People searching for a Family Tree Now alternative are usually looking for one of two things: either a more private option, or a tool that actually charts the family they've gathered. It helps to be clear about what Family Tree Now is. It's a free people-search and public-records site — useful for looking up names, addresses and relatives from public data. That's a real service, and for finding people it can be effective.
It's also, by design, a directory: it surfaces information about people, which is exactly why many users feel uneasy about it and start hunting for something more private.
A different lane entirely
Kindred isn't a search engine for people. It's a private family-tree builder and chart maker. You add what you know — names, dates, relationships — or import research you've already done, and Kindred draws it as a beautiful chart. Nothing about your family is looked up, published, or made searchable by anyone else.
The practical difference:
- Family Tree Now pulls public records about people into a searchable directory.
- Kindred keeps the family tree you build private, in your own browser, and turns it into a chart you control.
If your concern is privacy, that distinction matters. With Kindred you're authoring a private document, not contributing to a public one.
What you actually get
From a single tree, Kindred renders two chart styles:
- A radial fan chart — the elegant circular layout that fits five or six generations of ancestors on one page and frames beautifully.
- A classic pedigree chart — the formal, left-to-right ancestor document.
Both come from the same data, so you can switch between them freely without re-entering anything. Add premium themes and large poster sizes, and you've got something worth printing.
Family Tree Now vs. Kindred
| Family Tree Now | Kindred | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | People search / records | Build + chart your tree |
| Your data is | Surfaced from public records | Private, in your browser |
| Searches public records | Yes | No |
| Builds a chartable tree | No | Yes |
| Fan + pedigree charts | No | Yes |
| Print-quality export | No | Yes (one-time $29) |
| Cost | Free | Free + $29 once |
How they can work together
These tools aren't really competitors — they sit at different stages. If you genuinely need to discover relatives or verify records, a records or people-search service is the right starting point. Once you've gathered names and dates, bring them into Kindred — via manual entry or a GEDCOM import from Ancestry, MyHeritage or FamilySearch — to turn that research into a chart you can frame.
Who should use which
Use a people-search / records site when your job is finding people or pulling public records. Just go in knowing such sites are public directories.
Use Kindred when you want to build and display your own family privately, and when the finished chart matters. Your data stays in your browser, building is free, and the one-time $29 export unlock only comes up when you're ready to print. For anyone whose first instinct was "I want something more private than Family Tree Now," that's the heart of the appeal.
Start your private tree and see your family as a chart, not a search result.