[1] Alternatively, it may be treated as the subfamily Dryopteridoideae of a very broadly defined family Polypodiaceae sensu lato.

Veins are pinnate or forking, free to variously anastomosing; the areoles occur with or without included veinlets; sori are usually round, acrostichoid (covering the entire abaxial surface of the lamina) in a few lineages; usually indusiate, or sometimes exindusiate.

[4] In 1990, Karl U. Kramer and coauthors defined the Dryopteridaceae broadly to include the present family, as well as the Woodsiaceae sensu lato, Onocleaceae, and most of Tectariaceae.

[7] In 2012, a phylogenetic study of Dryopteris and its relatives included Acrophorus, Acrorumohra, Diacalpe, Dryopsis, Nothoperanema, and Peranema within that genus.

[12] The Flora of China treatment of the family, published in 2013, used phylogenetic results to sink Lithostegia and Phanerophlebiopsis into Arachniodes.

Didymochlaenaceae Hypodematiaceae Dryopteridaceae Nephrolepidaceae Lomariopsidaceae Tectariaceae Oleandraceae Davalliaceae Polypodiaceae Parapolystichum Lastreopsis Rumohra Megalastrum Pleocnemia Bolbitis Lomagramma Arthrobotrya Teratophyllum Mickelia Elaphoglossum Stigmatopteris Trichoneuron Polystichopsis Olfersia Maxonia Cyclodium Polybotrya Ctenitis Phanerophlebia Cyrtomium Polystichum Arachniodes Dryopteris The PPG I classification divides the family into three subfamilies, listed below.

Aenigmopteris has at times been suggested to belong to this family, on the grounds of its morphological similarity to Ctenitis, but molecular phylogeny has led to its submersion within Tectaria (Tectariaceae).