We often hear questions and remarks about whether to participate in contributing to Geneanet or to choose a Premium subscription.
As we do every year, we feel it is important to recall the principles which guide our work at Geneanet with its special model, in particular one year after our rapprochement with Ancestry.
How does Geneanet work?
Geneanet is based on three founding principles: contributive, collaborative and freemium.
Geneanet is the largest community of genealogists involved in mutual aid and sharing in Continental Europe. It’s a website with more than 8 billion data points provided by members, collaborative projects and partners.
The contributive aspect is about family trees and associated documents (family pictures, archival records, etc.). We host 1.7 million family trees with over 1.9 billion individuals.
The collaborative aspect is about the many projects supported by Geneanet, for example pictures of graves and cemeteries (“Save our Graves”), indexes and registers (vital records, censuses, parish registers, Napoléon military muster rolls, notarial documents, and other archives), and collaborative trees (the Filles du Roy, the General Slocum disaster). It’s also original projects like “Now and Then”, comparing historical and modern views of a place.
Today, there are 5.3 million pictures of graves, 84 million images of archival registers, and more than 171 million individuals in the collaborative indexes.
The site supports heavy loads with more than 100 million requests per day, 10.4 million visitors per month, 380 terabytes of redundant storage on 60 high capacity servers located at different sites.
All of these services are developed and maintained by a team of about thirty enthusiastic people based in Paris, France.
Geneanet is a “freemium” website
Geneanet is based on a “freemium” model which combines a free website and a Premium subscription.
Every member has access to a free offer with comprehensive features. This offer allows you to build a family tree with an unlimited number of individuals, available online (with privacy controls), ad-free, and with a number of tools for customization, printing and alerts, as well as a basic search engine by last name, first name and place. Unlike some other websites, you don’t have to pay to view the family tree of other members or to contact them.
The free offer also provides access to all content shared by our members. All contributive data is available for free for all Geneanet members.
Geneanet also offers a Premium subscription which includes, among other options and services, advanced search with additional criteria: spouse, parents, name variants, wildcards, nearby places, the automatic matching of your entire family tree with the Geneanet database, e-mail alerts which allow you to receive a weekly email summary of the latest entries, access to the Genealogy Library with millions of books and newspapers with more than 3.7 billion indexed individuals, access to genealogy society indexes provided by Geneanet partners, many Ancestry collections, and personalized website support.
Geneanet: a company, a website, or a community?
Geneanet is simultaneously a company, a website, and a community!
Geneanet is a company with paid employees and clients. Geneanet is also an Internet site. But above all, Geneanet is a very active community with its members and its volunteers.
Geneanet is at the service of all of its members, Premium or not. An important part of Geneanet’s activities consist of developing and promoting projects which benefit the entire genealogy community.
Geneanet, a free collaborative website thanks to Premium subscriptions
Sharing, mutual help and collaborative projects are fundamental to Geneanet. This is a large part of its attractiveness.
When you subscribe to Geneanet Premium, you’re not just getting services and partner data reserved for Premium members; your subscription also supports the development of the free sections of the site.
It is a bit of a paradox: Premium members pay so that Geneanet can remain an open and free website.
Subscribing to Geneanet Premium is not only a way to access Premium features and partners’ collections, but also to allow our special model described above to exist.
The Premium subscription was formerly called “Club Privilège”. Our first subscribers had few extra benefits and subscribed mainly to preserve the free site.
We feel that it is important to remember our roots. For over 26 years, we are proud to have succeeded in preserving this balance, in an ever stronger spirit of mutual collaboration.
In conclusion, you are all part of a single community of mutual help and sharing. Whatever your level of Geneanet use, you are welcome! If you subscribe to or renew a Geneanet Premium subscription, keep in mind that you are not only purchasing a product, you are sharing a certain concept of what genealogy is.
Update January 20, 2023
Many members reacted to our blog post, thank you very much for your feedback.
Please note that if you have questions, it’s best to ask them in Geneanet’s forums (menu Community > Forums), you will have a much faster and more efficient response.
Some of your comments have encouraged us to share more information.
