There is no doubt that MyHeritage has become one of the big name players in the online genealogy field. Having started in 2003, the company has grown to be a place to search for records and put your tree online. Over the years they have received numerous awards, and they have millions of users around the world.

But why should you use MyHeritage?
There are many reasons, but in a nutshell they offer users the following:
– the ability to search billions of records
– a place where you can add your tree online
– and they offer DNA kits and matching

But to go more in-depth, here’s some highlights of features that you’ll find on MyHeritage.

1. BILLIONS OF RECORDS
While they don’t have the world’s biggest online database (yet) … they do currently have over eight billion records, which is certainly an impressive number, and one not to ignore. Not only that, more are added every month. Many people say they already have a subscription to another website, so what’s different about MyHeritage? The big difference is that MyHeritage does have a big focus on Europe and Scandinavia … far more than the others. So if that’s where your roots lie, you’re far more likely to find information on MyHeritage than elsewhere.

2. PUT YOUR TREE ONLINE
MyHeritage Family Tree allows you to manage manually add your tree online, or import data from other software program, print charts, or even a book. you to enter up to 500 names for free (or import a GEDCOM file).

3. CREATE A COLLABORATIVE TREE OTHERS TO CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR TREE
For those who are interested in having various family members contribute to the one tree, a tree on MyHeritage allows you to do just that. You can set the following restrictions for your members:
– Edit the family tree
– Add content to the family site
– Invite other members

4. ONLINE TREE CONSISTENCY CHECKER
MyHistory family tree has an inbuilt consistency checker, which does 36 different checks on your data, including the obvious child born before parent – and produces a report. All issues found, are listed as errors, warnings and notices (in decreasing order of importance). More information.

5. SUPERSEARCH
SuperSearch includes more than 7.8 billion genealogy records such as birth, marriage, death, burial, census, military, immigration, yearbooks and other types of records, plus scans of the original documents. But it also includes MyHeritage family trees, photos and members that are public – altogether more than one billion exclusive records from all over the world that in most cases can only be found on MyHeritage. SuperSearch provides worldwide coverage with content relevant to all countries, and there’s around 200 million new records added to SuperSearch every month! More information.

6. GLOBAL NAME TRANSLATION
MyHeritage has introduced technology that automatically translates names found in historical records and family trees from one language into another, and at very high accuracy. Covering 42 languages, this means getting more possible matches between names in different languages. In addition, a manual search on MyHeritage’s SuperSearch, will return results in other languages, automatically translated into the language of the query. How can this benefit you? For example, perhaps your American family has Russian roots. Previously, you would have needed to search also in Russian to find all information available about your ancestors. Now you can search in English, and receive results in Russian, translated back into English for your convenience. More information.

7. SEARCH CONNECT
MyHeritage turns your searches into records, so anyone later doing the same search will find those who have previously searched for the same information. It’s a great way to find more connections. More information.

8. SEARCH RECORDS BY LOCATION
A feature that MyHeritage added to their SuperSearch ia the ability to search by location. This provides results relevant to only that specific location, helpful when you are looking for a person from a specific place. More information.

9. PEDIGREE MAP
The MyHeritage PedigreeMap is an interactive map of your family history. It groups your photos and events by country and place. Once a map is generated you can move around and zoom in/out to gain a better appreciation of where events occurred. More information.

10. MYHERITAGE MOBILE APP
Have access to your tree wherever you are by having the MyHeritage app on your tablet or smartphone. Using the MyHeritage mobile app makes it easier than ever to explore and share your family history on the go. You can capture and share family photos and memories right from your mobile device, invite family members to contribute to your family tree and update your tree at family get-togethers. And you can even get the real-time Smart Matches so that every time you modify the information it automatically looks for matches in existing trees. More information.

11. BOOK MATCHING
The MyHeritage Book Matching feature automatically researches individuals found in MyHeritage family trees with their vast collection of digitised historical books. The technology developed by MyHeritage has been designed to “understand” the text describing names, dates, places and relationships. It will even find matches for a woman under her married name – having understood that after marriage her name has likely changed in the records. More information.

12. BILLION GRAVES
MyHeritage has partnered with Billion Graves, and BillionGraves is MyHeritage’s preferred cemetery headstone crowdsourcing app. It has translations into 25 languages, and can handle Gregorian, Julian and Hebrew dates. The MyHeritage site listing almost 25 million records from BillionGraves from around the world. More information.

13. FAMILY TREE BUILDER
If you like to have your tree on your own computer, you can download the Family Tree Builder software for free. It is used by millions of people worldwide, and while you can use it offline, it will sync with your online tree when online (if you choose to). You can download Family Tree Builder here.

14. AUTOMATIC HINTS ON FAMILY HISTORIAN 6
If you use the Family Historian 6 software, you can get automatic hints from MyHeritage. This will enable users to benefit from automated discoveries sourced from millions of family trees and billions of global historical records on MyHeritage.

15. DNA
For those who are interested in delving into the genetic genealogy side of things, it was just over a year ago that MyHeritage DNA was launched, and to say they have hit the scene in a big way is an understatement. As with other major DNA testing companies, they provide two main features: DNA Matching for finding relatives, and detailed ethnicity reports that map the user’s ethnic and geographic origins. They have sold millions of kits, which means more chances of finding possible matches. Not only that, even if you tested with another company you can upload your DNA data with them (for free), and still get potential matches.

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TRY IT OUT WITH A 14 DAY FREE TRIAL
So if you like the sound of the above, but haven’t given MyHeritage try before, why not try them out free for 14 days. Just remember they’re like all online subscriptions site, and do require entering your credit card up front, but if you cancel before the end of the 14 day, you will not be billed. www.myheritage.com (click on the orange “Start Your Family Tree” button).

SUBSCRIBE
MyHeritage doesn’t have any simple table of subscription rates, and there are quite a number of variants they offer. But you can take out a basic (Family Site) subscription which is free, and allows you enter up to 250 people on your tree, or go top of the line with their “Complete Package” subscription which includes no restrictions on tree numbers, matching with other trees, and access to their billions of records, for about AUD$25/month (billed annually). There are other options as well, and you can always get in touch with them to check the details of other subscriptions together with the cost.

HOW CAN I CONTACT MYHERITAGE?
Australia (+61) 1800 731 768
Sun-Thu 5pm-7am AEST
Fri 5pm-1am AEST

Canada 1800 987 9000
Billing & Sales Mon-Fri 7am-5pm MST
Tech Support Sun-Thu 11pm-3pm MST

Ireland (+353) 1800 817 330
Sun-Thu 6am-8pm GMT
Fri 6am-2pm GMT

New Zealand (+64) 0800 995 069
Sun-Thu 7pm-9am NZDT
Fri 7pm-3am NZDT

United States of America 1800 987 900
Billing & Sales Mon-Fri 7am-5pm MST
Tech Support Sun-Thu 11pm-3pm MST

United Kingdom (+44) 80 0098 8125
Sun-Thu 6am-8pm GMT
Fri 6am-2pm GMT