Loyal user
I have used Ancestry over the years and the information it provides has definitely helped me in my ancestor search.
About Ancestry.com
Data updated- Website
- www.ancestry.com
- Category
- Hobbies & Crafts
- Location
- United States
- Status
- Unclaimed
- Last 12 months
- 202 reviews
- Replies to negative
- 98% (50/51)
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Is Ancestry.com legit?
Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com) has a 3.8 out of 5 rating on OK.one, based on 202 user reviews collected here. It is listed under Hobbies & Crafts and its reputation is mixed. 70% of reviews are 4 stars or higher and 18% are 1 star; The business has replied to 98% of negative reviews. Last updated 2026-08-10.
What people say
The site is easy to use and navigate
The site is easy to use and navigate. Large user database is also certainly a plus.
Hate their new format
Their new format is difficult to use.
Reply from Ancestry.com2026-07-30
Hi there, Elaine. Thanks for taking the time to leave your review. We are sorry to hear of any difficulty you have experienced. If you need help, please reach out to our team here: https://support.ancestry.com/s/contactsupport/
I find Ancestry easy to navigate
I find Ancestry easy to navigate. And I love that I can pull up documents that I need and print them off. I cannot figure out how to do that on Family Search. And what is the use of finding what you need for proof for an organization and you can't print it off.
Top notch customer service!
The customer service rep was do helpful and efficient. Identified my problem and rectified it. She was friendly and polite.
Love family history
I love the hints
I love the hints, the DNA paths it suggest for DNA matches. The fact they add millions of new information items yearly. They constantly try to make it better.
Easy access.
Ancestry-Mackiev Subscriptions Make Purchase A Challenge
I have been using Family Tree Maker for over two decades and (mostly) love the app. However, the corporate owner, Mackiev, leaves much to be desired. My most recent surprise (shock) came when I bit the bullet and made the decision to purchase their top of the line product, which costs $500 a year. I did that because I kept running into limitations of my normal subscription which did not include one feature or another. I took the additional step of adding Pro Tools just to make sure I was set. Within a short time, I received an email that my Ancestry TreeVault subscription had expired. I was shocked and thought it must be a mistake. But I quickly learned that Ancestry claims that TreeVault is run by another company and so is not included in their 'all pass' subscription. I am a fan of the product, but their subscription structure leaves much to be desired in customer service.
Reply from Ancestry.com2026-07-30
Hi there. We completely understand your frustration and why this feels so confusing after investing in a top-tier Ancestry membership. The disconnect occurs because Family Tree Maker and its cloud backup service, TreeVault, are developed, owned, and managed by a completely separate company called Software MacKiev. While your Ancestry subscription covers all of our online record databases, DNA features, and Pro Tools—and allows you to sync your tree with FTM for free—it does not include MacKiev's proprietary TreeVault fees. If you are having issues, please reach out to the MacKiev customer support directly.
I don't care how much more information…
I don't care how much more information about my family I might get from this - the service is terrible! The website doesn't give you any real information other than sending emails with a link to their "kit status" page, which feels disrespectful. I even paid for priority processing to skip the queue, but the estimated date for my results is almost ONE MONTH after they received the sample (exactly their standard time!). At this point, there's no way I believe they gave me any priority. To top it off, their chatbot says my results are ready, but the status page is stuck for some reason, and it says also I should call to ask an agent to fix it. SURREAL! Update: Right after this review, I received my results. Unfortunately, their famous database doesn’t seem that big. Also, they are not accurate with Southern European populations; they place your minorities under the closest group present in their ethnicity list. Update Part 2: The 'Side View' tool is a mess. Due to medical issues, I already knew my mother's background. The Side View tool took my mother's background and decided to split it between both of my parents. My parents don't share the same ethnic background, but the tool treated them as if they do, even assigning them similar ethnicity percentages.
Reply from Ancestry.com2026-07-27
Hi Luciana, and thanks very much for contacting us to share your review. We're sorry to hear of any concerns about the status of your sample while you waited for your results, though we're happy to hear that they've since been made available to you. We know that the wait for the results can be an anxious time. We wanted to reach out to let you know that we are market-leading in the field of consumer genomics, and we have the largest commercial database of DNA samples, over 31 million. This allows us to refine your results with unrivaled precision. The results are calculated by analyzing your DNA across 700,000 locations, and then comparing this to our reference panel. This panel comprises of more than 185,000 people with long and proven histories in each of the regions that we currently test for, whose DNA is used to establish baseline regions. The test will look for what you've personally inherited over the last 500-1,000 years, and you can find a full breakdown of the samples in our reference panel here: https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/AncestryDNA-Reference-Panel?language=en_US We appreciate that reviewing your results for the first time can lead to a few initial questions. You may find regions that you weren't anticipating, for example, or a higher percentage of a region than expected. We'll link some additional information below which we hope can help to clear things up further. Link: https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Unexpected-Ethnicity-Results?language=en_US You can also find a free class which offers some additional insights on the topic of DNA inheritance below, that you may enjoy. AncestryDNA 101: https://www.ancestry.com/c/discover/education/ancestrydna-101 We appreciate you chosing Ancestry to assist you in your journey of personal discovery, and we wish you all the best in your continued research!
