Family tree research cost, from free indexes to a professional

Family tree research cost depends on who does the work

Most of the family tree research cost goes to four things, which are copies of records, access to record sites, DNA tests and the time of a professional. You can spend nothing on the first three generations if relatives and free indexes carry you, or pay a firm to work on one question for a hundred hours. The table gives each cost as a range, with the date the price was read and whether it was a sale.

Free indexes cost nothing and answer most early questions

FamilySearch is free to everyone, with a free account for its records and tree. In England and Wales, FreeBMD transcribes the birth, marriage and death index and makes no charge, FreeCEN has free census transcripts, and the General Register Office lets you search its birth and death indexes after a free registration. In the United States the 1950 census website shows the images with a name search, and the National Archives lists FamilySearch as free with an account.

The cost of this stage is time. A first pass through your parents and grandparents can be done with interviews and these indexes alone, and the guide on how to look up your family tree gives the order to work in.

Certificates and archive copies are priced per record

An index tells you a record exists, and the copy gives you the names of the parents. The General Register Office charges £12.50 online for a certificate when you have the index reference and £16 without it, or £17 and £20.50 by phone or post. A priority certificate is £38.50. A PDF costs £8 and covers births registered more than 100 years ago and deaths from 1837 to 1957, and the GRO notes that a PDF has no evidential value.

The US National Archives fee schedule, dated 20 April 2018, charges $20 for census records and for passenger lists, $30 for a military service file, $55 for a pension file before the Civil War and $80 for one from the Civil War or later. An official personnel file costs $25 for up to five pages and $70 for more. Birth and death certificates in the United States come from each state, and the CDC listing for California, last reviewed in May 2022, gives $29 for a birth certificate, $24 for a death certificate and $17 for a marriage record. Check the state office before you pay, because these listings are not updated every year.

Software is paid once and record sites charge by the year

Desktop programs keep the tree on your computer for a single payment or none. RootsMagic 12 is $39.95 and its Essentials edition is free, Family Tree Maker 2024 is $80 as a download, and Legacy Family Tree and Gramps are free. The guide to family tree software compares them by platform, files and syncing.

Record sites charge for access to their collections. MyHeritage keeps a free Basic tree of up to 250 people, and its paid plans did not show prices to us on 10 November 2026. The one figure we could read was a one-year Complete gift membership at $149, marked as half the regular $299, which does not renew. Ancestry did not let us open its pages that day, so this guide gives no Ancestry price.

A DNA test costs much less on sale than at list price

DNA tests are sold at a list price and discounted for long stretches of the year. On 10 November 2026 FamilyTreeDNA sold Family Finder at $39, down from $79, in a sale through 11 November. MyHeritage DNA was $19.90, down from $89, plus shipping. 23andMe sold its Basic Ancestry kit at $79, down from $99, until 18 November, and its Premium kits add a yearly membership of $69 or $99.

Tests of one line cost more. FamilyTreeDNA listed a Y-37 test at $79 on sale and $119 regular, Y-111 at $189 and $249, Big Y-700 at $399 and $449, and its mitochondrial test at $129 and $159. A test answers a question only with records beside it, so price the certificates you will need to confirm a match as well.

Professional genealogists charge by the hour or by the package

The Association of Professional Genealogists says that hourly rates run from $30 to $40 an hour to well over $200 an hour. Expenses such as copies and travel are billed on top, some researchers offer flat rates, and in most cases you should expect to pay a retainer under a written agreement. The Board for Certification of Genealogists lists no fees, because each associate sets their own. It says work starts only after a clear agreement on scope and fee, and that an advance larger than the hours and expenses used is refunded.

One firm publishes its prices. Legacy Tree Genealogists sells a 10-hour retainer at $1,300, which is $130 an hour, a package of 50 hours with up to two research goals at $6,000, and 100 hours with up to four goals at $11,500, about $115 an hour. Hourly work suits one clear question, such as the parents of a great-grandmother. A package suits a line traced across several countries, where the hours are hard to predict.

A worked budget for one line, priced on 10 November 2026

Here is one way to estimate the family tree research cost of a single question, such as tracing a grandmother born in England in 1925 back through her parents and grandparents, done yourself and checked with one DNA test. The figures are the ranges above, and your own total depends on how many certificates the line needs.

Agree the scope and the fee before any work starts

The APG suggests five questions to ask a professional, including whether the researcher works by the hour or offers package rates, whether there is a minimum, and whether payment is due in advance or at the end. Its hiring guide adds that expenses are billed on top, so ask which ones. We would also ask what the written report will contain and in what form the sources are cited.

Give the researcher what you already have, as a chart and a list of the records you hold, so that no hours go on finding them again. A clear chart of the known family, with the question marked, saves paid time on the first day.