Clear answers before you choose
Frequently asked questions
What we run, what we accept, what you get back, and where your data lives.
Start here
The short version: Ancient Ancestry takes your raw DNA file and returns a formally tested qpAdm model with p-values and standard errors. Ancestry Map takes Global25 coordinates you already have and returns distances, admixture models and a PCA. Ancient Matches takes the same raw DNA file as Ancient Ancestry and finds the individual ancient people you share stretches of DNA with. If you only have a raw DNA file, every product except Ancestry Map analyses it directly. New to the category? What an ancient DNA test is explains the three instruments.
- I have a raw DNA export
- Choose Ancient Ancestry. It accepts the raw file and returns a formally tested qpAdm model.
- I already have Global25 coordinates
- Choose Ancestry Map for distances, mixture models and individual-sample PCA.
- I want a Global25 report but have no coordinates
- Choose Ancestry Map and upload your raw file, we obtain your official coordinates for you (+€15).
Questions
What does Ancestrify actually offer?
Three ancestry products. Ancient Ancestry (from €29.99, in four depth tiers) takes your raw DNA export and returns a formal qpAdm admixture model tested against the Allen Ancient DNA Resource, with p-values, standard errors and z-scores. Ancestry Map (€29.99) takes the Global25 coordinates you already have and returns distances, admixture models and a PCA across six eras. Ancient Matches (€29.99) takes your raw DNA export and finds the individual ancient people you share stretches of DNA with, painted onto your own chromosomes. All three are one-time payments with no subscription.
Full answer: Is Ancestrify legit? What it is, who runs it, and what it does not do (2026)
Is Ancient Ancestry a qpAdm analysis?
Yes. Ancient Ancestry is our name for the qpAdm analysis: your raw DNA is merged with the Allen Ancient DNA Resource and modelled with the qpadm() function of ADMIXTOOLS 2. qpAdm names the method, and Ancient Ancestry is the report you receive.
Is Ancestry Map a Global25 (G25) analysis?
Yes. Ancestry Map is our Global25 report: your Global25 coordinates are compared with 1,535 curated populations across six eras, as ranked distances, admixture models and a PCA chart of individual samples. Global25 names the coordinates and the method, and Ancestry Map is the report you receive.
What are the qpAdm depth tiers, and why do they cost what they cost?
Ancient Ancestry, our qpAdm analysis, is sold in four depths, Base (€29.99), Medium (€39.99), Deep (€49.99), Perfect (€59.99), that deliver the same report, and every published model passes the same strict quality check whatever the tier. What a deeper tier buys is a longer, harder search for your best model: the focused search at Base, the search past good enough at Medium, the full sweep at Deep, the exhaustive search at Perfect. More searching means more models, which is where the price goes, a human analyst spends a few hours at Base, about one working day at Medium, several working days at Deep, a week or more at Perfect, from roughly 15 to 25 candidate models at Base to 120 to 200 candidate models at Perfect.
Full answer: Where to buy a qpAdm analysis in 2026, and how much it costs
What is the difference between qpAdm and Global25 or nMonte percentages?
Global25 and nMonte percentages are coordinate-fitting estimates: your coordinate is fitted as a weighted mixture of reference coordinates, and some mixture always fits best, whether or not it is historically sensible. qpAdm uses allele-frequency statistics and outgroup populations, and produces a p-value, so a proposed model can be rejected as incompatible with the data. Neither method can prove descent from a named ancient population; qpAdm is the one that can tell you a model does not work.
Full answer: qpAdm vs Global25: what each method can and cannot tell you
Can I upload my raw DNA file?
Yes. We accept raw-data exports from the major consumer testing companies, 23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA and similar, as .txt, .csv, .zip or .gz files up to 50 MB. Files are validated by their actual content rather than by vendor name, so exports following the usual microarray text layout work even where the company is not listed. Ancient Ancestry and Ancient Matches analyse the file directly. Ancestry Map starts from a Global25 coordinate row, paste the one you already have, or upload your raw file and we obtain your official coordinates for you (+€15).
