Exactly! I just upgraded to all access right before hearing about these new tools and I feel so duped and disappointed that these wouldn’t at LEAST be free for “all access” but honestly it should be included for all
I’m also on the All Access Family plan. I was told on the support chat that it would be during the first day of the rollout when I got a window to downgrade to US discovery to buy the tools for 9.99. The next day, i was in a zoom meeting when someone got a price of 14.99. Then when I checked the icon on my tree, the price was 19.99. Seems like Ancestry is A/B testing different prices. 5$ may be right amount, but 9 or 19.99 a month for 3 tools that Family Tree Maker has been doing for years for a fixed cost seems wrong.
Thanks for adding your thoughts at the end. You're right that everyone wants an accurate tree, and this new product will help those that pay,. You're also correct that it should be available to everyone. However, I think that is only half of the story. Making this tool available to everyone ALSO benefits Ancestry. We all are Ancestry's minions, helping them connect the dots. By having us error check the data, we are adding value to Ancestry.
Amy, thanks so much for your open, honest and absolutely correct view of the "Pro" features. I too believe they (certainly the error-checking functionality) should be available for all users; not just those paying more for them. As I stated in another video review of these features, Ancestry had $1 BILLION in revenue last year. How much will they have in revenue after they roll out these add-on/paid features (and how much is enough)?! They appear to be in it just for the money and nothing more!!!
I'm not against a company making money. But it certainly rubs me the wrong way when a company opts to charge extra for something that actually should be core functionality. (Especially when that feature would improve other areas of the company's offerings.)
Some of these tools should be free and quite honestly, the people that would benefit the most, novices, won't subscribe to something advertised as "pro".
They seem to have no concept of what "all access" means. If you have all access then you should have every available feature at the highest level. There should be nothing else to pay for.
As another user with All Access, I’m very disgusted that user tools are only available by paying extra. My Heritage has an error checker included and I have a pdf file highlighting each and every error in my tree. Each point you made was totally valid!
I was thinking this very thing. I am also an all-access user. I pay over $ 400 a year, and they want me to pay more each month? To be honest, this is stuff that should be added to one of the tiers.
Family Tree Maker 2019 (FTM2019) has these "pro tool" assets and more. As an Australian, if I have to pay an extra US$10 per month, which translates as AU$14.89 plus conversion costs... it's cheaper to continue to use FTM2019 which is a single purchase for me. You are totally correct, if you have a misspelling of a part of a name, e.g. Sidney instead of Sydney, or incorrect year 1915 instead of 1916... then it affects your DNA thru-lines and common ancestor suggestions. Heck, I don't even look at those little green leaf suggestions anymore. It's just a world of pain and I need to be assured that my citations and DNA support the family relationships found before building into my research tree. We are human and errors are bound to happen in our trees. I hope ancestry listens to your video and feedback.
I agree 100% I have always used FTM charts and from this video they still seem far superior to the ones provided by Ancestry. It is a one time charge and you can upgrade when a new version comes out IF you want. I also use FTM to check for duplicates (probably not often enough) and I stumble across them on Ancestry.
I couldn't agree more with your message to Ancestry. Geneanet offers free error checking when you upload a tree. And, ironically, those error-checked trees then appear on Ancestry. If Ancestry still want to charge, how about credits for those of us who endlessly correct Ancestry's faulty transcriptions?
@webrarian - Yes! I was searching for the birth and death certificate for my parents' first son and couldn't find it for ages. It was because not one name was entered correctly. It's clear as day, and 5 years later my corrections haven't been accepted.
Thank you for your frank and honest opinion. I will NOT be paying any more to Ancestry than I already do. Specifically regarding the tree fact checker, I already have that functionality included in my MyHeritage account. At this point (recently retired), I figure I'm already paying enough.
Honestly, this is the kind of thing I would sign up for, use it to clean up my tree, and cancel. Do it once a year at the most. I'm already spending $100 a year or so for an Ancestry subscription, I'm not spending another $120 for tools that should be part of the package.
I have a monstrously huge tree on Ancestry, which I started in 2016 with no previous knowledge of what I was doing. It is full of errors--and not just the proofreading kind the new functionality will catch. I'm presently in the process of merging trees from several sites, including Ancestry, on offline software which will catch the proofreading errors in the process. I will then actually go through checking the strength of my research, and upload a new, smaller, correct and well-supported tree when I'm done. The new tools would have been useful to me seven years ago. But I don't plan to buy them as an add-on now. Your points are right on point.
I am thinking along the same lines. only rarely find anything new anymore, lots of $$$ few additions to documentations. And ancestry doesn't pay ME for the pointless research I do when people splice my family members to their trees erroneously.
I have been doing genealogy for about 40 years. I have placed several trees there over the many years that I have been a subscribed member. on Ancestry. Although this Pro tool would be great to have to check mistakes in my trees, I am 73 years old, living on a very low fixed income and cannot afford the extra cost. I, like you, hope they will change their point of view and give free access to all members with trees. Would be a great Christmas gift to all who love finding out who we are.
Thank you for being very honest with this issue. Ancestry have been relentless about getting their dues. They are for profit and don't care about the people who really can't afford the price of Ancestry. For them to add a monthly fee is a slap in the face. Thank you Ancestry! Do you want blood now? The best tool you can offer us to help us research Ancestors through Ethnicity. You don't offer that one! I think about dumping Ancestry daily due to their high subscription costs. Most of our DNA cousins don't subscribe any longer due to the high costs. Shame on you Ancestry for trying to squeeze another nickel out of us. No I will not be giving another $10 a month.
Your comments at the end are well said. To be honest I feel my membership is expensive enough without "a la carte" features with added cost. I feel this sets a precedent. This makes me concerned about other new features which could be rolled out- but at a price.
Thank you so much for expressing your well thought out opinion about these new features! I wholeheartedly agree with you that they should offer the new tools to everyone, not just to those that have the means to pay an additional $120 per year. That’s going to be out of reach for many. Ancestry has always added new features for their users at no additional cost in the past, and I was shocked and disappointed that they chose to add another cost for this. There are other ways to get these things for free elsewhere. I’m sure many will opt out of paying more. Always enjoy your videos. 😊
I agree with you Kelly Taylor. I use the FTM program and use the reports for family all the time, and the program itself will let me know if a birth or death does not make sense. Usually my error entering data. I have had several, lets say disagreements with other ancestry folks who have my 3 great grandfather the son of someone, that there is only one record that mention a first name that is the same as my 3ggg, but no other doumentation and state I use the DNA, but yet my two aunts a generation back and my brother and myself have no DNA connection to that family. I use the documentation to make the connection, the DNA is a way to find that dcoumentation. It's a same that Ancestry is charging for this. It would make family trees in ancestry better, since so many trees are speculative on connections.
@@michaelhutcherson1264 Thanks for your input, however, FTM has never worked properly for me, and in fact, it totally corrupted my data at one point. FTM's support was not able to find the cause or fix it and even their escalated support crew couldn't fix it. Finally had to dump it altogether. In my opinion, Ancestry needs to partner with a different company that is more reliable than FTM.
I was absolutely stunned when you mentioned the extra charge. If Ancestry cared about its users this would be free in order to clean up the errors that are rampant in Ancestry trees. Amy, you are right in stating that Ancestry is a business, and a profit making one! And let's not forget that the information we work hard to find and enter into our trees becomes Ancestry's property which they then have the right to use or sell as they desire. Many university researchers are using family history data in their machine training of AI. Ancestry is laughing all the way to the bank. I will not be paying for this money grab!
Agree 100000% that the Pro Tools should NOT be an add-on cost!! And, in fact, I feel quite insulted that I have to pay more for these when I'm already paying big bucks for my regular subscription. So glad you elaborated on your thoughts about all this. I've been a subscriber for more than 20 years and my tree is over 204,000 people. It's so large because I'm trying to break down the brick wall of my Martin ancestor so have added all Martin lines I'm researching to the same main tree beause it's easier to research them there and if I do find a connection, it will be easier to link them. I am glad Ancestry has finally added these tools, but disappointed that they aren't more robust, however, the fact that they've been added is a step in the right direction! Hoping for future enhancements.
Totally agree that error checkers should be available to everyone. I know the people who make the worst mistakes won’t use it, but for the rest of us, and especially the beginners I’m helping start their trees, it would be a big help. Personally, I’m having trouble paying for a basic subscription, and I’m not in the USA anyway, but I doubt I’d be paying for it apart from maybe one month for a binge clean up. Thanks for posting this evaluation.
Have to agree with you here. Myheritage gives me a tree check as part of the product. As for family sheets etc, I print those using a product on my PC, since Ancestry has chosen not to provide them for many years.
It hasn't been all that long ago that you could print family group sheets (with source citations!) from Ancestry -- and you didn't have to pay extra for it.
I agree with you. These should be included in the subscription value. Other external programs already have it, and whether you use Family Tree Maker, MyHeritage, or RootsMagic, you are probably already using those functions in the external programs. I have one of those, and I will not pay Ancestry for something I am already doing in another program. Thank you for your video.
Thank you for having the courage to publicly express the same thoughts I had when first hearing about the "AncestryPro" tools. Basic functionality (error checking, search filters, etc.) for utilizing a family tree database shouldn't require a monthly fee. I'll stick to using an additional, full featured family tree software program to back up my Ancestry family tree. There's only a one-time (and reasonable) charge to purchase that software and I can use it for years!
