Dna (Family or Relative or Lineage or Ancestry or Ancestor)

Three of the Earth's Top Ancestry Tests: How Exercise They Compare?

MyHeritage, 23andMe, and AncestryDNA are among the world's most well-known and successful commercial DNA testing companies. If you're thinking nearly getting an ancestry test, you should probably be considering one or more of these options.

But which one is right for you? It all depends on what yous're looking for.

They're all splendid choices, and each has unique features and advantages. I've had my DNA tested by all three, and so I'k in a good position to requite y'all a side-by-side comparison. Speaking from my own personal experience every bit well every bit drawing on the extensive research I've washed on each visitor, I'll endeavor to help you select the ideal test given your personal interests and budget.

You can read near my personal experiences with each test kit by reading the review:

• MyHeritage
• 23andMe
• AncestryDNA

Get Started with MyHeritageDNA

Dna Test Kits: What You Become and How It Works

The sample collection procedure for all three companies is pretty standard, and pretty similar. I'll explain how they're alike and how they're different.

Sample Drove and Submission: What All Three Have in Common

1. Annals

Once you've ordered and received your test kit, you go to the company'southward website, create an account, and enter the unique code that comes with your kit.

2. Donate Your Sample

Follow the instructions in your examination kit to prepare your DNA sample. (Don't eat or drink anything for at to the lowest degree 30 minutes beforehand.) Then mail it in.

3. Wait for Your Results

You should receive emails confirming that the company has received your sample and telling you how their analysis is coming forth.

4. Receive Your Written report

They'll alert y'all via email when your beginnings report is ready. Then, y'all just log onto the website to view the report. You can likewise see it on the company'due south mobile app (which all iii have).

What Are the Differences?

1. Sample Submission

23andMe and AncestryDNA collect your Deoxyribonucleic acid sample via your saliva ( i.east., you spit into a tube), whereas MyHeritage collects information technology via a cheek swab.

2. Postage

23andMe and AncestryDNA prepay the return postage for your DNA sample. MyHeritage doesn't, so y'all have to either guess at the mailing cost or have your sample to the mail service office.

3. Wait Time

MyHeritage and 23andMe promise results within three to 4 weeks. My own results came in a fiddling over a week for 23andMe, a little more than than two weeks for MyHeritage.

AncestryDNA says their results volition accept six to eight weeks, merely I got mine in a niggling over two weeks (i.eastward., about the same amount of time every bit MyHeritage).

five of the Biggest Differences Between MyHeritage, 23andMe, and AncestryDNA

one) Actress Offerings

In addition to their well-known ancestry tests, each of these companies also has actress features that can provide insight into your personal groundwork.

For example, MyHeritage and AncestryDNA are endemic by ii of the world'due south biggest genealogy companies. If you subscribe to either of their genealogy services, you can build a big family tree on their websites.They volition also pull from literally billions of historical records that help bring your familial by to life. Yous can discover even more family members with the Dna exam.

23andMe recently started offering a family unit tree builder, but they do not have the archival database of genealogical records (east.g., marriage, death, and nascency certificates, etc.) that the other companies do. Where 23andMe stands out is with its DNA-based wellness written report that you can add on to an ancestry examination (you cannot purchase the health study by itself). This will provide insight into whether you are genetically predisposed to – or a carrier of – certain wellness conditions.

2) Beginnings Focus

Genealogy aside, the beginnings data that 23andMe provides is a lot more rich and detailed than what you'd receive from the other two companies.

For instance, your 23andMe report includes:

• The story of your maternal and paternal lineages going back tens of thousands of years. This shows how you've descended through various haplogroups from the mutual ancestors of all people living today.
• Insights into your Neanderthal heritage and how this may exist reflected in your physical traits, such as your height, what blazon of hair yous have on your caput, and your body hair.
• Discussions of the genetic traits that are typical of your Deoxyribonucleic acid family (i.e., other 23andMe customers who are related to yous) in comparing to the general population, such as your ability to jerk your ears or your tendency to sweat while sleeping.

If all you lot desire is an ancestry report, without subscribing to a genealogy service, what you receive from 23andMe is much more substantial than what you go from either MyHeritage or AncestryDNA.

3) Number of Deoxyribonucleic acid Tests Completed

In a contest of which visitor has the largest DNA database, AncestryDNA is the winner by a long shot. They've nerveless samples from 15 million people.

23andMe has about five million people in its Dna database, and MyHeritageDNA has around two 1000000.

Why does this affair?

