Free Alternatives to Geni and WikiTree: Keeping a Family Tree That Stays Yours

Geni and WikiTree are built on the same idea. Rather than every family keeping a separate tree, there is one profile per human being, and everyone related to that person works on it together. Geni calls the result the World Family Tree; WikiTree calls it the single shared tree. Both are free to use for the core tree building.

When it works, it is remarkable. You add your grandmother, and the system connects her to a branch someone documented twenty years ago, and you have four more generations you did not have to research.

When it does not work, it goes like this.

What people actually want to leave

• Merges you did not ask for. Someone decides your great-uncle and a similarly named man from the next county are the same person, and merges them. Undoing it is slow and sometimes impossible.
• Curators and edit rights. On Geni, profiles of deceased people can become curated, and a curator's view wins. On WikiTree, pre-1700 profiles come under project protection with their own rules.
• Privacy you cannot fully set. Both systems are collaborative by design. Living relatives can usually be kept private, but the model pushes toward openness, and not every family is comfortable with that.
• Data you cannot cleanly take back. Once your research is merged into a shared profile, it is not simply yours to withdraw.

What a private tree does differently

A private tree inverts the trade. You do not inherit anyone else's research, so thin branches stay thin until you do the work. In exchange, nothing changes unless you change it, you decide who sees what, and the whole thing exports cleanly whenever you want.

For most families documenting three or four generations from living memory, the inherited-research upside barely applies. Nobody has already researched your grandmother's village neighbours. The stability matters more.

	Geni	WikiTree	A private tree
Cost for tree building	Free (Pro tier exists)	Free	Free
Who can edit your ancestors	Other users, curators	Other users, projects	Only you and people you invite
Inherits others' research	Yes, extensively	Yes	No
Merges without your consent	Possible	Possible	Not possible
Export your data	GEDCOM, Pro for some features	GEDCOM	GEDCOM
Best for	Connecting into deep documented lines	Well-sourced collaborative genealogy	A family record you control

You do not have to pick only one

The pragmatic answer that experienced researchers land on: keep a private tree as your master copy, and contribute to the shared trees deliberately, on the lines where collaboration is actually paying you back. Your master copy is the thing you back up, share with relatives and hand to the next generation. The shared tree is a research tool you visit.

The only rule that matters is that your master copy lives somewhere you control, and that you can export it.

Move your Geni or WikiTree tree over in one step

If you have already exported your tree, you do not need to retype any of it. Drop the .ged file below and it becomes a browsable family tree straight away. It is free to view, and a free account saves it permanently and lifts the guest preview limit.

Not exported yet? The step-by-step GEDCOM export guide covers Geni or WikiTree and every other major site.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can someone really edit my family tree on Geni or WikiTree?

Yes, on the profiles of deceased people. Both sites are built on one shared tree where a person has a single profile that everyone related to them works on. Living relatives can generally be kept private, but ancestors are collaborative by design.

Can I undo a merge on Geni?

Sometimes, but it gets harder the longer it has been and the more editing has happened since. This is the single most common reason people start keeping a private master copy alongside the shared tree.

Is Geni free?

The core tree building is free. A Pro tier adds features, and some functionality, including parts of the export and matching experience, is limited on free accounts.

Can I use a shared tree and a private tree at the same time?

Yes, and it is what most experienced researchers do. The private tree is the authoritative copy you back up and share with family. The shared tree is a research tool you contribute to where collaboration actually helps.

Download a Free Family Tree Template

Want to draw your family tree yourself? The My rOoOts Family Tree Template provides a free printable blank pedigree chart for documenting your family history across multiple generations.

👉 Download a free family tree template: Family Tree Template

Choose a 3-generation, 4-generation, or 5-generation family tree template and save it as a PDF for printing, writing, and documenting your ancestors.

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Create Your Family Tree for Free

Start building your family history in minutes with the My rOoOts Free Family Tree Creator. Add parents, grandparents, children, and relatives, organize generations visually, and create a beautiful family tree that you can save and share.

👉 Create your free family tree: Free Family Tree Creator

No design skills required. Simply enter your family details and generate a clear, easy-to-read family tree online for free.