Excellent vid. You are absolutely right in your closing remarks - surely Ancestry realises that their information - and therefore their reputation and worth as an information provider - can but improve if the users are better able to make corrections.
Thank you Amy, yes I paid for the tools, but only for the 1st month . I will evaluate the usefulness. My heritage also has the consistency checker at no extra cost.
You have brought up some very good points and I hope Ancestry is listening. I hope fact checker does not become like the hints with people using it without thinking. For example, I have my dad's place of birth as Houston when actually he was born in Magnolia Park. The reason I did that is because in the majority of records my dad said his place of birth was Houston. Also, I love your idea of our name, date and what tree was used on any charts we create and source citations on family group sheets would be wonderful. Finally, I will probably pay for the service for a month or two do what I need to then cancel it and renew yearly for just a short time to check updated information. $120 a year is a lot of money on top of the subscription.
One clarification about the error checker. It’s just looking at things already within your tree. It isn’t evaluating any of your research, beyond looking for anomalies like censuses after a death or a child born before the parents were. You also won’t see the error checking when you’re looking at someone else’s tree.
I purchased Pro Tools in January... cleaned up my tree, checked out the other functions, and just cancelled. I have FTM 2019 and honestly I didn't see anything that I can't already do within FTM. Thanks for the review and the honesty
Most desktop genealogy software has most of these tools. I use Brother’s Keeper. Not the mapping but…. For $120 you could purchase any one of those pieces of software and be done with it. Now I really only use Ancestry for research and don’t keep my tree updated on it so I guess I’m not a great one to ask but no way would I pay for those tools for my current setup.
Very well said, Amy. I appreciate that you provided your honest opinion. I was quite frustrated when I saw that they were charging extra. When I already pay many hundreds $$ a year and I’m an active, dedicated user, it made me feel like a commodity to them.
Hi Amy, thanks for the honesty. You are now the second person that has said the exact same thing. This is why I have chosen to subscribe to your channel. I know I will get straight forward ways to my ancestors. Thank you! 👏👏👏
I agree that the checker function should be broken out and made available to all. The filtering seemingly should also be that way, it isn't as deep a tech as the checker is. The other features though, maybe have them pay by the sink rather than a monthly fee. Really how often will someone use them? Calling them pro tools though is a marketing stroke. Name it pro and entice the people to pay for them because "that's what the pros use". Similar to how naming something ultra or plus draws attention.
Thanks so much Amy for your wonderful insight into the new Pro Tools at Ancestry. I totally agree with your comments and feel that another US$100 per year is a massive amount to pay for "accuracy" - when most of us already try our best to ensure our trees are accurate. I especially appreciate your comments about hints and thrulines being based on other trees, and the fact that our own research is much harder and less accurate if Ancestry charge for something that most people will not pay for (let alone for those of us in Australia who are not even offered the opportunity!) THANK YOU again. Patricia in Sydneytown, Australia.
Amy, the price they are charging is $19.95 per month, not $9.95. I completely agree about the checking function. For many of us, the annual rates are a bit hard to swallow, especially for those of us on limited incomes, so another $20.00 per month for services that we may not need is too much.
The screenshot in my video was from the offer my assistant had yesterday morning. It looks like Ancestry is testing the price, as I started seeing screenshots of offers of $14.99 and $19.99 last evening. I haven't seen them offer it for less than $9.99 or more than $19.99 yet.
You make excellent points at the end of the video. These "pro-tools" are genealogy 101, and should be part of the most basic Ancestry subscription. Ancestry’s ‘hints" perpetrate, and perpetuate, most of the errors in trees. I am very tired of Ancestry "hints" for persons in my tree that are from places it is very clear my person has not been, and could not have been. Especially when they had already died (those City Directory hints that say ‘wid of John’ as a hint for John).
I respect your willingness to criticize Ancestry, given your connections to them. I think this "pro tools" thing is an arrogant money grab. We're supposed to pay Ancestry for correcting their mistakes? That's what your example of the posthumous record of residence amounts to. It's their problem that adding a record (e.g., a military enlistment entry, which IS dated) results in its default placement at the bottom of a person's timeline. Anyway, I think the whole suite of "pro tools" is just gimmickry. Ancestry should be more interested in the accuracy of TREES than in marketing itself as an ethnic identification option.
I totally agree and I'm glad she came back to actually weigh in on the subject! (This is my first visit to her channel and I was kinda giving her the side-eye for that weak "it's up to you" response.) It's disgusting that Ancestry is making us pay EXTRA on top of an already expensive monthly/yearly product. I'm a business owner too and these "pro tools" should have been included as a way to make your product superior in a market in which you're already a leader. They are just being GREEDY at this point.
I'm unhappy that the new features aren't included with an All Access membership. I saw an interview with Christa Cowan from Ancestry on Aimee Cross's channel, and she justified it by saying with the other memberships you're paying for CONTENT, but this is different because it's TOOLS. That's just semantics, and a money-grabbing. When I signed up for All Access several years back, I assumed that meant I had access to....wait for it...ALL new features. Crazy, I know. Many people can't afford these new features. I want them. I can afford them. I refuse to pay for them. I fear if this Pro-Tool launch is a success, it will only encourage Ancestry to lock every new feature behind a paywall. I feel it's a huge slap in the face to members who have spent their time correcting records on the platform and adding content to Ancestry's library like pictures and documents. Now they want to charge us an additional $120/year? Nope. And your point about how the fact checker should be free to all users? 100% agree.
Amy, glad you addressed this. Seems like an end of the year make the budget look good scheme. First of all, my family tree maker software (a windows 3.1 version) made all the charts that the “Pro” tools on ancestry does, but FTM did all the stuff you said was missing on Pro. Further, when Ancestry offers hints, it can have the same errors it now wants to charge you to check for you! Everyone can make mistakes like typos both with dates, but errors in spelling of names. Yet the hints let you blindly copy information across to your tree as if they are doing you a big favor! Long ago, I thought if I saw family tree information in two or more separate locations on the internet, it must be true. It took months figuring out where my real confirmed tree info was and strip away false or unconfirmed info. Now, 99% of hints from other’s trees are ignored and I even highly scrutinize ship, census, and other “official” data sources. I was shocked that they were trying to charge us for things they should have had all along. I should just to a conversation to GEDCOM and go back to my old FTM!
Amy -- thank you for sharing this video. I agree with you that the Pro Tools are an added value to using Ancestry. But we all pay a premium price for full access to what Ancestry offers. I think that these new features should have been added to the service without needing to pay an additional fee. I am in the process of evaluating these tools myself. So far, I think they are impressive. But I don't think they are essential to using the service. Especially for $120 per year.
My Heritage already does the error check for no additional fee. Did a LOT of cleanup years ago when I imported my brother’s Ancestry tree to My Heritage.
Wow, Amy! As will happen on a Sunday afternoon - I went down the genealogy rabbit hole. 😀 Having been alerted to the Pro Tools add-on and curious for feedback - I arrived at your video via a Google search. I was unaware of you prior. Suffice to say - I whole heartedly agree with everything you said - in particular - re Ancestry charging $9.99 a month. You own a business - I'm self employed - so both of us are well aware of the need to get a return on an investment. That said - with Ancestry owned by Blackstone - they're going to do what private equity does - squeeze all the blood they possibly can out of the turnip. Finally, I rarely subscribe to You tube channels - but I did to yours based solely on what I learned today. I look forward to more enlightenment.
I started this video skeptical and was thrilled to hear your honest evaluation that some of the PRO features should not be behind a pay tool. Thank you. I have FamilyTree Maker where they are part of the package.
I just this afternoon worked with the new family group feature. It underwhelms me. It may be nice to have family collaborating, but it really isn't a big wow. And regarding the new Pro Tools, I am really not happy with Ancestry rolling these out and CHARGING us for them. Bull. I think they have a lot of nerve charging us extra when these tools should just be made a part of the basic subscription. A subscription price that KEEPS INCREASING! In my opinion, Ancestry needs to work on their back end and get the infrastructure beefed up so that it isn't so dang slow or totally not functioning 3 or 4 days out of every 7! I'm sick and tired of getting messages telling me it isn't working right now and to try again later! They shouldn't be building new tools until they get the original system working better! I doubt I'll be purchasing their new Pro Tools. On principles alone!
I’ve just recently “stumbled” on your channel and will definitely be watching more! I’m a casual Ancestry user (I go at it hard for a little while then it sits for months) but I pay the yearly fee for access… I really appreciate your honest and straightforward review and appraisal of the Pro Tools. I doubt I’ll be adding them (at least not right away) or maybe (as someone else suggested) I’ll add them for a month when I know I can use them to clean up my tree, then cancel. I thought your points about how adding this functionality to all accounts would be a no-brainer benefit to the system were spot-on. Thanks!
Long-time watcher, first time commenter - plus I'll finally get around to pushing that Subscribe Button (sorry it took so long). Amen to your final comments! I have been an Ancestry subscriber since at least 2007, but started working on my family tree since long before there was an Internet. I recognize the great features the site offers, but the error checking should be a basic feature; I'm always embarassed to find simple factual errors and typos in my data. If possible, I may sign up for a short term and see how much cleanup I can accomplish, then cancel.
