The 5 Best At-Home DNA Kits for Learning About Your Family History

Base package, $79 BUY NOW

Best Overall

This best-selling DNA test gives you ancestral information about your ethnic mix across a total of 165 regions worldwide, an industry leading number. You'll be able to find out information about your family's migration patterns through the mapping of multiple generations, and you can also access the database of other participants to connect with potential relatives. There are over 90,000,000 family trees that exist in the AncestryDNA database, and you can find which ones you belong to — or upload your own after taking the test.

As science evolves and more people take the test, results are refined and updated, so you can see new information about your lineage. Plus, at any time, you can ask the company to delete your DNA results or remove you from the database so you can't be contacted. 

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Base package, $79 BUY NOW

Family Tree DNA offers a few different options. The basic package, called "Family Finder," uses cheek swabs to test for ethnic percentages, and it allows you to find and connect with DNA-confirmed relatives through both maternal and paternal lines. You'll be able to sort through a list of matches with other users that share common DNA and ancestry to see how it is you might be related. They'll also store your DNA for 25 years at no charge to you, and they offer free transfers of information from family members who did their own DNA tests via AncestryDNA and 23andMe.

If you're interested in taking it a little further, you can also opt for the mtFull Sequence add-on, which offers a full mitochondrial sequence that can isolate and trace your maternal line. The cost of Family Finder plus the mtFull Sequence is $278. Family Tree DNA also has a variety of add-on packages that are male-specific, each of which will test specific Y-DNA markers, allowing you to confirm your paternal connections and trace your paternal ancestry and migratory routes. 

Base package, $82 BUY NOW

23andMe provides you with ancestry and ethnic backgrounds covering 31 regions, and it also offers additional information on the origins of your ancient maternal and paternal haplogroups, which are migratory groups from over 1,000 years ago (women can't trace paternal haplogroups because they lack Y-chromosomes). They offer an upgrade that most services don't, which is to find out about your health history and any genetic predispositions you may have. This upgrade can only be selected after you've purchased the kit and done your cheek swab — but you won't have to pay any additional lab fees. You can also find out how much Neanderthal DNA you've inherited, and you can opt-in to connect with others who share DNA with you.

You can choose whether or not the company stores your DNA after you take the test, so you remain in control of what happens to your sample after you give it. You can also select whether or not you want to be part of the database where people can search for distant relatives, or if you want to be visible to others. 

Base package, $99 BUY NOW

LivingDNA is a bit different from other tests in that it shows you both maternal and paternal lineage, along with general autosomal results (paternal lineage only works for male users, at it relies on testing the Y-chromosome, which biological females lack). They can track your DNA mix across 81 regions, including sub-regional breakdowns. It doesn't include family connections (yet — the company says they're working on it!), but it'll provide you with one of the most detailed reports on your genealogy.

They'll willingly destroy your DNA sample upon request, and they'll never use it for purposes other than testing your ancestry without your consent. 

Base package, $69 BUY NOW

My Heritage DNA gives you a detailed ethnicity breakdown from 42 regions. The test uses a cheek swab and takes two minutes to complete. Once you're in the database, you can access information about potential relatives and explore possible familial connections you never knew about. This means that not only can you find information about your family's migratory history, but you can also find information about potential long-lost relatives.

Because My Heritage DNA is available worldwide, the population pool of other users is much larger and more varied — over 94 million people have used the service. They're able to provide extremely accurate results about the percentage of your DNA that comes from 42 regions.

You're able to delete your DNA information anytime you want, and My Heritage DNA won't sell or use your DNA samples for any purpose other than to provide you with the testing services you pay for.