Best DNA test for Adoptees

I often receive the question: "I am adopted, which DNA test should I take to help me find my birth parents?" or “Which DNA test will help me find my biological father?” My personal recommendation would be to start with AncestryDNA. They currently have the largest database of testers with over 23 million people as of March 2023. This increases your chances of finding close matches that could potentially help you identify your birth parents in the quickest and easiest way possible.

AncestryDNA has a feature called Thrulines, and this feature can be helpful in learning about your birth family. Another reason I recommend AncestryDNA as the first place to test is because, unfortunately, you can not upload your DNA data from another company there, but you can upload your AncestryDNA to MyHeritage and LivingDNA.

If cost is not a concern, you could test as well at 23andme because they also do not allow uploads. If you are eager to get answers as quickly as possible, this gives you another chance at finding close matches that could help you answer your questions.

The DNAtests you could consider are included below along with what I feel are the main pros and cons of each:

AncestryDNA: Pros: largest database, family trees, Thrulines

23andme: Pros: health data, maternal and paternal haplogroups

MyHeritage: Pros: can upload data from other companies, family trees

FTDNA: Pros: can upload data from other companies, messages are emails not internal messaging system.

LivingDNA: Pros: can upload data from other companies, Cons: still new, smaller database

It is possible that when you receive your results, the answers you were looking for will be obvious. In other cases, you will need to do some work to get the answer you seek. Learning the identity of your birth parents or birth father requires patience and skills in genealogy and genetic genealogy.

If you would like help identifying your birth parents using your DNA matches, check out my birth parent identifying service here