get my sub back in the number of marriage register images I've found. Anything else is a bonus. Ancestry is the only site I can get via my library which won't do a sub to FindMyPast or any of the other sites.

The Genealogist does have some of the same datasets as Ancestry and FindMyPast but it also has some the others don't.

Another site to look at is FamilyRelatives. They are the cheapest of all the genealogy sites, and again have some datasets others don't. (http://www.familyrelatives.com/help_resources/details.php?sid=39)

My choices are Ancestry with The Genealogist and FamilyRelatives supporting.

Really you are the only one who can decide.  I would advise taking out a trial sub to have a look and get a feel for it.  There's no single site that will have everything you want but they all do short term subs and/or PAYG.

[LizzieW]

I had a sub for The Genealogist for a year but, quite honestly, I didn't find anything that I couldn't already find on Ancestry or FindMyPast.  There are some obscure records on The Genealogist, but most people wouldn't want them.

[smudwhisk]

I tend to agree with Lizzie.  I had a subscription with TheGenealogist for several years until last September when I cancelled my renewal.  I had the sub because of the non-conformist records and PCC Wills but as both had been added to Ancestry by last September, I didn't see the benefit of keeping the subscription.  Yes there are some different records on there but it depends on whether you really need them.  Apart from the Tithe Maps, many of the other unique records appear to be transcripts or digitised copies of published out of copyright books which often can be found elsewhere for free on the web.

As has already been said on this thread, it really depends on what you need for your research and only you can really make that decision.  Personally, I wouldn't say TheGenealogist was a substitute for either Ancestry or FindMyPast, its an additional option, but that's my personal preference