Full answer: qpAdm from your 23andMe, AncestryDNA or MyHeritage raw data: what works, what to expect
Can I upload a whole-genome sequencing VCF?
Yes, on Ancient Ancestry and Ancient Matches. A VCF from tellmeGen, Dante Labs, Nebula or a similar whole-genome service (.vcf or .vcf.gz, up to 1 GB) is accepted for a €10 add-on that is added automatically when the file is a VCF. It is converted to the reference panel's markers at upload, GRCh38 files are lifted to GRCh37, and the VCF itself is kept with your files until you delete it. Sequencing kits cover more of the panel than array chips do.
Full answer: Upload a whole-genome VCF for ancient-DNA ancestry
Do you generate Global25 coordinates from raw DNA?
We never compute them ourselves, official Global25 coordinates only ever come from the independent Eurogenes Global25 service. You can order them there yourself and paste the row when you order Ancestry Map, or upload your raw DNA file at checkout and, with your explicit consent, we obtain your official coordinates from that service for you for a €15 fee, and our analyst starts building your calculator the moment they arrive.
Full answer: How to get your Global25 coordinates, from any DNA test
Can I run qpAdm models myself?
Yes, in the Ancestry Workbench, which needs no report: upload a raw DNA export as a kit (or attach the sample from a finished Ancient Ancestry order for free) and run real qpAdm models with your sample as the target, rotation batches in which every row is a genotype-direct fit, and Fst distance ranked over the whole reference panel, closest first. It runs on a prepaid balance from €9.99 that never expires; a qpAdm run draws about €0.004 and failed runs are never charged. The published model on an Ancient Ancestry report is still drawn from candidate sources chosen for your declared origins before any model runs, because a search's error rate depends mostly on how plausible its candidates were before testing, and a person reviews and approves it; the Workbench labels its rotation rows as your own hypotheses. qpWave, f3 and f4 against your kit stay operator-only; the free AdmixTools 2 Lab runs those methods over the public reference panel.
Full answer: Run your own qpAdm models: the Ancestry Workbench, explained
What is a refined Ancient Ancestry report?
An optional second version of your published model. If the analyst revisits your report and finds a better model, it is published as a new version beside the original and offered as a €15.00 one-time unlock per version, never swapped in silently, never charged unless you choose it. The original stays exactly as published, and once unlocked you switch between versions from the report.
Is every Ancestry Map built on its own calculator?
Yes. Our analyst builds a Global25 calculator around your own coordinates, starting from the populations of the region you declare and testing every source against your row, and a person reviews and approves it before your report opens. It is included in every Ancestry Map at no extra cost, and the report shows the populations it used and the panel itself, yours to copy into any Global25 tool. Reports delivered before 10 October 2026 keep their original result. An Ancestry Map bought for the coordinates of your free G25 Admix report keeps the calculator already built for that report.
Full answer: Personalized G25 calculator: every Ancestry Map is built around you
Which countries and regions are covered?
Every sovereign state, 199 countries and 1,119 regions, for both Ancient Ancestry and Ancestry Map. The qpAdm source populations (231 across two eras) each have a public page on the Ancestry populations directory.
Which reference dataset do you use?
For Ancient Ancestry's qpAdm models, the Allen Ancient DNA Resource (AADR) v66, roughly 23,265 samples across roughly 6,015 distinct population labels, merged against your own genotypes on our infrastructure. For Ancestry Map, a curated set of 1,535 Global25 populations drawn from 30,386 individual samples.
Full answer: AADR explained: the Allen Ancient DNA Resource
Which statistics do I receive?
An Ancient Ancestry report gives you the qpAdm model's p-value per era, and for every source population its weight, standard error, z-score and 95% confidence interval, plus the right-population set used with sample counts. Its Your model view adds the model record behind those figures, chi-square, degrees of freedom, f4 rank, SNP counts, jackknife blocks and each source's panel label. An Ancestry Map gives you ranked distances, admixture proportions with a fit distance, and a PCA scatter of individual samples.
Full answer: Every number in your qpAdm report: the model record explained, with a worked example
How long does it take?
