Terms of Use

Acceptance

By accessing or using BranchSmith—including guest sessions, registered accounts, and any explorer views—you agree to these Terms of Use. If you do not agree, please do not use the service.

Your Content and Data

You retain full ownership of any GEDCOM files or genealogical data you bring to BranchSmith. We claim no ownership, license, or rights over your research data. You are responsible for ensuring you have the right to use, upload, and share any data you load into the platform.

Acceptable Use

• Do not use BranchSmith for any unlawful purpose.
• Do not attempt to gain unauthorized access to other accounts or to the underlying servers.
• Do not use automated tools to scrape, stress-test, or abuse the service.
• Do not upload content that infringes third-party intellectual property rights.

Service Availability

BranchSmith is provided as-is. We make no guarantees of uptime, data persistence, or feature availability. We may modify, pause, or discontinue any part of the service at any time with or without notice—including adding or removing features, adjusting tier access, or performing maintenance.

Accounts

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account secret. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms or that abuse the service in any way.

Patreon Membership

Paid access tiers are managed through Patreon. Your membership, billing, and subscription are governed entirely by Patreon’s own terms—not by BranchSmith. By subscribing through Patreon you also agree to their terms.

Patreon Terms of Use →

Limitation of Liability

BranchSmith and its operators are not liable for any loss of data, loss of research, or consequential damages arising from use or unavailability of the service. Use it as a companion tool and maintain your own backups.

Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms as the service evolves. Continued use after updates constitutes acceptance. We will note material changes on this page.

Questions about these terms? Contact us and we’ll respond promptly.