Thanks for the review and info dump!! I have a large family tree that is established. These features that have been mentioned in this video don't seem to be worth the price you would pay. I have a World Explorer Membership since most of my family is from Europe. I think that the World Explorer is way too expensive as it is before adding these tools. These tools/features were extracted from the acquisition of Geneanet by Ancestry. Geneanet is for families with a heritage in Europe. Ancestry bought them, but you can still pay for a Geneanet membership which is far less expensive than ancestry's price and run these same tools for now. I am basing this on what is mentioned in the review. I ran these tools from Geneanet in the past and it did find issues. I corrected them, so if you have a large family tree on Geneanet and fix the errors, how often do you need to run the tools? not that often, so in my case this $120 a year is not worth it! I use Family Tree Maker 2019 to look for mistakes as well. I agree with Amy and others that have posted here that this should be provided at no extra charge as it supports preserving family history throughout the world and not promoting falsehoods.
I elected to sign up for Pro tools; I really like the Fan chart capabilities and the Reports options. I do agree w/ your thoughts about the “Tree checker”. Since this is a monthly subscription I anticipate using for a few months, canceling and then re-subscribing periodically
I tried it yesterday. The fact checker is just the hints feature. I'm getting a lot of "duplicates" when they are not. The siblings have similar names or even the same first name but different middle names. The report feature is okay. However, I can't rationalize paying an additional $120.00 + per year for this.
Thanks for giving your honest opinion. I have been doing Family History research for 44 years, several of those years as a world tree subscriber to Ancestry, and still consider myself an intermediate. I TOTALLY support your suggestions to Ancestry. Error checking should be a standard part of the services offered. I won't probably be "adding them on" as I do feel that I already pay for a world subscription (which they just increased the cost of), why isn't this a part of that? I find it interesting that I pay for a standalone family database that tells me some of this information already (mother too young, event after death, sorting by location) as a warning which is included in the basic price of the software, but this is considered extra in Ancestry. I also agree with the suggestion you had for the additional information on the reports... date, who printed it, and SOURCES!!! The family history world has long professed to be one concerned with sources, but most family tree books do not include one "source." Endnotes is a wonderful thing. Why not use it?
🎯 You hit the Nail on the Head. We already pay high enough prices for subcription so why do we have to pay EXTRA for features that should be there to begin with and we have been asking for for years. There are programs already in place that we can acomplish what Ancestry is offering with NO monthly subscription. By now I should own stocks on Ancestry. Thank you for your honesty. You gained a subscriber!
Thanks for your video. I’m not too fussed about Ancestry charging those who want to use the new tools (that they developed and produced) for the use of those tools. The people that did the work deserve to get paid for what they do. What they didn’t do was charge everyone for it, just the people who are likely to want and use it. Thank you Ancestry! As an amateur of many years, I value Ancestry for its records, sources, citations and indexes. But it’s not my only resource. And I don’t expect it to do my work for me. I haven’t decided if I’m going to use it or not-I’m on a fixed budget. Time will tell, but I’m grateful for pros like you who are willing to share your views and those of your public!
Love your video and very appreciative of your opinion. I have had full membership with Ancestry for a number of years with no issues....until the past 12 months. I have no idea what is going on in the business end of Ancestry, but I dont like where it seems to be heading. It is becoming more about social media bling bling and squeezing more money out of loyal paying customers than genuine genealogical research. I will be sadly going elsewhere when my subscription ends at the end of the year.
I agree with you. In this economy this will be a strain on a lot of people that want to have better trees and can't. Thank you so much for your view on this.
Users are also seeing different price offers for these tools: $9.99, $14.99, and $19.99. It appears that Ancestry is testing out different price points to see what users are willing to pay.
I've been seeing an uproar in Facebook groups about the cost of these new tools, and I agree with you that they should be available to everyone. I am wondering if the reason Ancestry decided not to just raise the cost of all subscriptions by a small amount to cover this is that many of these features are available in desktop software such as FTM and Roots Magic that sync with Ancestry, and the people who use those pieces of software would probably complain loudly about an extra cost to use Ancestry's version of those tools. In the end, someone will be unhappy, but I do think that at least some of these tools (the error checker) should be an integral part of Ancestry. As you say, that will benefit Ancestry as well because the trees they base current and future hints on will be more accurate.
Yes, as usual you make more sense than some of the stuff on Ancestry and others do. I want to know whether it cost Ancestry a blessed dime more to incorporate these services into the site, and if so , how much and for what amount of time? Was it a contractor who came in and did a whizz-bang job for a week and they paid her, once? Did it take more staff time than an ordinary addition? Etc etc. I don't see where it cost them more than the general reprogramming they had to do to keep the site fresh and updated. I've made errors, had to chase down other users' errors, it is a waste of time not to have an automated error checker. Sigh. Merry Xmas - for a price!
Thank you, Amy for your thoughts on the Pro Tools. I have been using Ancestry since it first came out many years ago. Some of the features in Pro Tools used to be part of Ancestry that were later removed. I have missed them and glad to see them back but as someone who has been paying for All Access annually every year I will not be paying extra to use tools I loved and missed. As someone has already stated it makes our All Access membership not all access if we have to pay for tools that used to be part of our membership. I agree with your comments about making the error checker available to everyone who has a tree on Ancestry. There are some tree I view now where I know the information on the tree is incorrect. I never add other people’s tree to mine, but may use them as hints of where to look next for information. Thank you again for a great video.
Helen, like you I'm a long-term Ancestry user, and began when Family Tree Maker became linked to the site. I agree with all your comments and with Amy's critique.
Thank you for this helpful review. I pay for the all-access plan and agree with others that the Pro Tools add-on means my plan no longer reflects what I'm supposed to be paying for. I also want everyone on the platform to get the new features. They aren't "pro level," as you said, and they'd benefit everyone at all levels. I've been asking for a more robust search function with more variables for years and sometimes have an easier time conducting searches outside the site. And the fact-flagging feature is needed across the board. Inaccuracies in others' trees - my own included - is why I finally took my tree private this year after at least 20 on the platform. I know how *I* build my tree, which elements are backed by solid records, and which ones are iffy or just placeholders until I can check things out. I especially don't want to feel responsible for anyone copying my in-progress stuff as though it's the last word. We all want to know these stories, but not everyone understands how to vet source info, and so many simply accept hints without thinking about the details. Still, Ancestry is my favorite genealogy site, and it's not even close. So I'm there!
I totally agree there should be no extra cost for ancestry subscribers. I am over 70 and have been an ancestry user for many years. As I get older I am increasingly finding mistakes I have made in my various family trees. It would be much better if I was alerted to them because I have thousands of ancestors in my tree and realise that there must be many mistakes I have made but am not aware of. Unfortunately I am not in a position to be able to afford to buy this add on. It would be nice if Ancestry could reward people who have been fully paid up world members like me for years by giving us this add on free thus ensuring that our numerous contributions are accurate
Totally agree. Ancestry is looking for another revenue source. Not worth it. Prices are already high, so to add on the "Pro features" is ridiculous. I'm looking to get rid of ancestry and go to another application. Ancestry has a POOR export feature because they know people will leave. I upload my media, and yet I cannot export it!
Thank you so much for this video and the additional comments at the end. I have a world wide access subscription to Ancestry. I believe, like you do, that Ancestry should provide this update without additional cost. I will not be purchasing it. I do know that if I enter a person's death date and/or child's birth date and it's before a valid age or the person is 147 years old, I do get alerts when entering this information. I use Family Tree Maker and enter all information there rather than on Ancestry, even though they are synced. Thanks again for all your great videos, classes, etc.
I've done genealogy for over 30 years, but don't call myself a professional. I paid for this feature, but every time I go into it I just feel lost. I got more information from you on TH-cam that I dreamed was available. I'm going to cancel this $10 a month subscription I've had for a couple of months, but it's too technical for me and I haven't been able to get a handle on it. Thanks for doing this truthful informative information.
I have been asking for the tree search feature to be upgraded for a long time. Databases are made to be manipulated. To restrict a search form to one field only, 'name', is ridiculous. Now appalled to see this upgrade made available only as a 'pro feature' when it is a basic function of any database.
Thank you for showing us this and thank you for understanding that not all of us can afford to purchase everything Ancestry has to offer. I try my best to make every profile as accurate as possible. If I am not sure, I don't add the information. Sometimes what seems plausible is just wrong.
I have been asking for a search feature that includes place names for years. The idea that they're adding a basic search filter at $120/yr is really outrageous. The fact checker tool seems redundant. Whenever I try to enter a child before the parent was of childbearing age, Ancestry already warns me. The system warns me when I add probate records after the date of death. I presume I would have to review those probate entries again. What about floating trees? Will they generate warnings? Or friends and neighbors floaters? I dunno. I would call it borrowing trouble if they weren't paying me for the privilege.
Amy, thanks so much for adding your thoughts on the Pro subscription. I plan to purchase it, but only something begrudgingly. I agree that the development of new programs costs money, but in my way of thinking (and I am not a coder or programmer) the Fact Checker is likely a rather simple algorithm. Like you, I want my tree to be accurate. If there is a cost for that, I will accept it for the sake of good research.
I have been working on all 8 of my family trees for over 60 years. I am at the end of writing my book on my maternal tree. I am going to pay for this feature to clean up my tree before finishing my book. I agree with you, I have paid over $300 a year for my subscription over the last 20 years and agree this all should be free as part of your subscription, but I'm at the end and will pay the $10 a month until I am finished. Thank you for your view on this.
Great video. 1) will there be a trial period for this for everyone to make an informed decision? 2) Aren't there some hints already that point out discrepancies or do I have my platforms mixed up? 3) The Reports and Charts look like they're from FTM2019.
