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There are dozens of genealogy websites offering information for a price and it's nice to know if what they are offering is worth the money. If you have bad results or a fantastic experience, let me know so it can be shared. Nothing is worse than signing up for a site where you are locked in for a year with nothing to show in your research.
1. Ancestry.com
This site gets a 10 out of 10. Anyone into genealogy knows about ancestry.com. Personally, I can't do without it. It is by far the best site out there and the first one I go to when I am researching. If you plan on doing genealogy frequently, it is a good investment and they offer monthly payments if the yearly dues is too much for you. If that isn't feasible, you can go to a genealogy library near you where ancestry is available for free. But be aware that not all infomation may not be accessible.
2. Criminal-Info.com
This site receives a O out of 10. Criminal-Info and other people finder websites that advertise instant online information are to be used with caution. I discovered, much to my chagrin, that after entering the name I was researching, all the information was locked until I paid a fee. So, I paid the fee and discovered that the information was minimal and in order to get more, I had to pay another fee. There was no guarantee that the next level would be worth it and I decided not to proceed.
3. Archives.com
This site gets a 8 out of 10. Archives.com is a good website but I noticed that it is affiliated with ancestry.com and so they share some of the same information. I do like their newspaper area and I have gleaned alot of information from them. The site is easy to navigate and has a low cost yearly rate.
4. Americanancestors.org (NEHGS)
This site rates a 10 out of 10 for New England Research.This is my second favorite site. If you're researching anywhere in the New England States, this is the one to join. A lot of the information is taken directly from old records written in the time the events happened. If you can't join, you can still see the SSI and the Massachusetts Records to 1850 for free and there is plenty of info there.
5. Findmypast.com
This site gets a 7 out of 10. Their information comes from actual records in England. It's affordable in that you can buy points and use them on which ever records you want, but the down side is if you get the wrong record, you lose those points, so you need to be pretty sure which records you want. Also, Find My Past is affiliated with FamilySearch.org and you can find the same records for "free" there. The draw back is that the record doesn't always show pertinent information and you have to go to Find My Past and pay for it anyway.
6. Heritage Quest
This site gets a 8 out of 10. The website is like a library all in it self. It has hundreds of books on personal genealogy and town historys. It also has the census records and periodicals. When I look at census on ancestry.com and it is too light to read, I go to Heritage and the pages are darker and readable. You have to go to a subscribing library to see the records, but with a library card you can access the website from home.
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