Genealogy Software Comparison Chart Constructed by Wholly Genes Software, copyright (c) 1998, and updated 28 Dec 1998.
Note: Wholly Genes Software believes the contents herein to be accurate and has provided each vendor an opportunity to preview its contents. Vendors are encouraged to refer corrections to [email protected]. The most recent version of this chart is available from
The Master Genealogist The Master Genealogist Ultimate Family Tree Family Tree Maker Generations 4.2 v3.7 Gold Edition v3.7 Silver Edition v2.9 Platinum Edition Deluxe Edition III v5.0 Deluxe Edition Hardware Requirements (minimum recommendations) Computer 486 486 486DX/66 486 486/66 Operating System Win 3.1, 95, 98 Win 3.1, 95, 98 Win 3.1, 95, 98 Win 3.1, 95, 98 Win 3.1, 95, 98 Memory 16 Mb 16 Mb 8 Mb (Win 3.1) or 16 16Mb 12 Mb Mb (Win 95/98) Disk Space 22 Mb (minimum) - 40 22 Mb (minimum) - 40 Mb 49 Mb (Win 3.1) or 70 12 Mb 8 Mb Mb (full installation) (full installation) Mb (Win 95/98)
CAPACITY Independent databases Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited People per database Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 2000000 30000 Families per database Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 30000 Events per person Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 7 [Note A]
Names per person Unlimited Unlimited 6; Primary name, 2 4 [Note A] Alias1, Alias2, Signature, Religious name, and Common name Parents per person (foster, step, etc.) Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 2 pairs
Spouses per person Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 99 26 Children per "family" Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 99 20 Participants in an event Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 1 (personal) or 2 (marriage) 1 (personal) or 2 (marriage) Images per person Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 2000 Unlimited; through family
Images per event Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited none 2000 per marriage Images per source Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited none none Images per repository Unlimited Unlimited none none none Flags per person Unlimited Unlimited 10 none none Sources Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Source citations per name Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited for primary Unlimited Limited [Note B] name but no citations for aliases, common name, etc. Source citations per event (including date/place) Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Limited [Note B] Source citations specific to date Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited none Limited [Note B] Source citations specific to place Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited none Limited [Note B] Source citations specific to memo Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited none Limited [Note B] Source citations specific to parent/child relationship Unlimited Unlimited Only through birth none none event Repositories Unlimited Unlimited 1 field per source, no 1 field per source, no none master list master list Repositories per source Unlimited Unlimited 1 text field of variable 1 text field of 256 characters none length Characters per name 100 characters each for 100 characters each for 52 characters in one 48 characters in one field 40 for given name, 25 title, given, surname, title, given, surname, field for last name, 16 for title suffix suffix Characters per place 100 in each of 6 fields 100 in each of 6 fields 30 characters (short 256 in one field 60 in one field place) and/or 65000 characters (long place) in each of 4 fields
Characters per memo 65535 65535 65535 30000 31999 Memos per person Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 1 3
SHORTCUTS Cut / copy / paste, keyboard hotkeys YES YES YES YES YES Repeat key on each field YES YES no no no; fastfields on many fields Repeat list of recent values in each field YES YES no no no Repeat source citations YES YES no no YES List all prior values in each field during data entry YES YES no no YES, place only (last 50)