I picture the personnel sitting around a huge table sharing thoughts and contemplating various ideas like this one.. I can hear one guy say.. _Hey, you know how FTM allows you to pull up duplicates?_ _What if we did that, but at another $120 per year?_ By adding tools like this to our current subscriptions, it's more incentive to continue paying the hefty Full Access fee for years to come. And the function that tells you that your tree shows Uncle Joe was living on Elm Street 28 years after he died? C'mon... that's one of the easiest things to see when you scroll through the facts on anyone in your tree. I know one thing.. I'm with the rest of you on a great big NO! Thank you Amy... Thank you EVERYONE! 🤗
This makes me worried that they're going to change over FTM to cloud-only (like Microsoft Office and Adobe CC are doing) and pay a monthly premium to use THAT, too.
thank you, Amy.. I think I enjoy ancestry as a tool to research records for my family tree __ I like Family Tree Maker Software as my database for my reporting … along with its ability to export reporting needs to Word. As a professional, I wish I would be able to tailor my own Home Screen to eliminate the Kool Aide they use to upsale their product … I find it easier sometimes to go to my local library and use the library version …. Sources Sources are key …
I think Ancestry underestimated the anger this move would generate - placing useful tools behind a paywall, tools which, as Amy pointed out, are not exclusive to professionals, is very short-sighted and I don't think they'll get the uptake they expected. at $4.99/mo, they might have managed, but $9.99/mo is a lot for many people to swallow in these uncertain economic times.
Thank you for your honesty and for not always agreeing with the actions that the big companies take. You're on our side, the side of those who want accurate trees! I did subscribe to these new tools, but I don't think that I will continue that subscription long term. Merry Christmas!
Thanks Amy for sharing this and for your honest feedback. Interesting that it's only available in the USA at the moment but I guess its the biggest market so best to test there first. Hopefully the market agrees with most of these comments. Accuracy is a goal we are all striving for I think as a minimum and a fact checker or error checking tool does seem to be provided with other subscriptions as part of the deal rather than an extra or a bonus.
I agree with you, the error checker should be part of a basic tree, subscription or not. It would help everyone. Thank you - I am a new follower from Canada!
I like the new features and can see how helpful they would be. i really like those charts as well. I appreciate your honest review and thoughts. While I would love these features, I just can't see spending an extra $120 a year right now, to use them. PS: I love the cardigan you are wearing in the video.
I like these features and will probably go ahead and subscribe because I have been working hard correcting mistakes that I find and look for others. I have an all access account and this should be added into that type of account. I wonder how much ancestry warns to help us or if their main interest is making money. I think I will look into Geneanet. Thanks for your review and comments.
Great video! I also appreciated you adding your opinion. My opinion is that a person should have been able to print out family group sheets for families in your tree from the very beginning.
I just logged into my Ancestry account and a pop-up window came up with Pro Tools listed, stating the price was $19.99 a month. That definitely made it a no for me.
Thanks for your limited review and I agree with your comments. I've been on Ancestry since 2009 and I won't be paying extra. The cost of a World Explorer Ancestry account is high just in itself. Aside from the fact checker, I am interested in the Charts and Reports section. But there isn't a place where I can see how it works and what it's capable of generating. Ancestry is really dropping the ball in this rollout to not include some mechanism to for people to "test" the features - especially having to commit to a $10 added monthly cost upfront!
I totally agree with you. The error checker option should be available to everyone. I won't be adding the tools to my account. I have Family Tree Maker and I can do a lot of "repairing" there so it's just not cost effective.
During the past year I sent a request for the reports you demonstrated. I pointed out that Family Tree Maker includes those and I find them very helpful. I am glad to see them in the kit, but I wish they were part of the subscription I already have.
Agreed. There isn't anything there that shouldn't have been added to the site years ago. The name list is almost a waste of time without a filter. No way do I pay extra for what should have been there all along. They get new users all the time through DNA. Making the site a better experience for them might keep them there paying and not abandoning it.
With the increased interest in Genealogy, Ancestry is a very wealthy company already. I agree with your comments. There is only so much I can budget for Genealogy - this is greed
I already pay $409.00 per year for an all access membership. Am I going to shell out an additional $9.99 per month (another $119.88 per year) for tools I already have via Family Tree Maker? I don't think so! I'm really sick of Ancestry's practice of offering deep discounts to new subscribers, yet they continue to bilk their long-time users of an annual fortune. Don't get me wrong, I fully appreciate the wealth of records Ancestry provides, but it would be nice to be appreciated for my loyalty.
I 100% agree with what you said at the end. I used to have an all access account, (until my tree disappeared somehow one day) which I have to say is not an insignificant amount of money, and then to pay another $120 a year on top of that, to me is unfair. Yes, it should be given to everyone at all levels of membership.
In the launch video that Ancestry's Christa shared this week, she tried to justify why Pro Tools isn't free by saying something like "The free membership simply provides the ability to create and maintain family trees." Ironically, error-checking tools and simple reports are Tree Maintenance 101 stuff that should be available to all users without charge, to encourage accurate trees throughout Ancestry, as Amy eloquently describes. Here's what I predict will happen: Ancestry will get so much pushback and low adoption of Pro Tools that they'll announce "WE HEARD YOU! We're now including Pro Tools with ALL membership levels, including free memberships, because WE CARE about genealogy and want everyone to have accurate family trees!" Then, in a couple months, they'll raise the cost of paid memberships by $9.99/month "because of the increased costs of digitizing BILLIONS of source documents!" :-)
You seem to have hit the nail on the head. Crista said those exact things at Rootstech this week. I doubt the second part will happen based on the enthusiasm of people at Rootstech ready to buy the new software. I think people will continue to pay extra for something that should be free.
Thank you for the added thoughts. I agree that it would benefit both Ancestry and all the users if the error checker was made available to everyone who has a tree on the system. Many already stretch to pay for the subscription level they maintain and the added cost puts this function out of reach. I hope Ancestry hears and heeds your thoughts.
I already pay over 400.oo a year it would be nice to have this added to what I am already paying. It is hard to go through and see all the errors. When I get information I sometimes will get errors and have to clean them up. I also have problems with duplicates and it is hard to see them. I am always going through trying to clean up things. I liked the reports you showed but I do not want to spend more money to get them. I have been a member for a long time and I feel that I would like features without having to incure so much cost.
As a Senior over 70 and on a fixed income I can not afford the higher prices. I used to be able to get the all access but not now. Family helps me with the month to month plan when we need information we can not find any other way. I miss getting the world explore, but I have no other choice but go with the cheaper plan.
I won't be purchasing this since I have always used stand alone software for this. I think they likely knew that they did not have the resources for this so they made it limited. Anytime they run any kind of reporting, their system runs at a snails pace and we get error messages. I also don't want to pay yet another prescription fee. I'm upset enough that the companies are taking DNA features that we've had access to and locking them down. I've been an Ancestry member since their start. I've paid more than enough to warrant access to this. When they sent out their surveys, all these features are what I requested but I didn't expect them to do it this way.
Thank you for being the first video I have seen that has shown me exactly what this feature does. My biggest problem with ancestry is the inability to print the different forms that I want .
As other "All Access" subscribers have said, this additional charge is kind of insulting. The idea that Ancestry is charging 20% extra for this functionality devalues the rest of the all access subscription. It is also unfortunate that they don't see that the majority of their subscribers aren't really using the service every month but continue to pay. I am going to rethink my all access subscription. Thank you for your video.
Ancestry is already very expensive and then if you add newspapers, that makes it even worse. I won’t be renewing next year. I’ll try a new site instead. Love your videos.
I signed up for Pro Tools yesterday. I couldn't wait to start analyzing my tree which contains thousands of people. Unfortunately, I get "no results found" when I filter my tree for paternal or maternal ancestors or for direct line ancestors, which is obviously an error. I called Ancestry today and they gave me a very pat answer..."yes ma'am we will have that working right away" but we shall see. If it is not fixed in the next several days I'm going to ask for a refund.
I find it very frustrating that I pay for the “All Access” account that now isn’t really all access. No I won’t be paying extra for this.
That is frustrating.
Exactly! I just upgraded to all access right before hearing about these new tools and I feel so duped and disappointed that these wouldn’t at LEAST be free for “all access” but honestly it should be included for all
I’m also on the All Access Family plan. I was told on the support chat that it would be during the first day of the rollout when I got a window to downgrade to US discovery to buy the tools for 9.99. The next day, i was in a zoom meeting when someone got a price of 14.99. Then when I checked the icon on my tree, the price was 19.99. Seems like Ancestry is A/B testing different prices. 5$ may be right amount, but 9 or 19.99 a month for 3 tools that Family Tree Maker has been doing for years for a fixed cost seems wrong.
I feel exactly the same way. Way to thank your long standing customers, Ancestry!
I agree. I just tweeted at ancestry disappointed that this isn't included and requires more pay
Thanks for adding your thoughts at the end. You're right that everyone wants an accurate tree, and this new product will help those that pay,. You're also correct that it should be available to everyone. However, I think that is only half of the story. Making this tool available to everyone ALSO benefits Ancestry. We all are Ancestry's minions, helping them connect the dots. By having us error check the data, we are adding value to Ancestry.
Exactly! Having accurate trees helps everyone, including Ancestry!
Amy, thanks so much for your open, honest and absolutely correct view of the "Pro" features. I too believe they (certainly the error-checking functionality) should be available for all users; not just those paying more for them. As I stated in another video review of these features, Ancestry had $1 BILLION in revenue last year. How much will they have in revenue after they roll out these add-on/paid features (and how much is enough)?! They appear to be in it just for the money and nothing more!!!
