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Genes Reunited Review (2024)

Ancestry platform with more than 550 million records, mostly from the UK and Ireland
By Michael GrawBy Michael Graw -
Last Updated: Nov 08, 2023
4 reviews
by
logo-GENES REUNITED
Visit Site
Price
Free-$26.21/month
Results in
Not specified
Collection method
NA

Our Verdict

Is Genes Reunited Worth It?

Genes Reunited is a family tree-building service that helps you find your English, Welsh, or Irish ancestors. The platform has more than 515 million records, including census records as far back as 1801. You can easily connect with other users who are investigating the same ancestors, and a community forum enables you to get help as you build your tree. Genes Reunited can be pricey, especially if you access records on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Price
Free-$26.21/month
Results in
Not specified
Collection method
NA

Genes Reunited at a Glance

9
Editorial Score

Services Offered

Research millions of family history and census records
9.0

Brand Reputation

Launched in the UK in 2003, 100 employees, Business XL Company of the Year 2006
10.0

Speed of Results

Results not applicable as they don't sell DNA kits
8.0

Cost

12-month Platinum plan £6.67 per month or 12-month Standard plan at £1.67 per month
9.0

Customer Support

Call 0845 603 7788, 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday or Saturday 9am to 4pm
9.0

Genes Reunited Pros & Cons

PROS

More than 515 million records from England, Wales, and Ireland
Quickly connect with distant relatives
Store photos and documents on your tree for free

CONS

Expensive pricing options
Posting in the community forum costs money

Top Genes Reunited Reviews

RD
Rob Darby
It’s a con !!!!
Opened a new “free” account only to find you need to buy credits to view documents. I bought the minimum credits for a fiver only to be told they would keep topping up my account automatically unless I went into my account to turn top ups off. I promptly tried to do this only to find that there was an “error “ which they claimed to be dealing with. Waited for days but still the same. How convenient for that particular fault to occur so that you can’t cancel top ups. Yeah right! Beware! It’s a con. I’ve had to delete my account but I’ll be watching my credit card to see if they try to take more money.
li
lincolnian
Error page?
Purchased 50 credits and tried to turn off credit top up but kept getting error page, tried to email the address given on error page for problems but that also went to error page! Found complaint support email address in the end and they sorted it but this website has some serious issues and won’t be using it again. Also noticed it’s part of Find my Past.
cu
currykid
just had an email from Genes Reunited…
just had an email from Genes Reunited saying I had a message from Josephine Matley and to click on a link to see the message, which I didn't do ....could this be a scam??
See all Genes Reunited reviews

How do I know I can trust this Genes Reunited review?

Top10.com authors, contributors, and editors are serious about research. We combine our own experience with the services we recommend, with reviews that come from verified users–just like you! Together, with reviews from industry experts, we find the Top 10 best products and services to make sure you can choose with confidence and ease.

Overview

Genes Reunited Genes Reunited Visit Site

Genes Reunited at a Glance

Genes Reunited does not offer DNA testing kits. However, you can upload a Genealogical Data Communications (GEDCOM) file from any 3rd-party genealogy software to begin finding ancestors. A GEDCOM file is a file that contains information about your genealogical history. To generate one, you will need your raw DNA sequences from an autosomal DNA test.

Genes Reunited Features

Genes Reunited is designed to help you build your family tree, with a focus on ancestors from the UK and Ireland.

515 Million Records

Genes Reunited offers more than 515 million records from England, Wales, and Ireland. 

Records include:

  • Census records from 1801-1911 (census taken every 10 years)

  • Birth, baptism, marriage, death, and burial records from 1837-2006

  • Military records from 1656-2005 (including WWI and WWII)

  • Prison records from 1770-1935

  • Passenger lists for all long-haul ships leaving the UK from 1890-1960

  • Electoral rolls from 2002-2013 (for finding living relatives)

Family Finder

The family finder tool enables you to get started with Genes Reunited as quickly as possible. Just enter your name, and Genes Reunited will do a quick search of records to identify likely relatives who share your last name.

Hot Matches

As you're building your family tree, Genes Reunited automatically looks for matches between your ancestors and the ancestors on other users’ trees. When it detects a name match, Genes Reunited will send each of you a message so that you have an opportunity to connect.

