[Updated 5 May 2025]
Everything you access and enjoy on Find a Grave has been added by our community, freely given and freely shared. Contributions of memorial information, photos, corrections and other data to the site are what have made Find a Grave a beloved and valuable resource for millions of people.
As the site grows, the cost of hosting and delivering the information grows with it. Find a Grave is free to use and contribute to. Financial support for the site comes from banner advertising on the site, support from Ancestry and sponsorships from the community.
Most of the financial support for the site comes from third-party ads which are banner ads on the site that promote external services and products. They are provided by third-party companies that are not directly affiliated with Find a Grave, Ancestry, or services offered within the Ancestry family of sites.
While these third-party ads support the site, some site members find them annoying or distracting, so for many years, members have been asking for a way to remove third-party advertisements and support Find a Grave directly. We recently introduced a Site Sponsorship option that will let you do both. You’ll be supporting the site as we grow, innovate, and move Find a Grave forward and also enjoy other benefits, including:
- No 3rd party ads when you use the site
- Add 2 additional photos to non-famous memorials
- No ads on your profile page
- (Optional) An acknowledgement of your sponsorship will display on your profile page
You can learn more about the details in our Site Sponsorship support article, which includes answers to some common questions.
If you’d like to become a site sponsor, go to your Account Settings and select Site Sponsorship. There are two different options:
- $25 for a 6 month sponsorship
- $50 for a 1 year sponsorship
Site Sponsorship is not supported in all countries at this time, so you may not see the option in your account if you are accessing Find a Grave from a country where it is not available.
You can continue to use Find a Grave just as you have been whether you choose to become a Site Sponsor or not. Site Sponsorship is just another way for members to support the site and remove ads if they choose to.
We’re grateful for all our members and recognize and value all the different ways you contribute to the site. The additions and corrections you make help keep the site growing and blessing the lives of everyone who visits it. Financial support can help keep the lights on and the site up and running. Thank you for your participation, help and support to find, document, and record graves and share this information with everyone.
For the past 6 years, I have been reconstructing the Alhambra Cemetery Decedent List for the Martinez Cemetery Preservation Alliance and the Contra Costa County Genealogy Society in Martinez, California. As the co-founder, board member, and lead genealogist for MCPA, many of the memorial pages have been transferred to me to the point that I am now the memorial manager for two-thirds of the decedents in that cemetery. Having Find-A-Grave as a free website is essential to me. I pay over $600 a year to Ancestry and Newspapers.com. Through the MCPA, I get contacted by descendants to help them find their ancestors in the Alhambra Cemetery on a regular basis. So far, I have found over 800 decedents that were not listed on the original Alhambra Cemetery decedent list. It’s a labor of love.
I hope that some day MCPA or CCCGS might be able to sponsor some of these memorials. I plan to keep my memorials pretty much strictly to the Alhambra Cemetery.
One thing that bothers me is that Ancestry.com does not update the memorials on their website. I have found over 500 misspelled last names and if someone is trying to find their ancestor on Ancestry.com, and the ancestor’s last name still shows as incorrect, they will not think it is their ancestor. Is there a way to get Ancestry to update the listing?
I don’t know quite what to say. Updating a name is easy, and I have done it several times. Just hit the “Suggestion” button and you can correct the name. Also, I’ve never been transferred a memorial unless I have asked for it. Of course, if you’ve established the memorial, you are automatically the memorial manager until you transfer it again.
I would say that I find about a third of the memorials have been abandoned, and that is why corrections are automatically accepted after three weeks. You can get them transferred to you (after a few weeks) by writing Find a Grave.
A distant cousin of mine maintained sites, but died unexpectedly. Because I knew his immediate family had little to no interest, I tried to inform Ancestry and FindAGrave, and they have no provision for this. It was very frustrating.
Please contact us at support@findagrave.com. We are running a little behind right now, but will get back to you as soon as we can. Learn more about how to send us information about a members passing here.
Thanks for your valuable work on the site. We appreciate all that you do. The Find a Grave index is sent to Ancestry on a regular basis. We’ve sent you an email asking for specific details so we can look into this further.
I have been a user of Find A Grave almost from the beginning. To all those that demand faster or more detailed responses may I remind you this site is free due to the kindness and generosity of people committed to adding and monitoring the graves, some for many years. Hundreds and thousands of these grave have been posted by these individual managers. If there were more volunteers each manager could manage less graves. These people generally have full time jobs and adding graves as well as responding to emails happens in their free time. It is really not expected that they research the people beyond names and dates. Anything beyond that is through the kindness and commitment of the managers. And additionally someone has traipsed out to the cemeteries to the take the pictures you see. To the complainers I suggest you to volunteer to lessen the load of one of the only free sites left for researchers. Yes, sometimes the corrections and additions are added without contacting you. Handwritten lists are not always easy to read and may not be complete. Additions and corrections are appreciated by everyone. Additional documentation may be requested with some submissions. But time, I am sure, may prohibit from follow ups or a thank you. Checking back is not such a big deal. Complaints? Get over it. Thank you all those souls that contribute to the upkeep of this wonderful, informational, historical site that celebrates lives those that came before us.
