Genealogy rip-off alert: Ancestry jacks up monthly subscriptions up to 25%

Eighteen months after Blackstone Inc. purchased Ancestry, Ancestry Corporate announced that it's squeezing its small Ancestry subscribers by raising prices $5 per month across the board for its U.S. plans.

The announcement was made on Sunday January 2. What an unusual date to make a major announcement! Many subscribers were likely observing the Sabbath, returning home at the end of a long holiday break, watching football, or recovering from New Year's celebrations. In other words, it was timed so few people would notice. Here's what the official breakdown had to say:

Starting on February 1, 2022, the price of U.S monthly subscriptions to Ancestry.com for our existing customers will increase. U.S. Discovery Memberships will cost $24.99 per month [up from $19.99], World Explorer Memberships will cost $39.99 per month [up from $34.99], and All Access Memberships will cost $49.99 per month [up from $44.99]. If you’re impacted by this change, details of how this price increase will affect your individual membership will be sent to the email address associated with your account.

That represents an increase of up to 25%. Ancestry cites access to billions of records and continued investments, and many people depend on Ancestry's online family trees.

A more cynical view (ahem) holds that this is nothing more than an unjustified money grab by overpaid Wall Street investors who care nothing about genealogy.

What's your take? Join the discussion (more than 80 comments so far) on EasyGenie's Facebook page.