The equilibrium between the free and Premium parts of the site
We have members who use the site for free and feel there is too much Premium content compared to free.
For every feature and data collection, we have to arbitrate between offering them to all, or only to Premium members.
Concerning site features, the choice is permanent. However, we do sometimes make Premium features free. In the past, for example, we eliminated advertising on Geneanet which was a regular source of revenue for us. Recently, we made some Premium functions free for all, such as the Consistency Checker, the search by couple in all records, and the search by event.
For content, our rule is simple: all content contributed by Geneanet members is available for free.
We would also like to thank all those who share their family trees, their photos, their documents, or who participate in collaborative indexing. We should also thank the Geneanet team, who develop and manage these projects with dedication.
All this free content is possible thanks to your participation and its smooth operation is assured with the support of Premium subscribers.
Premium subscription and contribution
Some members think that they should have a free access to Geneanet Premium when they contribute to the site.
This is a good idea only at first sight. First of all, the majority of Premium members are also contributors. If there were no Premium members, there would be no Geneanet.
Moreover, a member who just copies an existing family tree or register would be considered a contributor. This would happen at the expense of data quality, and the spirit of mutual help and sharing so important at Geneanet.
Geneanet without Premium, or Geneanet paid subscription only?
A member told us that he would prefer Geneanet to be a site with advertising, fewer options and services, but totally free…
With such a model, the free part of the site would probably be smaller, and tiresome to use with ads everywhere and a limited technical infrastructure. Our existing model gives us the liberty to first and foremost best serve our members as we see fit, without depending on advertisers who are unpredictable by nature.
Others suggest that we should require all members pay an inexpensive subscription.
This would go against the model of a free and open site.
We take our “Freemium” model seriously and we are proud of all our members, whether they are Premium, contributors, or just users. We are proud to welcome our whole community in its diversity and to share a certain concept of genealogy.
Geneanet is not only a company with paid employees managing a website with “customers”. It is above all an extraordinary community which every day practices mutual help and sharing, and participates in a number of collaborative projects.
Among the testimonials we have received in the past, one from Susan Powers seems to express how many feel:
“I have been a member of Geneanet for several years. I started out as a free member, went on to a paid member and I have even worked on some of the sharing projects. I have NEVER been disappointed. I will continue to pay for the services Geneanet provides as long as I can, I am thankful for all the help members and services here have given to me.”
Don’t hesitate to add your own testimonial in the comments below!
2/28/23
I endorse the positive remarks by others regarding the ccf model. I subscribed to Geneanet initially to trace a Huguenot line in my family, knowing that records were difficult to find or nonexistent for the period when they left France (1660s-80s). This, not surprisingly, proved a step too far for Geneanet searches. I have, on the other hand, had fruitful exchanges regarding another, English, side of my family, for which I am grateful.
2/16/23
I think your service works very well. I have been doing genealogy for over 20 years and had for a long time only used the Ancsetry website for my research, until I heard of your excellent site. I have been a non-paying member for some years now, using your service to confirm my Mauritian husband’s ancestry. However, it was through your site that made contact with a distant cousin of his who was very helpful to me. Unfortunately, some of the new people using your site are putting on very inaccurate trees, which are not being researched by themselves, but they are taking inaccurate information. I check my facts as closely as I can, but it is annoying that others don’t take the same action. My plan is to put both my husband’s tree on here for others to use soon.
2/11/23
My father’s family was Polish, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find much information. Thanks mostly to Geneat, I now have a credible Family Tree for my dad, stretching back over several generations. Thank you!
2/6/23
The current model seems very fair to me. I have been a member since geneanet started and I have every intention of becoming a premium member (again) when I have time to dig into deeper research. For now I’m happy to have my free access without irritating advertising and look forward to paying for the extras later which I don’t need right now. Thank you to all the Geneanet team.
2/6/23
Thankyou Geneanet! You made it possible for me to find my Swiss family. The other websites did not have anything on my family tree. I had hired a genealogist and she was not able to find very much either. I now have a more complete tree of my family. My thanks, Debbie
2/5/23
My third great-great-great-grandfather, William Park 1780 and his wife Janet Main there are so many errors in these entries, it is now almost becoming unbelievable.