Configurable toolbar buttons YES YES no no no Tooltips (aka Bubble help) YES YES YES YES no Macros YES YES YES no no Bookmarks YES, 10 YES, 10 no no no The Master Genealogist The Master Genealogist Ultimate Family Tree Family Tree Maker Generations 4.2 v3.7 Gold Edition v3.7 Silver Edition v2.9 Platinum Edition Deluxe Edition III v5.0 Deluxe Edition DATA IMPORT From GEDCOM YES YES YES YES YES Directly from PAF(tm) YES, v2.x YES, v2.x no YES, v2.x, 3.0 no Directly from Family Tree Maker(tm) YES, v3.x, 4.x YES, v3.x, 4.x no YES no Directly from Roots III(tm) YES YES YES no no Directly from Family Origins(tm) YES YES no no no Directly from Brother's Keeper(tm) YES YES no no no Directly from Ultimate Family Tree(tm) and predecessors YES YES YES no no Directly from Everyone's Family Tree(tm) YES YES no no no Directly from The Master Genealogist(tm) YES YES no no no Directly from Generations(tm) no no no no YES Directly from other programs? YES YES no no no Directly from other BACKUP formats YES YES no no no
DISPLAY [Note C] Person View YES YES YES no YES Number of events displayed at once 30 30 6 n/a; "fact" screen shows 13 7
Number of children displayed at once 30 30 4 n/a none Family View YES YES YES YES YES Number of generations at once 3 3 3 3 (one grandparent at a 3 time; status bar changes according to position of cursor) Birth, death and marriage info for subject and spouse YES YES Birth/Death years only, YES YES, all events for marriage date and subject and spouse place Birth and death dates of other generations YES YES Years only no Years only Number of children displayed at once 26 26 6 4 20 Birth and death dates of children YES YES Years only Birth dates only no
Spouse of children YES YES no YES (spouse of one child at no a time; status bar changes according to position of cursor) Tree/Pedigree/Ancestor View YES YES YES YES YES Number of generations at once 6 6 5 99 (legibility according to 5 hardware) Number of children displayed at once 18 18 7 none none (popdown list shows 20) Number of siblings displayed at once 18 18 7 99 (legibility according to none (popdown list hardware) shows 20) Screen grows to accommodate different screen resolutions YES, 600x480, 800x600, YES, 600x480, 800x600, no YES, unlimited YES, various 1024x768 1024x768 Chronological display of events YES YES YES no, alphabetical no History of navigation YES YES YES no YES Automatic calculation of age at each event YES YES YES; on individual no no event screens only Automatic calculation of relationship with researcher YES YES no no no Display people in different colors depending on YES YES no no YES, based on child characteristics status only
SEARCHING By ID Number YES YES YES YES YES By surname or given name YES YES YES YES YES By any alternate name(s) YES YES requires multiple YES YES searches By Soundex of Last Name YES YES YES no no By Soundex of Given Name YES YES YES no no By phonetic value (not Soundex) YES YES no no no By user-defined reference value YES YES YES YES YES By event dates & places YES YES YES YES YES By existence of event YES YES YES N/A; events cannot be no recorded without date, place, or comment By user-defined complex (AND/OR) expressions YES, 8 expressions YES, 8 expressions YES, grouping no YES, 2 expressions By other criteria YES YES YES YES YES The Master Genealogist The Master Genealogist Ultimate Family Tree Family Tree Maker Generations 4.2 v3.7 Gold Edition v3.7 Silver Edition v2.9 Platinum Edition Deluxe Edition III v5.0 Deluxe Edition DATA ENTRY Master Place List YES YES YES no YES Master Source List YES YES YES YES YES Master Repository List YES YES no no no Standard event types YES, 92 YES, 92 YES, 167 YES, 41 YES, 7 Generic historical events YES YES no no no Theme-oriented timelines YES, 36 provided YES, 36 provided YES, 3 provided YES, 10 provided no Timelines can be edited by the user YES YES YES no Other timelines can be created/shared YES YES YES no Listed in chronology with user events YES YES YES (split screen only) YES (in report only)
Multiple visible at once YES, unlimited YES, unlimited no YES, 10 maximum no Different timelines linked to different people YES YES no no no Reference Number YES YES YES YES YES, within limits [Note A] LDS events YES YES YES YES no People have ID numbers YES YES YES YES YES User-definable YES YES YES YES no User-defined data entry types YES YES YES YES YES Event types YES, unlimited YES, unlimited Yes, unlimited YES, unlimited YES, within limits [Note A] Custom events can be used to replace birth, death, YES, unlimited YES, unlimited YES; death, marriage, no YES, birth and death marriage, divorce events and divorce only only. Name types YES, unlimited YES, unlimited no no YES, within limits [Note A] Parent/child relationship types YES, unlimited YES, unlimited YES, unlimited no YES, within limits [Note A] Flags YES, unlimited YES, unlimited YES, 10 maximum per no no person Flag values