It may be somewhat painful, but you have to analyze your own shopping habits and attitudes before you decide how much effort and time you might want to spend in determining what items you buy and what you do not buy.

See, for example, ' Top Ten Genealogy Software Reviews for 2013' by Randy Seaver on his Genea-Musings blog. For example, there is a website called ' ' If you read the 'reviews' of the company, you will find a plethora of criticism of their methods and opinions. Notwithstanding this fact, there are hundreds of places where you can go to get lists of the top 10, 20, 40 or whatever. There is no 'best.' The best is what you personally prefer. One of more commonly reoccurring questions I am called upon to answer is 'Which is the best genealogy program?' In reality, this question is the functional equivalent of asking which is the best car or computer or washer or whatever on the market.