Where to Find Obituaries Online: A Complete Guide to Every Major Archive

How to Find Old Obituaries Online: Everything You Need to Know

Whether you're tracing a family tree, researching a historical figure, or settling an estate, finding an obituary online can feel overwhelming. Dozens of archives, databases, and websites claim to hold the records you need — and the differences between them matter enormously.

If you’re looking for a step-by-step approach, you can also read our guide on how to find family obituaries in newspapers.

Example of a historical obituary found in a small-town newspaper at NewspaperArchive.com. Records like this often include family details, locations, and life events not found elsewhere.

This guide covers every major service with specifics on coverage dates, number of titles, pricing, and what each is genuinely best at.

One key fact before you begin: no single archive holds everything. The best researchers use a combination of free and paid services depending on the era, geography, and type of record they need.

Quick Reference: All Major Obituary and Newspaper Archive Services

Where to Find Obituaries Online for Free

Best Paid Newspaper Archives for Obituaries

Pricing and subscription details are accurate as of April 2026 and may change over time.

Free Obituary Archives: Start Here

Chronicling America (Library of Congress)

Chronicling America is the single best free resource for pre-1963 obituaries. Operated by the Library of Congress and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, it contains more than 20 million pages from over 4,000 newspaper titles covering all U.S. states and territories. No registration is required, and the content is in the public domain. A major interface upgrade in August 2025 added advanced search filters by ethnicity, location, and language — making it easier than ever to find ancestors in underrepresented communities. Coverage stops at 1963.

Legacy.com

Legacy.com is the largest online database of current obituaries, partnering with funeral homes and newspapers across the country. It is free to search and free to read most entries. If you are looking for someone who died after 2000, this is the fastest place to start. It does not hold historical records prior to the Internet era.

FindaGrave

FindaGrave has over 265 million memorials and is free to use. While it is primarily a cemetery record database rather than a newspaper obituary archive, many memorials include transcribed obituaries uploaded by volunteers. It is an excellent cross-reference for confirming burial locations, dates, and surviving family members.

Obituary Daily Times

The Obituary Daily Times, hosted at RootsWeb, is a volunteer-maintained index of more than 13 million obituaries, growing at roughly 2,500 per day. It is a name index pointing to published obituaries, not full text — but it is free and can direct you to the right newspaper and date to search.

Elephind

Elephind is a free international newspaper search engine that aggregates multiple free archive collections — including Chronicling America, Trove (Australia), and others — allowing you to search them simultaneously. It covers 47+ million pages and is especially useful if you're not sure which free archive to check first.

Paid Newspaper Archive Services: What You Get

NewspaperArchive

NewspaperArchive, owned by Storied, contains 280–290 million pages from 17,000+ newspaper titles, with coverage from 1607 to the present. It covers all 50 U.S. states plus content from 48 countries. NewspaperArchive's defining strength is its small-town and rural newspaper collection: if your ancestor lived in a small community that a major archive ignores, this is often where you'll find them. The service claims 85% of its content is unique — not duplicated by competitors. It also includes more than 100 African American newspaper titles. Every subscription includes bundled access to the Storied genealogy platform, which adds census records, vital records, immigration records, military records, and a family tree builder at no extra cost.

Pricing: $22.99/month; $15.99/month on a 6-month plan; $12.99/month on an annual plan. A 7-day free trial is available on 6-month and annual plans. National Genealogical Society members receive free access.

Newspapers.com

Newspapers.com is the largest newspaper archive by page count, with over 1 billion pages on its Publisher Extra plan and 26,000+ titles. Coverage runs from 1690 to 2025. It integrates directly with Ancestry family trees and features a well-regarded interface with a heat map showing where results cluster on a page.

Important note on tiers: Newspapers.com has two subscription levels. The Basic plan ($7.95/month or $44.95 for 6 months) covers 26,000+ titles and 313 million pages but is largely limited to pre-copyright content (pre-1930s). The Publisher Extra plan ($19.90/month or $74.90 for 6 months) unlocks the remaining 700+ million pages, including most 20th-century content. Many users find the Basic plan frustratingly limited for anything after about 1930.

GenealogyBank

GenealogyBank contains over 260 million obituaries and death records, which it claims is the largest online obituary collection. It covers 16,000+ newspaper titles from 1690 to the present. Two dedicated obituary collections span 1690–1976 (Historical) and 1977–present (Recent). GenealogyBank also includes the Social Security Death Index, government publications, and census records as part of its subscription.

Pricing: $19.95/month or $99.90/year (approximately $8.33/month). The annual plan makes GenealogyBank the most affordable major paid archive on a per-month basis. A 7-day free trial is available. U.S.-only coverage.

