An honest answer
In the UK, expect roughly £20–£50 an hour, or fixed-price packages from around £200. But hourly rates tell you very little — what matters is how much research your family actually needs. Here’s exactly what drives the price, and where Famhisto sits.
The short answer
Across the UK, professional genealogists charge about £20–£50 an hour, with accredited researchers at the upper end and a two-hour minimum common. Fixed-price packages typically run from around £200 for a single line to £1,500–£2,500 for a full four-grandparent project. At Famhisto, research starts at £245, fixed and quoted in full before you commit.
Most genealogists bill by the hour. It sounds fair, but it leaves you watching a meter: you can’t know in advance whether your answer takes five hours or fifty, and the awkward conversation about “a few more hours” is built into the model.
I price every project as a fixed fee instead. You’re told the total before any money changes hands, and it doesn’t move — if the research takes longer than I expected, that’s my problem, not your bill. It takes the anxiety out of commissioning research, which is exactly the point.
This is why a free call comes first: I can only quote honestly once I understand your family’s counties, surnames and the questions you actually want answered.
Package
£245
One family line, properly researched
Most commissioned
Package
£545
One surname traced to the early 1800s
Package
£1,495
All four grandparent lines, told in full
Or four instalments of £373.75 — arranged after your call.
Plus one-hour consultations from £75, and premium services — military, house histories and heirloom books — quoted after a free call. Full pricing, add-ons and instalments →
A DIY subscription costs £10–£25 a month and gives you the records — but not the time to read them, the experience to interpret them, or the archive access for everything that isn’t online. A single Famhisto package costs about what a year or two of subscriptions does, and hands you a finished, citable family story instead of a half-built tree and a stack of questions.
For families who are stuck, short on time, or simply want it done properly once, it’s the difference between meaning to trace your history one day and actually holding it.
Typically £20–£50 an hour, with accredited and specialist researchers at the upper end, and a two-hour minimum is common. I don’t charge by the hour — every Famhisto project is a fixed price, quoted before you commit, so the final cost can’t run away from you.
Because hourly billing makes the total impossible to predict and turns research into a meter you’re watching. A fixed fee tells you the whole cost up front; if the work takes longer than I judged, that’s mine to absorb, not yours.
A free viability assessment checks your lines are researchable before you pay anything, which is what stops this happening. In the rare case a commissioned project genuinely uncovers nothing beyond what you already had, I refund 90% of the fee.
Yes. Every commission starts with a 50% deposit, and the larger Heritage Collection can be split into four instalments. Gift vouchers can also be bought in stages towards a package.
Free download
The exact starting method I use professionally — plus a real sample research report, so you can see what proper research looks like before spending a penny.