The best thing about this survey is…It's very short, to the point, and took less than 2 minutes.
The best thing about this survey is that it gets right to the point, asks only a couple of questions for which they request a description and then it's done. I'm happy to give answers to that.
5 star Bryan Bussewitz
5 star 10/10 Reliable Amazing job getting first results back¡!
The DNA test kit was easy to use
The DNA test kit was easy to use. And their app matches your DNA with all your relatives. I have like 20,000 so far. Lol
I cancelled my membership and was still…
I cancelled my membership and was still charge, customer service was of no help.
Reply from Ancestry.com2026-07-27
Hey, and thank you very much for your recent review. We're sorry to learn of any unexpected billings. Once a membership is cancelled with us, we'll provide you with a cancelation confirmation number. This will be quoted on-site, and we'll then forward that to you via email shortly afterwards for your records. More information on the process for cancelling online can be found here for reference: https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Canceling-a-Subscription?language=en_US If you recieved that number, then please don't hesitate to get back in touch with our support team and quote the number you were provided. We'll list our contact details below for reference. Once we have that, our team should be able to investigate further. Thank you very much for reaching out so we could offer this insight. We look forward to hearing from you again soon. Live Chat: https://support.ancestry.com/s/contactsupport/?language=en_US Phone Support: 1-800-262-3787
Paid $40 for dNA testing kit
Paid $40 for dNA testing kit. All the information that comes up is very general. I can get it from local library or through my own family member. Not worth spending your money at all. Very dissatisfied and disappointed.
Reply from Ancestry.com2026-07-27
Hi, and thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. We're grateful to you for choosing our AncestryDNA test to help you in your research, though we do regret to learn of any unmet expectations from the service. While the test results does not research your family tree for you, it will provide an Ancestral Origins report as well as a DNA Match list. More information on what's included with the test can be found here for reference: https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/What-to-Expect-from-AncestryDNA When waiting to dive in deeper to your family history research, working with your Matches in particular can be hugely helpful. We'd love to share some tips to help you make the most of the results moving forward, and if you're interested, you can explore some free classes on that topic below. AncestryDNA 101: https://www.ancestry.com/c/discover/education/ancestrydna-101 AncestryDNA® Match List: https://www.ancestry.com/c/discover/education/ancestry-dna-match-list-webinar AncestryDNA: Making the Cousin Connection: https://www.ancestry.com/c/discover/education/cousin-connection We hope that these resources can be a big help, and we wish you all the best in your DNA journey moving forward!
Would Pitiful justify your customer Service??
Horrible customer Service. Not sure if I will ever purchase a subscription... Especially after being placed on HOLD for over 45 min without even a check-in while I was on hold!! IS THIS HOW YOU TREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS and potential customers!!!! PITIFUL!! YOU BETTER BE SURE I WILL BE BLASTING YOU EVERYWHERE AND EVERY WAY I CAN...
Reply from Ancestry.com2026-07-27
Thanks very much for reaching out to us to share this. We are sorry to hear of the wait-time you experienced. We endeavour to help all of our users as swiftly as possible, though we can occasionally encounter periods of high demand. We're grateful for your feedback and can be certain to pass this on for you to any and all appropate channels. Thank you again for contacting us, and have a lovely start to your week as well!
Very little confidence in payment system
Have very little confidence in its record keeping/payment record. Nearly impossible to find an Australian phone number to talk to an agent but finally found if I left a message on their "chat" they did return my call. It seems they have a no refund policy despite its fault in causing me not being able to use its program.
Reply from Ancestry.com2026-07-27
Thanks for getting in touch lately, Jen. We're sorry to hear of any trouble with getting in touch with us lately. Should they be needed moving forward, you can find our full list of contact options and opening hours below, including our hotline number for Australia. Link: https://support.ancestry.com.au/s/phonesupport Our refund policy can be found linked below as well for reference. Link: https://www.ancestry.com.au/c/legal/renewal-cancellation-terms If you need any additional assistance with your account or your refund query, please don't hesitate to get back in touch with us. We'd be glad to review any issues you may still be encountering and ensure this matter is resolved as promptly as possible.
To be able to uncover how your family…
To be able to uncover how your family ended up being where they were and why they were there is an amazing experience.
It's a beautiful thing to find your…
It's a beautiful thing to find your unknown ancestors
Useful Information
There is so much useful information that can be gathered with not too much effort or expense. That is pretty exciting.