Factual comparisons
Compare ancient DNA ancestry services
Which ancient-DNA service does what — checked on each service's own site, dated, and honest about where the other one is the better choice.
One table, every service
| Criterion | Ancestrify | Illustrative DNA | Vahaduo | GEDmatch | Genoplot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Method | Three methods, sold separately: formal qpAdm (ADMIXTOOLS 2, with a p-value), Global25 coordinate fitting (distances, nMonte-style admixture, PCA) and an Ancient Matches shared-segment scan | DeepAncestry: coordinate-based distances, an Unsupervised Analysis that enumerates top-ranked three-component mixtures of averaged coordinates, PCA and hierarchical clustering. AdmixLab: qpAdm and Fst on the AADR v62 and v66 panels, built by the customer | Global25 coordinate tools: rapid estimation of admixture proportions and Euclidean distances (Admixture JS), PCA projection and custom PCA, 2D and 3D views | One-to-Many comparison against everyone on the site, One-to-One comparison, and admixture calculators for biogeographical ancestry | 500+ admixture calculators, nMonte / G25 modelling, PCA plots, whole-genome imputation, and Admix+ formal statistics (qpAdm, qpWave, f-statistics) with AI-driven source and outgroup selection |
| Runs on your raw file | Yes — qpAdm, Ancient Matches and Relative Finder run on the raw export directly | Yes — supported companies listed: MyHeritage, 23andMe, Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA, Living DNA, tellmeGen | Input is Global25 coordinate data. Raw DNA file upload: not stated on their site | Yes — uploads from 23andMe, Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA, Living DNA, MyHeritage and tellmeGen are listed | Yes — uploads from 23andMe, AncestryDNA, FTDNA and MyHeritage are listed |
| Whole-genome VCF input | Yes — whole-genome sequencing VCF up to 1 GB on qpAdm and Ancient Matches (€10 add-on); converted to the panel's markers at upload, not stored | AdmixLab states that WGS files (VCF, BAM) cannot be used unless first converted into a genotype format | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site | Whole-genome imputation of the uploaded raw file is offered. VCF upload: not stated on their site |
| Formal qpAdm with a p-value | Every qpAdm report publishes the model p-value, each source's weight, standard error and z-score, and the full right (outgroup) set | AdmixLab is described as a DIY service with no pre-generated results; the customer builds the models, and full raw outputs are downloadable | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site | qpAdm output is available on the Basic and Pro tiers. Which statistics are shown: not stated on their site |
| Hand-built Personalized Calculator | Yes — the Personalized Calculator (€10): an analyst hand-builds a G25 calculator around your own coordinates, published beside the standard result | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site |
| Every-country catalog | Every sovereign state — 199 countries and 1,115 regions — for both qpAdm and Global25 | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site | 800+ populations are advertised on the home page |
| Matches against individual ancient people | Yes — Ancient Matches scans your genome against every individual in the ancient panel (€29.99) | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site |
| Free in-browser tools without an account | Yes — the Ancestrify Lab's in-browser tools (distance, admixture, PCA, averaging, authenticity, haplotrees, mapper) need no account | A Free Extras section is advertised; the tools behind it are not itemised on the pages read | Yes — free, browser-based, Patreon-supported. Account requirement: not stated on their site | The site is free to join; its tools are used after registering and uploading a kit | A Free tier with 100 compute credits after sign-up and upload |
| Pricing model | One-time payments: qpAdm from €29.99, Global25 €29.99, Ancient Matches €29.99. No subscription | AdmixLab is sold as a subscription (their FAQ covers what happens when the subscription ends). Prices: not stated on their site | Free; optional Patreon support | Free basic use is stated. Paid tier and price: not stated on their site on the pages read | Three tiers — Free (100 credits), Basic (1,000 credits per month) and Pro (3,000 credits per month). Prices in currency: not stated on their site on the pages read |
| Hosting and jurisdiction | EU infrastructure (Germany and Finland), operator registered in Albania, GDPR | Company registered in Estonia (ILLUSTRATIVEDNA OÜ). Server location: not stated on their site | Served from GitHub Pages (vahaduo.github.io); computation runs in the browser | A Germantown, Maryland (USA) postal address is given. Server location: not stated on their site | Not stated on their site |
| PDF report | No PDF — an interactive on-screen report and server-rendered videos | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site |
Head to head
Ancestrify vs Illustrative DNA
Illustrative DNA (ILLUSTRATIVEDNA OÜ, an Estonian private limited company by its own footer) sells DeepAncestry, a coordinate-based ancient-ancestry report across six periods, and AdmixLab, a do-it-yourself qpAdm and Fst environment on the AADR panels. It is the most direct alternative to Ancestrify's qpAdm and Global25 products, so this page compares the two on the criteria a buyer can actually check.
