Online family tree sites excel at hosted research hints and collaboration. Gramps excels at a local GPL-2.0 database you control. Choose based on install rights, privacy, and whether you need offline charts.
When Gramps wins
You can install software, you want pedigree data on disk, and you prefer GPL-2.0 over a subscription. Windows AIO, brew, and snap make that path practical for a desktop family tree.
When online sites win
You cannot install apps, you rely on hosted record hints daily, or collaborators already live in one vendor account. Keep using that stack until migration cost is clear.
Cost
Gramps the program is free. Online tools often mix free tiers with paid research. Compare a year of seats against a local install before you switch for branding alone.
Privacy
Local Family Trees keep living-person details off unknown browsers unless you export. Online trees store data on vendor servers under their policies.
Interoperability
GEDCOM is the bridge. Export from the online tool, import into Gramps, and keep both until verified. Guide: switch.
Charts and reports
Gramps can print charts and reports locally; Graphviz helps some graph outputs. Online sites may offer prettier share links. Pick the output you actually need.
Bottom line
Use Gramps when a local family tree is the job. Use online SaaS when hosted research is the job. Many researchers keep both for a season.
Why exact filenames matter
Search results for a family tree install are crowded with renamed wrappers. Matching the upstream asset on GitHub Releases, or a verified brew or snap package, is the difference between a clean Family Tree and a second cleanup afternoon. Prefer stable tags over betas when your research PC needs predictability.
Write down which door this computer used. The next volunteer who opens the archive should not have to guess whether the machine used an AIO, a dmg, Homebrew, or snap. That note belongs beside your GEDCOM backups.
Local database habits
A family tree only helps when the database path is intentional. Create trees on disks you back up. Export GEDCOM or Gramps XML before risky imports. Keep media folders in the same backup set. Living-person details deserve the same care you would give any other personal archive.
Charts and reports can wait until a handful of people exist. Graphviz helps some graph outputs on Linux and other systems; install it when a report asks. Geography views and maps are optional power features, not first-hour requirements.
Parallel research without cloud lock-in
Many researchers keep a local family tree as the system of record while browsing online genealogy sites for clues. That hybrid approach works when you export carefully and avoid deleting the only copy of either side too early. GEDCOM remains the bridge when you need to move.
If a society already standardized on a commercial suite, evaluate migration cost before you switch for branding alone. Gramps wins when GPL-2.0 and offline disks matter. Online SaaS wins when you cannot install software or you need hosted hints every day.
Update discipline
Return to the same door forever. Windows users take the next AIO from Releases. Homebrew users upgrade the cask. Snap users refresh. apt users follow distro tools. Do not stack three mirrors “just in case.” One honest door prevents dual launches and confusion after a reimage.
When a newer stable tag appears, read the release notes, back up Family Trees, then upgrade. Beta tags are for testers. This family tree guide defaults to stable assets so classrooms and societies can reproduce installs.
Where to go next
Home install panel: family tree install. Windows deep dive: Windows. Safety: is it safe. First hour: installed. Guides hub: guides.
Corrections to filenames or package ids belong on the contact page with a source URL. Software bugs belong on the upstream GitHub issues list for gramps-project/gramps in a new tab.