Answer from Geneanet: Do you mean members’ trees? It’s always frustrating when people copy information without verifying primary sources. We encourage everyone to cite sources in their trees, for the benefit of everyone.
2/4/23
I am searching for Harold Eugene Johnson’s family… Harold and I spoke many times over the phone trying to tie our family lines. I do have a family pedigree that Harold sent to me before his passing. I would love to speak with a family that is searching the Johnsons. Harold and I think William Johnson is my family line because of the letter ” C ” written behind his name in several documents by in the 1700, also his anger toward the family before he died.
2/3/23
why should I use Geneanet when I have an account with ancestry.com and family search center?
Answer from Geneanet: There are collections at Geneanet which are unavailable at Ancestry or FamilySearch, in particular indexes and photos uploaded by Geneanet members which are always free to access. Our Premium access at 14 cents per day unlocks advanced search features and the Genealogy Library of nearly 4 million books and newspapers with indexed names. If you don’t have European ancestry, Geneanet probably won’t be very useful to you however.
1/28/23
This site allowed me to add another generation to my tree that was previously unknown to me so thank you!
1/27/23
Happy to see this great addition to the Genealogy family. Every addition to this wonderful group of people is a blessing for all of us.. Thank you. I am a 79 yr old widow living on SS and that is all I have but though it may take some time to save the money, I do hope very soon to be able to purchase premium.
1/26/23
I need to know where Geneanet is located so I can will be able to join.
Answer from Geneanet: We are based in Paris, France, including our international team which coordinates Geneanet in 9 languages other than French!
1/25/23
Looking for my great grandfather. My gather is Surles d Freeman sr’ grand father is William Henery Freeman
1/24/23
if someone has a tree with your family, but they have wrong information posted, and do not respond to a message asking for info to be removed, can anything be done?
Answer from Geneanet: Please follow this procedure so we can take action if the tree owner doesn’t. Note that this does not apply to deceased persons.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/24/23
I have no problem at all with the part free/part pay approach. The cost for premium membership is very reasonable, providing you are getting value for the expense. I became a premium member for a short time because I wasn’t finding anything useful among the collections that are free access. I dropped the premium as soon as the subscription ran out. Why? First, I never located anything to further my French-based genealogy. Perhaps that is because I am looking for records that predate 1600. Second, I find the navigation of the site cumbersome and not at all intuitive.
1/24/23
Where is the option to Sign Out of the account?
Answer from Geneanet: Click on your Profile in the upper right corner, then Log Out. The best place to ask question is in our forum (monitored by support) where someone will assist you.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/24/23
I have been a Premium member for many years and it is not expensive. I do not like the idea of it been free. I am on other sites that I can make Private which I have done and this should be available here so people cannot see yes I have made contact with cousins but family and members are different
Answer from Geneanet: As a Premium member, you have the option to make your tree completely private except to people you invite. Go to your tree settings, Configure / Other, tab Access Rights, and click on Set Family Tree to Private.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/24/23
Geneanet has been very helpful finding information about my ancestors. Thank you for your site.
1/22/23
Rechercher les infos du temps de notre jeunesse et retrouver les
petits trésors oubliés dans des boîtes et n’intéresse que quelques
personnes, mais restent le seul témoignage pour bien ou pour mal pour
suivre les histoires de nos familles. C’est grâce à la curiosité et
l’envie de savoir de la fille de ma cousine Valérie Bioul qui a
commencé un Arbre Généalogique depuis 1788 jusqu’à nos jours 2023.
Pour moi, étant le seul encore sur pieds, j’ai donc aidé Valérie lui
donnant toutes les infos concernant la Branche de ma famille, cela a
pris du temps et heureusement vu mon âge 85 en Avril prochain les
infos ont été enregistrées dans l’Arbre Généalogique. L’info est peut
être incomplète regardant l’arbre de ma Maman vu que les survivants,
voyage voyage, sont quelque part au Brésil, Argentine et Paraguay et
zéro contact. Voilà ma réponse à votre question.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/22/23
This site has helped me immensely in finding my ancestors and sources, especially those from Alsace and Lorraine.
