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Autosomal DNA testing comparison chart

From ISOGG Wiki

Autosomal DNA testing for genetic genealogy purposes is provided by the following five companies: 23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, Family Tree DNA and Living DNA. For background material on purchasing a DNA test see Before You Buy and Choosing a DNA testing company.

For guidelines on DNA testing see the Genetic genealogy standards.

Comparison Chart

This autosomal DNA testing comparison chart has been compiled by ISOGG member Tim Janzen. The chart is provided for informational purposes only. Additions made upon ISOGG member request.
Please submit additions, corrections/updates to .
Company 23andMe Family Tree DNA’s Family Finder test Ancestry.com's AncestryDNA test MyHeritage Living DNA
Primary purpose for which the test was designed Medical
Genealogical
Personal Ancestry		 Genealogical
Personal Ancestry (Autosomal only)		 Genealogical
Personal Ancestry (Autosomal only)		 Genealogical
Personal Ancestry (Autosomal only)		 Genealogical
Personal Ancestry
Website www.23andme.com www.familytreedna.com dna.ancestry.com www.myheritagedna.com www.livingdna.com
Price (as of January 2021) US: $99 for the Ancestry and Traits service; $199 for the Health and Ancestry service; $499 for the VIP Health and Ancestry service. Canada: CAD $149 Ancestry and Traits; $249 Health and Ancestry. UK: £79 Ancestry and Traits; £149 Health and Ancestry. Europe: €99 Ancestry and Traits; €169 Health and Ancestry. International: US $99 Ancestry and Traits. Health reports are not available in all countries. Check local websites for details and pricing. $79 for the lifetime of the platform US: $69. UK: £79. Australia and New Zealand: AUS $149.00. Canada: CAD $149. Check local AncestryDNA websites for prices in other countries. An Ancestry subscription is required to access some features. A next-generation sequencing Ancestry Health test is available in the US only for $179.[1] Ancestry test: $69 (US); £75 (UK). Health and ancestry test $199 (US) Ancestry: $99 (US); €99 (Europe), £99 (UK). Ancestry and wellbeing: $179 (US); €179 (Europe), £179 (UK)
Shipping charges $9.95 in the US for the first kit (includes return shipping) and $5 per kit for each additional kit shipped to the same address; CAD $19.95 for Canada; £9.99 for the UK; price for other countries varies, but tends to range between $39.99 and $127.99. See 23andMe international availability for further details. $9.95 for the USA and for international orders (prepaid return postage is included for US kits)[2] $9.95 per kit; £10 UK and Ireland standard shipping and £20 expedited shipping (includes prepaid return postage); AUS $29.99 Australia and New Zealand; CAD $19.95 Canada. Check local AncestryDNA websites for shipping charges for other countries. $12 in the United States; £12 in the UK $9.95 (US), €12.95 (Europe), £9.95 (UK)
International product availability 56 countries (health reports only available in selected countries). See the Customer Care article What countries do you ship to? for a list of countries. Worldwide (except Sudan and Iran) United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The AncestryDNA test was launched in an additional 29 countries in February 2016.[3] For current list of countries see Countries where Ancestry is available All countries except Israel, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, North Korea, Lebanon, and Syria Worldwide
Method for collecting the DNA sample saliva sample (about 1 cc) cheek swab saliva sample (about 1/2 cc) cheek swab cheek swab
DNA sample storage Yes, indefinitely Yes, for a minimum of 25 years Yes, indefinitely Yes, indefinitely Yes, indefinitely
Projects supported No Yes No No No
Means of contacting people who share matching segments Contact may be made after seeing your list of matches in DNA Relatives; the matches must be willing to share genomes with you if you are to see what segments you share with your matches E-mail addresses of all matches are available Contact can be made through Ancestry.com’s messaging system Contact can be made through MyHeritage's messaging system Contact can be made through Living DNA's messaging system
Average responsiveness of matches Low Medium Low Medium Medium
Average level of genealogical knowledge of matches Low Medium Medium Medium Medium
GEDCOM file upload allowed No Yes Yes Yes No
Upload of raw data file allowed from other companies No Yes, but 23andMe Version 3, 4, and 5 files (c. November 2010 to current), MyHeritage and Ancestry.com files only No Yes, from 23andMe, FTDNA's Family Finder, Ancestry.com, Living DNA and WeGene Yes, from 23andMe, FTDNA's Family Finder, Ancestry.com, and MyHeritage DNA
Upload of raw data file allowed by GEDmatch into the GEDmatch database Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SNP chip used for testing Customized Illumina GSA chip Customized Illumina GSA chip Customized Illumina chip Illumina GSA chip Affymetrix Axiom microarray (Sirius)
Number of autosomal SNPs tested 630,132 612,272 637,639 576,157 683,503
Number of Y chromosome SNPS 3733 None 1691 (labeled as chromosome 24) 3495 34,216
