A registered guest account is a free Ancestry® account. You have a registered guest account if you've never had a membership or your membership has ended.
Create a free account Membership options
Because registered guest accounts are free, there's no need to cancel them; you won’t be billed for a free registered guest account. Discontinue use whenever you'd like.
All Ancestry accounts require an email address, and each email address may be used with only one Ancestry account. If you don’t have an email address, or if your email address is shared and is already connected to an Ancestry account, you’ll need to create a new email address to create your Ancestry account.
As a registered guest, you can:
As a registered guest, you can't:
- View most records: You can search the site and find records that match your searches, but unless the records are free (or already downloaded), you can’t see the record images or transcriptions (including those already attached to your family trees).
- View public family trees: Without a membership, you can't view other members’ public family trees. But if someone invites you to view their tree, you can view it without a membership.
- View matches’ family trees: Without a membership, you can't access other members' trees (unless invited), but you’ll be able to see if a match has a family tree, view its size, and find out if it’s public or private. Because of this, without a membership, you won’t have access to:
- Matching surnames in matches’ trees: a list of last names that match in both your tree and a match’s tree.
- Matching ancestor birthplaces in matches’ trees: a list of birth locations for ancestors that match in both your tree and a match’s tree.
- Common ancestors in matches’ trees: a list of ancestors found in both your linked family tree and a match’s linked tree.
- ThruLines®: ThruLines shows how you might be related to your DNA matches through common ancestors in your linked family tree and your matches’ linked trees.
- See shared matches: People who are genetically related to both you and one of your matches and show up on both your list of matches and theirs.
- View some DNA traits: Without a membership, you can view 3 free traits, but the remaining traits are only visible with membership or the purchase of traits (with AncestryDNA or as an upgrade to AncestryDNA).
- Use DNA inheritance features:
Canceling a paid membership or deleting your account
If you have a paid membership to Ancestry, learn how to cancel it with Canceling a Membership.
For help deleting your Ancestry account, see Deleting Your Ancestry® Account.