I just wish I knew how to update my tree easily without having to delete the old one and import a new gedcom from Ancestry.
I am a premium member.
Answer from Geneanet: As a Premium member, you can open a support ticket directly. Please do so, you will be advised by our support team, it is indeed possible to upload changes only and not an entire tree.
1/22/23
My mother is a d’Agnel d’Acigne de Bourbon whose parents Anthony d’Agnel married Marguerite Touché de Pujol in Mauritius
His grandfather, Augustin Benoni Joseph d’Agnel was born i20/12/1804 in Salerne 83121 Provence
Can you tell me more with this information especially about my grandmother as her namePujol features in the name of a town near Argeles where I have property in St Cyprien
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/22/23
Hi,
I appreciate the DNA aspect of Geneanet. I have my own free subscription. Since my parents’ DNA will find more ancestors, how can I create a separate subscription for a deceased parent that I manage their DNA?
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/22/23
I have just joined Geneanet Premium! I want to find out more about my French family. So time will tell!
1/22/23
I find this site a useful resource among many. The process reaffirms what I have found out on the internet regarding historical figures that lead to my family often providing additional missing information due to the other participants approach to their own genealogy bringing together a more cohesive presence of some missing individuals of history. The most wonderful part of this is the actualness of historical figures will eventually be tangible to everyone in many different platforms. It is only the future that will learn and grow making new pathways to these ancestors.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/22/23
I have been a researcher for 46 years and have been a paid subscriber to other sites for many years. I have only recently joined Geneanet as a paid subscriber and I wish I had found it years ago. It has been invaluable for my USA cousins and even those of my family in New Zealand. I hope I can remain a paid subscriber for a long time. Thank you. Julie MacDonald, Northcross, Auckland, New Zealand
1/22/23
Why can I not renew without primium
I might in future but not at the moment
Answer from Geneanet: No need to renew, if you cancel Premium (or let the payment lapse) your account reverts to Free access. You can return to Premium in future if you wish. Your tree of unlimited size will remain as it is, but be aware that Premium members have 10 Gb of space for photos and documents while free members “only” have 1 Gb (which will be sufficient unless your tree is very large indeed).
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/22/23
I use Geneanet at least 5 times a week. I love it !!!!! as I have many family members from France and Germany
1/21/23
Keep up the good work !!!!!!!!!!
1/21/23
I love this Geneanet Site, altho don’t get to keep it up dated the way I want to, my health is keeping me from doing the things I want to do, But I love this site…..
1/21/23
I have found things on this site I could not find on Ancestry or Family Search.
1/21/23
I really don’t get on this site very much, but it looks like l should. Thanks for sharing
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/21/23
I have been searching my genealogy for about 18 years no. My mother was from Normandie, and this site has been instrumental in that search. It led to contact with other couisns. Compare this to USA site, Ancestry. Ancestry is very expensive to continue. I posted my tree there but its too expensive to maintain a membership. FamilySearch is comparible to Geneanet in my opinion for searches in the USA, with a start at information from outisde the USA starting to be available. Hopefully my non-Europeans will contribute their information to Geneanet and expand its greatness and usefulness to the world of genealogy. I
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/21/23
I think Geneanet’s high level research capabilities, superior management utilities, and intuitive page layout make it an exceptional toolset for amateur and professional genealogists. Now that Geneanet is partnering with Ancestry.com, its value has only increased.
I particularly appreciate the ability to update a family tree by simply uploading a newer version. And, the Family Tree Inconsistencies and Duplicates reporting tools have already helped me to fix my Ancestry.com tree. I only wish Ancestry.com had such tools.
In my book, the Geneanet Premium subscription is a good value. In fact, it’s a bargain.
1/21/23
I like the resources of the site
1/21/23
thank you for showing this
1/21/23
I love Geneanet. I’ve had a free account for years and it’s become even more useful since since it allowed us to upload our DNA and get comparisons with others (and with an all-important chromosome browser too, which Ancestry has still failed to provide). I’m English but have French ancestry on both my mother’s Canadian father’s side but also on her maternal, south-east English side. If only the French government would overturn the restrictions and allow the lovely French people to make their own choices about DNA testing then one day, I/we might find deeper connections. In the meantime, merci Geneanet!