I'm not against a company making money. But it certainly rubs me the wrong way when a company opts to charge extra for something that actually should be core functionality. (Especially when that feature would improve other areas of the company's offerings.)
Some of these tools should be free and quite honestly, the people that would benefit the most, novices, won't subscribe to something advertised as "pro".
Well stated it echoed similar thoughts!
I already pay $60 a month for what I assumed was an all access pass... I shouldn't have to pay more for nice, but rather basic features.
They seem to have no concept of what "all access" means. If you have all access then you should have every available feature at the highest level. There should be nothing else to pay for.
As another user with All Access, I’m very disgusted that user tools are only available by paying extra. My Heritage has an error checker included and I have a pdf file highlighting each and every error in my tree. Each point you made was totally valid!
Agree...MyHeritage has had this feature for some time now. I also won't be paying more than I pay now!
I was thinking this very thing. I am also an all-access user. I pay over $ 400 a year, and they want me to pay more each month? To be honest, this is stuff that should be added to one of the tiers.
Family Tree Maker 2019 (FTM2019) has these "pro tool" assets and more. As an Australian, if I have to pay an extra US$10 per month, which translates as AU$14.89 plus conversion costs... it's cheaper to continue to use FTM2019 which is a single purchase for me. You are totally correct, if you have a misspelling of a part of a name, e.g. Sidney instead of Sydney, or incorrect year 1915 instead of 1916... then it affects your DNA thru-lines and common ancestor suggestions. Heck, I don't even look at those little green leaf suggestions anymore. It's just a world of pain and I need to be assured that my citations and DNA support the family relationships found before building into my research tree. We are human and errors are bound to happen in our trees. I hope ancestry listens to your video and feedback.
I agree 100%
I have always used FTM charts and from this video they still seem far superior to the ones provided by Ancestry. It is a one time charge and you can upgrade when a new version comes out IF you want.
I also use FTM to check for duplicates (probably not often enough) and I stumble across them on Ancestry.
Most of these "Pro" tools are available in RootsMagic9 also... The error checker is a major feature that sold me in getting the program.
I couldn't agree more with your message to Ancestry. Geneanet offers free error checking when you upload a tree. And, ironically, those error-checked trees then appear on Ancestry. If Ancestry still want to charge, how about credits for those of us who endlessly correct Ancestry's faulty transcriptions?
If I had a dollar for every transcription error I’ve corrected, I could probably retire 😂(Maybe a *slight* exaggeration 😊)
Geneanet is owned by ancestry
Which makes it more ironic that Geneanet has built-in error checking, but users have to pay for that feature on Ancestry.
@@AmyJohnsonCrow agreed
@webrarian - Yes! I was searching for the birth and death certificate for my parents' first son and couldn't find it for ages. It was because not one name was entered correctly. It's clear as day, and 5 years later my corrections haven't been accepted.
Thank you for your frank and honest opinion. I will NOT be paying any more to Ancestry than I already do. Specifically regarding the tree fact checker, I already have that functionality included in my MyHeritage account. At this point (recently retired), I figure I'm already paying enough.
And if you have any genealogy software, it likely has an error checker, too.
Honestly, this is the kind of thing I would sign up for, use it to clean up my tree, and cancel. Do it once a year at the most. I'm already spending $100 a year or so for an Ancestry subscription, I'm not spending another $120 for tools that should be part of the package.
What a good suggestion.
I have a monstrously huge tree on Ancestry, which I started in 2016 with no previous knowledge of what I was doing. It is full of errors--and not just the proofreading kind the new functionality will catch. I'm presently in the process of merging trees from several sites, including Ancestry, on offline software which will catch the proofreading errors in the process. I will then actually go through checking the strength of my research, and upload a new, smaller, correct and well-supported tree when I'm done. The new tools would have been useful to me seven years ago. But I don't plan to buy them as an add-on now. Your points are right on point.
I am thinking along the same lines. only rarely find anything new anymore, lots of $$$ few additions to documentations. And ancestry doesn't pay ME for the pointless research I do when people splice my family members to their trees erroneously.
I have been doing genealogy for about 40 years. I have placed several trees there over the many years that I have been a subscribed member. on Ancestry. Although this Pro tool would be great to have to check mistakes in my trees, I am 73 years old, living on a very low fixed income and cannot afford the extra cost. I, like you, hope they will change their point of view and give free access to all members with trees. Would be a great Christmas gift to all who love finding out who we are.
Thank you for being very honest with this issue. Ancestry have been relentless about getting their dues. They are for profit and don't care about the people who really can't afford the price of Ancestry. For them to add a monthly fee is a slap in the face. Thank you Ancestry! Do you want blood now? The best tool you can offer us to help us research Ancestors through Ethnicity. You don't offer that one! I think about dumping Ancestry daily due to their high subscription costs. Most of our DNA cousins don't subscribe any longer due to the high costs. Shame on you Ancestry for trying to squeeze another nickel out of us. No I will not be giving another $10 a month.
Your comments at the end are well said. To be honest I feel my membership is expensive enough without "a la carte" features with added cost. I feel this sets a precedent. This makes me concerned about other new features which could be rolled out- but at a price.
Thank you so much for expressing your well thought out opinion about these new features! I wholeheartedly agree with you that they should offer the new tools to everyone, not just to those that have the means to pay an additional $120 per year. That’s going to be out of reach for many. Ancestry has always added new features for their users at no additional cost in the past, and I was shocked and disappointed that they chose to add another cost for this. There are other ways to get these things for free elsewhere. I’m sure many will opt out of paying more. Always enjoy your videos. 😊
Honestly, when I first heard the price, I did a double-take. I thought for sure they meant a one-time fee of $9.99. Nope. :-(
I agree with you Kelly Taylor. I use the FTM program and use the reports for family all the time, and the program itself will let me know if a birth or death does not make sense. Usually my error entering data. I have had several, lets say disagreements with other ancestry folks who have my 3 great grandfather the son of someone, that there is only one record that mention a first name that is the same as my 3ggg, but no other doumentation and state I use the DNA, but yet my two aunts a generation back and my brother and myself have no DNA connection to that family. I use the documentation to make the connection, the DNA is a way to find that dcoumentation. It's a same that Ancestry is charging for this. It would make family trees in ancestry better, since so many trees are speculative on connections.
@@michaelhutcherson1264 Thanks for your input, however, FTM has never worked properly for me, and in fact, it totally corrupted my data at one point. FTM's support was not able to find the cause or fix it and even their escalated support crew couldn't fix it. Finally had to dump it altogether. In my opinion, Ancestry needs to partner with a different company that is more reliable than FTM.
I was absolutely stunned when you mentioned the extra charge. If Ancestry cared about its users this would be free in order to clean up the errors that are rampant in Ancestry trees. Amy, you are right in stating that Ancestry is a business, and a profit making one! And let's not forget that the information we work hard to find and enter into our trees becomes Ancestry's property which they then have the right to use or sell as they desire. Many university researchers are using family history data in their machine training of AI. Ancestry is laughing all the way to the bank. I will not be paying for this money grab!
Agree 100000% that the Pro Tools should NOT be an add-on cost!! And, in fact, I feel quite insulted that I have to pay more for these when I'm already paying big bucks for my regular subscription. So glad you elaborated on your thoughts about all this.
I've been a subscriber for more than 20 years and my tree is over 204,000 people. It's so large because I'm trying to break down the brick wall of my Martin ancestor so have added all Martin lines I'm researching to the same main tree beause it's easier to research them there and if I do find a connection, it will be easier to link them. I am glad Ancestry has finally added these tools, but disappointed that they aren't more robust, however, the fact that they've been added is a step in the right direction! Hoping for future enhancements.
Totally agree that error checkers should be available to everyone. I know the people who make the worst mistakes won’t use it, but for the rest of us, and especially the beginners I’m helping start their trees, it would be a big help. Personally, I’m having trouble paying for a basic subscription, and I’m not in the USA anyway, but I doubt I’d be paying for it apart from maybe one month for a binge clean up. Thanks for posting this evaluation.
Well said Amy! Ditto what you said.
Thanks, Connie.
Have to agree with you here. Myheritage gives me a tree check as part of the product. As for family sheets etc, I print those using a product on my PC, since Ancestry has chosen not to provide them for many years.
It hasn't been all that long ago that you could print family group sheets (with source citations!) from Ancestry -- and you didn't have to pay extra for it.
@@AmyJohnsonCrow did I know that and forget or just never know? (Thinking …)
I agree with you. These should be included in the subscription value. Other external programs already have it, and whether you use Family Tree Maker, MyHeritage, or RootsMagic, you are probably already using those functions in the external programs. I have one of those, and I will not pay Ancestry for something I am already doing in another program. Thank you for your video.
Amy, thanks for the summary/demo, but especially for adding in your 2 cents about the value and positioning of Pro Tools. You're a gem!
Thank you for having the courage to publicly express the same thoughts I had when first hearing about the "AncestryPro" tools. Basic functionality (error checking, search filters, etc.) for utilizing a family tree database shouldn't require a monthly fee. I'll stick to using an additional, full featured family tree software program to back up my Ancestry family tree. There's only a one-time (and reasonable) charge to purchase that software and I can use it for years!
Excellent vid. You are absolutely right in your closing remarks - surely Ancestry realises that their information - and therefore their reputation and worth as an information provider - can but improve if the users are better able to make corrections.
