If you have narrowed your DNA decision to AncestryDNA and MyHeritage, you have the right shortlist for Italian research—these are the two autosomal tests most worth your money. They are different enough that the better choice depends on what you are trying to do. This is a head-to-head on the points that matter for Italian roots.
Database size: AncestryDNA wins
In match-based genealogy, database size is the single biggest predictor of success, because the relative who holds your answer can only help if they are in the same pool. AncestryDNA’s database is the largest in the industry by a wide margin, and it is especially dense with North American testers—where most descendants of Italian emigrants now live. For an Italian-American family hunting cousins, that density is the decisive advantage.
Where MyHeritage pulls ahead
MyHeritage’s user base is more international, so if the relatives you want are likely still in South America or, especially, in Italy itself, it can surface matches Ancestry does not have. This matters more for Italian research than for some other ancestries, because reconnecting with the family that never emigrated—and may still live in the ancestral comune—is often the dream. Two further advantages stand out:
- Free DNA uploads. MyHeritage lets you upload your AncestryDNA raw file at no charge and see your matches; a modest one-time fee unlocks the advanced tools. So the smart play is often “test at Ancestry, upload to MyHeritage”—two databases for roughly the price of one.
- A chromosome browser. AncestryDNA omits this; MyHeritage includes it, which helps with the segment analysis that matters for the moderately endogamous southern Italian lines (see Italian DNA results).
Ethnicity estimates
Neither company can tell you which town your ancestors came from—ethnicity estimates are broad-brush and should never be mistaken for genealogy. Both are reasonable at identifying broad Italian and Southern European ancestry, and both periodically split “Italian” into regional bands of varying reliability. Treat the estimate as a fun headline, not evidence; the records are where the real answers live. We dig into what Italian results actually mean in Italian DNA ethnicity results.
Tools for matches
AncestryDNA’s ThruLines and MyHeritage’s Theory of Family Relativity do the same job: they guess how a match connects to you by reading shared trees and records. Both are useful starting points and both can be fooled, so use them to point you toward a likely common ancestor, then prove or disprove the link in the civil records. Ancestry’s larger tree pool tends to generate more of these hints for diaspora families; MyHeritage’s can be stronger for European connections.
Our recommendation
- Test at AncestryDNA first. Biggest database, densest pool of fellow descendants, strong tree and record integration.
- Upload your raw file to MyHeritage for free. You gain a second match pool, a chromosome browser, and access to European—and Italian—cousins who tested there, at no extra kit cost.
- Build the tree in the documents, not the DNA. Use both tools to find candidate relatives, then confirm every link in Antenati and the parish records.
Both kits, current prices and the upload walkthrough are on our Italian DNA hub. Already have matches? Anchor them to records with connecting DNA to Italian records.
A note on the others
23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA each have a place but not in this two-horse race. 23andMe is health-first, lacks tree-building and Italian record integration, and carries the bankruptcy and privacy considerations we cover elsewhere. FamilyTreeDNA is the specialist for single-surname Y-DNA work, not general cousin-finding. For the everyday job of growing and confirming an Italian tree, AncestryDNA plus a free MyHeritage upload is the combination to beat.
The case for testing on both
Framed as a versus, this comparison can make it sound like you must choose, but the most effective approach for Italian research is to use both—and it costs barely more than using one. You test once at AncestryDNA, where the database is largest and the tree integration strongest, then upload that same raw file to MyHeritage at no charge to fish in its more international pool. Two match databases, two sets of tools, one kit. For Italian families the second pool is especially valuable, because the relatives who never emigrated—the ones who might still live in the ancestral town—are more likely to be found on the more European MyHeritage.
The only real cost of the dual approach is your time, since you now have two match lists to work. For Italian research that is a feature, not a bug: a cousin who appears on both platforms, or a hypothesis supported by matches in both pools, is more trustworthy than one resting on a single total—particularly for the southern lines where mild endogamy inflates the numbers. When the two databases agree, you can believe them with more confidence.
Privacy and your data
Both companies let you delete your data and download your raw file, and both have had to reckon publicly with how genetic data is stored and shared. Before you test, read the current privacy settings on whichever platform you choose, decide whether to opt in or out of research uses, and keep a copy of your raw data file somewhere safe so you are never locked into one company. The wider industry—most visibly the upheaval at 23andMe—has given everyone reason to take genetic-data privacy seriously, and a little attention to the settings now saves worry later.
