Both DH and I have been using Ancestry for some time. We've both found it very good and haven't had to cough up extra money except to renew our membership. Even then, if I remember rightly, you can still see what you've already done but you can't add to it if you don't renew.
We both use it in conjunction with other genealogy sites, especially the free ones, or the free parts of other sites.
I haven't made my family tree public - you have the choice - because I don't want to share information at the moment. You do get hints from other people's trees and you need to double check the data from them as some people just copy stuff and it may be absolute rubbish!!
No doubt some of the other other sites have aspects that are better, or worse.