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/21/23
Just restarting my genealogical research, after a long hiatus,and meeting a 3rd cousin with whom I share great great grandparents . Now my interest is well and truly rekindled
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/21/23
Thanks to this site I was able to find many of my ancestors!
1/21/23
I am curious about your relationship with ancestry.com. If I have ancestry do I need this site?
Answer from Geneanet: If you have European ancestors, Geneanet will be of interest to you. Ancestry has excellent European record collections, but there are some European collections exclusive to Geneanet, especially those contributed by Geneanet members.
1/21/23
I am an Australian and have been a member of GeneaNet for about 15 years. I have always been very impressed by GeneaNet right from the start. JeanYves was always such a helpful, knowledgeable person to deal wih.. I have considered becoming a premium member but because I already have access to Ancestrylibrary.com, don’t know how your GeneaNet/Ancestry.com information compares with the Ancestrylibrary.com. It seems that I might simply be accessing the same information that is already available to me. My other reluctance to become a Premium member, is because I have been studying my genealogy for over 40 years; and am almost at the end of my information acquisition. If the above 2 situations did not exist, I would become a Premium member in a heartbeat. I think it is a wonderful website; and has a very reasonable/ affordable subsription cost. Vivre GeneaNet.
1/21/23
My wife was born in the Netherlands and came to Australia with her parents and siblings more than 60 years ago. I chose your website to hold her family tree, allowing her Dutch relatives to access it for free in the future. It is important to me that the work that I have put in to find everything to date will not be hidden behind a pay as you go website.
1/21/23
Always checking to see if I have any other European relatives
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/21/23
I have been a member for over 10 years. Started out using it for researching my ancestors in Alsace Lorraine. Over the years I have used it for researching all my ancestors.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/21/23
Geneanet is the backbone of my research. I couldn’t do what I do without it. I’m proud to be a Premium member. The cost of the Premium membership is more than reasonable for the amount of time I spend on it. I love that you try to keep those costs down. I’ve used Geneanet for about 30 years too. When times were hard I didn’t have a premium membership and was so grateful for the freemium option. Thank you all for your tireless efforts to keep Geneanet alive and well. Cherie
1/21/23
Geneanet help me to family I might never have known existed. Please hold on to your founding principles. I find this site well worth supporting.
1/21/23
Very good
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/21/23
thank you Jacques for this new blog. I fully support the combined model of free and premium memberships. I find the restriction of only being able to send invitations to 20 people too restrictive as what has happened to me is probably happening to others, that invitees are not replying or visiting the geneanet.org website as has occurred to me and as a consequence I’ve been prevented from sending more invitations. I may be the exception but I would like to hear an answer perhhaps on the community forum. I haven’t visited it yet so I am probably overdue. lol
Answer from Geneanet: Yes, the forum is the best place for questions!
1/20/23
Geneanet is not the only free family history site but it is the best particularly for European based genealogy. I have been a user for a few years and I’m always impressed by the amount of detail the site provides. The current format of the site works well and I’m happy to continue using its features.
1/20/23
I love geneanet. It is easy to use
1/20/23
I love geneanet and am grateful how it has option of free membership as genealogy can be expensive as it is, and a place to search celebrities trees to and see how i can be related is amazing. thankyou
1/20/23
I love geneanet just the way it is. Thank you to everyone who has made this possible and to all the contributers
1/20/23
I get great satisfaction out of helping out where I can and being helped. I enjoy being part of a world wide community
1/20/23
Geneanet is a wonderful community! Provides communication and family information like no other!
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/20/23
What is the status of the upcoming collaboration with Ancestry.com that you have announced a couple of months ago?
Answer from Geneanet: Ancestry is providing us with their European collections which are included at no extra charge for Premium members until the end of this year, and Geneanet trees not originally uploaded from Ancestry are now indexed as Ancestry hints (you can opt out of this in your tree’s settings). Stay tuned!
1/20/23
Thank you.