/compare/illustrative-dnaAncestrify vs Vahaduo
Vahaduo is a free collection of browser-based Global25 tools — Admixture JS for admixture proportions and Euclidean distances, Custom PCA, Global 25 Views, a 3D PCA viewer and a G25 spreadsheet download — supported through Patreon. It is the tool most Global25 hobbyists already use, so the honest comparison is with Ancestrify's free Lab tools first and its paid reports second.
/compare/vahaduoAncestrify vs GEDmatch
GEDmatch is a free genetic-genealogy site built around a global database of uploaded autosomal DNA: One-to-Many and One-to-One comparisons against other users, plus admixture (biogeographical ancestry) calculators. It answers a different question from Ancestrify — who among the living shares DNA with you — so this page is as much about scope as about features.
/compare/gedmatchAncestrify vs Genoplot
Genoplot is a free-to-start analysis platform: a raw DNA upload, 500+ admixture calculators, an nMonte runner and G25 modelling, G25 coordinate simulation, whole-genome imputation, PCA plots, and — on its paid tiers — qpAdm, qpWave and f-statistics with AI-assisted population selection. Its breadth is the point of comparison; its pricing is credit-based.
/compare/genoplotHow to read the table
The methods differ in kind, not only in quality. A coordinate fit — Global25 distances, nMonte-style admixture, calculator percentages — always returns a breakdown. A formal qpAdm model can be rejected, and the p-value is what rejects it. A matching database compares you with living people; an ancient-individual scan compares you with published burials. Ask which question you have before you ask which service is better.
Ancestrify's own facts are the ones every method page states: qpAdm, Global25, Ancient Matches, the Model Lab, and the free Ancestrify Lab.
Questions
How were the competitor facts gathered?
Each cell was read on the competitor's own public website on 2026-08-28. Nothing is inferred from reviews or forums, and where a site does not state something — a price, a PDF, where data is hosted — the cell says "Not stated on their site" rather than guessing.
Is this comparison neutral?
It is written by Ancestrify, so read it as one seller's factual table, not an independent review. Every claim about a competitor is checkable on their site, every claim about Ancestrify is checkable on this one, and each page ends with where the other service is the better choice.
What are Ancestrify's differences, in one line each?
Every qpAdm model is built and checked by a person and published with its p-value, per-source standard errors and z-scores and the full outgroup set; the Model Lab lets you run your own models and download the merged EIGENSTRAT bundle; the Personalized Calculator is hand-built around your own Global25 coordinates; whole-genome VCFs are accepted; the catalog covers every sovereign state for both products; Ancient Matches compares you with individual ancient people; the Lab's in-browser tools need no account; every price is one-time; hosting is in the EU; there is no PDF.
Can I tell you a cell is out of date?
Yes, please — write to info@ancestrify.io. A cell is re-verified against the competitor's site and the date on the page moves with it.
Judge the method, then the price.
Every Ancestrify report is a one-time payment, and every published qpAdm model carries the statistics that let you check it.