Hungarian Genealogy & DNA: Comparing Ancestry.com & MyHeritage.com

There has been considerably discussion in our Facebook group regarding DNA testing and which companies are the most beneficial in regards to Hungarian research. While both Ancestry and MyHeritage offer powerful tools, they serve different strategic purposes for those tracing roots in Hungary. This post will highlight the pros and cons of the DNA tests and matches available through both Ancestry and MyHeritage.

DNA with Ancestry.com

Pros:

• Database: Because Ancestry is the market leader in the U.S., Canada, and the UK, it is the best tool for finding "cousin matches" among the Hungarian diaspora who emigrated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  
  
• Ethnicity Origins - Regions: Again, because Ancestry is a market leader with DNA testing, their ethnicity estimates are superior to MyHeritage. Ancestry's last update from Oct 2025 significantly expanded their regions and sub-regions.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Clusters: Ancestry introduced an enhanced version of their "custom clusters" tool in October 2025. This tool allows you adjust the filter to include matches as low as 20 cM, which is vital for deeper research, and proceeds to automatically sort your matches. This is very similar to the "Auto Clusters" introduced by MyHeritage in 2019, though with greater filter capabilities. The example below is my most recent cluster created at Ancestry for a branch of my maternal great-grandmother's family.
  
  
  
  
  

Cons:

• RAW DNA: While Ancestry provides the option to download your RAW DNA with their settings, they do not allow you to view or download matching segment data with your DNA matches. This is crucial information for determining proper DNA connections, as well as triangulated matches (3+ individuals sharing the same segment, thus indicating they all descend from a common ancestor.).
  
  Ancestry also does not allow you to upload your RAW DNA from another company - you must test with Ancestry.
  
  
• Filters: Ancestry allows you to filter your DNA matches by Tree details (private, public or unlinked trees) and Shared DNA (close matches, distant matches, custom centimorgan range). They furthermore allow you to filter by Groups (user-created), Journeys (Ancestry-created) and Parent. From a genealogical standpoint, I personally feel these tools don't particularly help us well with accurately narrowing down our search.
  
  
• Pricing: DNA tests through Ancestry are undeniably the more expensive option. They regularly have sales throughout the year, however, those sales can vary between $29, $39 and $59; while the non-sale test goes for $99 (including shipping).
  
  

DNA with MyHeritage.com

Pros:

• Database: More people currently living in Hungary and neighboring countries (Slovakia, Romania, Serbia) tend to test with MyHeritage. Testing with MyHeritage will increase your chances of finding local matches whose ancestors and immediate family remained in Europe.
  
  
• RAW DNA: MyHeritage is a step ahead of Ancestry, and has been for many years, in that they do provide and allow you to download the matching segment data with your DNA matches. This is crucial and extremely important data when analyzing and conducting DNA research. This segment data allows you to see (and download) on which chromosome you share DNA with a match. You can then take that downloaded segment data and input it into an application, such as DNA Painter.
  
  

  

  Advanced options > Download shared DNA info

  
  
  

  

  Screenshot of my personal DNA Painter account, using the
  downloaded segment data from MyHeritage and GEDmatch.
  This significantly helps with triangulated matches (a shared common ancestor).

  
  
  
• Filters: MyHeritage allows you to filter your DNA matches by tree details (user-submitted family trees), relationships (close family, extended family, and distant relatives) and locations. The locations filter may be the most beneficial, in that you can specifically narrow down your matches to only individuals presently residing in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, etc.
  
  

  

  Filter by Location > Hungary

  
  
• Pricing: The standard price for DNA kits at MyHeritage are $89 (including shipping), which is already $10 cheaper than Ancestry. While they have sales, the prices of their DNA kits can range from $25, $29, $36 and $59. MyHeritage currently has a sale for DNA tests at $36, ending at midnight on February 24, 2026 PST (early morning February 25th for those on the East Coast or in Europe).

Cons:

• RAW DNA: MyHeritage previously allowed users to upload their RAW DNA from other companies, for a small fee, however, during the summer of 2025 this unfortunately came to an end. MyHeritage now requires you to purchase their DNA kit.
  
  
• Ethnicity Estimate: Because of the smaller user-base at MyHeritage, their ethnicity estimates are not as accurate or reliable as Ancestry.com.

Conclusion

Test with both Ancestry and MyHeritage while they have sales on their DNA tests. Ancestry will help you locate family members from branches of immigrant-line ancestors, while MyHeritage will help you locate family members still in Europe. Because Ancestry does not allow you to download or view specific segment data between matches, it is always suggested to upload your RAW DNA to GEDmatch.com.