1/20/23
Geneanet is my study page of my fundamental family tree, in which I have more than 500 characters and through the search in other trees I have found coincidences that enrich my data and present me with relatives, who, even though they are far away, give me an atmosphere of the story of my ancestors, their places and their lives
1/20/23
I belong to a few other genealogy sites where other people can go in and makes changes or wipe out a whole generation without your knowledge or collaboration of any kind and this is just wrong. So far I find Geneant to be great and more helpful in my searches for my Native American lineages
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/20/23
I pay for Geneanet premium with enthusiasm. Compared to other sites, it is still much more affordable and offers better service to members. I was using another site which I will not name here. It tried to sell me information about my wife’s family – information that they lifted off my own tree. I am so grateful to have found Geneanet. This site respects users and does not try to bleed them dry.
1/20/23
I have found my grandparents on here. I never knew their names. It made me cry because all I ever wanted was to discover my true family. My parents were young when they left France and Bretagne for the US.Because of the war I never knew I still even had family alive in France. Each year as our family dies off. I am left very sad to have never known my Heritage. I do not have resources to pay for this service but I do appreciate that my family exist on the internet. I don’t speck French but I can use a translator. My sister bought me the DNA test on Anscestry but it’s long past my yr and I find more info possible on here. Learning who I am and feeling sad for those who I never knew. Remembering a cousin who was sent to Auschwitz. It’s painful but I am so grateful to you. Mercii Beaucoup.
1/20/23
I believe this site is very beneficial because it is free. I downloaded my extensive family tree from a paid service and uploaded it here and have connected with people through this site. Also the DNA feature is helpful bringing together members from other paid providers for free. Keep up the free!!
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/20/23
I enjoyed finding a newspaper article from about 1921 0f an accident my grandfather had overturning his Ford Touring Car in Colorado and my grandmother and he had some scrapes and my 3 yr old father had a scrape by eye brow. It was towed and they were on their way to Denver. They were there from Pennsylvania. I have found many other items about my maternal and paternal who settled in New England in the 1600s then in Vermont and Quebec, and then in without ever meeting one another they moved on to Pennsylvania and Ohio and connected. I have not found trace of Siases or Sieyes emigrating to America from France directly so they must have been in Northern Europe, Belgum, and Angleterre, and all over since I have over 43% DNA from that area, 1% Northern Africa and 42% Sweden and Denmark.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/20/23
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to view for free. I am unable to contribute but certainly would if I could. I am grateful for those who do contribute and cover for me.
1/20/23
Geneanet is a wonderful site! Thank you for offering so much for free! What you offer is appreciated and thank you for not selling the information we contribute.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/20/23
I also think your “contributive, collaborative and freemium.” model is a very good one and I am more than happy to pay the small fee as long as the data I enter is available to others and not used as a means to make money. Keep up the good work ! :-)
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/20/23
I have been with geneanet for coming on one year and have renewed for two more years.
I have been subscribed to ancestry.ca and to myheritage.com but no more. I’m on the same page as geneanet: collaborative, contributive and freemium,
I’ve also joined wikitree.com and although their format is different their idea of building one family tree for the whole globe is a laudible project and their dedication and commitment to verifying sources before posting family tree informations which then have to be removed is a great management tool or policy.
I am grateful for being able to move data from one web platform to the other, althugh it has to be done manually.
Although it is possible to move gedcom files from geneanet to wikitree it isn’t possible to view family trees in their totality as it is on the ancestry or myheritage platforms.
I do like the feature which wikitree has implemented to show how many degrees of connection there is between any two relatives and their oldest common ancestor.
The other feature which wikitree has which I support is the pre-1700 and the pre-1500 barriers to posting genealogical information requiring valid sources from municipal or departmental or other historical published media.
Thank you again Mr. president for your devotion, commitment and leadership at geneanet.
Roger Fontaine/pranicroger,
Fontaine-2119 on wikitree.com
1/20/23
Hoping to get back into my family history research and looking forward to finding and contributing info.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/20/23
Geneanet is my favorite site of all that I have used over the last 30 years. I have learned a lot about the parts of my heritage that really matter to me and the format is easy to use and understand. I place flags at our local cemeteries since I am Commander of our local American Legion and this year as I placed the flags I photographed them and added them to your database. It is amazing to see them so easily when I look for them on your site. These Veterans will not be forgotten! Thank you! Gary Fruland, Newark, Illinois USA
1/20/23
I belong to other genealogy sites, but Geneanet has been crucial in finding my long lost family in Europe. Many thanks to all of you at Geneanet! Please continue the good work.
