Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Genealogy Software Reviews

I hope to upgrade my genealogy software on my Windows computer system sometime during 2008. I currently have and use FamilyTreeMaker 16, but I want improved charting and publishing capabilities.

I went looking for comparison charts of features, ease of use, and publishing capabilities. I found several, including:

1) Genealogy Software Review, Top Ten Reviews for 2008.

2) Kimberly Powell's Genealogy Software Reviews & Roundup 2007.

3) Louis Kessler's Genealogy Software Links - the most complete list!

4) ConsumerSearch Genealogy Software Reviews - lists of reviews.

The Top Ten Review of Genealogy Software rates the top 10 Windows programs as (prices as shown, ratings based on feature set, ease of use, reporting and publishing, and help/documentation on scale of 4 high, 0 low):

1) Legacy Deluxe 6 ($29.95) - 4.0 rating (out of 4.0)
2) FamilyTreeMaker 2008 ($29.95) - 4.0 rating
3) RootsMagic 3 ($29.95) - 3.5 rating
4) Ancestral Quest 12 ($29.95) - 3.5 rating
5) The Master Genealogist 6.12 Gold ($59.00) - 3.0 rating

6) Family Historian 3.1.2 ($76.00) - 3.0 rating
7) DoroTree 2.1 ($59.00) - 3.0 rating
8) Genbox Family Tree 3.7 ($29.95) - 2.5 rating
9) Cumberland Family Tree 3.14 ($39.00) - 2.0 rating
10) Win-Family 7 ($29.95) - 2.0 rating

There are extensive comparison charts for

* Data Entry and Sourcing
* Management Tools
* Views
* Reports and Charts
* Online Integration, Printing & Publishing
* Help and Support
* Supported Configurations

There are also extensive reviews for each software program found by clicking the software program name.

I also know that The Master Genealogist has just released Version 7 (see announcement here) and that Legacy 7 will be released soon (see discussion here).

Obviously, this list does not include the online genealogy software that stores and displays family trees - like the Ancestry Member Trees, MyHeritage, WeRelate, Geni, FamilyLink, Famillion, TNG, PhpGedView, and several others.

The comparisons noted above are interesting and useful to me. I really need to test drive some of these, and have downloaded the trial versions of Legacy and RootsMagic to do that evaluation.

1 comment:

Jasia said...

Thanks for writing about this Randy. I've been using Legacy for a few years now (FTM before that) but am considering switching software. I'm looking forward to reading your reviews, especially a comparison between FTM and Legacy. I remember that FTM seemed very easy to use and intuitive to learn. My problem with it at the time was that the search capability was very limited. Legacy offered many more options for searching so I switched. The problem for me is that Legacy is way more complicated to learn. It does so much that I have to study the drop down menus for several minutes to find what I'm looking for. It's a case of, "I know it's here somewhere..." but it's buried in a drop down menu or an obscure box and I can't remember where I saw it. Anyway, I'll be looking forward to reading your impressions!