Thinking of getting a Y-DNA (male line) test for genealogy? Prices are plummeting. Have they got a deal for you!
At Ancestry, for limited time, half price. A 33 marker Y-DNA test for $74.50, a 46 Y-DNA marker test for $99.50.
At Family Tree DNA, for new clients, a sizzling summer sale until 30 September. Get a 37 market Y-DNA test for only $20 more that the regular 12 marker group rate, or get a free mtDNA test with the regular group rate for a 12 marker Y-DNA test ($99).
FamilyBuilder: a new company mainly into social networking for genealogy, offers a 17-marker Y-DNA test for $59.95.
Before going for the lowest price, remember, you need more than just the analysis, a series of numbers that mean little to the average person? You want to know the significance for your genealogy.
If you have a relative, or suspected relative, with a Y-DNA result to compare your result with, perhaps to verify or disprove a common paternal ancestor, a basic analysis from any reliable company will suffice.
But, if you're looking to find people yet unknown to you whose Y-DNA matches yours, favour a company with a significant database of existing clients. Having completed your analysis their computer will attempt to find genetic matches for you. The larger the database, and the more people who test, the more chance of finding a match or close match.
Family Tree DNA claim on their web site that 9 out of 10 genealogists choose that company. That claim seems to be uncontested. As of 14 September 2008 FTDNA have 135,124 Y-DNA records in their database.
You might as well test at Sorenson (smgf.org) as well -- it's a 43-marker test completely FREE! They are trying to build up their database numbers, so it's free for now. Click on "request a participation kit" and fill in the form. I had my 19-yr old son do it and was surprised how fast the kit arrived....you send back your dna sample along with a gedcom file or written pedigree. They won't send the dna results to you, but your results will appear in their online database (be prepared for a long wait though!). Names of persons born after 1900 are kept private. Their online database shows only matches and mismatches (not exact marker numbers, so dna is kept private also), but with a little practice it is quite easy to extract your numbers (http://www.mennonitedna.com/ explains how -- of course, most of us won't be searching for mennonite dna but other than that the method works for everyone). I extracted my dad's dna results from Sorenson, then posted them onto www.ybase.org and www.ysearch.org as well, in order to find more matches.
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