Find my past V Ancestry

[BigSlick]

So is Ancestry better than FindMyPast?
Do some people use both?
Is there a case for using both?

[LizzieW]

Lots of other threads on this subject.  Basically Ancestry has some records that FindMyPast doesn't and vice versa.  It's a case of "you takes your choice, you pays your money".

In reality lots of people subscribe to both.

[barryd]

I use ancestry
Find My Past
My Heritage
familysearch.org
Google
British India Families
British Newspaper Archive
Straits Times
Trove
Times of London

Whatever it takes to get the job done. Most of the time I am on ancestry.

[brigidmac]

I think Ancestry is good for US research  a friend got my mum temorory subs but I've never used it .

I've been on Genes Reunited for several years ..some ways its good + I've had lots of help from them + can access UK school records + crime records now ..but the lines are quite quiet + people who have my ancestors on their trees often don't answer so i guess they've moved to other sites .

I'm waitng for the next offer of a free trial to Find My Past + may switch to them .

ps like your avatar slick ..who is she ?

[groom]

As Lizzie said, there are dozen of threads on here about this topic. It really depends what you are looking for, for instance, I find Ancestry good for London ancestors, but FindMyPast better for other things. You need to find what suits you. Use the free trials and library editions before deciding which to subscribe to if you can only afford one of them. Don't forget as well there are other sites such as Genes Reunited and the Genealogist, plus all the free ones.

I don't think it is the case of saying that one is better than the other, it is preference and what suits your research.

[DavidG02]

As noted it comes down to what areas you think you need to utilize to further your research.

I had both but went with FindMyPast because of the newspaper archives. Its a personal choice as I feel I can ramble around getting a sense of place but also there is sometimes snippets that lead further. Records are records yet newspapers somehow add a human touch

The only thing I miss from Ancestry is the ability ( which I don't have on FindMyPast ) is to mouse over a record to see a highlight. FindMyPast I have to go into the record set to check.

[Ringrose]

Last year I thought I'd give FindMyPast a try and not use Ancestry.Trouble is they both have different things to offer and so much depends on the area of your research.I ended up using both .Husband has many Ancestors in Gloucestershire and the records for that county are superb on Ancestry.I have Shropshire which FindMyPast has better records.
So....either do both or see which one does more in your areas of research....you'll probably find an overlap.
Our library has Ancestry on their computers but it's not as convenient as using home computer.
Ringrise

[Mean_genie]

Even where they have the same record set, the means of access may be slightly different, so I use both, depending on what I am trying to achieve.

The census is a good example. On Ancestry it is easy to browse by place, but you can't browse a whole piece from start to finish, as you would do on the old microfilms. This is often the only way to work out if a page or a section is missing, with the added bonus that for some census years FindMyPast show all the images, including the enumerators' summary pages as well as the title pages, which can also be useful. For 1911, the enumerators' summary books are linked directly to the household schedules on FindMyPast, so you can see details of the district and the surrounding dwellings straight away. On Ancestry they are indexed separately, and there is no direct link between the two. There are some advantages in this because you can search the summary books independently, and browse them (after a fashion) which you can't do on FindMyPast. Other records found on both sites may have different search options. Ancestry often has more finely-tuned customs search options for specific databases, but if you do a general search on FindMyPast and refine it, you have the option to select multiple databases from a list, which you can't do on Ancestry.

Choices, choices, just to make our lives more interesting