Trace your family tree for free online

Whilst the variety of family history websites out there is a real bonus for anyone tracing their family tree, the number of options can be overwhelming, particularly if you’re new to the subject. So, where to start?

Please use the quick links to find what you need (some of the info is repeated in a few locations, so that if people hop to a question they can find what they need there and then!)

Which websites are best to help me find ancestors for free?

There are many excellent places to look for clues about your ancestors free online.

There are some sites that you should certainly search. We recommend bookmarking them in your browser so that you can easily find them when doing your family history.

Major free family history websites to try include:

• FamilySearch - for a free online tree builder and vast collections of free and digitised records
• FreeBMD - for English and Welsh birth, marriage and death index details
• FreeCen - for transcribed census details for England, Wales and Scotland 
• Census of Ireland - for free digitised Irish census records
• IrishGenealogy - for free digitised Irish civil and church records

Use more than one website to find out more: The important point to note is that whether you are aiming to do your family history while paying as little as possible, even for free, or whether you are happy to subscribe - you will very likely need to use a combination of websites (not just one website) in order to discover all that you wish to about your family history as time goes by.

Get the key records & clues: We have listed those websites above as they provide free access to the key building-block records of family history in Britain and Ireland - birth, marriage and death records and census records.

What can free family history websites do for you?

These are the sorts of things that free family history websites can help you with. They can help you:

• build your family tree online;
• download free charts and forms to keep your records straight;
• gather collections of photos of places from yesteryear;
• find historic maps;
• read digitised old books;
• & explore indexes and digitised images.

Free family history wikis & research guides

Explore dedicated family history related wikis & research guides, for instance:

• The FamilySearch Wiki covers more than 150,000 precise family history topics - from geographical locations, to types of historical records to help, and even old occupations. Search for topics of interest to you here
• The National Archives, Kew, has numerous free online research guides, covering all sorts of record types, occupational roles, especially military, and you can search by time period too, for instance to find a guide to doing family history in the 1800s. Explore the guides here
• Whenever you find yourself on the website for an archive, take a look at see what research guides they have. Many have extremely useful, detailed guides with useful information for you. Find information about 2,500 archives here
• For DNA information, see the wiki of the International Society of Genetic Genealogists here - find a list of popular topics here

Is it worth paying for a family history website?

Yes. You may find that you can find out a great deal more, more quickly, if you access the subscription websites.

Get fuller access to the records. While free is great, it can be well worth paying for family history subscription websites. The reason for this is, when searching the paid-for websites without a subscription, some clues will be revealed to you; however, by becoming a paid-up user you will be able to view greater details, and importantly be able to see the original historic digitised records too.

Check with your local library: before taking out a subscription, however, you may like to see if your local library provides access, on their premises to their library members to websites such as Ancestry and Findmypast. Many local libraries do so.

Which paid-for websites help find UK ancestors?

The following sites are all extremely valuable to help you find British Isles family history.

The records these genealogy sites provide include the basics - those must-search family history records, such as birth, marriage and death records, and census records, through to more specialised data including occupational records, emigration records, and parish registers. They also provide online tree building; ancestral matches and more:

• www.ancestry.co.uk
• www.findmypast.co.uk
• www.myheritage.com
• www.thegenealogist.co.uk
• www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Useful notes

• To access the full information from any of these five websites above you will need to pay.
• You can take out subscriptions for varying durations, from a month to a year etc.
• Keep an eye out too for pay-per-view options
• Ancestry, Findmypast and MyHeritage are all especially good for access to overseas material too (ie outside the UK) - access will depend on your membership level.
• ScotlandsPeople, as the name suggests, is for research into Scottish ancestors. ScotlandsPeople doesn't offer a subscription - it uses pay-per-view credits.
• Check with your local library as sometimes Ancestry and Findmypast may be used for free at libraries and record offices.
• Each of these sites is strong on different types of records, so take advantage of the trial period to decide which is best for you before signing up for a subscription.

Find the genealogy site that’s best for you

Tip 1: The best genealogy site is the one that has the records you need. So spend a little time reflecting on what it is that you wish to find out.

Tip 2: Explore the record collections available on each of these websites before you subscribe. In addition to the core records – the main sites tend to have unique collections (not available on all the websites), such as various collections of newspapers, electoral rolls, DNA databases, maps and more.

