Explore a gigantic database

“You can expect results to be available online within six to eight weeks”

It’s perhaps no surprise that the biggest name in tracing your family tree also offers one of the best home DNA kits. Ancestry’s claimed database of five million customers – more than double that of its closest competitor – increases the odds that you will be able to find successful family matches. Best of all, you can enjoy many of these features without being a regular subscriber to Ancestry’s conventional service.

Once you’ve sent off your saliva sample, you can expect results to be available online within six to eight weeks. Ancestrydna presents you with a pie chart estimating your ethnicity. You can then view a map of where your ancestors lived, read more about each ethnicity match and their region of origin, see how you compare to the native population and read about their genetic diversity and the population history. A feature called Genetic Communities even allows you to explore a timeline of specific groups – including Ulster Irish, African Caribbean or Central European Jews – and how they have migrated around the world. All of this is presented in an easy to follow way. Ancestrydna will also search their database for what it calls Cousin Matches, each one labelled with a ‘confidence level’ so you can work out how closely they are related to you. Oddly similar to a dating app, you can then send messages to your distant relatives to learn more about them.

In response to the growing trend of families taking DNA tests together, sharing results, and building family trees together, Ancestrydna makes it possible to manage other people’s test results.

An adult who takes a DNA test is considered the owner of that test but can assign other family members or friends to the role of managing the results and allow others to view them as well.