Ancestry.com, as of this writing, costs between $25 and $55 per month.

MyHeritage.com, likewise, costs today between $100 and $400 per year.

And so on.

In my home state of South Dakota, libraries used to provide access to Ancestry Library Edition. When funding was reduced in 2025, libraries no longer included Ancestry in their databases.

No wonder people feel like they can’t afford to do genealogy.

Take a new look at FamilySearch, which is free. Always.

Start for free, continue for free. Keep going. Yes, there will be occasional costs for death or birth certificates if you have to request them from a county or foreign country. But with FamilySearch, millions of records, and a shared family tree, and countless “how to” articles, are free.

Family history is for everyone, rich or poor. We all have the chance to learn about our ancestors.