A common question genealogists ask, is “what’s the best data site for my genealogical dollar?”

It’s a question whose answer really is “it depends.”

I generally suggest to people that they maximize what is on FamilySearch, Archives.org, the newspapers at the Library of Congress, GoogleBooks, and the myriad of other free state/provincial and local websites. Those sites will keep researchers going for some time. It is also a good idea to interview the living relatives that you haven’t before it is too late.

Beyond that, the site that’s “best” depends on several things:

• the location and time period of your research
• what the site has to offer
• how much time you will actually use the site
• how much you have to spend

There’s not one answer that will apply to all people. Earlier I wrote about short-term subscriptions and some items to consider when beginning a short-term subscription (including the advantages).

Most sites allow potential subscribers to scan their holdings to see what materials they have for what locations. Do this before you subscribe. For me, a one month subscription to Ancestry.com would be worth it just to access the ELCA database (my maternal ancestors are virtually 100% Lutheran and there are at least three congregations my ancestors attended represented in that database). I can’t access the film and use it for the price of a one month subscription. I’m paying Ancestry.com for the convenience of having access to the records at home at my convenience. Fold3.com has a full name index to Revolutionary War pension records. I have probably twenty or so actual ancestors living during that time, not including aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. (That’s not as many as some of my readers, but I descend from a lot of 19th century immigrants) .Getting access to that for a month is well worth one month’s membership. Whether it’s worth it to someone else will depend upon where their ancestral interests rest.

Another suggestion is to harvest what you can from the site for a month and then spend time organizing and analyzing what you have found. That will take a while and making a list of followup work is an integral part of this process.

Whether the subscription price is one that a person can comfortably afford is not a question I can answer. That depends upon each person’s personal situation.

Having an ongoing subscription to a genealogical database can be a disadvantage for some searchers. Since the information is “always there,” it is very easy to become lazy and sloppy with the research. Knowing that you have an end time may keep you more focused and a little more likely to actively harvest instead of mindlessly gathering.