Tip 3: Study the various subscription levels available to make sure the package you choose includes the datasets you need.

Tip 4: Take a free trial! If you’re new to family history it’s worth taking advantage of any free trial periods so that you can explore each site and see which suits you best. Be sure to cancel within the trial period if you don’t wish to take up a subscription.

Tip 5: Find out how the website allows you to contact fellow site users, and them you. Accessibility of contacting fellow researchers will help you trace new relations, ask questions and share findings.

Tip 6: See what's new. This tip is especially useful for someone who has used the £ websites in the past and has covered the basics.

These links below will help you keep track of the newest record arrivals on the major family history websites. Be sure to bookmark the links for visiting time and again. Information about which new records are available on a genealogy website is really valuable for helping you decide which website to subscribe to.

• For Ancestry use the Card Catalogue
• For FamilySearch – Browse all collections
• For Findmypast – visit the What’s New? blog posts
• For MyHeritage use the Collection Catalog
• For TheGenealogist – explore their chronological News blog

Am I missing out if I just do my family history for free?

Yes, you may be.

Get the full details: While there is a huge amount you can accomplish for free, paying for records really is worth it to enrich your research and give you access to digitised documents, to help you trace the full facts from the original sources, for more detailed, credible research.

Visit the archives: This guide is about online family history, but national and local archives are so useful to visit. Not only can you find records that have not yet been digitised, you can also find specialist records.

If you happen to live near the archives for the area in which your ancestors came from you will be able to achieve a lot using the archival collections. Many people live far from the localities in which their ancestors lived, so archive trips are more difficult to accomplish.

In addition many archives and local libraries offer free access to certain subscription sites to their visitors or members. 

What should I look out for in a paid website?

With a year or two’s (or even a month or two's) experience of doing family history, you’ll be very familiar with the key records, so it’s really worth looking at the data collections of each site before paying out.

Find further information about each site’s collections at: 
• https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/CardCatalog.aspx
• https://search.findmypast.co.uk/historical-records/
• www.myheritage.com/research
• www.thegenealogist.co.uk/diamond

Which family history website is best if I'm thinking about taking a DNA test?

Explore each website’s DNA options. Ideally you need a website with the largest database of fellow testers, to maximise your chance of making connections with your DNA matches.

DNA testing websites that provide tools to help you organise and analyise your DNA test results are also extremely useful.

For family historians Ancestry, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA and 23andMe each tick many of these boxes.

See our DNA guide for further information 

How to keep family tree notes for FREE

Get started with finding your ancestry by trying these easy steps:

1. Get a notebook and start jotting down what you know about your family (your name, birthday and birth place; then do the same for your parents and then your grandparents).

The notebook can be paper or digital (the main point is that you get into the habit of writing it all down. You won’t regret this!).

• Write all the details down.
• Jot down any family memories anecdotes you know of.
• In addition, make a note of any questions about your family that you would like to find the answers to.

2. Start filling in a simple family tree, and sign up to a tree-building website to start creating an online family tree.

You'll need to register with the website you choose and will then be able to grow your tree online free of charge.

The following websites are just some of those that provide free online tree-building tools:

• Ancestry.co.uk
• FamilySearch.org.uk
• Findmypast.co.uk
• MyHeritage.com
• TreeView.co.uk from TheGenealogist.co.uk

(PS Is paper your style? See also our tips to creating your own simple family tree on paper here)

3. Use free family history software to build your tree

If you prefer there are also desktop/laptop based programmes, such as Legacy Family Tree which offers a completely free full version (PC) (See our free guide to Legacy here). 

How do family tree websites work?

The websites we’ve just listed are linked to subscription services. This means that to view original records and limited-access databases you may have to subscribe (pay) to the relevant site. BUT - they do let you build your family tree online for free.

Family tree builder websites let you add the details of your family members and ancestors. Usually the details of living people are kept private. When adding people you will usually notice an option to mark someone as living or deceased. If they are still living it's really important to mark them as living - then their details will be kept privatised.

Family tree builder websites allow you to create an online family tree, enabling you to see your ancestors, and their siblings - across many generations back, and as wide as you like. You can add copies of photos and documents, and there is usually space to type in small life stories about each ancestors too.

