The Best DNA Testing Kits

Tuesday, March 28th

2023 DNA Testing Kit Reviews

23 and Me

Whether you want an extensive look at your DNA for health reasons or for tracing your ancestry and connecting with living relatives, 23andMe is your best choice. You'll be blown away by the 150+ reports available through their Health + Ancestry service, or even the 80+ reports with the Ancestry + Traits kit. 23andMe is committed to your wellness with ongoing research and frequent updates to your profile, adding new information several times a year. And, with more than 10 million people in their DNA network, you should have no trouble finding family members around the world. 23andMe continues to earn our highest recommendation for DNA testing kits.

Ancestry

If your priority is connecting with your ancestry and living relatives, Ancestry should be your first choice among DNA tests. With nearly 20 million people in their DNA network, this platform offers your best chance of making a connection with others in your family tree. You'll have to pay extra if you want to access historical records or use Ancestry's other services, but you can still get plenty out of Ancestry with just your DNA test and their family tree tools. Pay a little more and you'll also get results for 35+ traits (but no in-depth health information or recommendations). Ancestry is the DNA testing kit of choice for anyone who wants to learn more about their roots.

My Heritage

MyHeritage has grown since our last review, expanding their DNA testing database from one million to over five million individuals. You can choose to buy just the kit and your results or get a 30-day trial of their Complete membership that gives you access to more family tree features and some impressive photo tools for colorizing and even animating your old black-and-whites. There are no health and wellness options here, but MyHeritage is still a good option if you're mostly interested in your ancestry and living relatives around the world.

myDNA

For under $100, myDNA can give you health and wellness insights about 30+ traits: how you metabolize caffeine, how quickly you recover after an injury, and much more. You'll even get customized meal and workout plans based on your DNA results, all accessed through an easy-to-use smartphone app. Although this service doesn't provide any DNA test kits that explore ancestry, myDNA is a fantastic choice if you want gene-based recommendations for living your best life.

Family Tree DNA

Family Tree DNA has expanded its offerings since our last review, partnering with myDNA to give you health and wellness results in addition to their own ancestry service. You may be able to use FTDNA to get those results and recommendations for less money, but customer feedback indicates you won't necessarily be thrilled with the ancestry aspect of these DNA testing kits.

Living DNA

Living DNA offers two types of DNA test results: ancestry and wellbeing. If you have roots in the British Isles or Africa, this test may give you deeper insights than many of Living DNA's rival providers. We're less impressed with their family matching options - because their database is much, much smaller - or their wellbeing results, but many customers have good things to say about this service. We'd definitely look at other options before settling for Living DNA.

Home DNA

Home DNA has expanded their DNA test offerings since our last review, allowing customers to explore their maternal or paternal ancestry or to even get in-depth answers specific to their African or Asian roots. However, you'd have to buy several different kits to get both ancestry and health information here, and even then customers say the results aren't as specific as Home DNA's rivals.

Dynamic DNA Labs

Dynamic DNA Labs can give you a deeper perspective on how your genes affect your skin, nutrition, fitness, and personality. All of their health-based DNA testing kits come with customized recommendations for optimizing your wellness, from meal plans to workout routines and more. The ancestry testing here is limited, however, and customers say that even their health-related results don't provide as much insight as they expected.

American Screening Corporation

American Screening Corporation offers DNA testing kits for people who are trying to prove parentage: paternity, sibling, aunt/uncle, and grandparent are the relationships that can be established here. You won't find options for tracking your family tree or determining your predisposition for gene-based health conditions. Unfortunately, more than half of the tests in ASC's inventory were out of stock at the time of our review, and an overall limited scope of DNA testing puts this company at the bottom of our rankings.

Nebula Genomics

Nebula Genomics makes big promises. Full genome sequencing! Hyper-focused on privacy! Easy integration with other DNA testing services! But, when you look at recent customer feedback, it tells a different story. You could wind up spending $1,000 or more, only to never get a full analysis of your sample, have an impossible time getting customer support, or even have your DNA data sent to a third-party service in Russia. Nebula Genomics is amazing in theory but falls short in practice. Look elsewhere for DNA testing you can trust.