Gramps-project
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Use it if you are a serious family historian comfortable with open-source software and community-only support . it is completely free and unusually deep.
New check
Comparison
Gramps-project vs MyHeritage
Gramps-project and MyHeritage both land on Depends.
MyHeritage
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Reasonable for casual family-tree builders and DNA curiosity, especially European ancestry . but keep a close eye on auto-renewals.
| Compare | Gramps-project | MyHeritage |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Serious hobbyist genealogists | Casual family-tree builders |
| Who it's not for | Casual users who want a quick, pretty family tree | Anyone privacy-cautious about DNA data . 92M accounts leaked |
| Privacy | One critical CVSS 9.1 path-traversal CVE in the Gramps Web API (April 2026); desktop app not implicated in reviewed sources.⁷ | Breached: 92.3M user credentials exposed (disclosed 2018); one old client-side CVE.15 |
| Support quality | Volunteer-run; forum support only | Billing disputes dominate complaint threads |
| Public sentiment | Users praise Gramps as the deepest tool in its category but note it is volunteer-run and divides opinion on usability.⁴ | Opinion is split: hobbyist genealogists find value in it, while a loud segment of users complain about billing, renewals, and pricing.14 |
| Biggest gotcha | CVE-2026-40258: Zip Slip path traversal in Gramps Web media import . self-hosters must patch⁷ | Auto-renewal traps: users report unexpected renewal charges, including a $149 BBB complaint |
Pick Gramps-project when
- Serious hobbyist genealogists
- Open-source and offline-first researchers
- Zero-budget deep family-tree projects
- Self-hosters wanting a web tree
When Gramps-project is not a fit
- Casual users who want a quick, pretty family tree
- Families wanting easy sharing and collaboration
- Anyone needing vendor support, SLAs, or hand-holding
- Non-technical users unwilling to tinker
Pick MyHeritage when
- Casual family-tree builders
- Hobbyist genealogists chasing European records
- DNA relative and adoption searches
- Ethnicity-estimate curiosity
When MyHeritage is not a fit
- Anyone privacy-cautious about DNA data . 92M accounts leaked
- Serious US-focused genealogists . Ancestry's records run deeper
- One-time testers unwilling to pay recurring subscriptions for record access
- Anyone who resents auto-renewal billing . complaints are everywhere
Sources
- Gramps (software) . Wikipediaen.wikipedia.orgofficial
- Gramps-Project.org Costs & Featuresgenealogy-software.no1reviews.comreview
- Gramps-Project.org User Reviewsgenealogy-software.no1reviews.comreview
review
- Gramps Web Frontend . GitHubgithub.comofficial
security
- CVE-2026-40258 Detail . NVDnvd.nist.govsecurity
- Gramps on Snap Storesnapcraft.ioofficial
- Gramps Reviews . SourceForgesourceforge.netreview
- MyHeritage official sitemyheritage.comofficial
- MyHeritage pricing pagemyheritage.comofficial
- 855 MyHeritage Reviews . PissedConsumermyheritage.pissedconsumer.comreview
- MyHeritage Data Breach . Have I Been Pwnedhaveibeenpwned.comsecurity
- MyHeritage data breach: 92.3M credentials exposed . SecurityAffairssecurityaffairs.comsecurity