Number of X chromosome SNPS 16,530 16,271 28,892 (labeled as chromosome 23), plus 440 SNPs labeled as chromosome 25 that are either from chromosome X or from the pseudoautosomal regions of the Y chromosome 29,694 15,028
Number of mitochondrial DNA SNPS 4318 179 263 (labeled as chromosome 26) none 3982
Number of people in the database (as of 13 Aug 2023) 14,000,000 1,574,253 23,000,000 7,200,000 300,000
Source for number of people in the database 25 May 2023 23andMe financial summary 6 July 2023 e-mail from Katy Rowe providing database size as of 30 June 2023 3 Mar 2023 presentation by Deb Liu at RootsTech 13 Aug 2023 MyHeritage website 4 Jan 2021 e-mail from David Nicholson to Tim Janzen
Medically related SNP data included in data Yes Yes, but about 3000 medically related SNPs have been removed Yes Yes Yes
Download of raw data file allowed Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Information about the matching segments shared with customers and available for download Yes (if the match is willing to share genomes) Yes for all matches Only the total number of shared segments, the total cMs shared, and the length of the longest share segment is provided. None of this information is available for download. Yes for all matches Only the total cMs shared
Chromosome browser available for comparison of shared segments Yes, using the DNA comparison tool associated with DNA Relatives Yes, using the Chromosome Browser tool No Yes, on the Review DNA Match page No
Chromosome browser can be adjusted to different thresholds for matching segments No Yes, with thresholds of 1 cM, 5 cM, 7 cM, and 10 cM No No No
Maximum number of comparisons that can be done at a time using the chromosome browser 5 7 None 7 None
Criteria for matching segments Option 1: 9 cMs and at least 700 SNPs for one half-identical region; Option 2: 5 cMs and 700 SNPs with at least two half-identical regions being shared Option 1: 9 cMs and 500 SNPs for one half-identical region; Option 2: 7.7 cMs for the first half-identical region and a total of at least 20 cMs (including the shorter matching HIRs between 1 cM and 7 cMs); Option 3: 5.5 cMs and at least 500 SNPs for the first half-identical region for about 1% of customers who come from specific non-European populations 6 cMs per segment before the Timber algorithm is applied and a total of at least 8 cMs after Timber is applied 8 cM for the first matching segment and at least 6 cMs for the 2nd matching segment; 12 cM for the first matching segment in people whose ancestry is at least 50% Ashkenazi Jewish 9.46 cMs for the first segment
Information about the start and stop positions of matching segments Start and stop positions are not rounded Start and stop positions are rounded to the nearest complete block of 100 SNPs Not Provided Start and stop positions are not rounded Not provided
Information reported about the lengths of matching segments Lengths of matching segments reported in cMs and rounded to the nearest 100,000th cM Lengths of matching segments reported in cMs and rounded to the nearest hundredth of a cM Only provided for the longest matching segment Lengths of matching segments reported in cMs and rounded to the nearest tenth of a cM Only total number of shared cMs is provided
Information provided regarding the number of SNPs in each matching segment Yes Yes No Yes No
Information about matching segments on the X chromosome reported Yes Yes No No No
Criteria for matching segments on the X chromosome For half-IBD segments: Male vs male: 200 SNPs, 1 cM; male vs female: 600 SNPs, 6 cMs; female vs female: 1200 SNPs, 6 cMs; For full-IBD segments: 500 SNPs, 5 cMs 1 cM and 500 SNPs for both males and females; matches must already meet the autosomal DNA matching criteria Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable
Information about mitochondrial DNA matches reported No No No No No
Integrated genealogy database available to which customers may link No No No No, but MyHeritage owns Geni.com, an integrated database No
Biogeographical ancestry analysis Yes, using the Ancestry Composition feature Yes, using the myOrigins and the ancient Origins features Yes, using the Ethnicity Estimate feature Yes, using the Ethnicity Estimate feature Yes, using the Ancestry feature
Chromosomes painted according to ethnic or regional ancestry as part of the biogeographical ancestry analysis Yes, using Ancestry Composition's Chromosome View Yes Yes No No
Overall accuracy and sophistication of the biogeographical ancestry analysis rated on a 1-10 scale with 10 being excellent and 1 being poor Overall rating: 7
The Ancestry Composition feature offers a map view which displays one's ancestral components from various regions of the world as of 500 years ago, a split view for those who also have one or both parents who have been tested by 23andMe, and a breakdown by chromosone. Three settings are available: conservative, standard, and speculative. Overall accuracy is reasonably good, but predictions in Europe are still not optimal, particularly in the speculative mode. Ancestry Finder provides a breakdown of one's ancestry by country.		 Overall rating: 3.5
