Like all good hobbies, starting your family tree can come with a few costs. Although there’s plenty you can do for free, once you get stuck into your research, you will find there are things you need to pay for, from birth, marriage and death records to family history subscription websites. Although we cover plenty of free websites in this magazine, many of the records that family historians want to access are tucked behind a paywall.
Since accessing these pay-to-view records is probably the main cost for most people researching their family tree, this article looks at how you can do that for less, whether it’s extending your subscriptions
by building in some tactical pauses or tracking down the very best offers available.
We’ve also included some tips on how to get the most out of some of the amazing free resources out there. It may feel hard to let go of your subscription to your favourite family history website, even for a short while, but there are some fantastic free options out there that you may be missing out on by just focusing on the records you need to pay for.
So, read on and get some thrifty inspiration!
1. Register an account with as many of the subscription sites as possible
It may be too pricey to have an active subscription with all the paid-for genealogy websites, but it’s worth registering for a free, basic account. This won’t give you access to most of the records (although there are free records to be had for registered users on Findmypast and Ancestry), but it will enable you to use their different search facilities. Also, if you upload your family tree, both Findmypast and Ancestry will flag up records that you may be able to find for free elsewhere – or you could wait to see if the site runs a free weekend.
If you are registered but not subscribing to a site, you will also be sent special offers if you accept marketing emails from them.
2. Look out for special offers
As well as signing up to receive special offers from the firms themselves, you can also look around for discount codes. Members of family history Facebook groups, such as Ancestry UK and our own Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine group, sometimes share discount codes they have come across. We also list the latest family history special offers on our special offers page.
3. Make the most of any available free trials
All of the main genealogy subscription websites offer at least a free one-week trial. Note that you can usually only sign up for the free trial once, so it’s important to make the most of it – especially if you can’t justify the expense of taking out a full subscription afterwards. It’s a good idea to register for a basic account first (see above) and spend time deciding what you want to get from the site during your free trial before you activate it. Remember you will need to actively cancel the free trial, and check the terms and conditions.
4. Always download records to your computer
Genealogy subscription websites have made it extremely easy for you to click a relevant record and attach it to a relative on your family tree. However, did you know that if you stop paying for a subscription to that site, you will lose access to those records?
You should create a folder for family records on your computer, containing folders for each person on your tree. Every time you find a record online, download a copy into their folder. In the long run this will stop you being tied to any particular subscription website, which will save you money.
5. Visit research hubs that offer free access
There are hundreds of places across the UK where you can get free access to many paid-for genealogy websites, from libraries and archives to FamilySearch Family History Centers. Ancestry is the most commonly available site, but some offer access to multiple sites. If you are researching Scottish ancestors, a day at the ScotlandsPeople Centre in Edinburgh or one of its satellites elsewhere will cost you £15, but will save you money if you have lots of records to look up.
6. Take a pause from your regular subscription
If you plan to take a break from your research, did you know that you can pause your subscription on both Ancestry and Findmypast? Note that this option only works if you have a monthly subscription, ie it won’t work with an annual subscription even if it’s paid in monthly instalments. Monthly subscriptions are generally more expensive than annual ones, but choosing a monthly subscription gives you greater flexibility.
To pause your membership, you need to go through the motions of cancelling until the option to pause comes up. Ancestry lets you pause your membership for up to two months per billing cycle, but while your membership is paused you only have the same access as a registered user, so there is not a lot of benefit compared with cancelling your subscription. Findmypast, on the other hand, lets you keep access to all of the records you have previously accessed while your membership is paused.
You can pause multiple times over the course of a year as well. So, if you prefer to research in fits and starts, or you know that you are going to be away, then this can extend your membership period for the same cost.
Keep in mind that the pause only comes into effect at the end of the billing period, not when you select the pause option.
7. Make the most of free sites
It might seem obvious that free records can save you money, but if you are thinking of taking a break from your genealogy subscription, it’s important to know that there are lots of free sites out there that can help you grow your family tree. We have a list here. Cyndi’s List is also a great way to discover new websites and GENUKI is my go-to site when I want to know what records are available and where they are held – it’s also a fantastic site for flagging up free local databases