familysearch.com

March 27, 2026

FamilySearch.com is an alternate address for FamilySearch, while FamilySearch.org is the service’s main and official domain.

Does FamilySearch.com belong to the real FamilySearch service?

Search engines show FamilySearch.com with the same genealogy content, branding, and free search tools found on FamilySearch.org (FamilySearch.com).

However, FamilySearch consistently names FamilySearch.org as its main website in its help pages, legal notices, and public information.

Using the .org address is therefore the clearest option when creating an account or entering personal family data.

The organization is a nonprofit service supported by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but people of every faith can use it for free (About FamilySearch).

What can you do on FamilySearch?

FamilySearch lets you search billions of names, photos, family profiles, and historical documents.

Its collections include birth papers, marriage records, death records, census pages, church registers, military files, passenger lists, land deeds, wills, and court documents.

Users can search by name, date, town, country, family member, or other known facts (FamilySearch Records).

The site also includes a large catalog, a digital book library, research lessons, local guides, and a wiki that explains which records exist in each place.

These tools make FamilySearch much more than a simple name finder.

Is FamilySearch completely free?

FamilySearch provides its main search, tree, memory, and learning tools without a paid subscription.

A free account gives users full access to the website’s available features (FamilySearch sign-in guidance).

Some historical images still cannot be opened from home because the archive that owns them has set special rules.

Those images may require a visit to a FamilySearch center, an affiliate library, another website, or the original archive (Image restrictions).

This limit comes from record agreements rather than a FamilySearch paid plan.

How does its family tree work?

FamilySearch uses one shared public tree for deceased people.

Users who have the same ancestor usually see and edit the same profile instead of keeping separate copies.

They can add facts, link records, upload photos, merge duplicate people, explain changes, and contact other contributors.

This shared design can bring many useful sources together.

It can also cause trouble because another user may add a wrong parent, remove a correct fact, or join two different people.

FamilySearch should therefore be treated as a research workspace, not as an automatic source of truth.

Can you trust the information?

Original record images are often strong evidence, but a user-made family profile is only a clue.

A profile becomes more trustworthy when each name, date, place, and relationship has a clear source.

Long family lines that reach kings, famous people, or ancient history need very careful checking.

FamilySearch advises users to question facts without sources and look for dates or places that do not make sense (FamilySearch accuracy guidance).

The best method is to move back one generation at a time and prove every parent-child link with records.

What is special about its new search technology?

FamilySearch has added Full-Text Search, which uses AI to read old typed and handwritten pages.

The tool can search almost two billion records that were not included in normal name indexes (Full-Text Search).

A user can search for a person, town, address, job, land description, or phrase found anywhere in a document.

This is helpful for wills, deeds, court files, letters, church books, and other long records.

AI can read a word incorrectly, so users should always compare its text with the document image.

Is personal family information private?

Profiles marked as living normally stay in a private tree that only their creator can see.

Selected relatives can share living profiles through a Family Group Tree.

Photos and memories can follow different visibility rules, so users should check their settings before uploading information about living people (FamilySearch privacy guidance).

For the safest access, use FamilySearch.org, confirm that the page uses HTTPS, and never enter your password on a similar-looking third-party domain.