The myOrigins analysis is much improved over FTDNA's previous Population Finder analysis. However, it still lacks specificity, particularly for Europe. No chromosome painting feature is available.		 Overall rating: 6
The Genetic Community feature indicates which populations or ethnic groups that have existed within the past 150 to 400 years have contributed at least 4% of your autosomal DNA.		 Overall rating: 5
The Ethnicity Estimate generally overestimates the English ancestral component for people whose ancestors were from continental Europe.		 Overall rating: 6
The Ethnicity Estimate rating for the United Kingdom is 9 and the rating is 4 for the rest of the world.
Phased data used for determining matching segments No No Yes Yes Yes
Phased segments linked to specific ancestors No No No No No
Average number of autosomal SNPs with discrepant data using two parent/one child trio datasets About 335 About 210 to 220 Unknown Unknown Unknown
Option available to confirm known genealogical relationships between matches Yes Yes DNA matches can be linked to people in the Ancestry family tree. That adds a DNA icon to the person in the tree view and a tree icon in both the DNA match list and the profile. The icons cross-link between the match and the tree. No No
Special features Ancestry Composition, Neanderthal Ancestry, Y and mtDNA haplogroups provided for people you are sharing with Customers can integrate their matches with the Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA results. Family Finder matrix is available for project administrators. Comparison of overlap of ancestral origins between matches and automatic identification of common ancestors, surnames and birth places between matches' family trees Automatic identification of shared surnames and shared ancestors between matches' family trees; automatic identification of shared ethnicities with one's matches; genealogical events shown on ethnicity map; more than 2100 genetic groups High resolution ethnicity estimates for the United Kingdom
Online Community Forum Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Lead scientists in the company Joanna Mountain, Brian Naughton, Steve Lemon Connie Bormans Catherine Ball, Jake Byrnes Dr. Yaniv Erlich, Yoav Naveh Martin Blythe
Outside consultants for the company Itsik Pe’er, Peter Underhill, Serafim Batzoglou, George Church, Michael Eisen, Marcus Feldman, Daphne Koller, Stanley Nelson, Jonathan Pritchard Michael Hammer, Bruce Walsh, Doron Behar, Theodore Schurr, Alan Redd Philip Awadalla, Jeffrey Botkin, Carlos Bustamante, Mark Daly, John Novembre, Brenna Henn None None
Ownership Privately held by various investors, particularly Anne Wojcicki, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., The Roche Venture Fund, Google Ventures, and New Enterprise Associates Gene by Gene and MyDNA As of December 2020 owned by the US investment firm Blackstone Francisco Partners, Gilad Japhet, HP Beteiligungs GmbH, Yuval Rakavy, and Gigi Levy David Nicholson
Additional information about the test See: See: See: See: See:
Additional DNA testing options available from the company No, not at this time Yes, multiple options for Y chromosome STR and SNP testing, complete or partial mitochondrial DNA testing, and complete genome testing No, not at this time (Ancestry previously offered Y-DNA and mtDNA tests but this option was discontinued in June 2014) No, not at this time A wellbeing test can be purchased as an upgrade
Address 223 N. Mathilda Ave, Sunnyvale, California 94086 1445 North Loop West, Suite 820, Houston, Texas 77008 1300 West Traverse Parkway, Lehi, Utah 84043 headquarters in Or Yehuda, Israel with offices in Tel Aviv, Israel; Burbank, California; and Lehi, Utah Unit G1, Frome Business Park, Manor Road, Marston Trading Estate, Frome, Somerset, BA11 4BL, UK
Phone Number 1-800-239-5230 or enter a ticket online at customer care for a call-back 713-868-1438 800-958-9124 (best for DNA related questions) or 800-262-3787 (in the U. S.); 0800-404-9723 (UK); 800-958-9073 (Canada); 800-252-838 (Australia) 877-432-3135 in USA; other phone numbers at https://www.myheritage.com/FP/contact-us.php +44 (0)203 424 3482
E-mail address [email protected] FTDNA Contact Form [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Date product launched November 19, 2007 February 16, 2010 US: May 3, 2012. UK and Ireland: January 29, 2015.[4] 29 additional countries: February 23, 2016. November 7, 2016 September 22-27, 2016

Reviews

References

  1. ↑ AncestryDNA and subscriptions Ancestry Support article. Accessed 21 October 2020.
  2. ↑ Shipping DNA tests worldwide FTDNA Learning Center. Accessed 21 October 2020.
  3. ↑ AncestryDNA now offered in 29 new countries. Ancestry Corporate blog, 23 February 2016.
  4. ↑ AncestryDNA now available in the United Kingdom and Ireland Ancestry Blog, January 29, 2015.

Notes

23andMe, AncestryDNA, Family Tree DNA and National Geographic Genographic are registered, trademarked, and/or copyrighted names of companies, websites and organizations, not affiliated with ISOGG.

See also

Further reading

Resources

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