Hoping to score the very best deal on a DNA test this holiday season? Look no further, we’ve rounded up all of the Black Friday, Cyber Monday and ongoing holiday deals from the most trusted providers to make your job easier. We’ve covered Ancestry, MyHeritage, 23andMe, FTDNA and Living DNA.

Whether you’re looking to grab just one test for yourself, or plan to give the gift of genetic genealogy to everyone on your list, Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday is usually the best time to buy. You’ll often get the steepest discounts and your DNA kits will arrive in plenty of time for holiday wrapping as long as you buy before early to mid December.

Current DNA Kit Deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019

Updated on Nov 30th, 2019 – We’ll be following and updating these prices through the holiday shopping season. Take a moment to read the important details for each offer following this discounts list.

Best DNA Deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019

• MyHeritage DNA – $39, regularly $79
• AncestryDNA –  $49, usually $99
• Family Tree DNA – $49, full price is $79
• LivingDNA – $69, normally $99
• 23andMe – $79, typically $99

We only post offers from trusted brands who have a proven track record of accountability to their customers concerning privacy and who we have tested with ourselves. We may receive a commission for any purchases you make through links on our site. For more details about each test please read our detailed DNA guide.

These prices reflect those for the autosomal tests (those that provide ethnicity reports) offered by each company without additional add-ons (such as health testing). Prices are USD and available in the US. Other countries many have similar deals available so check the sites for offers.

Additional Details About Each Kit + Other Special Offers

MyHeritage DNA – MyHeritage offers both an autosomal test for ancestry (one of our favorites for genealogy research) and a health test. Each is being offered at a discount for the holidays. Their ancestry test is currently the lowest priced of any test available and is likely the cheapest of the season. Ends Dec 1st.

AncestryDNA – Ancestry only offers autosomal testing and is the most popular DNA kit for genealogy. Based on past years, you will want to take advantage of the Black Friday deal of $49 USD for the steepest discount. The current offer ends Dec 2nd.

Family Tree DNA – This company is the oldest on the list to offer at-home DNA testing. They currently provide their autosomal Family Finder test (most popular for genealogy) as well as mtDNA (mother’s, mother’s line) and Y-DNA kits (father’s, father’s line) and each is being offered at a discount right now that expires on Dec 3rd.

LivingDNA – This company offers a variety of options on both ancestry and health – their best price is currently $69 for an ancestry test. They also offer a lower priced $49 “starter” test, but this provides only a very basic biogeographical report and well as a couple of health insights. We recommend skipping this kit if you are interested in a detailed report. One of the things we like about this company is the fact that they also provide mtDNA (for men and women) and Y-DNA (for men) with the ancestry test – although for extremely refined results in these areas you will need to buy tests at Family Tree DNA. They also offer some special refinements that may be helpful to those with British ancestry. Other than that, Living DNA lags behind in many areas that are important to genealogists, such as cousin matching.

23andMe – A leader in health DNA testing, 23andme also offers a popular ancestry test kit. This kit can be paired with the advanced health testing at a discount throughout Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the holidays. Like Living DNA they also offer mtDNA and Y-DNA insights. Right now, 23andMe is asking new users to provide their emails to “unlock” these discounts, but this is a not needed. Simply click out of the email popup and you will be offered the same (up to 50% off) deal. All discounts end Dec 2nd.

What is the Best DNA Test to Give as a Gift?

There is really no easy answer to this question since all of the tests on this page provide both an ethnicity report (populations you most closely match in percentages) and cousin matches (people you match genetically) and are trusted providers.

Two of them, MyHeritage and Ancestry, also have genealogy record subscriptions that a person can buy to combine their results with traditional research. And, recently, Living DNA teamed up with Findmypast (the leader in British records) to provide some of the same services.

However, each has its strengths and weaknesses so read on for some specific recommendations based on who you plan to gift to.

The Best DNA Test Kit for Those New to Genealogy and DNA Testing

If you are planning to give the gift of genetic testing to someone new to genealogy and DNA who WILL want to combine their test with traditional genealogy research we suggest either AncestryDNA or MyHeritage DNA. The results from both of these tests can be combined with record access to get someone started off on the right foot.

AncestryDNA is the most well-known provider, offers a free family tree program, attractive DNA reports and the largest database of people to match results to, as well as the largest number of genealogy records to research. Their pricing is generally higher though – both on tests and on records.

MyHeritage also offers a large database of records to research, a growing database of potential genetic cousins, a free family tree and our personal favorite system for combining your DNA results with genealogy research. Their prices are usually more affordable than Ancestry, both on tests and records, and they offer a number of tools that Ancestry does not.