YES, unlimited YES, unlimited no, True/False only no no Birthorder independent of date/sort date of birth YES YES no YES, relative to entered YES, relative to entered children only children only Enter date, place, and memo for each event YES YES YES YES, but place and memo in no; date and place for 4 same field events. Single field for 3 others. Independent "sort date" field YES YES YES no, events sorted no alphabetically Latitude and Longitude YES YES no no no Alternate names (other than primary) YES, unlimited YES, unlimited YES, 5 YES, 1 YES, within limits [Note A] Special coding of sensitive data YES YES no no no Structured (sortable) dates with modifiers YES YES YES YES YES Before, after, circa, about dates YES YES YES YES YES Old Style dates YES YES YES YES YES Estimated / Est or uncertain dates YES, converts to circa YES, converts to circa YES YES, converts to about no Approximately YES, converts to circa YES, converts to circa no no YES Say YES YES no no no Between _ and _ YES YES no YES YES Either _ or _ YES YES no no no From _ to _ YES YES no no no Pre YES, converts to before YES, converts to before no no no
Ante YES, converts to before YES, converts to before no no no
Post YES, converts to after YES, converts to after no no no < , >, +/-, etc. shortcuts YES YES no no no b, c, a, etc. shortcuts YES YES no no no Old Style if month is unknown YES YES YES no no Old Style with other qualifiers (circa, etc.) YES YES YES YES no Unstructured (freeform / irregular) YES YES YES no no LDS date codes (submitted, cleared cancelled) YES YES YES YES no Customizable date entry/display? YES YES YES YES YES mm/dd/yyyy, dd/mm/yyyy, etc. YES YES YES YES YES Mmm dd yyyy, dd Mmm yyyy, etc. YES YES YES YES YES yyyy.mm.dd YES YES YES no no Existing dates converting when configuration changed YES YES no YES YES The Master Genealogist The Master Genealogist Ultimate Family Tree Family Tree Maker Generations 4.2 v3.7 Gold Edition v3.7 Silver Edition v2.9 Platinum Edition Deluxe Edition III v5.0 Deluxe Edition SOURCES Master Source List YES YES YES YES YES Master Repository List YES YES no no no User-defined freeform citations YES YES YES YES YES User-defined source components YES YES YES no no Source categories YES, 105 YES, 105 YES YES, 22 YES, none provided Allows user-defined categories YES YES YES no YES Customizable source templates for each source type YES YES YES no, output format for each no, one customizable source must be modified template for all source directly types; each source must be modified directly
Long form template YES YES YES no no Short form template YES YES no, uses abbreviation no no fields Bibliographic form template YES YES YES no no Customize templates globally YES YES YES no no Customize templates for individual sources YES YES no no no Customizable data entry fields YES YES YES no no Merge sources and their citations YES YES YES YES no
Merge repositories YES YES no no no Automatic construction of citations YES YES YES YES no Automatic placement of long vs. short forms of the citation YES YES YES, to file only no no Automatic use of "ibid." YES YES YES, to file only no no Overall surety or certainty of source YES YES YES YES no Surety assessment for each citation YES YES YES no no for identity of people YES YES YES no no for date YES YES YES no no for place YES YES YES no no for memo YES YES YES no no Disproven data (negative surety) YES YES YES no, negative surety for no whole source only Cite source of each name YES YES no, primary name only no, not for AKA field YES
Cite source of each event YES YES YES YES YES Cite source of each relationship YES YES no; as role in birth no no event only Cite source of sources (nested sources) YES YES no no no
MULTIMEDIA Image formats BMP, GIF, IMG, PCX, BMP, GIF, IMG, PCX, PCX, GIF, PCD, BMP, BMP, PCX, TIF, JPG, and BMP, PCX, and GIF TIF, X11, TGA, JPG, TIF, X11, TGA, JPG, EPS, ICO, JPG, MAC, JFF. GGC, MAC, MSP, WPG, GGC, MAC, MSP, WPG, MSP, PSD, PCT, TGA, PIC, and RAS PIC, and RAS TIF, and PCL
Internal images YES YES YES YES no External images referenced by file name YES YES YES no, external images are YES imported Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) YES YES YES YES no Image conversion YES YES YES no no Zoom, scale, flip, etc. YES YES YES YES no Sound clips YES YES YES YES no Video files YES, through OLE only YES, through OLE only YES, though OLE YES, through OLE only no
