Free because it is cheap to run.
It is free because it costs little to run. Your tree lives in your browser, the records come from free public archives, and the server does very little. The whole bill is one web server at $7 a month plus a domain name, about $94 a year. Tips cover it.
What it costs, per year
| Item | Per year |
|---|---|
| Web server, starter plan at $7 a month | $84.00 |
| Domain name | $9.99 |
| Census and record search, from free public archives | $0.00 |
| Storing your tree and photos, in your own browser | $0.00 |
| Total | about $94 |
The Ask chat on shared trees costs the site a little for every message, so each tree gets a set number of messages a day and a month.
Why not charge?
Subscriptions are what people told us they hate most: renewals they forgot, fees to cancel, trees held behind a paywall. A tree you built should not stop working when a card expires.
Three ways to give
All three happen on the other site. There is no card form on RootsFree, and we never see your card. Giving changes nothing about access: everyone gets the same tree, the same records and the same export, whether they give or not.
A one-time tip
Through Ko-fi. Any amount, once, no account needed.
Ko-fi takes 0% of tips. The card processor's fee still applies.
A monthly sponsor
Through GitHub Sponsors, if you already have a GitHub account. Cancel there in one click.
GitHub takes 0% on personal sponsorships.
A direct gift
Through a Stripe payment page, for people who would rather not use either site.
Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ per payment.
The promise, in 9 lines.
- No subscription.There is no plan to buy and no trial that turns into one.
- No auto-renew.Nothing renews, so there is nothing to remember to cancel.
- No card on file.We never ask for a card. Gifts happen on Ko-fi, GitHub or Stripe.
- No ads.Not on the tree, not on the guides, not later.
- We never sell your data.Your tree lives in your browser. We do not have it to sell.
- Living people are hidden by default.Anyone who may be alive stays out of exports, charts and maps.
- Export everything, any time.GEDCOM 7 and a zip of every photo, in one click.
- Delete everything, any time.Clear this site's data and it is gone. No copy waits on a server.
- The code is open.Anyone can read it and check these lines against it.