Two of the leading companies when it comes to DNA testing, are 23andMe and MyHeritage.
You will often see the names of these two companies floating around when in search of the best DNA testing kits on the market.
If you have questions about your heritage and relations from the past, the tests will be able to give you all of the answers that you have been searching for.
So many people are taking an adventure into the past with these tests, and they can be really helpful in giving you interesting information about your family, relationships, and even your own health and ethnicity.
Here, we are going to provide you with everything that you need to know about both of these companies, so you can decide for yourself which one is the best option for you.
What is a DNA Testing Kit?
If you are only just beginning to discover all about the latest DNA testing companies, it might help to learn what a DNA testing kit actually entails. This testing will examine the genetic code that each individual person carries in their DNA.
Usually, this will involve a saliva or cheek swab sample being taken, which will then be closely examined in a laboratory. Everybody has different DNA, and it can tell you more about yourself than you might originally think.
When you purchase a DNA testing kit, the company will send you a kit in the post, which you can use yourself at home. When you have completed your sample, you will need to return it in the mail to the lab of the company you have chosen.
The time it takes for your results to come back will vary, depending on the company's guidelines. You will then be given access to your results either online through the website or via a paper copy.
23andMe Vs MyHeritage
Both of these companies are highly successful in providing DNA test results that can link you back to your ancestors. 23andMe is one of the most popular DNA testing companies available in today’s market, and they have tested millions of people.
It is ranked as the second-largest DNA testing company when you look at how many people are using their services. The testing experience is straightforward and easy to understand and can give you all the information you need to know about your health traits and DNA ancestry.
23andMe offers two different types of DNA testing kits that vary in price. The first of which is the cheapest option, and it is called the Ancestry and Traits service, and the second option is the Health and Ancestry kit, which is more expensive.
Both services will require that you submit a saliva sample after receiving your test kit, which will then be sent back to be tested at their labs.
They also both include features that allow you to explore how your DNA connects you to other people, find your genetic matches, and find estimates on how closely you are related.
Included with the Ancestry and traits service are your full ancestry report, traits report, and a raw and uninterpreted genetic data file.
The Health and Ancestry kit comes with everything that is included with the first, plus some added extras. The extras included are the DNA relatives feature, carrier status, health predisposition report, and wellness report.
My Heritage began in 2003 as a company that provided software for you to build your own family tree. Over time, this company expanded its services and has been able to build one of the world’s largest historical records databases.
They started to offer DNA testing kits not long after the technology became available. To be able to compete with their competitors, they added health kits to their services too.
DNA testing is becoming a highly competitive market, and there are now more options to choose from than ever before.
In terms of the actual tests, 23andMe will require a sample of your saliva in order to complete the test, and MyHeritage will require a cheek-swab sample. This will give them the sample in which they can study your DNA.
The Results
You can trust both of these companies to provide reliable results, but the contents of these results may be slightly different.
MyHeritage offers more detailed information and more focused results than 23andMe, and it uses a percentage-based estimate to notify you of which ethnicity categories you belong to.
This will tell you everything about your past and answer any questions that you might have. The results are based on over 42 ethnic regions, and some of these are actually exclusive to MyHeritage.
As well as the breakdown of your DNA and your ethnicity estimate, you can also get DNA matching, which will help you to find long lost relatives, or relatives you didn’t even know existed.
If any of those people happened to have joined the website themselves, you would even be able to talk to them through it.
23andMe will offer you different results depending on which test you ordered. The two tests available will provide you with different information.
If you order the kit that is all about ancestry, you will only be given information surrounding your ancestry composition, timeline, and composition. You will be shown a breakdown of where you come from and how many generations ago that the specific generations came into your lineage.
For the ancestry and health test, your results will be slightly different, and they will offer you more details. You will learn more about your genes, and which genetic health conditions that you may be more prone to, and even other interesting things like traits and wellness.
The option that you choose here will depend on what type of information you are looking for. If you specifically want to know all about your ancestry and want to know about it in lots of detail, then the MyHeritage test kit is probably the best choice for you.
However, if you want to know more about yourself and your own genes, then the 23andMe health test would be a better option.
Differences Between 23andMe and MyHeritage
For testing, 23andMe actually has the most users out of the two companies, which means that they have a bigger pool of data to draw from and compare with.
However, MyHeritage has been around for a long time as a genealogy research company, which means that while they have fewer DNA testing kit users, they have more users in general that are using their other services.
Over 100 million people are using the MyHeritage family tree software, which is much more than 23andMe, so there is a huge amount of resources that can be linked to keeping on building. This will also make it much easier to locate family members and relatives through the site.
23andMe is one of the first companies that started to offer DNA testing kits when they first came around. They also were among the first to offer home testing kits, which gave them an advantage in the market that has helped them to expand their user database today.
They have one of the largest databases, and almost 80% of their customers will choose to take part in further DNA research. This makes 23andMe the best option for health-related DNA testing.
Cost
For some people, the cost might not need to be considered when deciding which company to buy a DNA testing kit from. However, for those on a budget, it will be a significant factor in the decision-making process.
23andMe is the most expensive option out of the two, especially if you are looking at the health testing kit, which is even more costly. MyHeritage is less expensive and closer to the standard price of a DNA testing kit.
Conclusion
It is fairly simple to make a decision on which company you should go to for a DNA testing kit, depending on what type of information you are looking for.
MyHeritage simply cannot compete with 23andMe when it comes to health testing, as they are much more superior when it comes to providing you with relevant information about your health and genetics. This is due to the large database that they can refer to.
However, MyHeritage does have a better database in terms of research in reference to creating a family tree. With such a large database, it makes it much easier to connect with relatives.
With their research services, you can access this database and look at important documents like birth and death certificates, military records, marriage certificates, and other documents of historical value.
Both of these companies have different strengths and weaknesses, but everything will depend on what you want to get out of your DNA test.
If you are looking for information about your health, 23andMe is the best place to get it, and if you want a more detailed ancestry report, then MyHeritage is the better option as they can help you to map out your entire family history and provide you with access to interesting historical documents.