Help them keep it free!
Thank you for your comment Sher! I couldn’t agree with you more! Spot on!
I personally don’t mind the ads. I have made suggested changes when I know information is not accurate. My fear is it being bought and commercialized. If I had some funds, I would pay, but I don’t. There used to be a lot more free sites but they get bought up and cancel or don’t get used. My biggest one is genforum was such a great resource, but Ancestry bought it and shut it down. You can use the message boards but people don’t. Sigh it is the way of the world.
You could not be more correct about what is happening.
FindaGrave is owned by Ancestry. They bought it several years ago.
I completely agree with you. I hate to see Ancestry suck up the wealth of free information. I don’t mind the ads on Findagrave if that is what it takes to have free access. Volunteering to give to the site so others can benefit is in itself rewarding.
First of all, I want to apologize to Val, I am just replying on your comment as i couldnt reply otherwise. If findagrave is going to charge a fee or ancestry; then i belive we should be paid for adding the info and pictures. i live in florida in a county that is as big as the state of rhode island. if i were to go to all the cemetaries that people want info from it would cost me a fortune in gas and time driving around and then uploading hundreds of requests. i would love to help all of these requests but i cannot afford to spend the gas and time required.
thank you
teresa l.
Personally, I always liked how Ancestry bought up other sites. The other sites may very well had financial difficulties, and if they just shut down, their info would have been lost.
Ancestry has bought up several sites, and maybe or maybe not Ancestry took their info from other sites; still, the info is public domain. The thing I like about it is instead of going to several other sites, all compiled info can be had in one place. I like that, as time really is as precious as money.
I corrected some information on someone who is listed on http://www.findagrave.com. Suddenly I was told that I would be in charge of that page, & I am not able to do so. I am still working, at age 72, & year before last, I had cancer. Since then, I don’t have enough strength to do everything that needs doing.
Thank you for your comment. The memorial must have be one that is managed by Find a Grave. When a memorial is managed by Find a Grave, on the Suggest Edits page you will see a button that says “request to manage.” That’s an option for those who would like to manage the memorial. Otherwise, you can send updates through Suggest Edits and they will process within a few minutes.
I would have to agree with some of the previous comments. Keeping this site free is essential to the purpose of what I do. As was said, it is a labour of love. Just this past week we turned on over 900 kilometers to research 4 cemeteries. Three of those were at the request of someone who is not able to research because of major health concerns. We have been activily doing this across Western Canada, so many kilometers have been travelled, endless amount of hours doing research, editing pictures and connecting families. I have added close to 4,000 memorials and over 13,000 photos in the past seven years. All this research has come at a significant cost, (which by the way I don’t keep track of), so the idea of also sponsoring a memorial is not something that I am willing to participate in.
Everyone who manages memorials, as I do, spends a lot of donated time and sometimes money for travel to collect data and take pictures. Asking us to sponsor the site is going too far. Run off the volunteers and there will no longer be a useful site.
Thanks for your comment. The Find a Grave community is the heart of Find a Grave. We recognize and value all your hard work, time, and efforts. The impact your contributions have will extend for generations as people discover information about their ancestors from stones that may no longer be readable and other information you have researched and added. The site is free for everyone to use and enjoy, but there are substantial costs to support, host, and develop it. Site Sponsorship is another way to support the site and use the site without seeing banner ads.
There seems to be a great deal of confusion about Site Sponsorship versus Memorial Sponsorship. Here is my idea: Forget “Site Sponsorship”. The name is too confusing. Instead, create an optional “Pro Level” membership that would include all the benefits listed in this article and also include many features that users have asked for, such as “Memorial Lock” which would keep the ID from a managed memorial from being used to incorrectly link an unrelated “relative”, and a “Notify Me” feature which would send an e-mail when any change was made to a memorial, regardless of who manages the memorial. Look at comments in the forums and previous articles for other requested features. Most of the ones that I am aware of are not difficult to implement. Since it is easy for anyone to use an ad blocker, having an ad free site is not enough to justify a fee.
There’s mention above about Ancestry.com (which I personally don’t use). Familysearch.org has always been free. I have transcribed for them and have also added hundreds of pages as well as manage memorials for findagrave. It’s unfortunate that Familysearch and Findagrave could not have set their sites up to restrict other sites from freely downloading their info and then profiting from it.
So true!!
The ads don’t bother me in the least. Those whom they bother should buy the ad free version. The sensible of us realize nothing of value is free.