If you're aiming to notice new relatives past ways of your DNA exam, your family members are mathematically more likely to announced in a database of 15 million people than in a database of two million people.

Testing more people may also generate a more complete dataset for the genetic markers a company looks at – as well as the conclusions they depict. In other words, your results might be more accurate.

four) Number of Geographical Locations Analyzed

To pinpoint the diverse ethnicities represented in your DNA and where those ancestors lived, testing companies have to split up the world up into a sure number of geographical regions and compare your Deoxyribonucleic acid to samples collected from people in those regions.

23andMe has divided the earth into 1500+ regions. AncestryDNA has divided it into around 500. MyHeritage has 42 geographic regions.

Why does this matter?

Theoretically, breaking the globe into more than regions should allow greater precision in locating where your ancestors came from.

23andMe and AncestryDNA both detected a small amount of southeast Asian heritage in my background – 23andMe with a bit more precision. MyHeritage didn't notice this ancestry at all. I'm convinced these differences are a result of how many distinct regions, or how few, each company looks at.

This factor is probably less relevant if your ancestors all descend from ethnicities that are very well represented in DNA companies' datasets – Western European, for case. But if you're trying to trace your roots dorsum to a less mutual and more specific ethnicity, such as a particular tribe in sub-Saharan Africa or South America, I'll bet it makes a big difference.

5) Book of Sales Emails

Whatever time you create an account with a company these days, they'll send you emails request y'all to buy more stuff. And you can opt out of these communications if you choose. But if you don't opt out…

• MyHeritage will send yous the well-nigh sales pitches, aggressively urging you to purchase a monthly genealogy subscription. I've gotten twoscore emails from them in the last two months.
• AncestryDNA comes in 2d place. They've sent me 24 emails. A lot of these encourage me to subscribe, simply they're less annoying than the ones from MyHeritage.
• 23andMe has sent me a full of 28 emails on a multifariousness of topics, but almost of them weren't trying to sell me anything. Instead, they were telling me how my sample analysis is coming forth, inviting me to participate in genetic research, asking me for my opinion of their services, etc.

I'll requite you more than specific examples of the differences between these three companies in the adjacent section.

What Will Yous See in Your Beginnings Reports?

When the big day arrives, and you get that email from your Deoxyribonucleic acid testing company letting you lot know that your ancestry results are gear up, you're going to blitz to look at them on your computer or phone. What will you see?

MyHeritage , 23andMe, and AncestryDNA all have some features in common – though what those features wait like may vary, depending on your individual results. And then at that place are also some very noticeable differences. Allow'southward review the common features first.

Ethnicity Estimate

All three companies will tell yous what ethnicities are reflected in your genetic background, what percentage of your ancestry is represented past each ethnicity, and where those ancestors lived.

Here is what my ethnicity approximate from MyHeritage looks like: Hither is 23andMe'southward version:

And here is AncestryDNA's version:

So far, they're pretty similar – though 23andMe and AncestryDNA'due south ethnicity estimates wait a lot more than detailed.

You lot can get further information for each ethnicity by clicking on it. Again, hither are my results.

MyHeritage: 23andMe: AncestryDNA:

In this detailed view of a single ethnicity, MyHeritage's presentation is a little more rich than it was initially.

DNA Relatives

All 3 companies will also requite you lot a list of their other customers who appear to be your relatives, based on your common Deoxyribonucleic acid. Here are my lists. I've redacted everyone's names to protect their privacy.

MyHeritage: 23andMe:

AncestryDNA: All iii companies will requite yous the individuals' names, as well as estimates of how closely related they are, what percentage of your DNA is shared, and how many DNA segments you have in common.

Y'all can click on each relative to get more than information most how you're related and what family unit surnames you may share. You can also effort to contact them through the testing company.

MyHeritage and AncestryDNA also allow you to link each individual and their family copse to your own genealogy (assuming you subscribe to that service).

Family Tree

Each company offers family tree builders. And while 23andMe includes this service to anyone who has ordered a DNA test, it is still quite basic when compared to what MyHeritage and AncestryDNA offer in their subscription services.

MyHeritage: 23andMe: AncestryDNA: Without a subscription, MyHeritage and AncestryDNA volition let yous manually build your own family tree of a certain size based on your knowledge of your family history. All the same, in order to add more than relatives using the companies' databases, you accept to subscribe to their genealogy services.

Now permit's have a look at some of the features that are unique to each service.

