Uploading DNA to GEDmatch: A Complete Walkthrough

GEDmatch is the free third-party site where uploaded DNA kits from all the major consumer testing companies pool together. It is the largest open database for cross-company DNA matching, and the standard next stop after testing at AncestryDNA, 23andMe, MyHeritage, or FamilyTreeDNA.

Before uploading, read our genetic data privacy guide. GEDmatch is owned by Qiagen (via Verogen, which acquired it in 2019), and the law-enforcement matching opt-in below has real consequences worth understanding.

What you need first

A raw DNA file downloaded from the company you tested at. Each company keeps the download in account settings. AncestryDNA produces a .txt file inside a .zip; 23andMe gives a .txt; MyHeritage and FamilyTreeDNA give their own formats. GEDmatch accepts all of them.

Total file size is typically 5 to 25 MB.

Step by step

1. Create a free account at gedmatch.com using an email you check.
2. Confirm the email link.
3. On the dashboard, choose “Upload your DNA files” and select the company your file came from.
4. Choose a name to display next to your kit. Many people use initials or a pseudonym rather than a full name.
5. Choose your privacy and law-enforcement matching setting (see below).
6. Upload the raw file. Processing typically takes a day or two before matches appear.

Privacy and law-enforcement matching

GEDmatch has three relevant settings: Public, Research, and Opt-In to law-enforcement matching.

Public means other GEDmatch users can find your kit through ordinary genealogy tools. Research means your kit is used in tool development but hidden from one-to-one searches. Opt-In to law-enforcement matching specifically allows law enforcement to compare crime-scene DNA against your kit when investigating violent crime and unidentified remains.

The default setting changed in 2019 from opt-out to opt-in following public discussion of the Golden State Killer case. Our law-enforcement and DNA guide covers the policy history and the practical implications. You can change the setting at any time.

The free tool suite

GEDmatch’s free tier includes most of what casual users need:

• One-to-Many: returns your list of DNA matches across all uploaded kits
• One-to-One: compares any two kits in detail, including chromosome-level segment data
• Are Your Parents Related?: detects runs of homozygosity that suggest consanguinity in recent generations
• People Who Match One or Both of 2 Kits: helps confirm which side of the family a match comes from

These cover everyday genetic genealogy.

Tier 1 paid features

GEDmatch Tier 1 is a paid subscription that adds advanced tools, including Triangulation, Lazarus (reconstructing an ancestor’s DNA from descendants), Multiple Kit Analysis, and the Q-Matrix tool for matrix-based clustering.

Tier 1 is most useful once you have a substantial number of matches and want to do work like triangulating segments across many kits at once, or building chromosome maps via DNA Painter. Pricing is set on a monthly basis; we deliberately do not quote a current number because GEDmatch adjusts it periodically.

What GEDmatch is good for

It is excellent for cross-company matching. Adoptees and donor-conceived adults have used it to find biological family that did not test at the same company. Genealogists use it to confirm cousins across borders. Our adoptee DNA guide and finding unknown relatives cover the search workflow that typically includes a GEDmatch upload.

It is less useful as a primary database because most casual testers never upload. The kits on GEDmatch skew toward serious hobbyists, adoptees, and search angels.

Uploading is reversible. You can delete your kit at any time from your GEDmatch dashboard, and the file is removed from matching immediately.

Back to the ancestry and genealogy pillar.