Heirstory and MyHeritage, compared
Checked 28 October 2026
MyHeritage is a records, tree and DNA site with strong European collections, in many languages. It has the best-known tools for restoring and colouring old photographs. A tree of up to 250 people is free, and if you stop paying, it keeps your photographs, trees and data.
Heirstory is a private record made with the family itself. Gene, an AI genealogist, asks each relative about the people they knew, and keeps their answers beside what the records prove.
The short answer
Choose MyHeritage for European records, DNA, or restoring old photographs.
Choose Heirstory to interview your living family, keep their memories with the tree, and keep it all private to the family.
Or both. Save your MyHeritage tree as a GEDCOM file and bring it into Heirstory.
Side by side
| MyHeritage | Heirstory | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is for | Records, trees, DNA and photo tools | Keeping a family’s record: tree, records and memories |
| Records | Over 40 billion of its own | Gene searches public records online for those who have died |
| Interviews your relatives | No | Yes, aloud in a web browser or by typing |
| AI | Photo tools; Scribe AI reads documents; its terms name a record-finding assistant, GAIA, and an AI Biographer | Gene researches, interviews each relative and writes each family’s chapter |
| Life stories | AI Biographer writes the life of someone who has died, from records | Each family’s chapter, and each relative’s own story in their own words |
| Who sees it | Privacy set for each family site | Private to the family; each living person decides what relatives see |
| DNA | Yes | No |
| If you stop paying | Data kept; the site returns to the free plan | Nothing to stop paying for: keeping the record is free |
| Price, UK | Free up to 250 people; paid plans £85 to £295 a year, less in the first year | Free to build; Gene’s work uses credits, 100 free, then from £5 |
Where MyHeritage is better
- European records, and a site that speaks many languages.
- Photographs. Its tools restore, colour and animate old photos.
- DNA, for finding relatives by test.
- A free tree of 250 people, and your data kept when you stop paying.
Where Heirstory is better
- The people who are still here. Gene interviews each relative and keeps what they say in their own words. MyHeritage’s AI Biographer writes the lives of those who have died, from records.
- Memories marked as memories. Every fact on Heirstory says whether it is proven, probable or remembered.
- Privacy between relatives, not only from strangers: each living person decides what the wider family sees of them.
- No plan to outgrow. Your tree, records and chapters are free to keep on Heirstory.
Questions
Can I bring my MyHeritage tree?
Yes, as a GEDCOM file. Look for the export on your tree’s management page on MyHeritage. One file brings in up to 300 people, closest to you first. See how to move your family tree.
Does Heirstory restore photographs?
No. Heirstory keeps each photograph with the people in it, and can make it their portrait. In a spoken sitting, Gene looks at a photograph you share and asks what you remember of it.
Which uses my family’s data to train AI?
Gene is Claude, made by Anthropic, which may not train its models on anything Heirstory sends, under its commercial terms. MyHeritage’s terms name OpenAI and Gemini among its AI providers; its terms say how they use your data.
Sources
- MyHeritage prices, UK including VAT: myheritage.com/pricing, read 28 October 2026.
- Plans and the 250-person free tree: MyHeritage help, read 28 October 2026.
- GAIA, AI Biographer and their providers: MyHeritage terms, updated 14 October 2026, read 28 October 2026.
- Scribe AI: MyHeritage blog, April 2026.
- What happens when a subscription ends: MyHeritage help, read 28 October 2026.