MyHeritage'due south Chromosome Browser

With MyHeritage, you tin select a certain set of relatives and see which Deoxyribonucleic acid segments yous have in common. Each relative is colour-coded then you can run across the different segments y'all share with each of them. The more than segments you share with a given private, and the greater their length, the closer you're likely to be related.

I guess it'southward kind of absurd, but I'm non sure how meaningful information technology is to me. Am I supposed to contact my cousin Marie and say "Hey, judge what! We share iii segments on our second chromosome! On our ninth, there's simply 1, merely it's a lot longer"?

AncestryDNA's ThruLines

This feature suggests which ancestors yous may accept in common with your Dna matches. Here's a sample of this characteristic from AncestryDNA's website.

In my case, it's non nearly as exciting, as yous can see below. I'm sure it would be a lot bigger and better if I had an AncestryDNA genealogy subscription.

23andMe'south Many Additional Features

23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" lets me see how recently a representative of each ethnicity entered my family tree. So, my "Chromosome Painting" depicts what ethnicities are represented in each of my chromosomes. Like MyHeritage'due south Chromosome Browser, this characteristic isn't very easy to read or sympathise, and I'm not certain it serves me whatsoever existent, useful purpose. But it does help me sympathize what my ethnicity percentages are based on.

I call back 23andMe's "Beginnings Traits" feature is a scrap silly, and probably not very meaningful. Information technology shows how my ancestors' traits compare with nigh 23andMe customers.

So, I guess I come from a long line of people who didn't grow upwards nearly a farm and didn't like making new year'southward resolutions. They were obviously much besides busy running marathons, during the grade of which their palms and feet were blissfully perspiration-costless.

I really cool characteristic from 23andMe is their "Maternal and Paternal Haplogroups." By looking at my mtDNA and Y-Deoxyribonucleic acid, 23andMe can trace the major ancestral branches from both sides of my family unit dorsum to certain individuals who lived a long, long time ago.

Hither'south the history of my maternal haplogroup:

As you tin can see, my maternal beginnings has been traced all the way dorsum to Haplogroup Fifty, descended from a woman who lived in Africa betwixt 150,000 and 200,000 years ago! (By the manner, she's your ancestor, too.)

Since my paternal haplogroup story looks pretty much the same, I won't bear witness it here. But, for the tape, you and I take another shared antecedent. All humans living today belong to Haplogroup A, with a common ancestor who lived more than 275,000 years ago.

23andMe also reports on your "Neanderthal Ancestry."

Neanderthals and human being sapiens interbred extensively in Europe and Asia before the Neanderthals went extinct effectually 40,000 years ago. Your 23andMe study volition tell you how much of a Neanderthal you lot are. In my example, rather a lot! And according to 23andMe, this ancestry makes me less likely to sneeze after eating dark chocolate. (For what it's worth, that happens to be true. Dark chocolate doesn't brand me sneeze.)

Finally, 23andMe offers to turn your personal results into a hardcover book. Fairly inexpensively, 23andMe will print your ancestry report equally a beautiful book that yous can keep on your coffee table or bring to family gatherings.

(I'grand seriously tempted!)

Are the DNA Test Kits a Good Value for the Price?

Currently, MyHeritage is the least expensive of these three tests , whereas 23andMe and AncestryDNA are tied at just below the 1 hundred U.s.a. dollar marking.

If all you desire to practice is purchase an ancestry exam, and you're non interested in an elaborate genealogy, 23andMe gives you lot a lot more substancefor your money . I found the other 2 tests pretty disappointing by comparing.

But what if you also want your genealogy?

If edifice your family tree is important to y'all, and yous're willing to pay a monthly fee for it, then your choice comes downward to either MyHeritage or AncestryDNA. So, how do their prices compare? Even the most plush monthly subscription to MyHeritage (as currently discounted) is less expensive than a monthly subscription to AncestryDNA. And if you purchase a 6-month subscription to AncestryDNA, which is a lot more than affordable than a monthly subscription, information technology still costs more than than MyHeritage.

Although, an AncestryDNA subscription arguably includes a greater number of features. So, if making this choice, don't merely think virtually how much you lot'd take to pay per month, but also whether the features that you'd go are worth it.

How Much Assist Will You Go If Something Goes Wrong?

Hopefully, when you lot take your Dna test everything will go perfectly and you won't need any questions answered. But if that isn't the example, you might want a glimpse of the customer service feel that awaits you lot.

I'm going to tell y'all nearly my own experiences, then summarize what other customers accept had to say.

The Back up Process

All iii companies have FAQ pages to reply your most basic questions. If that doesn't help, your side by side options are to either fill out a support request class or phone call their customer support phone numbers.

