Find My Past Review

Wednesday, December 11th

2024 Genealogy Service Reviews

Find My Past

• $13.33/month - $29.99/month depending on plan
• 7-day free trial
• Helpful hints to build your tree
• 1881 and 1921 census records
• Positive customer reviews

Findmypast began in 1965 and is a technology-driven subscription service that gives users access to billions of digitized records. The company aims to allow people from the past, present, and future to connect with each other. Findmypast has partnered with The National Archives, FamilySearch, The National Archives of Ireland, British Library, and Family History Federation to give people as much information as possible.

Save with long-term subscription

Like many online genealogy companies, Findmypast offers a free trial for users to test out their platform. For 7 days, you can start working on your family tree and browse billions of records. After the trial phase, there are two plans to choose from. You could either stick with their "Essential” plan and pay $19.99/month or pay yearly which comes out to be $13.33/month. The "Ultimate” plan is $29.99 monthly or $18.33/month if you pay for a year upfront. The Ultimate plan gives you access to the largest online British and Irish set of records and comes with exclusive content and guidance from their experts.

Helpful hints to grow your tree

Some of the main documents people come to Findmypast for are the 1881 census, 1921 census, and 1939 register. Others come simply to get started on their family tree and to start compiling memories and information about their ancestors. To get started, you can fill in some details about your relatives and yourself. As you build your tree, Findmypast will match stories from their records that might belong with one of your ancestors and give you "hints” along the way. This will help you uncover new relatives, which will result in more hints, and then more discoveries.

Share information with loved ones

Users can share their family trees with friends and family members so that they too can learn more about their ancestors. However, it doesn't appear that other relatives can join their family tree with yours or work on the same line. Rather, you can send a link for people to view your tree and you can restrict access to certain information if you'd rather keep some things private.

Import from other sites

Creating a family tree takes a lot of work. That's why Findmypast allows you to import your tree from another website if necessary. That way it will be in the correct format found on Findmypast and you can pick up where you left off by continually researching and adding to your previous work.

Happy customers

We wish that Findmypast had a rating from the Better Business Bureau. They do, however, have good ratings from their users. People say that it's easy to build your family tree and navigate the site. People especially like the hints feature that helps them when they feel like they get stuck in a rut. Some people wish it were a bit more affordable long-term to use, though.

Good option, but there are better

Findmypast is definitely not one of the first places you think of when you start your genealogy work, but it seems like a reliable, straightforward option. They do pull a lot of records from FamilySearch, which is our highest-rated site (and it's free), so if you want to create a family tree without worrying that you'll have to pay for the rest of your life to access it, you may want to try a higher-rated site before committing to Findmypast.