What Ancestral Quest does

Ancestral Quest is a desktop genealogy and family-tree software suite developed and published by Incline Software, LC, a privately held Utah LLC founded in 1994 and headquartered in South Jordan. The product enables individual genealogists and families to record, organize, document, and share family histories, with proprietary components including TreeTips (a record-search technology that scans over 30 billion records in online genealogical repositories), NetFam (a multi-user collaboration capability), CitePro, and FilterPro (advanced record filtering). The software runs natively on Windows and Mac, supports 16 language modules, and maintains FamilySearch Certified Compatible Solution status for Tree Share, Sources, Discussions, Change History, and LDS ordinance support.

The company operates a hybrid freemium and one-time perpetual license model. Ancestral Quest Basics is distributed free of charge and provides essential family-tree features, while the full Ancestral Quest product (priced at $34.95 for Windows download, $44.95 for Mac download) and discounted upgrades (from $24.95) generate revenue. Distribution is direct-to-consumer via the company website, phone, email, and mail order, with global reach across 18+ countries and an active community presence on YouTube, Facebook, X, Pinterest, Blogger, and Groups.io discussion forums. Customer segments span casual hobbyists, serious genealogists, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jewish users with specialized Holocaust documentation features, and former users of FamilySearch PAF and Ancestry's Family Tree Maker migrating from discontinued platforms.

The company is bootstrapped with 1-10 employees, no disclosed external funding or M&A activity, and a 30-year operating history during which the Ancestral Quest codebase has been licensed to Ancestry.com (as 'Ancestry Family Tree') and to the LDS Church (as 'Personal Ancestral File'). The latest major release, Ancestral Quest 16, shipped in December 2019, and the company continues to provide updates, technical support, and customer service from its South Jordan office.

Name

Ancestral Quest

Legal name

Incline Software, LC

Website

https://ancquest.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ancestral Quest is desktop genealogy software for Windows and Mac that lets individual genealogists and families record, organize, and share family trees, with freemium and paid one-time license pricing distributed directly via its website.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Genealogy Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Archives, Libraries & Institutional Access Platforms (MPAJAMAJ)

Keywords

• Family tree software
• Genealogy software
• Desktop genealogy
• Family history records
• Genealogy research tools

Headquarters

HQ city

South Jordan

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Software License Sales: One-time purchase of software license for Ancestral Quest (full version). Users pay once to own the license and can use that version indefinitely. Minor updates within a major version are free.
2. Upgrade Sales: Registered users can purchase upgrades to newer major versions at discounted prices compared to full version pricing.
3. Freemium Model: Ancestral Quest Basics is provided free with essential features. Users can upgrade to full version for premium features.
4. Add-on Products: Third-party add-on products including Charting Companion, GenSmarts, Heritage Collector Suite, and mobile apps work with Ancestral Quest

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Ancestral Quest develops and sells desktop genealogy software for Windows and Mac that enables individuals to record, organize, research, and share family histories. The product line includes the full Ancestral Quest application, a free public edition called Ancestral Quest Basics, and a portable AQ2Go! version that runs from a USB drive, all backed by FamilySearch Certified compatibility for two-way sync with the shared FamilySearch Family Tree.

