Which DNA test is best? We compare the major brands.

Called 23andMe as a nod to each person's unique set of 23 chromosomes, 23andMe was the first kit in this lineup to offer the big four: health screenings and autosomal, maternal, and paternal testing. Competitors have since caught up on paper, but 23andMe's consistent growth in terms of regions and ways to evaluate health make it eternally hard to beat.

23andMe's FDA-cleared health screenings can give valuable information about risk of genetic and chronic illnesses (like BRCA1/BRCA2 or Type 2 diabetes), carrier status (like 29 variants of the CFTR gene associated with Cystic Fibrosis or the GJB2 gene associated with hearing loss), and lifestyle-impacting wellness genes (like the one that triggers more weight gain with a diet high in saturated fat). It's all packaged into some 150 reports that can be connected into the new Family Health History Tree. These can provide you with an important heads up about any checkups you may want to schedule, but obviously can't give a guaranteed view of your future health.

According to the site, 23andMe uses samples from over 1,500 geographic regions to nail ancestry breakdowns down to the 0.1 percent. A huge January 2019 update began to address 23andMe's blind spot: African and East Asian populations. (The test previously provided just three subgroups in the Sub-Saharan Africa region.) A Neanderthal Report was introduced in April 2020. 

Ancestry is able to connect so many people because of its mammoth genealogical pool. Since 1996, it has built a reserve of 15 million DNA sets (and counting) from more than 700,000 locations in over 1,000 ethnic regions. It's the best kit for detailing immigration patterns or tracking down biological relatives. Results also never go away and can be viewed indefinitely, as long as you keep up your subscription. 

As a top competitor should, Ancestry also offers a slightly more expensive kit that gives information on 18 inherited traits and attributes that can tell you why one kid has red hair and one doesn't — or who gave you that gene that makes you hate cilantro.

Ancestry does not offer separate mtDNA or Y-DNA tests, so if you're looking for direct tracing of your mother or father's line or results more specific to your maternal or paternal side, AncestryDNA may not be able to give those details. People of East Asian descent may find AncestryDNA frustrating due to a small reference sample and ambiguous results, though Asian regions were expanded in 2019. In the same 2019 update, Ancestry organized its broad North and South America regions into 11 categories including Indigenous Eastern South America, Indigenous Cuba, and Indigenous Americas-Mexico.

If your curiosity peaks at the breakdown of the ethnic areas you hail from, a purely autosomal test like MyHeritage avoids extra costs for putting you in touch with a database of distant relatives.

MyHeritage streamlines every part of the direct-to-consumer test process, from cutting out parental tracing (not necessary for the breakdown of your ethnic background), to uploading raw data, to getting results back within a month. Understanding genetic results is made easy with an animated walkthrough. From there, you can link an online family tree or try to connect with its nearly four billion family tree members. If MyHeritage finds possible relatives, you'll get an email.

Those speedy results are based on a pull from 42 graphic regions, most being European (not a lot, but definitely not nothing, especially for the price). Though its geographic blanket has stayed static for the past few years, the company has matured in one major way: As of May 2019, MyHeritage offers a health package composed of 11 genetic risk tests (including late-onset Alzheimer's and Parkinson's), three polygenic risk tests, and 15 carrier status reports. One caveat: You have to have already taken the autosomal MyHeritage test to upgrade to the Health Kit.

Not satisfied with your results from a beginner-level DNA test? FamilyTreeDNA is a no-brainer if you're looking for serious genealogy, as it's been said to be the only kit that can decipher whether a relative is from your mother or father's side of the family. Its database for connecting with biological relatives is robust, too.

This is not your average mtDNA and Y-DNA analysis, folks. To justify paying for each test separately, FamilyTreeDNA claims that its comparisons of 500 STR (short tandem repeat) markers, or specific segments of DNA that people share, and 150,000 of SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphisms) make them able to find what ancestors a specific population has in common. Past direct familial connections, FamilyTree delves into early migration patterns that genealogy or anthropology enthusiasts won't find elsewhere.

The most disappointing thing about FamilyTreeDNA isn't the fact that each test has to be conducted separately. It's one of the only big-name direct-to-consumer DNA companies that didn't join the promise to obtain express consent from users before sharing information with outside groups. Despite a seemingly-straightforward (ambiguous?) privacy policy on the main landing page, a statement on case-by-casing sharing of data with law enforcement is tucked away somewhere. In 2019, the company admitted to sharing genetic info with law enforcement without proper disclosure.

Alternate bestowment: The best test for hypochondriacs. Worrying about a mystery condition can be debilitating, and any warnings you can get offer such peace of mind. No DNA test's health screenings can diagnose everything or replace real doctor visits, but tellmeGen's deep dive into risks and inherited traits can provide crucial insight for anyone wanting to be proactive about wellness.