I have paid to sponsor over 500 memorials but none since you increase the cost of doing so by 100% and changed the layout. I don’t mind the increase although I think you should have gone up less than 100%! What I do mind is the new format for sponsored memorials. I don’t like it. I prefer the standard format. I think there should be an option for sponsors to choose which format they want for their sponsored memorials. Please add that option. The new format might look ok on a phone but in a laptop where most of us do our research it looks weird and doesn’t show all of the details without scrolling down. Thanks for listening.
Thank you for your question and for sponsoring memorials. You can choose how you would like the sponsored memorials to display in your Account Settings under Site preferences.
Thanks for letting me know. I was unaware of this feature. But I see it only applies to how I see the memorials I have sponsored and not others. Better than before but I would love for everyone to see them the standard way. 🙂
I have been wondering who pays for the service of maintaining the site I would like to donate but do not have the information to do so. H. Statzer
Thank you for your comment. There are a few different ways to financially support the site. You can sponsor a memorial, choose to become a Site Sponsor in your Account Settings, or you can donate directly through the mail. When we receive a check, we will apply “gravebucks” to your member account so that you can sponsor memorials with the funds. Here is a link to a support article that includes our mailing address.
Let me start by giving a huge thank you to all who have donated their time and/or resources to building this site to what it is today. I personally have been using this site since the late 90’s and find it a valuable resource. I am so sorry to hear that the memorial managers and volunteers are taken advantage of in such a negligent manner. I cannot fathom asking someone to do something for me (due to distance, health, time, etc.) without first asking if they are willing/able and second without supplying compensation.
Personally, I don’t mind the ads. I grew up on radio and tv commercials so I’m pretty ‘ad blind’. I do understand that they can be annoying and for some it does have health ramifications. I’ll pay the $50 for a year to help support Find-A-Grave and help keep it free for everyone and especially those who don’t have the financial ability to help at this time.
Will send a check by mail.
Of course I will be happy to contribute a sponsorship. The website has been very helpful to me more times than I can count. I appreciate this site and the many wonderful volunteers who generously donate their time and effort to posting photos when requested.
I just completed contribution for one-year sponsorship. It was easy and I encourage others who find this site helpful to contribute.
Keep the ads. They are not that bad, and maintaining the service available to all, not only those who can afford to pay is tremendously valuable. But maybe you don’t care and are happy to add to our Have-v-Have-Not society. As others have reported, many of us already pay Ancestry memberships.
The ads will still be there and the site will continue to be freely available to all. Site sponsorship is just an option for people who would prefer not to see ads.
I am confused. Are you owned by ancestry.com? Or are you independent? I have sponsored memorials, and I assume that helps to pay for the costs associated with maintaining this site. As a communications consultant, I suggest you use a FAQ to help clarify these matters.
Thank you for your questions. Yes, Find a Grave is owned by Ancestry but we are separate and try to cover our own costs. Here is a link to our support article where you can learn more about Site Sponsorship.
I am not sure why I got this email. Maybe I put a response to someone else or replied to the incorrect comment….anyway I am not sure. I already understood how Find a Grave works and Ancestry purchase of same. I gave a one year donation to help reduce advertisement. I wish I could donate directly to a volunteer that drove back to a cemetery to look for headstones I can’t go find myself. Some of these volunteers have requested a headstone be erected that had fallen (and partially buried), found headstones of grandparents that had important information on them, shared cemetery records information and then gave guidance of local organization that might provide more information, and so much more. Neither Ancestry nor My Heritage had any information on these people. A history buff or just love being a detective, but definitely a VOLUNTEER with a compassionate soul helped me connect to my family of immigrants.
Hey Alison, that’s a lot of extra effort from the volunteers.
Hey “Find A Grave Team”: How about adding a feature to let a user send a small tip in gratitude directly to a volunteer, maybe via PayPal or something similar?
Hi Mark, thank you for sending in this suggestion. If you have other suggestions in the future, we’d love to hear them. You can send them to us through Website Feedback here.
I am so grateful for this site. I would love to see a way of linking into Wikitree. The rigor of Wikitree is so helpful for serious research and I heavily depend upon FindAGrave to get started with a new tree. Kudos to all who have made this site so useful. I have contributed some but the heavy lifting has been done by so many out of a desire that these names and people are remembered – my son among them. The moment this site becomes paywalled is the moment I look elsewhere.
We’re glad to hear how much you love the site. The volunteers have done amazing work. Thanks for your comments and suggestion. Find a Grave will continue to be free to use, just as it always has been.
Im fairly a newbie here. And I admit, I complained about the ads ONLY because it was slowing me down while I was adding new profiles and pictures. In the little time Ive been volunteering I added over 2000 new profiles, and almost 7000 pictures. ( Im sure there are those who have done more) Btw Im still going. Lol. I pay for ancestry, my gas driving all over regularly, and I enjoy volunteering. But honestly, if this is going to be another bill Ill find a new hobby. I hope not.