An Ancestry Map opens after a holding period, once a person has approved the calculator our analyst built for it; the optional fast-compute add-on removes the holding period, so it opens as soon as its calculator is approved. Ancient Ancestry takes longer by design: merging your genotypes against the AADR panel is a heavy job, and your model is then reviewed and approved by a person before publishing. The exact turnaround for each is stated at checkout, before you pay.
What do I receive besides the on-screen report?
Cinematic ancestry videos rendered on our own servers at 1440x2560 and 60 fps, not encoded on your phone. An Ancient Ancestry, Ancestry Map or Ancient Matches report also downloads as a PDF.
Does an Ancient Matches match mean I am descended from that person?
No, and this is the most important thing to understand about that report. A match means you and that ancient individual carry the same stretch of DNA at the same place in the genome, evidence that you both draw on the same ancestral population. It is not proof of descent from that individual: stretches this old survive by chance across thousands of years, and the people in the panel are a sample of the dead, whoever happened to be excavated and published, rather than a family tree. Read a match as “my ancestry overlaps with these people”, never as “this is my ancestor”. That is why every match in the report carries its own evidence and why a population is never shown without the number of individuals behind it.
Full answer: Ancient DNA matches explained: IBS, not IBD
Is Ancient Matches an IBD test?
Deliberately not called that. Products like it are often marketed as IBD (identity by descent); formally, what any method can measure against ancient genomes of this kind is identity by state (IBS), stretches that read the same, not stretches proven inherited from a common ancestor. That is why the product is named Ancient Matches, and why every match carries its own evidence rather than a claim of descent.
Full answer: Ancient DNA matches explained: IBS, not IBD
Can a source population in my qpAdm model be my ancestor?
No, a source population is a reference the model tests against, never a statement about who your ancestors were. A model that fits says your genome is compatible with a mixture of those references at those weights; it does not say anyone in those samples was related to you. Ancestrify never names a population or an individual as your ancestor.
Full answer: Understanding qpAdm: how to read a formal admixture model
Does Ancient Matches match me against other customers?
No. It matches you against ancient individuals from published burials only. We do not match customers against each other, and there is no opt-in that would.
Do you limit how many ancient matches I can see?
No. One price, the whole report: every match your scan finds is shown in full detail, up to 5,000 people, with every shared stretch, the chromosome painting and the map. There is no tier that shows you more.
Where is my genetic data stored, and under which jurisdiction?
In the European Union, under GDPR: your files are kept in private EU storage until you delete them, and analysed on our servers in Germany and Finland. Your raw genetic file is processed only for your own analysis, you can delete it from your dashboard whenever no report is being prepared from it, and both full account deletion and a machine-readable data export are self-service. We do not sell genotype data.
Full answer: Is Ancestrify legit? What it is, who runs it, and what it does not do (2026)
Do you offer a mobile app?
Yes. Ancestrify for iPhone and iPad is free to download and available on the App Store in Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Sign in with the account you use here and your Ancient Ancestry, Ancestry Map and Ancient Matches reports open in the app, with your ancestry film and a notification when a new report is ready. DNA Traits and Workbench reports open here on the web, and every report also works in a phone browser.
Is a haplogroup included?
The free Lab has a Y-DNA clade finder and an mtDNA haplogroup finder that read a raw DNA export (or, for Y, a VCF) and return your paternal or maternal branch, a free, email-verified account runs them. On an Ancient Ancestry report, the paternal haplogroup (€10) and the maternal haplogroup (€10) can be added as purchased sections, at checkout or later, each with its deep-tree placement and a map of ancient people who carried the same lineage. The maternal add-on is only offered when your file carries enough mitochondrial markers for a trustworthy call.
Full answer: How to find your Y-DNA haplogroup from any raw DNA file
What is the maternal haplogroup add-on?
The maternal haplogroup (€10, Ancient Ancestry) adds your mtDNA lineage to the report, everyone has mitochondrial DNA, so there is no gender restriction, but the add-on is refused rather than charged when the file cannot support a solid call.
Full answer: How to find your mtDNA haplogroup from your raw DNA file