Thank you Amy, yes I paid for the tools, but only for the 1st month . I will evaluate the usefulness. My heritage also has the consistency checker at no extra cost.
Be aware that it auto-renews, so you'll keep paying for the Pro Tools until you go in and cancel it.
@@AmyJohnsonCrow Thank you
You have brought up some very good points and I hope Ancestry is listening. I hope fact checker does not become like the hints with people using it without thinking. For example, I have my dad's place of birth as Houston when actually he was born in Magnolia Park. The reason I did that is because in the majority of records my dad said his place of birth was Houston. Also, I love your idea of our name, date and what tree was used on any charts we create and source citations on family group sheets would be wonderful. Finally, I will probably pay for the service for a month or two do what I need to then cancel it and renew yearly for just a short time to check updated information. $120 a year is a lot of money on top of the subscription.
One clarification about the error checker. It’s just looking at things already within your tree. It isn’t evaluating any of your research, beyond looking for anomalies like censuses after a death or a child born before the parents were. You also won’t see the error checking when you’re looking at someone else’s tree.
Thank you for the clarification. @@AmyJohnsonCrow
I purchased Pro Tools in January... cleaned up my tree, checked out the other functions, and just cancelled. I have FTM 2019 and honestly I didn't see anything that I can't already do within FTM. Thanks for the review and the honesty
Most desktop genealogy software has most of these tools. I use Brother’s Keeper. Not the mapping but…. For $120 you could purchase any one of those pieces of software and be done with it. Now I really only use Ancestry for research and don’t keep my tree updated on it so I guess I’m not a great one to ask but no way would I pay for those tools for my current setup.
Very well said, Amy. I appreciate that you provided your honest opinion. I was quite frustrated when I saw that they were charging extra. When I already pay many hundreds $$ a year and I’m an active, dedicated user, it made me feel like a commodity to them.
Hi Amy, thanks for the honesty. You are now the second person that has said the exact same thing. This is why I have chosen to subscribe to your channel. I know I will get straight forward ways to my ancestors. Thank you! 👏👏👏
I agree that the checker function should be broken out and made available to all. The filtering seemingly should also be that way, it isn't as deep a tech as the checker is. The other features though, maybe have them pay by the sink rather than a monthly fee. Really how often will someone use them?
Calling them pro tools though is a marketing stroke. Name it pro and entice the people to pay for them because "that's what the pros use". Similar to how naming something ultra or plus draws attention.
Thanks so much Amy for your wonderful insight into the new Pro Tools at Ancestry. I totally agree with your comments and feel that another US$100 per year is a massive amount to pay for "accuracy" - when most of us already try our best to ensure our trees are accurate. I especially appreciate your comments about hints and thrulines being based on other trees, and the fact that our own research is much harder and less accurate if Ancestry charge for something that most people will not pay for (let alone for those of us in Australia who are not even offered the opportunity!) THANK YOU again. Patricia in Sydneytown, Australia.
Amy, the price they are charging is $19.95 per month, not $9.95. I completely agree about the checking function. For many of us, the annual rates are a bit hard to swallow, especially for those of us on limited incomes, so another $20.00 per month for services that we may not need is too much.
The screenshot in my video was from the offer my assistant had yesterday morning. It looks like Ancestry is testing the price, as I started seeing screenshots of offers of $14.99 and $19.99 last evening. I haven't seen them offer it for less than $9.99 or more than $19.99 yet.
Thanks, Amy. @@AmyJohnsonCrow
By 11:00 ET it was back to 9.99!@@AmyJohnsonCrow
They are testing the wrong direction - 12 a year or up to 5 a month is likely would get more subscribers.
You make excellent points at the end of the video.
These "pro-tools" are genealogy 101, and should be part of the most basic Ancestry subscription.
Ancestry’s ‘hints" perpetrate, and perpetuate, most of the errors in trees. I am very tired of Ancestry "hints" for persons in my tree that are from places it is very clear my person has not been, and could not have been. Especially when they had already died (those City Directory hints that say ‘wid of John’ as a hint for John).
I respect your willingness to criticize Ancestry, given your connections to them. I think this "pro tools" thing is an arrogant money grab. We're supposed to pay Ancestry for correcting their mistakes? That's what your example of the posthumous record of residence amounts to. It's their problem that adding a record (e.g., a military enlistment entry, which IS dated) results in its default placement at the bottom of a person's timeline. Anyway, I think the whole suite of "pro tools" is just gimmickry. Ancestry should be more interested in the accuracy of TREES than in marketing itself as an ethnic identification option.
I totally agree and I'm glad she came back to actually weigh in on the subject! (This is my first visit to her channel and I was kinda giving her the side-eye for that weak "it's up to you" response.) It's disgusting that Ancestry is making us pay EXTRA on top of an already expensive monthly/yearly product. I'm a business owner too and these "pro tools" should have been included as a way to make your product superior in a market in which you're already a leader. They are just being GREEDY at this point.
I'm unhappy that the new features aren't included with an All Access membership. I saw an interview with Christa Cowan from Ancestry on Aimee Cross's channel, and she justified it by saying with the other memberships you're paying for CONTENT, but this is different because it's TOOLS. That's just semantics, and a money-grabbing. When I signed up for All Access several years back, I assumed that meant I had access to....wait for it...ALL new features. Crazy, I know. Many people can't afford these new features. I want them. I can afford them. I refuse to pay for them. I fear if this Pro-Tool launch is a success, it will only encourage Ancestry to lock every new feature behind a paywall. I feel it's a huge slap in the face to members who have spent their time correcting records on the platform and adding content to Ancestry's library like pictures and documents. Now they want to charge us an additional $120/year? Nope. And your point about how the fact checker should be free to all users? 100% agree.
Amy, glad you addressed this. Seems like an end of the year make the budget look good scheme. First of all, my family tree maker software (a windows 3.1 version) made all the charts that the “Pro” tools on ancestry does, but FTM did all the stuff you said was missing on Pro. Further, when Ancestry offers hints, it can have the same errors it now wants to charge you to check for you! Everyone can make mistakes like typos both with dates, but errors in spelling of names. Yet the hints let you blindly copy information across to your tree as if they are doing you a big favor!
Long ago, I thought if I saw family tree information in two or more separate locations on the internet, it must be true. It took months figuring out where my real confirmed tree info was and strip away false or unconfirmed info.
Now, 99% of hints from other’s trees are ignored and I even highly scrutinize ship, census, and other “official” data sources. I was shocked that they were trying to charge us for things they should have had all along. I should just to a conversation to GEDCOM and go back to my old FTM!
Amy -- thank you for sharing this video. I agree with you that the Pro Tools are an added value to using Ancestry. But we all pay a premium price for full access to what Ancestry offers. I think that these new features should have been added to the service without needing to pay an additional fee. I am in the process of evaluating these tools myself. So far, I think they are impressive. But I don't think they are essential to using the service. Especially for $120 per year.
My Heritage already does the error check for no additional fee. Did a LOT of cleanup years ago when I imported my brother’s Ancestry tree to My Heritage.
Wow, Amy! As will happen on a Sunday afternoon - I went down the genealogy rabbit hole. 😀 Having been alerted to the Pro Tools add-on and curious for feedback - I arrived at your video via a Google search. I was unaware of you prior. Suffice to say - I whole heartedly agree with everything you said - in particular - re Ancestry charging $9.99 a month. You own a business - I'm self employed - so both of us are well aware of the need to get a return on an investment. That said - with Ancestry owned by Blackstone - they're going to do what private equity does - squeeze all the blood they possibly can out of the turnip. Finally, I rarely subscribe to You tube channels - but I did to yours based solely on what I learned today. I look forward to more enlightenment.
I started this video skeptical and was thrilled to hear your honest evaluation that some of the PRO features should not be behind a pay tool. Thank you. I have FamilyTree Maker where they are part of the package.
I just this afternoon worked with the new family group feature. It underwhelms me. It may be nice to have family collaborating, but it really isn't a big wow. And regarding the new Pro Tools, I am really not happy with Ancestry rolling these out and CHARGING us for them. Bull. I think they have a lot of nerve charging us extra when these tools should just be made a part of the basic subscription. A subscription price that KEEPS INCREASING! In my opinion, Ancestry needs to work on their back end and get the infrastructure beefed up so that it isn't so dang slow or totally not functioning 3 or 4 days out of every 7! I'm sick and tired of getting messages telling me it isn't working right now and to try again later! They shouldn't be building new tools until they get the original system working better! I doubt I'll be purchasing their new Pro Tools. On principles alone!
I’ve just recently “stumbled” on your channel and will definitely be watching more! I’m a casual Ancestry user (I go at it hard for a little while then it sits for months) but I pay the yearly fee for access… I really appreciate your honest and straightforward review and appraisal of the Pro Tools. I doubt I’ll be adding them (at least not right away) or maybe (as someone else suggested) I’ll add them for a month when I know I can use them to clean up my tree, then cancel. I thought your points about how adding this functionality to all accounts would be a no-brainer benefit to the system were spot-on. Thanks!
Long-time watcher, first time commenter - plus I'll finally get around to pushing that Subscribe Button (sorry it took so long). Amen to your final comments! I have been an Ancestry subscriber since at least 2007, but started working on my family tree since long before there was an Internet. I recognize the great features the site offers, but the error checking should be a basic feature; I'm always embarassed to find simple factual errors and typos in my data. If possible, I may sign up for a short term and see how much cleanup I can accomplish, then cancel.
