Self-Hosted Alternatives to MyHeritage

Why Replace MyHeritage?

MyHeritage charges $129–$299/year for its subscription plans. The free tier limits you to 250 people in your family tree. The Premium plan ($129/year) unlocks Smart Matches and Record Matches. The Complete plan ($189/year) adds access to 19+ billion historical records. The Data subscription ($129/year) is records-only. Bundling everything costs $299/year.

Updated March 2026: Verified with latest Docker images and configurations.

Plan	Annual Cost	Key Feature
Free	$0	250 people max
Premium	$129/year	Smart Matches, advanced tools
PremiumPlus	$189/year	+ Historical records access
Complete	$299/year	All features bundled

Beyond pricing, MyHeritage stores your family tree on their servers. Your genealogy data — names, dates, relationships, photos, documents — is entrusted to a company that’s been acquired and sold multiple times (most recently by Francisco Partners in 2021). Data breaches have occurred (92 million email addresses exposed in 2018). For deeply personal family information, self-hosting provides both privacy and permanence.

Best Alternatives

webtrees — Best Overall Replacement

webtrees is the most full-featured self-hosted genealogy application. It handles GEDCOM import/export (the universal genealogy data format), supports multiple family trees, includes relationship calculators, timeline views, interactive charts, and detailed individual/family pages. Multi-user support lets family members view and contribute.

Feature	MyHeritage	webtrees
Annual cost	$129–$299	$0 (self-hosted)
Family tree size	250 (free) / unlimited (paid)	Unlimited
Historical records	19B+ (paid access)	Not included
GEDCOM support	Import/export	Full GEDCOM 5.5.1 support
Multi-user	Paid plans	Built-in (free)
Charts & reports	Yes	Extensive (pedigree, fan, timeline)
Privacy	MyHeritage servers	Your server
DNA matching	Yes (paid)	Not included
Media storage	Included	Your storage (unlimited)

webtrees’ strength is as a family tree management and presentation tool. It doesn’t include historical record search — you’d use FamilySearch (free) or local archives for research, then enter findings into webtrees.

services:
  webtrees:
    image: ghcr.io/nathanvaughn/webtrees:2.1.21
    container_name: webtrees
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - webtrees_data:/var/www/webtrees/data
    environment:
      - DB_TYPE=mysql
      - DB_HOST=db
      - DB_PORT=3306
      - DB_NAME=webtrees
      - DB_USER=webtrees
      - DB_PASS=changeme_webtrees_password
      - BASE_URL=https://family.yourdomain.com
      - WT_ADMIN_USER=admin
      - WT_ADMIN_PASS=changeme_admin_password
    depends_on:
      - db

  db:
    image: mariadb:11
    container_name: webtrees-db
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - mariadb_data:/var/lib/mysql
    environment:
      - MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=changeme_root_password
      - MARIADB_DATABASE=webtrees
      - MARIADB_USER=webtrees
      - MARIADB_PASSWORD=changeme_webtrees_password

volumes:
  webtrees_data:
  mariadb_data:

[Read our full guide: How to Self-Host webtrees]

Gramps Web — Best for Existing Gramps Users

Gramps Web is the web interface for the Gramps genealogy research tool. If you already use Gramps desktop, Gramps Web lets you access and share your research from any browser. It syncs with the Gramps desktop database, so you can do heavy research locally and share results via the web interface.

Best for: Existing Gramps desktop users who want web access to their family tree.

[Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Gramps Web]

Migration Guide

1. Export from MyHeritage — go to Family Tree → Manage Trees → Export to GEDCOM. Download the GEDCOM file.
2. Download media — separately download photos and documents attached to your tree. MyHeritage doesn’t include media files in the GEDCOM export.
3. Import into webtrees — use the GEDCOM import tool in webtrees’ admin panel. Large trees (10,000+ individuals) may take several minutes.
4. Upload media — re-attach photos and documents to their corresponding individuals in webtrees.
5. Verify data — check that relationships, dates, and places transferred correctly. GEDCOM format is standardized but some platforms add proprietary extensions that may not transfer.

MyHeritage’s Smart Matches and Record Hints don’t transfer — these are proprietary features that depend on MyHeritage’s databases. You’ll need to continue research using free resources (FamilySearch, local archives) or your own records.

Cost Comparison

	MyHeritage (Complete)	Self-Hosted (webtrees)
Annual cost	$299/year	~$60/year (VPS)
3-year cost	$897	~$180
5-year cost	$1,495	~$300
Tree size limit	Unlimited	Unlimited
Family members access	Paid per-user	Free (multi-user built-in)
Media storage	Included	Your storage
Historical records	19B+ included	Not included (use FamilySearch free)

What You Give Up

MyHeritage’s 19+ billion historical records are its primary value. Self-hosted tools don’t include searchable archives of census records, immigration records, military records, or vital records. For historical research, you’ll use free resources (FamilySearch has 7+ billion records at no cost) or visit physical archives.

DNA matching and ethnicity estimates are MyHeritage features with no self-hosted equivalent. If DNA analysis is central to your genealogy work, you’ll need to keep a MyHeritage account (or use AncestryDNA/23andMe) alongside your self-hosted tree.

Smart Matches — automatic suggestions of connections between your tree and other users’ trees — is a social feature that only works at scale. Self-hosted tools don’t have a network of other researchers to match against.

Related

• Best Self-Hosted Genealogy Tools
• How to Self-Host webtrees
• How to Self-Host Gramps Web
• webtrees vs Gramps Web
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to Ancestry