PS FamilySearch and WikiTree are slightly different to the other websites mentioned above as they are completely free sites. They are also collaborative - meaning that you can work with other people and all build your tree together.

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Find FREE records, even on the £ subscription websites

While a subscription to a family history website is money very well spent, several of the major players do provide free access to a number of collections. Here's a quick summary of just some of the things that you can explore for free on some of the major family history database websites for tracing UK ancestors.

Find free family history records on Findmypast

Findmypast is renowned for its vast collection of digitised newspapers. A fascinating subset of more than a million newspaper pages are available to view completely free of charge. To locate these freely available digitised newspapers on Findmypast, follow the steps below:

1. Log in to Findmypast and go to https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search-newspapers/advanced

2. Enter your search terms

3. Near the bottom of the search fields, toggle access from "All" to "Free to view", then solely free to view newspapers will be available in your search results. Enjoy!

Find free family history records on MyHeritage

To identify the record collections on MyHeritage that are always free to access, look out for those marked with a green "FREE" label on MyHeritage's Collection Catalog. There is no way of searching to obtain a list of these free collections however.

Of great interest too is the MyHeritage Wiki - explore it for guides to records and location-based information.

Find free family history records on Ancestry

Ancestry do offer a small number of their collections for free. Of most note to UK researchers is perhaps the First World War Medal Index Card collection. Find it here

Find free family history records on ScotlandsPeople

Explore the Virtual Volumes on ScotlandsPeople for free. Log in. Go to 'Virtual Volumes'. Choose 'Search by place'. Search on your place name. Choose a virtual volume of interest. Now you may browse the digital virtual volume at no charge. The records aren't indexed (so you won't be able to search within the records), but you will have the interest and satisfaction of reading the original digital files to find details relevant to your research. Of particular note are the Scottish kirk session records, including minutes of the session meetings, which may well mention ancestors ... and their misdemeanours.

Find free family history records on TheGenealogist

Take a free 14-day trial to TheGenealogist

PS Sign up to the FREE Family Tree enewsletter for news of free records & more

 

Which family history websites are best for finding Scottish ancestors?

If you have Scottish ancestors, then ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk is the website to use.

It operates on a pay-per-view system (i.e. you buy credits, and use them as and when you wish to view a record). 

It includes access to the core records of Scottish civil records of births, marriages and deaths, Scottish Old Parochial Registers (of baptisms, marriages and burials), Scottish census records and more.

If you have paid access to Ancestry, it can be helpful to search the Scottish census indexes on Ancestry, find your ancestor, ensure you have the correct entry, and then pay to view the record on ScotlandsPeople. 

This will help you:
• make your search more accurate;
• may save you wasting credits on ScotlandsPeople;
• and will ensure you have the original record (from ScotlandsPeople – as Ancestry does not provide those for Scottish census returns).

Explore too, the resources below where you can find some free digitised collections, research guides and wider information to help you research the past:

• the National Library of Scotland
• the National Records of Scotland
• & Trove.scot

Which free family history websites are best for finding Welsh ancestors?

For Welsh ancestors, the National Library of Wales website, mentioned above, is a treasure-trove of free family history records and resources for Wales.

You will also find free sites such as FreeBMD, FreeREG and FreeCen useful and you will also find the main subscription websites useful for tracing Welsh ancestors. 

Which free family history websites are best for finding Irish ancestors?

For ancestors in Ireland, IrishGenealogy.ie (Irish civil records of births, marriages and deaths, and the parish registers where available too) and the National Archives of Ireland Irish census website are extremely useful. Explore too, PRONI (the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland) and the Virtual Treasury.

Find English & Welsh ancestors free on FreeBMD

FreeBMD provides a searchable index to birth, marriage and death records for England and Wales.

Possibly the most important genealogical crowdsourcing endeavour in British history, the FreeBMD project was one of the first to ask volunteers to help make accessible the very indexes needed to order up civil birth, marriage and death certificates in England and Wales.

With its sister projects FreeCEN, which aims to transcribe British censuses from 1841-1891, and FreeREG, for parish register transcriptions, it has also been one of the most meticulous projects in terms of the high standards set for the volunteer transcribing community.

FreeBMD not only provides fully searchable index transcriptions, it also allows you to see the original images from the register indexes. For those tracing English and Welsh ancestors, this is perhaps the most important free-to-access website for family tree research.

