Ancestry.com Price: Plans, Monthly Cost & Price History

Ancestry.com is a subscription site for family history research. A free account lets you build a family tree, but searching most historical records, such as census, military, immigration, and vital records, requires a paid membership. Ancestry sells three membership levels, and the main difference between them is how many record collections you can search.

The prices on this page come from a Family Tree Magazine guide to Ancestry's plans, checked on Oct 11, 2026. They are not taken from Ancestry's own site, and Ancestry changes prices and runs promotions, so confirm the current price on the official Ancestry.com membership page before you subscribe.

On monthly billing, Ancestry memberships range from $24.99/mo for U.S. Discovery to $59.99/mo for All Access.

U.S. Discovery

U.S. Discovery costs $24.99/mo. It gives access to Ancestry's U.S. record collections, which is enough for many people whose family has lived in the United States for several generations. If your research soon reaches an immigrant ancestor, you may need records from another country, which this plan does not include.

World Explorer

World Explorer costs $39.99/mo. It adds Ancestry's international record collections to the U.S. records, which helps when your tree leads back to Europe or other regions.

All Access

All Access costs $59.99/mo, the highest of the three. It includes everything in World Explorer and adds access to partner sites owned by Ancestry, such as Newspapers.com and Fold3, which focus on newspaper archives and military records. Check the plan details for which partner features are included, since some partner content may sit at a higher tier on the partner site itself.

Ancestry sells optional add-ons on top of a membership. Family Tree Magazine lists two:

Pro Tools costs $10/mo and adds extra research and DNA analysis features for members who want more than the standard tools. Preserve My Tree costs $10/mo. Add-ons are billed on top of the membership, so your monthly total is the plan price plus any add-ons you keep. Review what each one includes on Ancestry's site before adding it.

The prices above are for monthly billing. Ancestry may also offer memberships billed over longer periods, which can lower the effective monthly cost. If you plan to research steadily for months, compare the longer-term price on Ancestry's site with the monthly rate. If you only need a short burst of research, monthly billing lets you stop when you are done.

Memberships renew automatically. To avoid paying for months you do not use, turn off auto-renewal or cancel from your account settings before the renewal date.

An AncestryDNA test kit is not included with a records membership. The kit is a one-time purchase, priced separately, and it gives you an ethnicity estimate and a list of DNA matches. Some DNA features and the ability to view matched relatives' trees may work best alongside a membership, which is where Pro Tools and the records plans come in.

• Start with U.S. Discovery and upgrade only when your research reaches records outside the U.S.
• Build your tree with a free account first, then subscribe when you are ready to search records.
• Watch for promotional offers and note when the regular price begins.
• Check whether your local public library offers free in-library access to Ancestry Library Edition.
• Cancel between research projects instead of paying for idle months.