Filae or Vestigee for French civil registration?

Filae's indexed civil registration is excellent for locating a family by surname when you do not know the commune. Vestigee is for the step after that: reading the actual register page — including pre-Revolutionary parish books that exist only as images — and attaching what it says to your tree with the source.

Why read the register if the index already found the person?

Because the original holds what the index never does: parents' occupations, witnesses, exact ages, marginal notes about later marriages or deaths, and the neighbouring entries that reveal siblings. An index entry is a pointer, not the evidence.

How far back does indexed French civil registration go?

Civil registration began around the French Revolution, so before that you are in parish registers — and those are far less indexed. That is where most French research stalls and where transcription changes the work.

Can I transfer my Filae tree?

Yes, through GEDCOM export and import — people, dates, places, relationships and notes transfer, and Vestigee exports GEDCOM too.

If you are researching France seriously, using an index to locate and then reading the original is the standard method rather than a compromise. Subscribe to what you are actively using and drop what you stop opening.

What about documents I already own?

Certificates, livrets de famille and photographed acts in your own drawers appear in no index. Vestigee runs them through the same transcription and extraction pipeline as indexed records, which is often where the most informative facts come from.

Which is better value?

Compare what is included rather than the headline price. Current prices for your country, and what a plan covers, are on the pricing page; the right comparison is cost per unblocked line, not cost per month.

Can AI help when a French register was destroyed?

Indirectly, by making substitutes readable: notarial acts, tax and land rolls, conscription lists and newspapers all survive where a register burnt, and they are frequently handwritten and unindexed — which is exactly the material transcription handles.

Vestigee vs Filae: An Honest Comparison | Blog

Filae's indexed French civil registration versus AI transcription of unindexed registers, sourced archive research and photo restoration — plus how to use both.