The Response (In My Experience)

I asked each visitor a question, both via telephone and through their support forms. I didn't have to wait long on the phone – the customer service representatives were all pleasant and helpful, and they answered my questions in a satisfactory way.

Getting a response to my online support request is another story.

• 23andMe answered my query in about an hour and a half, and their response was perfectly clear and straightforward.
• AncestryDNA likewise got dorsum to me in a reasonable amount of time and gave me the aforementioned answer I'd received over the phone.
• MyHeritage never answered the question I submitted. I got an e-mail acknowledging that I submitted a back up asking, but they never emailed me an answer to my question. And that was over a month and a half ago, so I'm not holding my breath.

Mind you, I've gotten lots of other emails from MyHeritage. Almost all of them were pushing me to subscribe to their genealogy service. Or telling me that they've constitute more than relatives for me…only that I have to subscribe in guild to add them to my family unit tree.

Yes, I've gotten lots of emails from 23andMe and AncestryDNA too. Simply MyHeritage has sent me a lot more than. I'm pretty tired of information technology.

Other Customers' Support Issues

Every company gets its share of complaints, and these should exist taken with a grain of salt. Usually there are many satisfied customers for every one that's disgruntled.

But the complaints I've read for these three Deoxyribonucleic acid testing companies are quite distinct from one another, which should tell you something.

• AncestryDNA customers have complained about website glitches, not getting their test kits quickly enough, and the demand to pay monthly subscription fees. With that said, AncestryDNA seems to place a high value on responding to customers' complaints.
• Some 23andMe customers claim their ethnicity reports were inaccurate. Others take said 23andMe made them take their Dna test over and over once again considering their sample didn't contain enough DNA for analysis. They tried many times, kept being told the same thing, and never got a refund.
• As for MyHeritage, a lot of customers say they signed up for a complimentary one-month genealogy subscription, then canceled it…but all the same got charged for a full annual subscription without their permission.

I'one thousand not saying whatsoever of these things will happen to y'all. I just retrieve information technology's helpful to know what kinds of bug other people have had, and how the companies have responded.

The Bottom Line: There's a Expert Selection for Everyone

If you just desire to find out about your ancestors' ethnicities and where they came from (and maybe a health written report), I recommend 23andMe . Its beginnings reports are a lot more substantial and satisfying than MyHeritage or AncestryDNA'due south reports.

If you want a genealogy subscription too, it'southward a harder choice.

MyHeritage costs less than AncestryDNA. If money isn't an obstacle, though, I would recommend AncestryDNA over MyHeritage, for these iii reasons:

1. There are almost eight times as many people in AncestryDNA's DNA database.
2. A genealogy subscription from AncestryDNA seems to offer more features.
3. If you sign upward for a free trial, AncestryDNA seems less likely to start charging you subscription fees without your consent.

I promise I've helped you lot decide. Savor your ancestry test!

Purchase Your AncestryDNA Kit Today

FAQ

When should someone choose a MyHeritage DNA examination?

MyHeritage DNA offers some of the almost affordable Dna tests out in that location, making information technology a skilful choice for consumers on a budget, particularly if they're as well interested in fleshing out their genealogy and building an online family tree.

When should someone choose a 23andMe DNA test?

Both 23andMe's ancestry test and its ancestry + wellness test offering some of the virtually accurate, detailed, and substantive reports in the industry. If you're hungry to find out about your family's origins, your Neanderthal ancestry, your genetic disease risk and then on, 23andMe delivers a very satisfying amount of data at a bang-up cost, whereas other vendors may disappoint in comparison.

When should someone choose an AncestryDNA test?

If your interest in your ancestry includes your genealogy, and you're interested in building the nigh robust possible family tree, AncestryDNA is an excellent choice . Moreover, its ethnicity estimates are considerably more accurate than those of its chief rival, MyHeritage DNA.

How do these vendors compare on cost?

For only an beginnings examination, MyHeritage Dna is consistently the well-nigh affordable with its list price of AU$192.99 . 23andMe is AU$137.45 , and AncestryDNA is also priced at AU$137.45 . 23andMe's exam costs AU$276.29 .

How long does information technology take to get your results from each of these vendors?

23andMe'due south exam results arrive 2-3 weeks after they receive your sample. MyHeritage's results are set in near iii-4 weeks; AncestryDNA'southward results arrive subsequently 6-8 weeks.

hopkinsbelsionst.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.dnaweekly.com/blog/myheritage-vs-andme-vs-ancestrydna/

Share this post