Which family history website is best?

[sandwiches77]

I signed up for the free trial of Ancestry but getting a bit fed up with all the hints that were never going to be the correct person.

I then bought some software that comes with free use of Find my past which is OK but just wondering whether I should pay for an family history site on top or are they all pretty much the same.

I like Ancestry as it has wide coverage across global records. Also look at FamilySearch and FreeCEN and FreeBMD which are all free to access. If you have Scottish ancestry, you might need Scotland's People too.

I use both Ancestry and Find my Past and overall, like Ancestry best. I mainly ignore the hints and do my own research.

Have used both and in my view Ancestry is far better and has more records.
The Church of the latter day saints is also very good and free. They have a large range of records.

Hmm, interesting. I wonder if it depends where your ancestors are mainly based. I much prefer Find My Past, as I find the search results more focused and relevant. The nudges towards other records ("Is this the same Fred Bloggs?") aren't always right but are often enough to be useful. Ancestry, in contrast, I find too often points me to utterly irrelevant stuff, usually in the US. But I do like using it to look at other people's trees, which often fill in gaps or offer a new and interesting bit of info you might not have found otherwise (but do need to be verified as some are wildly inaccurate). I pay for the middle-range FMP subscription, so I get parish records and the 1939 register as well as census and bmd, but not newspapers etc.

But tbf all my ancestors were dull stay-at-homes clustered together in about 5 English counties - maybe Ancestry would offer me more if they'd been a bit more far flung.

I also use Rootsweb and some regional forums for specific info searches.

I think it depends on the area involved too. FMP has some local records which others may not , and vice versa.

An advantage of Find my past is the newspapers and the 1939 register is updated more frequently than on Ancestry. But I find Ancestry better international records and the hints can prove useful. I like the general records office website as a free resource. You can find out mothers maiden names that way and middle names. If I can, it’s nice to have Ancestry and Find my past subs at the same time. I’m just waiting for FInd my past to discount their memberships. I wish they did one month options.

@Fab90

An advantage of Find my past is the newspapers and the 1939 register is updated more frequently than on Ancestry. But I find Ancestry better international records and the hints can prove useful. I like the general records office website as a free resource. You can find out mothers maiden names that way and middle names. If I can, it’s nice to have Ancestry and Find my past subs at the same time. I’m just waiting for FInd my past to discount their memberships. I wish they did one month options.

Fmp is free at the moment if you have a library account. There's a thread on this topic about it

I think Ancestry is free as well at the moment; my local library is run by Better Leisure and I can access it via my library card number and PIN. FMP have won the contract to publish the 1921 census ahead of Ancestry which might sway your decision!