Product overview

Ancestral Quest is a family tree software suite developed by Incline Software, LC. The portfolio consists of two primary product tiers: the free Ancestral Quest Basics (containing core essential features) and the paid full Ancestral Quest version (offering premium features like Descendants view, background chart images, advanced tagging, and multi-database management). Both tiers are available for Windows and Mac platforms. The product ecosystem includes language modules supporting 16 languages, a portable Windows version called AQ2Go!, integrated FamilySearch synchronization, collaboration tools via NetFam, and built-in research assistance via TreeTips. Third-party add-ons include charting tools, mobile apps for iOS/Android, and a large-format printing service partnership with Family Chartmasters.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Ancestral Quest (Full Version for Windows) Full desktop genealogy application for Windows that records, organizes, researches, and shares family histories, with FamilySearch Certified two-way sync, TreeTips real-time record scanning, NetFam online collaboration, CitePro source citation, FilterPro data cleansing, and Multimedia Scrapbooks. Sold as a one-time perpetual license.
• Ancestral Quest Basics Free introductory edition of Ancestral Quest that provides core genealogy recording and sharing functionality and serves as a freemium entry point to the full product.
• Ancestral Quest for Mac Mac edition of Ancestral Quest that brings the full feature set including FamilySearch sync, TreeTips, NetFam, and Multimedia Scrapbooks to macOS users.
• AQ2Go! (Portable Edition) Portable version of Ancestral Quest that runs from a USB drive with no installation required, enabling users to carry their genealogy work between computers.
• Language Modules for Ancestral Quest Localized language modules that translate the Ancestral Quest interface, reports, and genealogy features into 15+ languages including English, German, Finnish, Spanish, Turkish, Hungarian, Russian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, plus Right-to-Left support for Hebrew and Yiddish.
• Add-on Products (Third-Party Catalog) Curated catalog of third-party add-on products for Ancestral Quest, including clip art, reports, charts, and tools created by independent developers and distributed through the Ancestral Quest catalog.
• Print Large Charts Service Referral service that sends users to Family Chartmasters for high-quality printed ancestral charts and family tree prints generated from Ancestral Quest data.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 3 million users have chosen Ancestral Quest since 1994
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration14 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1999Incline Software helped The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints develop its Windows version of Personal Ancestral File (PAF) in 1999, with strategic help from The Hope Foundation. The Church distributes PAF to its members worldwide.
• The Hope FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1998From fall 1998 to fall 2000, Incline Software partnered with The Hope Foundation. In 1999, with strategic help from The Hope Foundation, Incline Software helped The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints develop its Windows version of PAF.
• Infobases, Inc. / Ancestry, Inc.minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 1995Ancestral Quest was sold by Infobases, Inc. (and later by an affiliate, Ancestry, Inc.) from fall 1995 through fall 1997.
• FamilySearch (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)coreTechnology or IntegrationAncestral Quest is a FamilySearch Compatible Solution certified for Tree Share, Sources, Discussions, Change History and LDS Support. AQ was the first desktop family tree program to be compatible with FamilySearch Family Tree. The partnership enables users to synchronize their local family tree data with FamilySearch's online database.
• Family ChartmastersminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorIncline Software has partnered with Family Chartmasters as a printing service partner. Family Chartmasters provides large format printed charts and custom genealogy charts. AQ users can generate PDFs and work with Family Chartmasters to print custom charts.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• MyHeritage Family Tree Builder: MyHeritage's Family Tree Builder is a free desktop genealogy client bundled with the MyHeritage ecosystem. It competes directly with Ancestral Quest for users who want desktop software with smart-matching and record-search, and it offers a tighter bundle with a major online platform.
• Family Tree Maker (Software MacKiev): Family Tree Maker, originally by Ancestry.com and now sold by Software MacKiev, is a direct desktop genealogy competitor. Its discontinued status under Ancestry and relaunch under MacKiev makes it both a competitor and a source of migration users that Ancestral Quest actively courts.
• Gramps: Gramps is an open-source desktop genealogy application that targets the same power-user/hobbyist audience as Ancestral Quest — with features like charts, reports, GEDCOM support and database management — and competes primarily on price (free) and openness rather than FamilySearch certification.
• Legacy Family Tree (Millennia Corporation): Legacy Family Tree is a long-running Windows genealogy software with comparable feature set — charts, reports, source documentation, FamilySearch sync, and a paid Deluxe tier — directly competing for Ancestral Quest's core desktop-genealogist user base.
• Ancestris: Ancestris is an open-source desktop genealogy application supporting GEDCOM 5.5/7.0 with wizards, reports and web publishing — a more international and standards-driven alternative that overlaps with Ancestral Quest's power-user positioning.
• RootsMagic: RootsMagic is one of the most direct competitors to Ancestral Quest — a desktop genealogy application for Windows (with a Mac version via RootsMagic for Mac) that also integrates with FamilySearch, supports GEDCOM, and serves the same hobbyist-to-serious genealogist segment with a freemium Essentials tier and paid Essentials/Standard/Gold editions.
• The Master Genealogist (Wholly Genes): The Master Genealogist is a long-established Windows genealogy program known for rigorous source-citation features. It targets a similar expert genealogist niche as Ancestral Quest, particularly users who care about evidence-based research.
• Brother's Keeper: Brother's Keeper is an affordable Windows genealogy program with a long history, GEDCOM support, and family tree features. It competes with Ancestral Quest in the entry-level hobbyist segment on price and ease of use.

Broad incumbents

• Ancestry.com: Ancestry.com is the largest genealogy platform globally, combining a massive record database with a collaborative family tree, DNA services, and software (formerly Family Tree Maker). It is not a direct desktop-software peer but competes for the same end users and historically controlled record access Ancestral Quest integrates with.

Others

• FamilySearch: FamilySearch (operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is both Ancestral Quest's deepest integration partner and an ecosystem participant — it provides the world's largest shared family tree and many records AQ syncs with, but is not a commercial competitor in the traditional sense.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/ancquest
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/InclineSoftware
• Facebookfacebook.com/AncQuest
• Pinterestpinterest.com/ancquest
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ancestral-quest

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ancestral Quest