Images output in narrative reports YES, to file only no YES, to file only YES no Images output to HTML for web pages YES no YES no no Images output in other reports Coming in v4.0 no YES, Box Chart, YES no Pedigree Chart The Master Genealogist The Master Genealogist Ultimate Family Tree Family Tree Maker Generations 4.2 v3.7 Gold Edition v3.7 Silver Edition v2.9 Platinum Edition Deluxe Edition III v5.0 Deluxe Edition Research or Correspondence Log YES YES YES YES YES, a single field of 32000 characters Attach tasks to individual people YES, unlimited YES, unlimited YES no no, log applies to entire data set Attach tasks to individual events YES, unlimited YES, unlimited YES no no Attach tasks to individual sources YES, unlimited YES, unlimited YES no no Attach tasks to individual repositories YES, unlimited YES, unlimited no no no Track task status YES, designed, planned YES, designed, planned YES; created, started, YES, completed Y/N no begun, progress, and begun, progress, and progress, and due completed completed Track expense associated with each task YES YES YES no no Print "To-Do" lists YES YES YES, entire text field(s) YES YES, entire log only only
PUBLICATION TOOLS Table of Contents YES no YES YES no Endnotes YES YES YES YES, Genealogy Report only YES
Can span multiple reports YES YES YES no no Real bottom-of-the-page footnotes YES, to file only no YES, to file only no no Citations embedded in text output YES YES YES YES, Genealogy Report only no
Unique endnotes YES, to screen or printer YES, to screen or printer no no no only only Index of people by surname YES, to file only no YES, although it warns YES, to printer only YES that indexes to screen/printer may contain errors Index of people by given name YES, to file only no no no no Index by married name even if it doesn't appear in the text YES, to file only no only if manually entered no no as an "Alias" Index of places YES, to file only no YES, to screen/printer no no only Index of marriages by bride YES, to file only no YES no no Index of marriages by groom YES, to file only no YES no no Index values in freeform text YES, to file only no YES no no Multiple indexes in same exported report YES, to word processors no no no no that support multi-level indexes Bibliography YES YES YES YES no Supports word processor "Master Document" feature YES no no no no
OTHER UTILITIES Text file editor YES YES YES YES no Date calculator YES YES YES no no Regnal date converter YES YES no no no Relationship calculator YES YES YES no YES Popup calendar YES YES YES YES no Find duplicate people YES YES YES YES no Based on user-definable thresholds YES YES YES no no Spelling of name and parents' names YES YES YES n/a no Phonetic comparison of names and parents' names YES YES no n/a no Birth dates, Death Dates YES YES YES n/a no Exclude siblings YES YES no n/a no Exclude parent/child YES YES no n/a no Exclude different sexes YES YES YES n/a no Merge people YES YES YES YES no Side-by-side event view for people being merged YES YES no YES, but only shows no differing data Integrated chronological view of events YES YES no no no Global search/replace of place names YES YES YES no no Spell checker YES YES YES YES no Cite a source globally YES YES no no no Backup/restore data with compression YES YES YES YES YES Backup/restore program configuration YES YES YES no no Prompt for backups upon exiting YES YES no no, optional automatic no backup upon program startup Display surnames in all caps YES YES YES no YES Display given names in all caps YES YES no no YES The Master Genealogist The Master Genealogist Ultimate Family Tree Family Tree Maker Generations 4.2 v3.7 Gold Edition v3.7 Silver Edition v2.9 Platinum Edition Deluxe Edition III v5.0 Deluxe Edition DATA EXPORT Data to GEDCOM v4.0 YES YES YES YES no Data to GEDCOM v5.5 YES YES YES YES no (v5.01 only) Data to GEDCOM for Temple Ready YES YES no YES no Data to GEDCOM for Ancestral File YES YES YES YES YES All Data to ASCII text YES YES no no YES All Data to Delimited/Tab YES YES no no YES All Data to dBase YES YES no no no All Data to Lotus 1-2-3 YES YES no no no All Data to Microsoft Excel YES YES no no no All Data to other formats YES, Multiplan, SDF and YES, Multiplan, SDF and YES, proprietary no no others others "Event GEDCOM" Reports to Rich Text Format (RTF) YES YES YES YES, for Genealogy reports, YES Documented Events reports, or Bibliography reports only. Reports to HTML for web pages YES, most reports no YES, most reports no, HTML is produced by no web site Reports to ASCII text YES YES YES YES YES Reports directly to Microsoft Word format YES no no no no Reports directly to WordPerfect format YES no no no no Reports directly to WordStar format YES no no no no Reports directly to MS-Write/WordPad format YES no no no no Reports directly to MS-Works format YES no no no no Reports directly to Delimited/Tab YES YES YES YES YES Reports directly to Microsoft Excel format YES YES YES no no Reports directly to Lotus 1-2-3 format YES YES YES no no Reports directly to dBase format YES YES YES no no Reports directly to other formats YES, more than 50 YES, 13 formats YES, 11 formats no no formats supported supported for lists supported for lists Reports use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) YES no YES no YES