No other test pulls apart your medical history, identifies traits, or predicts possible future complications quite like tellmeGen. Your DNA is compared to over 550,000 markers to see how you fare against 125 different illnesses, as well as pinpoint any monogenic illnesses inherited through family members. Results are meticulously organized into a four-part Health Map: diseases broken down by symptoms and risk factor compared to the average person of your race, age, and gender, inherited conditions, pharmacological compatibility (how your body handles certain medication), and traits.

Transparency is a priority: The site gives exact names of the technology used, provides lab certificates, and explains the encryption process for those worried about privacy. 

TellmeGen is technically also an ancestry test, but not a reliable one. Just 70 ethnic groups make up the database so far, and regions in the Middle East and Asia are particularly limited. Obviously, connecting with relatives will be a bust.

If you definitely want all three tests but don't need quite need the advanced reporting of FamilyTree DNA, LivingDNA offers powerful insight into all familial lines for less than $100. It's a particularly valuable choice for people who are most interested in UK regions like the British Isles.

Living DNA offers mtDNA and Y-DNA tests in the basic kit with no extra charge — enough said. It pulls info from more than 80 geographical regions and 650,00 genetic markers going back 80,000 (!!!) years, making them able to provide pretty substantial detail when it comes to your pie chart —especially for the price. 

In February 2019, Living DNA closed a huge gap in the competition by (finally) adding a matching service to connect with found relatives. The free service is called Family Networks, and though it won't yet have the numbers that AncestryDNA does, it's promising to at least have the option. The company is constantly conducting surveys, testing new features, and adding new regions, which you can find in the news section.

With samples from more than 80 regions, LivingDNA's test coverage is pretty vast for the price — but it still won't be able to pinpoint origins as specifically as test with 300 or more (especially when it comes to coverage of Native Americans). Essentially, it's clean cut way to get that maternal and paternal tracing without paying for frills. Living DNA also has some of the slowest turnaround times, though wait time recently decreased from 10-12 weeks to 8-10 weeks.

AfricanAncestry is the only test on the market that focuses specifically on African regions. Maybe you've heard of it — considering it's gotten shoutouts from celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Erykah Badu, and the late Chadwick Boseman. It's not the most robust test in terms of a general sample pool, but dives deep into the few areas it does cover.

Up to 2,000 years of African heritage is baked into AfricanAncestry's pool. The company tests over 200 African ethnicities and 33,000 indigenous DNA samples from 40 African countries, offering the potential to trace back to individual tribes like Fulani, Tikar, or Hasa. Both men and women can trace their maternal roots with the MatriClan test and men can trace their paternal line with the PatriClan test — both sold separately. There's also an option to analyze a deceased person's DNA.

Shelling out $300 for a single test — one that doesn't even cover genetics on the basis of health or disease risk factors — is a steep request for a sample pool this sparse, as it gives a lot of leeway for results to be inconclusive and requiring a do-over. Some reviews mention that their results were overgeneralized, but like any DNA test, satisfaction is subjective. The site does let you know that accuracy plateaus at 85%, and though 33,000 DNA samples isn't huge, it's much better than what competitors can offer. 

You trust only the best for your Good Boy or Good Girl. The people at Embark care about your dog just as much as you do — it tests both the maternal and paternal line of your dog, going all the way back to great grandparents.

Embark's test spans 256 quadrillion genes and all of the dog breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club, as well as assorted street dogs and the gray wolf. The health test (no separate purchase necessary) screens for more than 190 genetic health conditions.

Let's also discuss the stellar customer service: Unlike when you take your pet to a giant vet office and they want you to get in and out as fast as possible, Embark makes it obvious that they want the best for your pet. If something worrisome shows up in the health screening, they won't just send an envelope to your house that says "Surprise, your dog is dying." Instead, they'll reach out and break the news like a doctor would, and then talk you through the options.

Coining itself the world's first at-home cat DNA test, Basepaws is here to put some respect on the cat person's name. The test conducts comparisons to four main breed groups and 21 individual breeds. Basepaws cannot confirm your cat's pedigree, but a new total of 50 fun markers might be able to tell you if your weirdly-agreeable cat actually does have ragdoll traits or what breeds are contributing to your cat's unique appearance. 

The health half of the test draws on 70 health markers associated with 40 diseases including the risk of polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and new markers for feline ophthalmological conditions and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). This could be a godsend for cat foster parents who are dealing with feral cats or neonatal kittens.

Results should be back within four to six weeks, which is pretty standard. The hardest part of the whole sha-bang might be getting that cheek swab without being clawed to death.