Family Finder vs. other tests

[Mark]

Can someone please explain the difference between Family Finder and other tests? I just ordered the mtFull Sequence. Later I plan on an upgrade for Y67. I am a male and plan on joining a surname project. What does the Family Finder do that the other tests do not do?

[Lincoln]

mtDNA is your maternal line (mother's mother's mother's mother etc). Y-DNA is paternal (father's father's father's etc). Family Finder is an autosomal DNA test. Sometimes colloquially called a "cousinship" test. It shows all of your lines, not just straight maternal or paternal. Assuming my 16 g(great) grandparents were different people, if I were to have matches from my Y or mtDNA tests, they would be from 2/16 lines. My Family Finder matches could be from those 2 lines, or the other 14 lines. Same principle would apply to other lines of mine - 32 gg grandparents or 64 ggg grandparents etc. It just depends on if my relatives got tested here too.

[josh w.]

Can someone please explain the difference between Family Finder and other tests? I just ordered the mtFull Sequence. Later I plan on an upgrade for Y67. I am a male and plan on joining a surname project. What does the Family Finder do that the other tests do not do?

There are at least two potential benefits of FF testing. FF is limited to recent connections, for the most part 5-7th cousins or closer. Some consumers have more FF matches than with other types of tests, particularly if they have American colonial or Jewish backgrounds.

[Mark]

Thanks for the replies! I am new, so still learning about this.