REPORT GENERATOR Report Design Wizard YES YES no no no Save user-defined report configurations for re-use later YES, unlimited YES, unlimited Box charts only YES, to printer only no Globally control name capitalization YES YES YES, surname only YES, surname only on some YES reports Filter reports to exclude unreliable dates/places/memos YES YES no no no Suppress specific citations YES YES no no no Suppress details for living people YES YES HTML output only no no WYSIWYG print preview YES YES YES YES YES, charts only Supports Letter, A4, and Legal paper size YES YES no; Legal for box charts YES YES
Portrait or Landscape YES YES YES; landscape for YES YES charts and image reports only Full justification on narrative reports YES YES YES no no Margin options 3 3 no 4 sides user-definable no Page number placement options Top or bottom; Left, Top or bottom; Left, Top right only Bottom center only no right, or alternating right, or alternating Page number style options YES, 5 types YES, 5 types no no no Narrative reports can include all name variations YES YES no, 2 maximum YES no Narrative reports can include blanks for missing data YES YES no no YES Control narrative sentences globally by event type YES YES YES no no Control narrative sentences locally for each individual event YES YES YES no no Control fonts YES YES YES YES YES, entire event only independently for Surnames YES YES no no no Given names YES YES no no no Report titles YES YES YES YES no Page numbers YES YES YES YES no Footnote reference numbers YES YES no no no Dates YES YES no no no Places YES YES no no no Memos YES YES YES no no Other text YES YES YES no no Translation of reports to other languages YES, to any language in YES, to any language in YES, French and no no all reports. Finnish, all reports. Finnish, German in some French, German, French, German, reports Norwegian, provided. Norwegian, provided. REPORT TYPES Ahnentafel YES YES YES YES YES Linear variety YES YES no no no Audit for illogical data YES YES no YES no User-defined threshholds YES YES no no no Database Summary YES YES YES no no Descendancy Chart YES YES YES YES YES Indented YES YES YES YES YES Wall chart Coming in v4.0 no YES YES YES Descendancy Narrative YES YES YES no no Number styles (Henry, MLA, etc.) YES YES YES no no Family Group Sheet YES YES YES YES YES Fan Chart Coming in v4.0 no YES YES no Frequency Distribution of People YES YES no no no Journal/Genealogy/Book Format YES YES YES YES YES Ancestor oriented YES YES YES no no Descendant oriented YES YES YES YES YES Register (NEHGS) format YES YES YES YES YES Modified Register (NGS) format YES YES YES YES no The American Genealogist (TAG) format YES YES no no no The Master Genealogist The Master Genealogist Ultimate Family Tree Family Tree Maker Generations 4.2 v3.7 Gold Edition v3.7 Silver Edition v2.9 Platinum Edition Deluxe Edition III v5.0 Deluxe Edition Custom YES YES YES no no Kinship/Relationship List Report YES YES YES YES no Individual Detail YES YES YES no YES Individual Narrative YES YES no no no Customizable list of citations YES YES no no no Customizable list of events YES YES YES 4 types only no Customizable list of names YES YES no no no Customizable list of people YES YES YES YES no Customizable list of places YES YES YES no no Customizable list of repositories YES YES no no no Customizable list of sources YES YES YES 2 types only no Customizable list of event types YES YES no no no Customizable list of research tasks YES YES YES YES no Customizable list of witnesses / roles YES YES YES no no Pedigree YES YES YES YES YES Compressed version YES YES no YES, but with boxes only no Wall chart Coming in v4.0 no no YES YES Relationship Chart YES YES YES no no Direct Drop YES YES YES no no Common Ancestor YES YES no no no Statistical Report YES YES no no no Index, TOC, Endnotes, etc.
