Genealogy Chat

As far as I know, Ancestry is the ONLY site that has all of the census 1841-1901 + all of the BMD data. The UK subscription is v. good value if you buy annually, £69 - but you can subscribe monthly for £9.95 (I think) for a month or two to see how much you will use it. The alternative worldwide sub. is MUCH more expensive, and only likely to be good value if you have a large number of overseas relatives. I think it is fair to say that the vast majority of the 'worldwide' material is for N. America. It is worth checking your library. Here in Birmingham every single one of the library network's PCs has the Ancestry Library Edition for use completely free of charge.

I think the *co.uk one offers UK only access, but the *com one offers Worldwide access only at a much greater cost. I signed up to the US one a while back, so I have UK access only. It's cheaper to pay dollars than pounds :) UK Deluxe Membership Free Trial Access all UK and Ireland record indexes and images, plus historical newspapers, family and local histories and more on Ancestry.co.uk. Try it free for 14 days Price after free trial £69.95 World Deluxe Membership Billed in an annual payment of $299.40 (or £199.95)

Everyone's been mentioning Ancestry - is that co.uk or com? Are there many differences? Which is better? Sorry, am sounding like a right newbie! I've been doing this online for 4 years, but nothing much in the last year and then since September I've spent a fortune looking things up! Laura x

I use familyhistory online for burials and other bits. It is very cheap about 10p a lookup. I think ancestry is good. I have been using their personal tree feature and have had several contacts through it recently. Anne

I used to pay a fortune on all the other sites! I joined Ancestry (uk version) which works out to just over £5 a month and have been very happy! As others have said you can get the month free trial then join up. It is definately worth it. It just seems expensive because you have to pay it all at once.

Paula I started of buying credits on ancestry (£5 for 10 credits lasting 2 weeks) and could access all of ancesty - was equivalent to the World duluxe package but if you have alot to look up it cast a fortune. An annual subscribtion is just £1-£2 a week, I find I could used the credits a few times over. By far Ancestry is the best for 1837 - 1901 + (plus because of the BMD index being free) before the 1841 census and the start of civil registration in 1837, Ancestry in the UK is less helpfull but the IGI is free on familysearch which helps sometimes.

ALL bmd's are FREE on Ancestry........ Reg

Ancestry is free for three days you dont have to give any details

I got a months free trial on Ancestry & have 'hammered it', lol. I think it would be well worth the money & will be paying for membership when my trial is up. It really bugs me when you have to pay for credits that only last a week & when you are looking for a BMD entry with approximate details it does cost a fortune.

I'd say Ancestry is your best bet. You can get a free trial, then sign up after. It's only about £1 a week and you get access to all the England & Wales censuses, plus all the BMD information and also some parish records.

Ancestry is definitely good value for money. All other sites (apart from GR) to which I subscribe are free.

I would think Ancestry is probably the best value for money if you have a lot of censuses and BMDs to look up. Ann Glos

So come on then , in your experience what is the BEST all inclusive site? I'm fed up signing up to sites then having to pay £5 for so many views etc etc - I'm spending a fortune and am sure it would be cheaper to sign up to an all inclusive site! Am looking for a site where BMD and as many census as possible are all included.... I know Ancestry seems to be popular, any others? Laura