Ancestry tests are a popular way to get insight into the lineage of your past. Results can also inform you of living relatives you might not have known that you had.
There's a lot more that these tests can tell you as well. We're going to take a deep dive into what Ancestry DNA is, how it works, and how it shapes up against its most popular competitors.
Hopefully, the information below can give you insight into this service and help you decide whether or not you want to use it.
Ancestry DNA Sign In
To start, you'll have to generate account and login information. Login into this service is no different than almost any other site.
You can create an account for free by entering your name and email address into the site. Then, you can monitor your account settings and have your profile ready for the time when you do go ahead and send in your DNA sample.
It's good to have an account before you get started with the process so that you don't have any delays when you're trying to sign up for a particular package. You might enter some information into the site, only to find that you have to go back and create an account to continue.
So, just take a few minutes to create your account information before you browse the options or sign up for anything. Ancestry is a trusted site that has kept user information safe thus far. Considering the sensitive nature of the work they do, we can estimate that they take a considerable amount of pride in keeping data safe.
Once you create your Ancestry DNA sign-in information, you can start to browse all of the different packages that the website offers.
Ancestry DNA Accuracy
In order for your test to be very accurate, the DNA sample you send has to be up to the standards that Ancestry DNA requires. If you offer up a suitable sample, the accuracy of your results should be somewhere around 98 percent accurate.
The company analyzes each DNA sample on 700,000 sites of the individual's genome. This allows them to get a very individualized profile of the person's ancestry. All of those 700,000 sites of the genome provide valuable insights.
Each one comes from somewhere, and different genes tend to come from specific places or regions of the globe. The presence of particular genes, then, gives clear evidence that a person's ancestor was from a distinct place.
We know that certain genes come from particular areas by examining the genes of numerous individuals around the world. The more people that send their DNA samples in, the more comprehensive the results are.
That means that Ancestry DNA's results get more accurate and informative over time as they get a clearer view of the human genome and what each gene signifies. Ancestry has one of the largest databases of human DNA in the world, though, and it's vast.
So, a quality DNA sample will provide the company with all of the information they need to uncover unique connections to individuals in your past and present with a high degree of accuracy.
How Much Does Ancestry DNA Cost?
Ancestry offers a number of different packages that vary in cost. Again, it's free to sign up to the site but getting an actual service will cost you a little bit of money.
The standard package for Ancestry DNA runs at $99 dollars. This kit includes insight into your origins and your true ethnicity as well as any DNA matches that they might have found in their database.
The next option is Ancestry DNA as well as the Family Tree Package, running at $100. This gives you a 3-month world explorer membership as well as access to all of Ancestry's records. That means you can look into lineages of wide groups of people and do a good amount of digging on your own.
The All Access Package costs $199 and includes everything included in the previous packages, plus access to over 35 traits that you have based on your DNA. you also get records to military information on Fold3 as well as a subscription to Newspapers.com.
Those are Ancestry's three options. Nothing you can get will cost more than $200 or so, not considering the cost of tax.
Ancestry DNA vs 23andMe
23andme is a company that offers a similar service to Ancestry DNA. That said, 23andme is more focused on the insights gathered from your particular DNA than it is on how that DNA fits into the grand scheme of humanity.
The service does offer insight into your DNA relatives as a part of its general process, but there are also insights into how your genetics might impact your health. In fact, there are a lot of reports available on the site that help you understand your predisposition to particular diseases, what others with similar genes might experience, and a lot more.
It's important to note that Ancestry doesn't put as much focus on health insights as 23andme does. The alternative is true as well, though.
23andme isn't dedicated to the lineage aspect of things. It's more dedicated to the personal insights you can gain from looking at your genes. 23andme offers a $79 option that gives the individual a look into their ancestry as well as their traits.
They offer a $129 option that gives insight into the person's probable health outcomes as a result of their genes in addition to the ancestry insights. Finally, a subscription to the service is $158 per year.
The subscription offers more cutting-edge science and insights than either of the other options. It also gives you lasting insight into your DNA, even as the site updates and adjusts its information through the process of gathering more samples.
The Reviews
Generally speaking, the reviews for Ancestry DNA are very positive. Online review sites tend to have around 80% of the customers giving the service 5-star reviews.
People enjoy that the DNA sampling process is very simple. You just spit into a tube and send it in, which is about as easy as anything could be. It also only takes a few weeks for the results to come back to individuals, which customers seem to appreciate as well.
Further, people seem to enjoy that the website interface is simple and intuitive. You can engage with your DNA results and browse the insights yielded without having too many hiccups in the process.
It's frustrating to have exciting news, only to find that you're stuck behind a wall of cluttered technology that's hard to use. With Ancestry DNA, the consensus is that you can get your results, engage with the website to understand those results and leave without feeling frustrated or confused.
The Presence of Bad Reviews
Another thing to note is that there are some very poor reviews for Ancestry DNA. These constitute about 3% of the reviews on the major business listing sites.
That's a lot of people considering the number of individuals who use Ancestry DNA. 3% of their whole customer base could be something like 100,000 people, so it's worth knowing what their particular issues with the service were.
As it turns out, though, most of the negative reviews didn't have to do with accuracy or issues with the service. There is an occasional instance where the DNA test has to be retaken or issue with the amount of time that it took to get results back.
For the most part, though, the issues seemed to fall on the perspective and expectations of the users. People want these tests to answer a lot more about themselves than they might be able to. There's even the potential for disappointing results that the person isn't ready to see.
Now, one can only gather so much from a negative review on the internet. That said, it's typically easy to gauge whether or not there's a more humane way to look at the issue than the way that the negative reviewer is seeing things.
Understanding Your Results
An insight we can take from the negative reviews that Ancestry has is the fact that understanding test results might take a little time.
This isn't because Ancestry does a bad job displaying the results, but that there's a lot of information to look at and interpret. A number of negative reviewers seemed to think that they'd get all of their insights curated and packed into a simple list for them.
Instead, you have to do some reading because there's simply so much information displayed to you. It's all worth knowing, and it might all be interesting to you.
That said, expect to take a few hours to dissect that information and process it the whole way through. You won't just receive a pop-up that lists your entire heritage and everything there is to know about your genes.
Want to Learn More About the Ancestry Test?
Ancestry DNA is a useful site, and there's a lot more to learn about it. If you're interested in finding out more about how this company runs things and what you can expect from them, you're in the right place.
We're here to help you understand everything you need to know. Explore our site for more insight into Ancestry DNA, DNA tests in general, and much more.