BUNDLED MATERIAL YES [Note D] YES [Note E] YES [Note F] YES [Note G] YES [Note H]
DOCUMENTATION & SUPPORT Online Reference Manual YES YES YES no but Reference Manual no and Online Help (see below) are nearly identical Printed Reference Manual YES no YES YES YES Interactive Demo with Lessons YES YES no no no Online Help YES YES YES YES YES Startup Tips and Hints YES YES YES YES no Telephone Support YES YES YES YES YES E-mail support YES YES YES YES YES Web site www.whollygenes.com www.whollygenes.com www.uftree.com www.familytreemaker.com www.sierra.com Refund Policy 90 days 90 days 90 days 90 days 30 days
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE $99.00 $59.00 $69.99 $89.00 $49.95 (price through dealer may be lower) The Master Genealogist The Master Genealogist Ultimate Family Tree Family Tree Maker Generations 4.2 v3.7 Gold Edition v3.7 Silver Edition v2.9 Platinum Edition Deluxe Edition III v5.0 Deluxe Edition [Note A] Christening can be changed to one of 17 pre-defined event types and applies to all people in the data set. Two other "fact" fields (without dates) and two note fields can each be changed to one to 62 pre-defined fact types (including name types) and applies to all people in the data set.
[Note B] Sources are referenced in data entry fields by number (e.g., Birth place equals "Virginia @23"). The number of sources for each field is limited only by the amount of space in the field for such references.
[Note C] View distinguished from "report" here as a screen display in which the user can navigate through people who are all visible at once. Maximum values were measured at 1024x768. Lower screen resolutions may display less information. Higher resolutions may display more.
[Note D] Includes a) National Geographic Names Database (Geobase) b) The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy c) 1854 Gazetter of the United States d) Ancestry's Concise Genealogical Dictionary e) Genealogical Publications: A List of 50,000 Genealogical Sources at the Library of Congress f) Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources g) American Biographical Library The last six comprise a special edition of the Ancestry Genealogy Library(tm)
[Note E] Includes a) Trial Subscription to Ancestry.Com (Gold Edition includes more bundled material)
[Note F] Includes a) Multi-language Records Requester b) Photo Enhancer(tm) photo editing utility c) NetCard(tm) photo e-mail postcards d) Multimedia "How To" Tutorials e) World Photo Studio photos f) The Gazetteers g) Clip-art images and fonts h) Social Security Death Index i) Ultimate Data Library Master Index
[Note G] Includes a) Genealogy "How To" Guide b) FamilyFinder Index c) Social Security Death Index d) 5 World Family Tree CDs
[Note H] Includes a) Social Security Death Index b) Internet Detective c) Historic Records (Confederate and Union Generals, Titanic Passenger List, Early Immigrants, Medal of Honor recipients from Civil War, WWI, WWII, Vietnam) d) Read-only Viewer