1/20/23
I have nothing but praise for Geneanet, the site is very well designed and content is fantastic i hope that everyone else feels the same, could you imagine if we ever lost this site, were very lucky to have it and have so much of the site features for free. Thank you so much Geneanet your very much appreciated
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/20/23
Living in the U.S. but having most of my ancestors in the Netherlands, Geneanet has been so helpful to me! I will continue paying for it. Thank you
1/20/23
I hesitate on membership/subscription because I tend to have frequent interruptions to my research and work hard for a brief time and then, not at all. In addition, I worked years ago and have ‘paper’ trails to digitize which is a job in itself.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/19/23
I love this site and I’ve learned so much from the many members.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/17/23
Geneanet site : downright essential
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/17/23
Good site to expand European family history.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/12/23
Keep up the good work, Geneanet! I recommend it to anyone starting a family tree and even those already using another service.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/10/23
I have tried several other Genealogy sites and now several years ago i started with Geneanet and i have never left, its easy to use, not complicated and like most sites Geneanet is NOT money hungry, and i thank Geneanet for that. Many sites i started with, putting, adding on thousands of photos, docs/records etc. and what bothers me is those ‘other’ sites, if your not a “paying member” you cannot access my files, docs etc that i put on their site FREE!! then the site turns around and wants to charge a non payment member to access/use my files/docs photos etc and all others that have put their files ,photos etc on their site, This is what made me leave every one of those money hungry sites… this research i started in 1978, before internet, and still today, i will help any one searching for their ancestors without a doubt and of course for free…i have done this from my heart, i have learned a lot and i love the way when i put a relative, ancestor etc on my tree it matches with others and the majority does match up which i like.. My method of sources on my info i find i like to match it up to at least 3 reliable sources and i must say since i started with Geneanet, as of yesterday, in fact, i found a gentlemen who md a great aunt of mine, with his obit, and correct dob dod///do thanks to Mr and Mrs Geneanet///smile…great job…….i will never leave this site, and i know a few cousins that also use this site/ keep up the great work and REPUTATION YOU HAVE PUT OUT AND CONTINUE TO STICK TO IT….
BRYAN THOMAS BENOIT
1/10/23
I love this website – I’ve only ever been a free member – mostly because I hope to help others find family from my tree rather than finding matches for myself, although that is an added bonus when a member contacts me to share information of connecting family tree members.
I used to put photos up of family, but now I limit that due to finding that the World Wide Web can sometimes be too free for others to copy my photos – which is perfectly okay with me – until they attach them to the wrong person and that goes viral. Too many people to chase to correct that or remove the photo – and most don’t respond to me. And so it goes around the world. I realise that information of a person can also be incorrect, but that is the nature of the beast in this addictive hobby.
Being still in the workforce and with heavy family commitments, I don’t often have the free time to do the projects on here – but when I have the time and remember, I go to the cemetery/graves section and transcribe amend/edit etc.
Thank you geneanet for offering free memberships. Thank you to those who pay for premium to help us free members be able to use this site also.
1/9/23
I have found some sources on your site, that is not available on Ancestry. I would love to switch over permanently, but I have so much invested in Ancestry. The key, is to make your system easier to navigate. Ancestry changed the design layout recently, and I hate it. I did notice how you offer corrections to improperly listing relatives, and why? This is very helpful. If I like your design layout, I would be more inclined to switch to your PREMIUM service. I am forced to pay extra for information out of the United States, and Ancestry pricing is skyrocketing. They have NEW owners, and I am not impressed with the changes.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/7/23
I have many French cousins and since I only communicate in English or German, it would be a big help to have translation capability build in when communicating .