Search English & Welsh ancestors births & deaths free at GRO

Search free for ancestors’ birth and death index entries at www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/login.asp (this is also the site from which you order birth, marriage and death certificates for England and Wales, charges apply for the certificates).

See our guides to the importance of certificates here:

birth certificates

marriage certificates

death certificates

FreeCEN - Find free census transcriptions

Sister site to FreeBMD, FreeCEN is aimed at providing 19th-century census record details free online. FreeCEN is part of the FreeUKGen project, along with FreeREG (the latter concentrating on parish registers, which are also very useful records for family history research).

FamilySearch - Find free online collaborative tree builder, free indexes & free records

FamilySearch is the world’s largest, free, genealogy site with billions of searchable historical records and research guidance via its Research Wiki, online courses and more. 

If you are starting out with your research for the first time, then FamilySearch is a site that you should bookmark from the outset, for this site is packed with parish records, censuses, and many other crucial resources.

Created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church) to help its members fulfil a religious requirement to research their ancestry, the site is open to everyone to access, and hosts a range of digitised records and indexes from across the world.

In addition there is a free wiki site with lots of useful background information, free tutorial resources, a family tree hosting program, digitised ebooks, and just so much more. While most of its materials can be viewed at home, some can only be accessed at a local family history centre run by the church, but a visit there will also provide you with free access to subscription sites such as Findmypast and Ancestry.

UKBMD - a directory of useful UK BMD links

With thousands links to sites useful for birth, marriage, death and census records for the UK, this is a website worth visiting. Some of the links provide material freely;  for others, charges apply.

Cyndi's List - a directory of useful links

Cyndi’s List is a labour of love by American Cyndi Howells. The list is an enormous, constantly updated, categorised index of more than three hundred thousand genealogical links worldwide – explore the topics, countries &, records.

Genuki - a directory of useful info and links

The UK and Ireland Genealogical Information Service by GENUKI is a virtual reference library of genealogical data, with links to all the county record offices in the UK, family history societies and much more.

The UK and Ireland Genealogy gateway site GENUKI provides a vast portal into a variety of resources for those researching British kin. Essentially a giant online encyclopaedia, it allows you to burrow down by both geographic location and subject to access a variety of sources. Some of these are transcribed and hosted on the site itself, while others are provided in the form of links that can be clicked on, leading to various dedicated pages on other sites.

Established as a charitable trust, the site’s strength comes from the dedicated efforts of its many volunteers, each of whom has a detailed knowledge of the areas of the site for which they act as administrators. In addition to the main GENUKI site, a parallel calendar project called GENEVA (Genealogical Events and Activities) identifies forthcoming talks, fairs and conferences that may be of interest.

Explore the National Archives (Kew)

The National Archives at Kew, London, England contains records covering all countries of Britain and Ireland and records with overseas connections too. 

There are some freely available digitised records - bypass the £3.50 download fee where applicable by logging in to a free National Archives account prior to downloading.

• Explore the free research guides
• Search the catalogue

 

Can I upload my family history to an online tree free?

If you have created a paper-based family tree you are going to need to key in the details in order to create your online family tree.

However, if you have a digital copy of your family tree (for instance passed on to you by a family member and created using family history software, or perhaps one you have created yourself using such software), you can easily upload it to many of the websites that provide tree-building. In order to do this you need to upload a GEDCOM.

Important family tree upload/download tip! 

The ability to import (upload) and export (download) your family tree is extremely useful (saving you from reinventing the wheel). If uploading your research to the paid website, you can very often still have access to it should you wish to cease subscribing. Look out for the ability to ‘Import GEDCOM’ or ‘Export GEDCOM’ on your website of choice.

FamilySearch is an excellent free family history website, suitable for tracing your ancestors from all over the globe. It does allow a GEDCOM import. However, it doesn't provide an easy way for GEDCOM to be exported. This is important to note - because if you grow your family tree on FamilySearch, and then wish to migrate it somewhere else, you are going to realise that you can't simply download a GEDCOM. It might sound, and be, extra effort, but it is worth creating your tree in more than just FamilySearch.

See our selection of 50 of the best free family history websites too 

From the Gazette, to British History Online and more...

 

Blog last updated 5 September 2025.

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Blog last updated 4th September 2025.