A free family tree maker with no account, subscription, or upload
“Free family tree maker” is one of the most searched phrases in genealogy - and one of the most disappointing to act on. Click through and you’ll usually hit a signup wall, a free trial that expires, or a “free” plan that quietly caps how many people you can add before asking for a card. This guide explains what to actually look for, and how a private, browser-based approach avoids the usual traps.
What “free” often really means
Before you invest hours building a tree somewhere, it’s worth knowing the common patterns:
- Free to build, paid to keep. You add your family for free, then discover exporting, printing, or viewing past a few generations needs a subscription.
- Free, but signed in. No money changes hands, but an account is mandatory - and your family data lives on someone else’s server.
- Free trial, not free tool. A countdown you didn’t notice starts the moment you begin.
None of these are scams; they’re business models. But if you simply want to build and print a family tree without ongoing cost or handing over personal data about living relatives, they get in the way.
What a genuinely free maker looks like
A tool that’s free in the way most people mean should let you:
- Start with no account and no signup. Open it and begin adding people immediately.
- Build without limits. No cap on people, generations, or number of trees.
- Export and print at no cost. Your data and your charts belong to you - including standard GEDCOM files you can take elsewhere.
- Keep your data private. Ideally it never leaves your device at all.
How RootsPrint compares
RootsPrint is built around exactly those principles. It’s a free family tree maker that needs no account and no subscription, and it runs entirely in your browser - your family data is stored privately on your own device and never uploaded to a server. You can build unlimited trees, add as many people and generations as you like, and export high-quality PDFs, shareable images, multi-page family Books, and GEDCOM or JSON files at no cost.
Because there’s no server storing your tree, privacy isn’t a setting you have to trust - it’s how the tool works. If you’d like the detail, our family tree privacy guide explains what that means in practice.
The one trade-off worth knowing
Local, private storage has a flip side: because your tree lives in your browser rather than on a server, clearing your browser data or switching devices won’t carry it over automatically. The fix is simple - export a backup as GEDCOM or JSON, which you can re-import anywhere. It’s a small habit that keeps your work safe and portable.
Try it
If you’ve been let down by “free” family tree makers before, this one asks for nothing up front. Open the editor and start building - or read our beginner’s guide first if you’d like a step-by-step start.