1/7/23
I started using geneanet when it was designed and run by a very helpful guy called Daniel. [apologies for not remembering his last name, long time ago]. I thought it was wonderful. But no one has told me how to use it on Windows 8 or 10 – both just swallow my program downloads and so here I am stuck with what are now very old files I cannot access. Obviously other people have managed to do this, so I would love to know how. Geneanet made the best relationship charts I have ever seen, and hopefully still does, so thank you Daniel.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/7/23
When I embarked on family history research using the internet more than two decades ago, there were many more websites that allowed free access to some if not all of the data they offered (even Ancestry). Very few now remain – this very popular hobby is now seen as a reliable source of income, and its practitioners milked accordingly.
I became a Geneanet user over ten years ago, and I can truthfully say that it is now the single genealogy site whose resources I most value. Much of the progress I now make comes from personal contacts with other users on this and other websites, and from deeper research into period books and documents.
Perhaps I should add that mine is a single-name study, therefore not typical of the majority of users. I am not interested in boosting the number of names related, however distantly, to me into the hundreds of thousands or even millions, though I dare say it would be easy enough to do. And I insist on proofs sufficient to satisfy a professional historian – even if in some cases, it has to be ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’. That is where Geneanet’s huge catalogue and the ability to contact people who know makes a difference.
Finally, it is this website’s support for the community of genealogists that I much admire and recommend. I have found most users keen to be of assistance – I have had help from other sources, of course, but what I want to stress is that the greatest fulfilment comes from sharing discoveries with other people. There are far too few family history sites remaining where you can still do this for free.
1/7/23
Great Web site
1/6/23
Thank you for such informative information.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/6/23
I really like Geneanet. I have found ancestors I would of never have found without the help of some of the most wonderful members on here. Thank you so much Geneanet.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/6/23
Since October 2022, I have found the origins of four ancestor families. Geneanet members who documented their sources enabled me obtain copies of the sources and confirm the information: one family in Moselle, one family in Pirmasens, and one family in Alsace. In a fourth case, some Alsace records from the 1790s French Republic that were written in horrible German script were indexed on Geneanet, which enabled me to find another family. I still have three roadblocks and hope that further indexing of 1790s Alsace Republican records will eventually solve one of them.
1/6/23
Maybe a short free Trial period would entice more subscribers to Premium?
1/6/23
I have found Geneanet helpful in finding my ancestors.
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/6/23
As someone already said, over the years there have been many free that are now not, anything ancestry touches gets expensive. I love your model, similar to protonmail, premium support the free.
That said, Improvements cost money, I just can’t afford ancestry as I approach fixed income retirement, I hope you can maintain some freedom. I still wonder why I cant post my haplogroups that I already know for sure. (deep Y projects, seeking pre 1700 decaturs in france)
1/6/23
I been researching since early 1990’s with the aid of Ancestry, Family Search.org, My Past Family, Scotlands People and Genes Reunited so I am new to this site but am impressed the way it is set out.
1/6/23
like this data program alot
This user is a Premium member who get advantage of advanced features and options: more search criteria, unlimited access to the collections, hints and email alerts for finding new information and ancestors, etc.
Discover the Premium subscription1/6/23
I have enjoyed emailing with some members and hav found a treasure trove of information on my ancestors. Thank you, Geneanet.
1/6/23
I am a Premium subscriber since Oct 2022. I use Ancestry primarily but move Geneanet and other services to see data from non-Ancestry users. While doing DNA match work it is usefull for me to at glance see how big is the tree of the person highlighted as a shared DNA. In your platform I have to click on everyname and dig deeper to find that detail. Is it possible that this info gets highlighted at the top of the report so I can thru the hundreds of names more easily?
1/6/23
I am a senior on a fixed income. I have subscribed Premium in the past, but now just can’t with the price of everything going up. I cannot afford to deplete in funds. I do wish that there would be occasions to access “Premium” even if for a day or so. I have discovered so much about my ancestors on this site and have added to it.
1/6/23
I find it very helpful in my genealogical research.
1/6/23
It would really be great and helpful to both parties if you could have a section for possible dna connections that have not yet been 100% confirmed. Let your people search those paths would most likely create other connections. It wold give us another tool.
1/6/23
The best site in the world, even compared to Ancestry.com. It has more and wider aspects.