Written by Juan Rivas Santisteban Updated: 09/22/2021 |
Family Tree DNA Basic Facts:
- Company Name: Family Tree DNA
- Foundation Year: 2000
- Location: Houston, United States
- Monthly Visits: unknown
- Number of Databases: at least, 2 million genomes.
- Website: https://www.familytreedna.com/
What services/products are included in Family Tree DNA Test?- Rated: 4.5/5
Performance that borders on perfection, but falls short of it because it does not take into account the margin of error of the ancestor technology. (Analysis Technique limitations)
- Family Finder
The family finder will match maternal and paternal lines to find the best possible matches.
- MyOrigins mapping tool
In order to visualise the data that is dumped on the client, it is necessary to have a graphical aid such as this mapping tool. Here you will find geographical and ethnic information about your ancestors and their migrations.
- Ancient Origins mapping tool
Another integrated programme will provide a more sociological view of the democratic strata of the ancestors. How much of a Bronze Age raider or farmer are you? You will be able to witness it with this being.
- Chromosome browser
A very interesting tool that allows the user to select the chromosome blocks and compare them with their matches, in order to have a more complete idea of the similarities and differences.
Availability of Diverse Collection Methods (swab, blood ...) - Rated: 3.0/5
They have a well designed DNA extraction kit. The method is by internal cheek swab, and they do not have more variety of methods to simplify the whole concept. However, there is a mild need to be able to send samples of other types, as it gives greater capacity for analysis (especially for transcriptomics).
Family Tree DNA Customer Support - Rated: 4.5/5
A great Help Center exercise is the one that FamilyTree DNA has developed in its product. You have all the options and they are all suitable. Perhaps a live chatbox is missing, but it makes up for it perfectly with other features.
Family Tree Kits pricing/cost - Rated: 4.5/5
This is one of the sites with the widest variety of ancestry dna, and not just in terms of choice, but also in terms of quality. However, we feel that the price could be adjusted a little more on the more expensive packages.
Family Finder |
| 79$ |
Y - DNA test (37, 111 & 700) |
| 119$, 249$ or 449$ |
mtDNA test |
| 159$ |
Tovana Health Report ´+ Family Finder |
| 899$ |
Family Tree DNA Database size - Rated: 3.5/5
This company is a veteran in the field of genetic ancestry analysis. It is one of the pioneers in the field, and although the numbers might indicate otherwise (around 3 million genomes), its databases are composed of high quality sequences, and it claims to have the largest private mitochondrial DNA database in the world.
Family Tree DNA Free trial- Rated: 0/5
Family Tree does not currently offer free testing services.
Family Tree DNA Expected turn-around - Rated: 5/5
They promise to have the results in just 5-7 working days after receiving the samples, which could take a total of 2-3 weeks from the time you order your kit on their website. It's a completely light and enjoyable process, and before you know it you'll have the product you ordered in a hurry. It really doesn't get any better than this!
Family Tree DNA Accuracy - Rated: 4.5/5
In this case there is transparency about the sequencing technologies used by the company, in this case being HumanOmniExpress-24 chip and NovaSeq Sequencing.
This means a notable increase in the success rate of the nucleotide readings, because in the sequencing reaction there are often anomalies or artefacts that do not correspond to the original nucleotide chain itself, which can lead the analysis algorithms to erroneous conclusions about our genome. In this case, we are talking about a hit rate of more than 99%, which is a quality standard in the industry.
Family Tree DNA Interface - Rated: 4/5
From the moment you first enter the site you notice that the UI is very well thought out, even for the layman. The sections are well divided and the tone of voice is professional but concise and easy. The colours and features have also been designed by experts in the field.
As for the results interface, it has nifty features and services that will depend on the package you originally ordered. Due to the amount of options it might be a bit overwhelming if you are not used to it, but with a bit of practice you will be able to understand very complicated things in a jovial way.
Family Tree DNA Privacy - Rated: 5/5
Privacy is one of the main issues to consider when choosing a DNA testing service. In this case, Family Tree DNA is a company with ethical values that gives the client the choice of how they want their data to be taken. Despite this, the data will never be sold to third parties or profited from, apart from the actual purchase of the tests and other services.
They take great care with data protection, especially with the health report, a kind of biblical leviathan with all our physiological and functional status.
Family Tree DNA Innovation - Rated: 3.5/5
They are not directly involved in the publication of scientific articles, but their contribution to the technical world lies in the refinement of the state of the art sequencing technique. Thus, they claim that the only people entitled to publish scientific results with these data are the customers themselves, thus attesting to their ethical model.
Family Tree DNA rate and quality of updates - Rated: 4/5
FamilyTree says in its question centre that it will update its reports when the phylogenetic tree renews its branches, which will be when there is new and substantially different information.
This means that customers may notice less dynamic times than others in terms of updates, with updates being rather uncertain and not at all regular. On the other hand, these are programmatic and well thought-out updates that will improve the accuracy of the results obtained in the analyses with which this company works.
Best Alternatives To Family Tree DNA
My Heritage being a low-cost product compared to Family Tree DNA, it doesn't quite feel that way when you compare the most basic features. If you are not so interested in the provenance of your parent line and want something simpler, perhaps My Heritage DNA is your perfect choice.
If, on the other hand, you feel you need something more robust and comprehensive, that can compete in expertise with Family Tree DNA, there is no choice but the titan of the ancestry industry: Ancestry DNA. Their databases are simply superior.
If you need something less focused on ancestral DNA and want a more general but equally in-depth alternative, we recommend Sequencing.com. It will give you health reports as well, without having to spend a lot of money. However, they don't cover the aspects that Family Tree DNA does.
Summary
So much for the Family Tree DNA review. It is, as we have seen above, a very balanced option with a substantially different price range, for different types of customers and services. They are transparent and honest with their work and have a very competitive and complete product on the market. There is not much more to say about this company that has been analysing genomes to solve people's problems for more than two decades.
