3 Pedigree Chart Makers, Compared Honestly

You have four generations of names in a notebook and you want them laid out properly — one person at the left, parents branching to the right, doubling each generation until the page runs out. A pedigree chart is the standard way genealogists present that, and drawing one by hand is an exercise in running out of room.

The frustration in this category is that “family tree maker” and “pedigree chart” have drifted apart. The big genealogy platforms want you to build a tree inside their database, which is excellent if you are doing sustained research and heavy if you want one chart for a family reunion. Meanwhile the general diagramming tools will happily draw boxes and lines and know nothing about generational structure, so you are aligning ancestors manually.

How to judge a pedigree chart tool

Does it understand generations? A pedigree chart doubles each generation. A tool that treats it as a generic org chart makes you do the layout.

How many generations does it handle? Four is standard on a printed form; six starts to need real layout logic.

Can you export it? A chart trapped in a web app is no use at a reunion or in a printed family history.

Does it want your family data on a server? Living relatives’ names and dates are personal information.

The comparison

Facts checked August 2026; plans can change.

Make-Charts pedigree chart maker

Make-Charts is the most frictionless of the three: a free online family tree maker requiring no signup or account, with no hard limit on generations, so you can keep adding as far back as your records go. For someone with a deep line on one side and a shallow one on the other, not being capped at four generations matters.

It is a smaller and newer site than the established names in genealogy. That is not a mark against the output, but if this chart is going into a family history you expect to maintain for years, exporting early is sensible.

SmartDraw genealogy chart maker

SmartDraw produces the best-looking result. It offers family tree and pedigree templates and keeps the chart aligned and connected automatically as you add, move, or remove boxes, which removes the fiddliest part of chart-making entirely.

It is a general diagramming platform with commercial plans around the free offering, so genealogy sits alongside flowcharts and floor plans. If you want a tool that knows what a pedigree chart is for rather than just how to draw one, it is less specialised than it looks.

National Genealogical Society charts

The NGS offers free fillable pedigree charts — also called ancestor charts — along with a family group sheet, from a professional genealogical body. If you want a form that matches what researchers and archives expect, going to the source is the right instinct.

They are forms rather than a generator. You fill in fixed fields on a fixed layout, which is exactly right for standardised record-keeping and inflexible if your chart needs to be a different shape.

Ancestor Chart Generator

Ours builds the chart generation by generation: enter a starting person and work back through their ancestors, and it lays out a clean pedigree chart ready to export for a genealogy project. It runs entirely in your browser, so names and dates for living relatives stay on your machine.

The honest limitations: it generates a pedigree chart specifically, which is one direction — ancestors of one person. It will not draw a descendant chart, a full family tree with siblings and cousins, or an hourglass chart, and it is not a research database. It has no records, no hints, no source citations, and no way to merge with a tree you keep elsewhere. It presents data you already have; finding that data is a different job.

Which one to pick

• If your line runs deep and you need many generations, Make-Charts has no stated cap.
• If the chart is going on a wall and needs to look designed, SmartDraw produces the cleanest output.
• If you want a standards-based form for research records, use the NGS charts.
• If you want a quick, private, exportable pedigree chart from data you already hold, use ours.

How to do it with Ancestor Chart Generator

1. Open the Ancestor Chart Generator.
2. Enter the starting person, then work outward one generation at a time.
3. Use the name as recorded at birth where you have it, noting variants separately.
4. Export the chart and keep your source notes alongside it. More genealogy tools are in the tools directory.

You might also need

• Immigration Record Search Term Builder — for chasing the generation you cannot yet fill in.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free pedigree chart maker that doesn’t need an account?

Yes — Make-Charts states no signup is required, the NGS charts are free downloads, and ours needs no account because the site has no signup at all. SmartDraw offers a free online app alongside its paid plans.

How many generations fit on a pedigree chart?

Four is the traditional printed standard, because each generation doubles and five already means sixteen boxes across the page. Beyond that, charts usually continue on a second sheet keyed to a numbered ancestor.

Should I include living people in a chart I share?

Be careful. Genealogical practice generally treats living individuals’ details as private, and organisations such as the National Archives note the access restrictions that apply to recent records. For anything published or shared widely, mark living people as “living” rather than naming them.

Final thought

Choose by what happens to the chart afterwards. If it gets printed and framed, appearance wins; if it feeds ongoing research, use a standard form and keep your sources with it.

Try the free Ancestor Chart Generator