Comparison

My Banyan Tree vs Rootkin

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

My Banyan Tree

Create a private, secure family space to build an interactive family tree, preserve traditions, capture life stories, and connect loved ones across generations. Understand your legacy by privately storing health information and visualizing global roots.

Highlights
  • Interactive family tree creation
  • Capture and share life stories
  • Preserve traditions and recipes
  • Store family health information
  • Visualize global family roots
  • Private journaling and family feed
  • Complete privacy controls
Features
Read full description

Don’t let your most precious memories fade away. Build a living family legacy—one story, one connection at a time. MyBanyanTree is your private, secure family space to create an interactive family tree, preserve cherished traditions, capture vibrant life stories, and keep your loved ones connected—ensuring your family’s memories last for generations. -Create your interactive family tree: Map out your entire extended family, with distinctive branches for every side—dad’s, mom’s, or your spouse’s family. -Capture and share life stories: Go beyond names and dates by building living biographies and uploading treasured photos. -Preserve traditions and recipes: Save rituals, heirloom stories, and the unique celebrations that define your family. -Understand your legacy: Privately store family health information for future generations to discover their inherited traits. -Visualize your global roots: Explore where your relatives live around the world on an interactive map. -Express, reflect, and connect: Journal privately, share updates on a family-only feed, and decide what stories to keep private or share. Build your digital diary and choose what you share. -Complete control and privacy: You determine who can see, share, or edit any detail—your family’s privacy is our priority. -Earn points & rewards: Celebrate the process of preserving your family’s legacy with fun rewards as you add memories and build connections. Why Choose MyBanyanTree? -Cherish Every Memory: Preserve your family’s traditions, rituals, favorite recipes, treasured photos, and wisdom—before they fade. -Bridge Distances: Connect with relatives near and far, bringing your family’s roots and branches together across continents. -Support Well-Being: Reflect privately through journaling and foster resilience through a supportive family network. -Empower Your Family: Record health histories to help children and grandchildren understand inherited risks and live healthier lives. Created by experts in technology and family legacy, MyBanyanTree is more than just an app—it’s a heartfelt platform where every generation can feel seen, heard, and remembered. Don’t let your family’s laughter, stories, and legacy disappear. Start your journey with MyBanyanTree, where every branch has a story, and every generation is family.

About

Rootkin

Build and share your family tree while capturing spoken memories from relatives. This private space allows you to record stories, organize photos, and create shareable keepsakes. It keeps your family connected with gentle reminders and ensures your data is always exportable.

Highlights
  • Build interactive family trees
  • Record and attach voice memories
  • Share trees with family members
  • Organize photos by person
  • Create shareable newsletters/cards
  • Export tree data as GEDCOM
Read full description

Rootkin is where your family actually shows up. Build your family tree, share it with the people in it, and capture the stories — in their own voices — before they fade. Rootkin is a private space for your family, not another social network and not a public database. RECORD THE VOICES THAT TELL YOUR STORY This is the part most family trees miss. Pick a question — "Tell me about the first house you ever lived in" — hand the phone over, and press record. Two minutes is plenty, and no account is needed to answer. Every recording gets an automatic transcript and stays tied to the people in it, so you can find it again by person or topic. ASK, AND THE ANSWER COMES BACK Send a question to your mom, your uncle, your grandmother. They record their answer from a simple link — no app, no account — and the moment they finish, their voice lands in your tree. BUILD YOUR TREE TOGETHER Add parents, children, siblings, and partners, or just describe your family in your own words — Rootkin turns what you say into people and relationships. Invite family with a simple code, and everyone sees the same tree, kept in sync in real time. SEE THE WHOLE FAMILY An interactive tree shows how everyone connects — including step and adoptive relationships. Pinch to zoom, pan to explore, and tap anyone to jump to their page. PHOTOS THAT BELONG TO PEOPLE Attach photos to the people in them, so the family album organizes itself over time. KEEPSAKES WORTH SHARING Turn memories and photos into a PDF newsletter or greeting card for the whole family — complete with codes that play the voices out loud. GENTLE REMINDERS Birthdays, anniversaries, and a daily feed of what your family has added — without notifications that nag. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your tree is only visible to the family members you invite. Nothing is public, nothing is searchable on the open web, and nothing is sold. Photos and details about children get extra protection, managed by the people you trust. YOUR DATA, YOURS Export your full tree anytime as GEDCOM — the standard format every genealogy tool understands. No lock-in. WORKS EVERYWHERE YOUR FAMILY IS iPhone, iPad, and the web. Grandma on her tablet, your cousin at a laptop, you on your phone — same tree, in sync, at the same time. A family tree, full of spoken memories. SUBSCRIPTIONS Viewing and listening are always free. Rootkin Family is an optional auto-renewable subscription, offered monthly or yearly, that covers you plus a co-editor, unlimited viewers on your tree, and voice recording for your family. Pricing is shown in the app before you subscribe. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings after purchase. Terms of Use (EULA): https://rootkin.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://rootkin.app/privacy

Screenshots

My Banyan Tree4 screens
Rootkin4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: My Banyan Tree at none against Rootkin's 2. Rootkin's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 5 months). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Rootkin sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. My Banyan Tree asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for My Banyan Tree against 5.0 for Rootkin. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

My Banyan Tree ships an update every 5 months, Rootkin every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
My Banyan Tree versus Rootkin: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMy Banyan TreeRootkin
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings2 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.415.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB39 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperR3 Insights LLCLloyd Financial Consulting LLC

Customer experience

My Banyan Tree

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Rootkin

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

My Banyan Tree

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Rootkin

Subscriptions2
  • Rootkin Family$4.991 Month
  • Rootkin Family$39.991 Year

Questions

Is My Banyan Tree free?
My Banyan Tree is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Rootkin free?
Rootkin is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, My Banyan Tree or Rootkin?
My Banyan Tree and Rootkin are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 2 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do My Banyan Tree or Rootkin have ads?
Neither My Banyan Tree nor Rootkin shows ads.
Which is updated more often, My Banyan Tree or Rootkin?
My Banyan Tree ships an update every 5 months, and Rootkin every 2 weeks. Most recently, My Banyan Tree was updated on October 11, 2026 and Rootkin on October 9, 2026.

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