Start your tree with what you know, then start a membership to learn what you don't. 

When you sign up with Ancestry, you are provided with a free registered guest account. Without a membership, you have limited access to a number of free records. But with a membership, you gain access to many more records, including census, birth, marriage, death, and immigration records. 

With a membership, you can:

• View records on Ancestry. We have over 30 billion records from over 80 countries. Many records contain information that can help you learn more about ancestors and trace your family further back in time. Different memberships provide access to different records.
• See family trees created by other members of Ancestry. It's often possible to find your own ancestors in other people's family trees, piggybacking on their research. 
• View hints in your tree. As you start your family tree, you'll begin seeing leaves appear on some people. These are hints—records that may mention the people they're attached to. 
• View Common Ancestors, if you've taken an AncestryDNA test. When an ancestor in your family tree matches a an ancestor in a match's tree, you'll see a Common Ancestor icon . 
• See surnames and birth locations in your matches’ trees, if you've taken an AncestryDNA test. 

Pricing and membership options

For current pricing or to start a membership, see our membership options page. To purchase a DNA kit or for more information about our DNA tests, see AncestryDNA Resources.

Renewing, upgrading, pausing, and canceling

• Restarting or renewing
• Upgrading
• Pausing
• Canceling

For more on using Ancestry, see Getting Started, Lesson 1: Starting Your Tree.