Thanks for the review and info dump!! I have a large family tree that is established. These features that have been mentioned in this video don't seem to be worth the price you would pay. I have a World Explorer Membership since most of my family is from Europe. I think that the World Explorer is way too expensive as it is before adding these tools. These tools/features were extracted from the acquisition of Geneanet by Ancestry. Geneanet is for families with a heritage in Europe. Ancestry bought them, but you can still pay for a Geneanet membership which is far less expensive than ancestry's price and run these same tools for now. I am basing this on what is mentioned in the review. I ran these tools from Geneanet in the past and it did find issues. I corrected them, so if you have a large family tree on Geneanet and fix the errors, how often do you need to run the tools? not that often, so in my case this $120 a year is not worth it! I use Family Tree Maker 2019 to look for mistakes as well. I agree with Amy and others that have posted here that this should be provided at no extra charge as it supports preserving family history throughout the world and not promoting falsehoods.
I elected to sign up for Pro tools; I really like the Fan chart capabilities and the Reports options. I do agree w/ your thoughts about the “Tree checker”. Since this is a monthly subscription I anticipate using for a few months, canceling and then re-subscribing periodically
Fan charts are available for all since a few months ago
@@ValorieZimmerman Expanded version of Fan chart for Pro tools; up to 7 generations plus other ways to look at the fan chart data
I tried it yesterday. The fact checker is just the hints feature. I'm getting a lot of "duplicates" when they are not. The siblings have similar names or even the same first name but different middle names.
The report feature is okay.
However, I can't rationalize paying an additional $120.00 + per year for this.
I too really appreciate your taking a stand on this and being so honest!
Thank you for this video. I will not be paying for this. Too expensive.
That viewpoint is definitely trending.
Thanks for giving your honest opinion. I have been doing Family History research for 44 years, several of those years as a world tree subscriber to Ancestry, and still consider myself an intermediate. I TOTALLY support your suggestions to Ancestry. Error checking should be a standard part of the services offered. I won't probably be "adding them on" as I do feel that I already pay for a world subscription (which they just increased the cost of), why isn't this a part of that? I find it interesting that I pay for a standalone family database that tells me some of this information already (mother too young, event after death, sorting by location) as a warning which is included in the basic price of the software, but this is considered extra in Ancestry. I also agree with the suggestion you had for the additional information on the reports... date, who printed it, and SOURCES!!! The family history world has long professed to be one concerned with sources, but most family tree books do not include one "source." Endnotes is a wonderful thing. Why not use it?
🎯 You hit the Nail on the Head. We already pay high enough prices for subcription so why do we have to pay EXTRA for features that should be there to begin with and we have been asking for for years. There are programs already in place that we can acomplish what Ancestry is offering with NO monthly subscription. By now I should own stocks on Ancestry. Thank you for your honesty. You gained a subscriber!
Thanks for your video. I’m not too fussed about Ancestry charging those who want to use the new tools (that they developed and produced) for the use of those tools. The people that did the work deserve to get paid for what they do. What they didn’t do was charge everyone for it, just the people who are likely to want and use it. Thank you Ancestry! As an amateur of many years, I value Ancestry for its records, sources, citations and indexes. But it’s not my only resource. And I don’t expect it to do my work for me. I haven’t decided if I’m going to use it or not-I’m on a fixed budget. Time will tell, but I’m grateful for pros like you who are willing to share your views and those of your public!
Love your video and very appreciative of your opinion. I have had full membership with Ancestry for a number of years with no issues....until the past 12 months. I have no idea what is going on in the business end of Ancestry, but I dont like where it seems to be heading. It is becoming more about social media bling bling and squeezing more money out of loyal paying customers than genuine genealogical research. I will be sadly going elsewhere when my subscription ends at the end of the year.
I agree with you. In this economy this will be a strain on a lot of people that want to have better trees and can't. Thank you so much for your view on this.
Users are also seeing different price offers for these tools: $9.99, $14.99, and $19.99. It appears that Ancestry is testing out different price points to see what users are willing to pay.
Which is TOTALLY wrong.
@@TigsToyToo I agree!!
Yeah, this is ridiculous. $9.99 is the MOST I'd be willing to pay, and I'd only run it once or twice, then cancel.
I've been seeing an uproar in Facebook groups about the cost of these new tools, and I agree with you that they should be available to everyone. I am wondering if the reason Ancestry decided not to just raise the cost of all subscriptions by a small amount to cover this is that many of these features are available in desktop software such as FTM and Roots Magic that sync with Ancestry, and the people who use those pieces of software would probably complain loudly about an extra cost to use Ancestry's version of those tools. In the end, someone will be unhappy, but I do think that at least some of these tools (the error checker) should be an integral part of Ancestry. As you say, that will benefit Ancestry as well because the trees they base current and future hints on will be more accurate.
Yes, as usual you make more sense than some of the stuff on Ancestry and others do. I want to know whether it cost Ancestry a blessed dime more to incorporate these services into the site, and if so , how much and for what amount of time? Was it a contractor who came in and did a whizz-bang job for a week and they paid her, once? Did it take more staff time than an ordinary addition? Etc etc. I don't see where it cost them more than the general reprogramming they had to do to keep the site fresh and updated.
I've made errors, had to chase down other users' errors, it is a waste of time not to have an automated error checker. Sigh. Merry Xmas - for a price!
Thank you, Amy for your thoughts on the Pro Tools. I have been using Ancestry since it first came out many years ago. Some of the features in Pro Tools used to be part of Ancestry that were later removed. I have missed them and glad to see them back but as someone who has been paying for All Access annually every year I will not be paying extra to use tools I loved and missed. As someone has already stated it makes our All Access membership not all access if we have to pay for tools that used to be part of our membership. I agree with your comments about making the error checker available to everyone who has a tree on Ancestry. There are some tree I view now where I know the information on the tree is incorrect. I never add other people’s tree to mine, but may use them as hints of where to look next for information. Thank you again for a great video.
Helen, like you I'm a long-term Ancestry user, and began when Family Tree Maker became linked to the site. I agree with all your comments and with Amy's critique.
Thank you for this helpful review. I pay for the all-access plan and agree with others that the Pro Tools add-on means my plan no longer reflects what I'm supposed to be paying for. I also want everyone on the platform to get the new features. They aren't "pro level," as you said, and they'd benefit everyone at all levels. I've been asking for a more robust search function with more variables for years and sometimes have an easier time conducting searches outside the site. And the fact-flagging feature is needed across the board. Inaccuracies in others' trees - my own included - is why I finally took my tree private this year after at least 20 on the platform. I know how *I* build my tree, which elements are backed by solid records, and which ones are iffy or just placeholders until I can check things out. I especially don't want to feel responsible for anyone copying my in-progress stuff as though it's the last word. We all want to know these stories, but not everyone understands how to vet source info, and so many simply accept hints without thinking about the details. Still, Ancestry is my favorite genealogy site, and it's not even close. So I'm there!
Amy, Thanks for the great overview plus yoru thoughts at the end! I hope Ancestry will listen as you made an excellent point.
I totally agree there should be no extra cost for ancestry subscribers. I am over 70 and have been an ancestry user for many years. As I get older I am increasingly finding mistakes I have made in my various family trees. It would be much better if I was alerted to them because I have thousands of ancestors in my tree and realise that there must be many mistakes I have made but am not aware of. Unfortunately I am not in a position to be able to afford to buy this add on. It would be nice if Ancestry could reward people who have been fully paid up world members like me for years by giving us this add on free thus ensuring that our numerous contributions are accurate
Totally agree. Ancestry is looking for another revenue source. Not worth it. Prices are already high, so to add on the "Pro features" is ridiculous. I'm looking to get rid of ancestry and go to another application. Ancestry has a POOR export feature because they know people will leave. I upload my media, and yet I cannot export it!
Thank you so much for this video and the additional comments at the end. I have a world wide access subscription to Ancestry. I believe, like you do, that Ancestry should provide this update without additional cost. I will not be purchasing it. I do know that if I enter a person's death date and/or child's birth date and it's before a valid age or the person is 147 years old, I do get alerts when entering this information. I use Family Tree Maker and enter all information there rather than on Ancestry, even though they are synced. Thanks again for all your great videos, classes, etc.
I've done genealogy for over 30 years, but don't call myself a professional. I paid for this feature, but every time I go into it I just feel lost. I got more information from you on TH-cam that I dreamed was available. I'm going to cancel this $10 a month subscription I've had for a couple of months, but it's too technical for me and I haven't been able to get a handle on it. Thanks for doing this truthful informative information.
I have been asking for the tree search feature to be upgraded for a long time. Databases are made to be manipulated. To restrict a search form to one field only, 'name', is ridiculous. Now appalled to see this upgrade made available only as a 'pro feature' when it is a basic function of any database.
Thank you for showing us this and thank you for understanding that not all of us can afford to purchase everything Ancestry has to offer. I try my best to make every profile as accurate as possible. If I am not sure, I don't add the information. Sometimes what seems plausible is just wrong.
Thanks very much for adding your opinion. I agree with you, at the very least the new fact checker should be free for all users.
I have been asking for a search feature that includes place names for years. The idea that they're adding a basic search filter at $120/yr is really outrageous. The fact checker tool seems redundant. Whenever I try to enter a child before the parent was of childbearing age, Ancestry already warns me. The system warns me when I add probate records after the date of death. I presume I would have to review those probate entries again. What about floating trees? Will they generate warnings? Or friends and neighbors floaters? I dunno. I would call it borrowing trouble if they weren't paying me for the privilege.