OldNews

OldNews, powered by MyHeritage, is a large international newspaper archive with more than 430 million pages across 41,000 titles. Coverage dates vary by country and publication, with a strong emphasis on global content outside the United States.

The platform is designed for international research, making it especially useful for tracing ancestors in Europe and other regions. It includes OCR-powered search to help locate names and keywords across different languages, and integrates with MyHeritage family trees.

Pricing: $99/year.

British Newspaper Archive (Findmypast)

If your research involves British or Irish ancestors, the British Newspaper Archive — operated by Findmypast in partnership with the British Library — is the only comprehensive option. It contains 102+ million pages from thousands of British and Irish titles spanning the 1700s to the present. There is a £14.95/month plan, or a Findmypast "everything" subscription at £169.99/year.

State-Funded Free Access Programs

Several U.S. states fund free statewide access to newspaper archives for their residents:

• Ohio: Ohio Memory — 1 million+ pages of Ohio newspapers free

• New York: NYS Historic Newspapers — free; also HRVH Newspapers and Community History Archives

• California: California Digital Newspaper Collection — free

• Georgia: Georgia Historic Newspapers — free

The Purdue University Library guide to digital U.S. newspapers maintains a comprehensive state-by-state list of free newspaper access programs.

Community History Archives: https://communityhistoryarchives.com — A free digital collection of local newspapers and historical materials from all 50 states. Especially useful for uncovering community-level stories, notices, and smaller publications that may not appear in larger national archives.

Library Card Access: Free Paid Archives

Your public library card may give you free access to paid obituary and newspaper archives. Many libraries subscribe to Newspapers.com Library Edition (via ProQuest), GenealogyBank collections through NewsBank, Ancestry Library Edition, and ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

Check your library’s website under “Research Databases” or “Genealogy Resources.” Some libraries allow remote access, while others require in-library use—especially for genealogy platforms like Ancestry. Coverage also varies by institution, so it’s worth checking county, state, and university libraries separately.

Which Service Should You Start With?

For most people searching for an obituary, the fastest path is:

1. Recent Obituaries (Post-2000): Start with Legacy.com — the fastest way to find modern obituaries from funeral homes and newspapers

2. Historical U.S. Obituaries (Pre-1963, Free): Use Chronicling America — a free, nationwide collection of digitized newspapers in the public domain.

3. Small-Town & Rural Ancestors: Try NewspaperArchive — especially strong for local papers and communities often missed by larger platforms.

4. Broad U.S. Newspaper Search (Largest Collection): Use Newspapers.com (Publisher Extra) — best for wide coverage and 20th-century newspapers.

5. Obituary-Focused Research: Start with GenealogyBank — specializes in obituaries with a large, dedicated collection.

Conclusion

Finding an obituary online isn’t about choosing one “best” website. It’s about knowing where to start based on what you know. Use free resources for quick wins, match the time period to the right archive, and don’t overlook smaller or local newspapers where many obituaries were actually published. If one search doesn’t work, try another approach, another database, or even another variation of the name. The key takeaway is simple: the more flexible your strategy, the more likely you are to find the story you’re looking for, and sometimes, the details you discover will go far beyond a single obituary.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best free obituary search website?

For historical U.S. obituaries (especially before 1963), Chronicling America is one of the best free options, offering millions of digitized newspaper pages with no subscription required. For more recent obituaries (post-2000), Legacy.com is typically the fastest place to start.

Is NewspaperArchive or Newspapers.com better for obituaries?

It depends on your research focus. Newspapers.com has the largest overall collection and strong 20th-century coverage, while NewspaperArchive is especially strong for small-town and rural newspapers, where many obituaries were published. For best results, researchers often choose based on location rather than size.

How do I find an obituary for someone who died before 1900?

Start with historical newspaper collections like Chronicling America, then search large newspaper archives that include early publications. Use flexible search terms: names, locations, and even phrases like “died” or “passed away," since older obituaries were often brief or not labeled clearly. If you still can’t find a record, check local newspapers from the area where the person lived, as many small-town papers from this period are not fully digitized.

What is the best website for British obituaries?

The British Newspaper Archive is the most comprehensive resource for British and Irish obituaries, with millions of digitized pages from the 1700s to the present.

Does GenealogyBank have more obituaries than Newspapers.com?

GenealogyBank specializes in obituaries and has a large, dedicated collection of over 260 million records, while Newspapers.com has more total newspaper pages overall. GenealogyBank’s focused indexing often makes it easier to find obituary-specific results.

What if I can't find the obituary I need in any archive?

Contact the local public library in the city where the person died. Many hold microfilm of local newspapers not yet digitized online. State historical societies often hold newspaper collections as well. You can also use WorldCat to find which libraries hold physical copies of a specific newspaper. If the newspaper is still publishing, contact them directly; many have their own archives.