Super hot matches occur when the names, birth years, and parents of a relation match up across two family trees.

Keepsafe

The Genes Reunited keepsafe is essentially a cloud storage service for your scanned documents and photos as well as any ancestor records you find on the site. You can pin items from your keepsafe to ancestors on your family tree to stay organized and add more details to your tree.

Community Forum

The Genes Reunited community forum is where members can share their stories, ask questions, and learn from one another. Discussion boards include Success Stories, Genealogy Chat, Military Chat, Find Ancestors, and Find Living Relatives. The boards are highly active, with many posts receiving dozens of replies.

Is Genes Reunited Safe and Reliable?

Genes Reunited never shares your email address or name with other members on the site. In addition, it’s up to you to decide which users have access to view your family tree. If you do share your tree, you can decide whether or not living family members should be included on it.

Genes Reunited never has access to your raw DNA data, even if you upload a GEDCOM file. You can delete your family tree or your Genes Reunited account at any time.

How Genes Reunited Works

How to Get Started With Genes Reunited

To sign up for a free account, you’ll need to enter your name, birthday, place of birth, and email address. You can purchase credits or a subscription later, so you have a chance to try out the platform and start building your tree first.

Building a Family Tree

The best way to start building your family tree is to use the family finder tool. Based on the information you entered when you signed up for Genes Reunited, the platform will automatically find potential ancestors who share your last name. You can accept or reject these matches, which are typically close living relatives.

If you have a GEDCOM file from a 3rd-party genealogy service, you can upload that to Genes Reunited to expand your tree. You can also upload documents and images to your keepsafe to pin them to ancestors on your tree.

Genes Reunited Customer Support

How to Contact Genes Reunited

You can get in touch with Genes Reunited by email. We received a response within a few hours, although Genes Reunited says that it can take up to 2-3 days to receive a response.

Are FAQ Pages Available on Genes Reunited?

Genes Reunited has detailed FAQ pages that explain how to use many of the features of the site. In addition, the platform offers an eBook to help you start building your family tree.

Genes Reunited Pricing

How Much Does Genes Reunited Cost?

Genes Reunited offers a free plan as well as pay-as-you-go and subscription options.


Free
50 credits
200 credits
Standard
Platinum
Price
Free
£4.95 ($6.50 USD)
£17.95 ($23.59 USD)
£4.95/month ($6.50 USD)
£20.00 ($26.28 USD)/year (Save 67%)
£19.95/month ($26.21 USD)
£80.00 ($105.14 USD)/year (Save 67%)
Unlimited records access
X
X
X
X
Unlimited messaging
X
X
X


The Free plan enables you to build a family tree using the Genes Reunited platform and offers a personal keepsafe. You can view the community forum, but posting or messaging individual members requires paid credits. Viewing any of the records available on Genes Reunited also requires paid credits.

You can purchase 50 credits for £4.95 ($6.50 USD) or 200 credits for £17.95 ($23.59 USD). It costs 5 credits per record to view most types of records, although some military records cost 10-15 credits to view. Once you purchase access to a record, you have unlimited access to it for 30 days when you buy 50 credits or 90 days when you buy 200 credits. Directly messaging another Genes Reunited users costs 30 credits.

The Standard subscription costs £4.95 ($6.50 USD) per month or £20.00 ($26.28 USD) per year and offers unlimited messaging. However, you still need to purchase credits in order to view records. The Platinum subscription, which costs £19.95 ($26.21 USD) per month or £80.00 ($105.14 USD) per year, offers unlimited access to records on Genes Reunited.

Overall, this pricing structure is relatively expensive. Unless you know exactly what records you’re looking for to fill in gaps in your family tree, it’s easy to use up credits quickly. If you message other users to take advantage of Genes Reunited’s hot match feature, you’ll almost certainly want to purchase a subscription.

Genes Reunited Alternatives

How Does Genes Reunited Compare to Other Genealogy Services


Genes Reunited
MyHeritage Genealogy Services
AncestryDNA Genealogy Services
OneGreatFamily
Price Range
Free-£80/year ($105.14 USD)
Free-$299/year
$198-$398/year
$79.95/year
Best For
Investigating UK and Irish heritage
Building large family trees
Military families
Finding and collaborating with distant relatives


Genes Reunited vs. MyHeritage Genealogy Services

MyHeritage Genealogy Services offers access to nearly 17 billion records from 48 countries. It offers a much more comprehensive database than Genes Reunited does, although this can also add complexity if you primarily want to look for English, Welsh, or Irish relatives.