Amy, thanks so much for adding your thoughts on the Pro subscription. I plan to purchase it, but only something begrudgingly. I agree that the development of new programs costs money, but in my way of thinking (and I am not a coder or programmer) the Fact Checker is likely a rather simple algorithm. Like you, I want my tree to be accurate. If there is a cost for that, I will accept it for the sake of good research.
I have been working on all 8 of my family trees for over 60 years. I am at the end of writing my book on my maternal tree. I am going to pay for this feature to clean up my tree before finishing my book. I agree with you, I have paid over $300 a year for my subscription over the last 20 years and agree this all should be free as part of your subscription, but I'm at the end and will pay the $10 a month until I am finished. Thank you for your view on this.
Great video. 1) will there be a trial period for this for everyone to make an informed decision? 2) Aren't there some hints already that point out discrepancies or do I have my platforms mixed up? 3) The Reports and Charts look like they're from FTM2019.
I picture the personnel sitting around a huge table sharing thoughts and contemplating various ideas like this one.. I can hear one guy say.. _Hey, you know how FTM allows you to pull up duplicates?_ _What if we did that, but at another $120 per year?_ By adding tools like this to our current subscriptions, it's more incentive to continue paying the hefty Full Access fee for years to come. And the function that tells you that your tree shows Uncle Joe was living on Elm Street 28 years after he died? C'mon... that's one of the easiest things to see when you scroll through the facts on anyone in your tree. I know one thing.. I'm with the rest of you on a great big NO! Thank you Amy... Thank you EVERYONE! 🤗
This makes me worried that they're going to change over FTM to cloud-only (like Microsoft Office and Adobe CC are doing) and pay a monthly premium to use THAT, too.
thank you, Amy.. I think I enjoy ancestry as a tool to research records for my family tree __ I like Family Tree Maker Software as my database for my reporting … along with its ability to export reporting needs to Word. As a professional, I wish I would be able to tailor my own Home Screen to eliminate the Kool Aide they use to upsale their product … I find it easier sometimes to go to my local library and use the library version …. Sources Sources are key …
I think Ancestry underestimated the anger this move would generate - placing useful tools behind a paywall, tools which, as Amy pointed out, are not exclusive to professionals, is very short-sighted and I don't think they'll get the uptake they expected. at $4.99/mo, they might have managed, but $9.99/mo is a lot for many people to swallow in these uncertain economic times.
I agree with your points on fact checker. Make it available to all. I won’t be adding on more fees at this time.
Thank you for your honesty and for not always agreeing with the actions that the big companies take. You're on our side, the side of those who want accurate trees! I did subscribe to these new tools, but I don't think that I will continue that subscription long term.
Merry Christmas!
Thanks Amy for sharing this and for your honest feedback. Interesting that it's only available in the USA at the moment but I guess its the biggest market so best to test there first. Hopefully the market agrees with most of these comments. Accuracy is a goal we are all striving for I think as a minimum and a fact checker or error checking tool does seem to be provided with other subscriptions as part of the deal rather than an extra or a bonus.
I agree with you, the error checker should be part of a basic tree, subscription or not. It would help everyone. Thank you - I am a new follower from Canada!
I like the new features and can see how helpful they would be. i really like those charts as well. I appreciate your honest review and thoughts. While I would love these features, I just can't see spending an extra $120 a year right now, to use them. PS: I love the cardigan you are wearing in the video.
You’re absolutely correct, Amy. Thanks for your professional and reasoned opinion.
I like these features and will probably go ahead and subscribe because I have been working hard correcting mistakes that I find and look for others. I have an all access account and this should be added into that type of account. I wonder how much ancestry warns to help us or if their main interest is making money. I think I will look into Geneanet. Thanks for your review and comments.
Great video! I also appreciated you adding your opinion. My opinion is that a person should have been able to print out family group sheets for families in your tree from the very beginning.
I just logged into my Ancestry account and a pop-up window came up with Pro Tools listed, stating the price was $19.99 a month. That definitely made it a no for me.
Yes, they are offering it to people at different prices. Testing out how much people are actually willing to pay.
That makes it even more sad. I don’t like the fact that they are testing how much people will pay for the same thing…@@kimberlytyda3575
Thanks for your limited review and I agree with your comments. I've been on Ancestry since 2009 and I won't be paying extra. The cost of a World Explorer Ancestry account is high just in itself. Aside from the fact checker, I am interested in the Charts and Reports section. But there isn't a place where I can see how it works and what it's capable of generating. Ancestry is really dropping the ball in this rollout to not include some mechanism to for people to "test" the features - especially having to commit to a $10 added monthly cost upfront!
I totally agree with you. The error checker option should be available to everyone. I won't be adding the tools to my account. I have Family Tree Maker and I can do a lot of "repairing" there so it's just not cost effective.
During the past year I sent a request for the reports you demonstrated. I pointed out that Family Tree Maker includes those and I find them very helpful. I am glad to see them in the kit, but I wish they were part of the subscription I already have.
Agreed. There isn't anything there that shouldn't have been added to the site years ago. The name list is almost a waste of time without a filter. No way do I pay extra for what should have been there all along. They get new users all the time through DNA. Making the site a better experience for them might keep them there paying and not abandoning it.
With the increased interest in Genealogy, Ancestry is a very wealthy company already. I agree with your comments. There is only so much I can budget for Genealogy - this is greed
I already pay $409.00 per year for an all access membership. Am I going to shell out an additional $9.99 per month (another $119.88 per year) for tools I already have via Family Tree Maker? I don't think so! I'm really sick of Ancestry's practice of offering deep discounts to new subscribers, yet they continue to bilk their long-time users of an annual fortune. Don't get me wrong, I fully appreciate the wealth of records Ancestry provides, but it would be nice to be appreciated for my loyalty.
💯
I 100% agree with what you said at the end. I used to have an all access account, (until my tree disappeared somehow one day) which I have to say is not an insignificant amount of money, and then to pay another $120 a year on top of that, to me is unfair.
Yes, it should be given to everyone at all levels of membership.
In the launch video that Ancestry's Christa shared this week, she tried to justify why Pro Tools isn't free by saying something like "The free membership simply provides the ability to create and maintain family trees." Ironically, error-checking tools and simple reports are Tree Maintenance 101 stuff that should be available to all users without charge, to encourage accurate trees throughout Ancestry, as Amy eloquently describes.
Here's what I predict will happen: Ancestry will get so much pushback and low adoption of Pro Tools that they'll announce "WE HEARD YOU! We're now including Pro Tools with ALL membership levels, including free memberships, because WE CARE about genealogy and want everyone to have accurate family trees!" Then, in a couple months, they'll raise the cost of paid memberships by $9.99/month "because of the increased costs of digitizing BILLIONS of source documents!" :-)
You seem to have hit the nail on the head. Crista said those exact things at Rootstech this week. I doubt the second part will happen based on the enthusiasm of people at Rootstech ready to buy the new software. I think people will continue to pay extra for something that should be free.
Thank you for the added thoughts. I agree that it would benefit both Ancestry and all the users if the error checker was made available to everyone who has a tree on the system. Many already stretch to pay for the subscription level they maintain and the added cost puts this function out of reach. I hope Ancestry hears and heeds your thoughts.
Very well said.Thank you for your honest opinion.
I agree with you about the fact checker.
I already pay over 400.oo a year it would be nice to have this added to what I am already paying. It is hard to go through and see all the errors. When I get information I sometimes will get errors and have to clean them up. I also have problems with duplicates and it is hard to see them. I am always going through trying to clean up things. I liked the reports you showed but I do not want to spend more money to get them. I have been a member for a long time and I feel that I would like features without having to incure so much cost.
As a Senior over 70 and on a fixed income I can not afford the higher prices. I used to be able to get the all access but not now. Family helps me with the month to month plan when we need information we can not find any other way. I miss getting the world explore, but I have no other choice but go with the cheaper plan.
No, I will not be ponying up for yet another premium for something that should be free. I feel I have been snookered with the top premium as it is.
I won't be purchasing this since I have always used stand alone software for this. I think they likely knew that they did not have the resources for this so they made it limited. Anytime they run any kind of reporting, their system runs at a snails pace and we get error messages. I also don't want to pay yet another prescription fee. I'm upset enough that the companies are taking DNA features that we've had access to and locking them down. I've been an Ancestry member since their start. I've paid more than enough to warrant access to this. When they sent out their surveys, all these features are what I requested but I didn't expect them to do it this way.
Thank you for being the first video I have seen that has shown me exactly what this feature does. My biggest problem with ancestry is the inability to print the different forms that I want .
As other "All Access" subscribers have said, this additional charge is kind of insulting. The idea that Ancestry is charging 20% extra for this functionality devalues the rest of the all access subscription. It is also unfortunate that they don't see that the majority of their subscribers aren't really using the service every month but continue to pay. I am going to rethink my all access subscription. Thank you for your video.
Ancestry is already very expensive and then if you add newspapers, that makes it even worse. I won’t be renewing next year. I’ll try a new site instead. Love your videos.
Thanks, Amy. I am not paying an extra penny for basic functionality on Ancestry.
I signed up for Pro Tools yesterday. I couldn't wait to start analyzing my tree which contains thousands of people. Unfortunately, I get "no results found" when I filter my tree for paternal or maternal ancestors or for direct line ancestors, which is obviously an error. I called Ancestry today and they gave me a very pat answer..."yes ma'am we will have that working right away" but we shall see. If it is not fixed in the next several days I'm going to ask for a refund.