The world of genetic genealogy is evolving rapidly, with new and improved tools regularly becoming available. Most of the innovation comes from third parties, such as DNA Painter and BanyanDNA, developing tools which are lacking at the DNA testing companies, so it is nice to see the larger DNA testing companies upping their game.

A few weeks ago, Ancestry released their Pro Tools offering in Canada. In the preceding months it had been rolled-out in the USA and has since seen the light of day in several other countries. I signed up immediately and it has certainly been worthwhile, although Pro Tools is still considered to be a beta feature (it is fairly buggy at this stage, and changes are being made based on user feedback).

Four years ago, I suggested that the DNA testing companies’ business model (pay a one-time fee for service forever) was flawed, and they they should move to a subscription model if they want to stay in business. This was at a time when Ancestry had changed their lowest viewable DNA match from 6 cM to 8 cM due to the cost of data storage and processing power. I suggested that users should continue to receive ethnicity and basic DNA match information with their one-time test fee, but that a premium service could be offered for a suggested monthly fee of $10. This premium service –

• Could provide access to DNA matches below 8 cM
• Should include a chromosome browser and triangulation of matches
• Should not be part of an Ancestry records subscription
• Fund the development of additional new features

Ancestry’s initial Pro Tools offering –

• Shows matches down to 6 cM on the shared match page (but some people report 8 cM)
• Does not include a chromosome browser or triangulation of matches, but it is does show the amount of DNA shared, and suggested relationship, of your selected match, as if you were looking at their shared match list
• Requires an Ancestry records subscription
• Includes some tree checking, charting and story features
• Price seems to fluctuate between markets and may change, but is currently less than Cdn $8 per month

So, not entirely what I suggested, but Ancestry has dipped their toe in the water, and the feature set does have immediate value to anyone who is seriously using autosomal DNA matching to enhance their family history. I have already identified my relationship to several previously unknown DNA matches on each ancestral line of my tree, plus many others on tests that I manage or have access to view. So I am very happy with this initial offering.

Critics are bemoaning having to pay a monthly fee, but they don’t seem to understand that the DNA testing market growth is waning, and if we want to keep these companies in business, providing the services we value (perhaps with even better features in the future), then we have to let them evolve to a subscription model.

There is already talk of enhancements to the Sideview feature, perhaps showing which grandparent’s ancestral line a DNA match is on (currently Sideview shows if the match is paternal or maternal), or showing which side of a match’s tree the shared match is on.

The best thing that we genealogists can do is to sign up for Pro Tools (for at least one month) and provide feedback to Ancestry on what we like, what we don’t like and what we would like to see included in the future.