Either one would be a great choice.

If the person you are buying for will NOT be interested in doing genealogy research, and just wants the ethnicity report and cousin matches, we would recommend AncestryDNA, MyHeritage or Family Tree DNA.

Family Tree DNA does not offer genealogy records but provides a detailed ancestry report and great tools for curious researchers. Plus, they have a stellar privacy history and were the first company to offer these tests.

The DNA Gift Deal to Choose if You Want the Best Price Plus Solid Value or are Buying Many Kits

If you are looking for the absolute best price you will usually not find it with Ancestry. Deals vary, but right now MyHeritage offers the most savings (about $39 each, with free shipping on 3 or more tests), and this price is about as good as it gets for Black Friday.

As mentioned, MyHeritage also offers our favorite platform for combining genealogy research and DNA results. It is easy to use and quite robust. However, they do offer less genealogy records than Ancestry, a smaller matching database of genetic cousins and are not as well known.

Despite this, if you are looking for the absolute best deal on a test that will provide great ethnicity estimates (20% of this, 33% of that etc), MyHeritage or FTDNA are great choices. See a sample of their ethnicity report (and others) here.

The Best Test for People Who Will Want More Testing Options

Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) is the only company on this list that offers dedicated, detailed tests for autosomal (the main tests that give you an ethnicity breakdown) as well as fatherline (Y-DNA) and motherline (mtDNA). And these additional tests can provide many more insights into someone’s genetic heritage.

If you are gifting to someone who may be interested in exploring their father’s father’s line specifically as a means of understanding their family’s history (for men only) – or who are especially curious about their mother’s mother’s line (men and women), we suggest FTDNA. If you purchase them a Family Finder kit they will be able to easily add these tests later on (at an additional cost).

It should be noted that 23andMe and Living DNA also offer basic motherline (mtDNA) and fatherline (Y-DNA) as part of their main ancestry kits (with no additional testing needed). However, both of these company’s results are more limited than what can be found at FTDNA.

Confused about what mtDNA and Y-DNA testing are and how they are different from the tests on this page? Read this.

FTDNA also offers the added benefit of providing some advanced tools for exploring your results once they come in. Geeky genealogists will love this. So, if you are giving to a person that is likely to want additional results and is willing to pay for them, go with FTDNA.

The Best Kit to Gift to Those Interested in Health Results in Addition to Ancestry

Almost all of the companies now provide a health option, but 23andMe has the oldest history with this.

However, concerns have been raised about their health testing in the past (as with any genetic testing), but if you are going to give a DNA kit as a holiday gift to someone who will want health results, 23andMe is your best best. You will pay extra for it, though – their Ancestry + Health is twice as expensive – although it is now on sale for the Black Friday weekend.

If someone you know wants an ancestry test with genealogy options and health we recommend the new MyHeritage kit. Look for “Health” in the menu.

The Best Choice for Those Who Want to Study Their UK Ancestry in Detail

Living DNA offers some of the most focused and detailed results on UK ancestry available, so if you are gifting to someone from the UK, or someone who has a significant proportion of UK ancestry, this is a good kit to give. The person will also get limited mtDNA and Y-DNA results (for men only).

This test is also a good addon if you want to go all out and purchase someone a couple of kits. Unlike MyHeritage and FTDNA, Living DNA does not allow an upload of raw DNA at this time, so buying a kit is the only way to get their results.

The Best DNA Kit to Buy for the Established Family Historian on Your List

This is perhaps the trickiest choice of all. People who are actively engaged in genealogy research and DNA testing will already have strong opinions about which companies they would like to test with (or ones they have already tested with or uploaded their results to). We suggest doing some sneaky pre-gift snooping into their habits before choosing a test so that you don’t end up gifting something they don’t need.

If they have never tested, we recommend buying an AncestryDNA test and then reminding them that they can upload their raw DNA file to MyHeritage, FTDNA and GEDmatch as well. GEDmatch is free and MyHeritage and Family Tree DNA provide some results for free (and charge a modest fee for others) when uploading.

There you have it, a few recommendations to help you make the best DNA gifting choices this holiday season, all while finding the best deals. If it all seems too confusing, don’t panic. Any one of these tests will give your gift recipient a great experience and relatively similar results. Just pick one that appeals to you. 

Need more help?

If you’re in need of even more information about what test to choose, read our detailed DNA guide or our visual comparison of ancestry results and check out all of our genetic genealogy articles here.