Best Free Online Genealogy or Family Tree Applications [1]
Introduction
Genealogy applications provide a method for recording the subjects of our research, e.g. their names, relationships, and events of their lives. Evidence (citations and sources) should be recorded to support the conclusions reached. They also print the reports and charts to show off the results of our labor.
This article reviews web applications and divides them into two sections: collaborative sites and sharing sites. They require a browser and internet connection. If you are interested in stand alone programs, see this review Best Free Genealogy or Family Tree Software [3].
Several free web applications in this review will do a reasonable job for the novice or advanced genealogist. Read also the Supported Features of these applications and the differences between Collaborative and Sharing Sites at the end of this article.
Collaborative Sites
Platforms/Download: Web App [7] | [8]
Version reviewed: n/a
Gizmos Freeware [9]
| Our Rating: 5/5 |
|
Read more... [6]
Platforms/Download: Web App [12] | [8]
Version reviewed: n/a
Gizmos Freeware [9]
| Our Rating: 5/5 |
Read more... [11]
Platforms/Download: Web App [15] | [8]
Version reviewed: n/a
Gizmos Freeware [9]
| Our Rating: 4/5 |
Read more... [14]
Sharing Sites
Platforms/Download: Web App [18] | [8]
Version reviewed: n/a
Gizmos Freeware [9]
| Our Rating: 4/5 |
Read more... [17]
Platforms/Download: Web App [21] | [8]
Version reviewed: n/a
Gizmos Freeware [9]
| Our Rating: 3/5 |
Read more... [20]
Supported Features:
The above web applications support these features unless otherwise noted:
- They support unlimited entry of individuals, birth, marriage, death, burial, and other events together with their associated dates, locations, and source citations.
- Alternative names can be entered but are not necessarily searched.
- Marriages are not numerically limited, i.e. multiple spouses (sequential or polygamous).
- Polygamous relationships are not completely displayed, e.g. only one pair can be viewed at a time.
- Multiple parents are supported (adopted, foster, or other possibilities). However, only one pair of parents can be displayed at a time.
- Incest is supported, e.g. a child can be married to one of their parents and/or be both sibling and parent of another sibling.
- Same sex marriages and parents are supported by several of the recommended programs.
- Intersex and transsexual individuals are not supported.
- They support family group, pedigree, and descendant reports and charts together with the associated foot- or end-notes.
- They support multimedia attachments but not all support photos in reports.
- They support import and export of GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data COMmunication) format files.
- The information is viewable by other members or the site.
- Some exclude information about living individuals from being publicly available.
- Do not support the https protocol. Therefore they are far less secure than banks or Department of Defense.
Collaborative And Sharing Sites:
The free online genealogy sites have an advantage in that you can collaborate or share with others on your family tree research. However, I don't recommend them as your only method for documenting your research.
You should not publicly post information about living individuals that might be inappropriate for sharing with the public. Not everyone believes that privacy is dead and they are not willing to get over it. Either exclude them from the upload or verify that the site purges or otherwise restricts the data to the posting individual.
Sooner or later most researchers would want to produce some sort of report or chart of their research. These sites have few reports compared to the offline programs.
Finally I strongly suggest making regular backups of your research to your hard drive or to another website in case the company shuts down entirely, begins charging for formerly free services, or institutes a policy that you dislike.
| Collaborative | Sharing |
|---|---|
| Information is researched and edited by the community at large of the site. | Information is display only. |
| All information is public. | All information is publicly viewable. |
| Sites either do not allow information for living people or restrict it to the posting member. | Some sites allow information on living people. Either remove this information before posting or use a site which cleans it up. |
| Any member could change the family tree which is one reason for keeping frequent offline backups. | Only you can change the family tree. |
| However, any changes made to the tree can be reverted back to the original. | Only you can change the family tree. |
| The ownership of the genealogical data mostly passes to the site. | You retain ownership of the genealogical data. |
| Deletion may be possible but only for unmerged individuals unedited by other members. | You can delete your data. |
| GEDCOM uploads are limited in size due to the necessity of merging individuals with others already in the site. | GEDCOM uploads are generally unlimited. |
Related Products and Links
- Best Free Genealogy or Family Tree Software [3]
- RootsWeb Freepages [22]
- Cyndi's List - Collaborative [23]
Editor
This software review is copy-edited by Jojo Yee [24]. Please help edit and improve this article by clicking here [25].
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