MyHeritage supports family trees with either 250 branches or an unlimited number of branches, depending on your plan. Trees are automatically checked for consistency and accuracy, making this a great service if you plan to build an expansive tree.

Genes Reunited vs. AncestryDNA Genealogy Services

AncestryDNA gives you access to more than 3 billion records from 80 different countries. It also offers access to Fold3, a database of more than 537 million historical military records. The service’s pricing is expensive—access to Fold3 requires a subscription that costs $398 per year. However, you won’t find a more comprehensive database of military records.

Genes Reunited vs. OneGreatFamily

OneGreatFamily takes a fundamentally different approach to building family trees than Genes Reunited or other genealogy services. Instead of building a tree on your own, OneGreatFamily encourages you to build your tree in cooperation with distant relatives.

Whenever OneGreatFamily identifies duplicate trees from different users, it automatically merges them. From then on, you can message each other and build your tree together.

OneGreatFamily costs $79.95 per year, making it one of the most affordable tree-building services available. However, the platform only has 190 million records.

Genes Reunited Genes Reunited Visit Site

Bottom Line  

Genes Reunited is an easy-to-use service for building a family tree of your English, Welsh, and Irish ancestors. You can build the first branches of your tree in seconds, and the platform offers access to more than 515 million records in order to help you find additional ancestors and living relatives. 

Unlike other genealogy services, Genes Reunited does not offer global databases. If your ancestors are from countries outside the UK and Ireland, this service may not be much help. You may want to consider MyHeritage or AncestryDNA instead. MyHeritage offers records from 48 countries and AncestryDNA offers records from 80 countries.

Genes Reunited isn’t cheap, especially if you need access to a lot of different records to fill in gaps in your family tree. However, the platform’s ease of use makes it worth exploring if you’re a descendant of English, Welsh, or Irish ancestors.

Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a Genes Reunited subscription cost?+-

Genes Reunited offers free accounts, but you’ll need a Platinum subscription for £19.95 ($26.21 USD) per month or £80.00 ($105.14 USD) per year if you want unlimited access to records. You can also purchase access to records on a pay-as-you-go basis starting from £4.95 ($6.50 USD).

How do I print my family tree?+-

You can print a copy of your family tree or any tree you have access to on Genes Reunited. Printing is free, but you can also take advantage of a 10% discount on tree printing services from My History.

What is the Keepsafe?+-

The Keepsafe is a personal vault on Genes Reunited where you can store scanned documents, photos, and other items related to your family’s history. The Keepsafe is available to free users.

Michael Graw is a freelance writer specializing in finance, business, and tech who writes for Top10.com. His work has appeared in numerous well-known online and print publications, including Techradar, BestMoney, Business2Community, Day Trade Reviews, Pacific Standard, Fortune, Business Insider, and more.

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RD
Rob Darby
7 months ago
It’s a con !!!!
Opened a new “free” account only to find you need to buy credits to view documents. I bought the minimum credits for a fiver only to be told they would keep topping up my account automatically unless I went into my account to turn top ups off. I promptly tried to do this only to find that there was an “error “ which they claimed to be dealing with. Waited for days but still the same. How convenient for that particular fault to occur so that you can’t cancel top ups. Yeah right! Beware! It’s a con. I’ve had to delete my account but I’ll be watching my credit card to see if they try to take more money.
li
lincolnian
9 months ago
Error page?
Purchased 50 credits and tried to turn off credit top up but kept getting error page, tried to email the address given on error page for problems but that also went to error page! Found complaint support email address in the end and they sorted it but this website has some serious issues and won’t be using it again. Also noticed it’s part of Find my Past.
cu
currykid
2 years ago
just had an email from Genes Reunited…
just had an email from Genes Reunited saying I had a message from Josephine Matley and to click on a link to see the message, which I didn't do ....could this be a scam??
PS
Paul Starns
3 years ago
Trying to contact Genes Reunited over…
Trying to contact Genes Reunited over search for relative, all contact pages read error. There is no phone number to contact them. The contact page help support also reads error. Cannot even reach them via e-mail!

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