Top 5 Most Visited Online Dating Sites Reviewed
We've Compared The Best Online Dating Sites To Help You Determine
Which Services Will Best Suit Your Lifestyle.
We've Compared The Best Online Dating Sites To Help You Determine
Which Services Will Best Suit Your Lifestyle.
Our TOP PICK: #1 — Match
Match.com is one of the oldest and longest-standing matchmaking sites around. It introduced many of the tools, features, and procedures co-opted by most of the other dating sites out there, and they have continuously improved upon these tools, features, and procedures.
MatchMobile is a unique offering that brings the best of Match.com’s services—My Match, Search, Winks, Text Alerts, and full Email capabilities—to your mobile phone. This is a broad appeal to many on-the-go singles (which comprise a lot of the singles out there), and vastly increases your likelihood of actually finding someone you like.
And its various Community Sites, catering to specific special interests—Christians, Jews, Black people, Asians, etc.—are a nice touch.
- Pros
- More members than any other Online dating service
- Unique set of special interest sub-sites (i.e. Asians, Christians, Seniors)
- Winks – low pressure ways to express interest
- Employs a proven personality-based matching system
- 6-month guarantee that you'll meet someone
- Approx. 20,000 new people join every day
- Accepts PayPal
- Match Mobile
- Cons
- Must sign up, even just to browse for free
- Annoying to have to sign up at sister site, Chemistry.com, if you want more in-depth matchmaking criteria
- Expert guidance and support (i.e. ProfilePro) costs extra
| SpecialPromo | Get the First 3 Days of Any Subscription Membership Risk-Free |
| Geographic:Areas Served | US (including numerous individual city sites, i.e.New York, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and dozens more), Europe, Asia, Africa, Pacific, Americas |
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#2 — Yahoo Personals
- Pros
- 7 Day Free Trial of Paid Member services
- One of the largest and most diverse dating pools online
- One of the least expensive "trusted" dating sites
- Trusted internet brand
- Easy setup, easy profile creation
- Multiple search options
- Extensive private mailbox features
- Dating advice magazine
- Cons
- Advertising at bottom of search results pages (at least on free member searches)
- Although an all-ages site, most members seeking 20-40 year-olds
- Some say it’s “too big” and mainstream, as opposed to its earlier days when it was considered the hip dating site for nonconformist types
One of the longest-standing dating sites by one of the longest-standing internet companies, Yahoo Personals has one of largest member bases, most extensive features for free and paid members alike, widest array of search options, and most versatile private mailboxes of any dating site online. It enforces a strict Code of Conduct. Versions of the site exist in 13 different countries’ native languages and currencies.
I particularly like all the different search options, allowing me to choose how, precisely, I want to go about looking for a match—especially the 4 different types of automated matches, including 3 based on compatibility with my profile or my answer to a personality questionnaire and 1 that are sent regularly right to my email—because just using age range, gender orientation, and geography just doesn’t cut it anymore.
| Special Promo | 7-Day Free Trial of Paid Member Services |
| Geographic: Areas Served | 13 Countries in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Seattle, New York, L.A., and more. |
| Free Member Features |
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#3 — e-Harmony
# What makes eHarmony stand out from all the other dating sites out there is its patented, scientific Compatibility Matching System based on 29 Dimensions of personality. Examples of those 29 dimensions are: Intellect, adaptability, emotional temperament and other “Core Traits”
# Feelings on children, spirituality, and other “Values and Beliefs”
# Conflict resolution and other “Relationship Skills”
This serves to match people together in a way that’s been proven more consistently effective and successful in predicting and producing mutually fulfilling long term relationships than any other matchmaking system currently in existence.
- Pros
- Compatibility Matching System accurately predicts potential for relationship success with the highest levels of probability
- Perfect for people seeking their lifelong “soul mate”
- Guided Communication Process offers even greater expert support
- Free members get more features than at most other sites (mainly more in-depth self-analyzing tools)
- eHarmony Labs is an extensive advice resource full of blogs, tools, articles, and studies for both singles and married couples
- An average of 236 members get married each day
- Marriage Counseling that includes a Communication Guide, Marriage Profile, Online Tools and Video Exercises, and an Advice Corner
- Numerous features for ensuring security, privacy, and safety (i.e. RelyID and SecureCall)
- Cons
- Takes longer to set up “profile” and to produce results
- More expensive than most other dating sites
- Too much trouble for people just looking for casual dates and friends
- Doesn’t serve gay and lesbian singles
| Geographic:
Areas Served |
US, Canada, UK, Australia |
| Free
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#4 — SinglesNet
Certainly one of the more obscure dating sites on the web—not to mention one of the newest ones—singlesnet.com has nonetheless risen through the ranks to become one of the more popular and respected “smaller” dating sites out there.
The fact that it’s smaller is one of its main benefits. You see, one of the biggest complaints people make about the big majors, like Match.com and eHarmony, is that they’re too big. With so many people to choose from, prospective matches seem to feel they can afford to be more fickle and hold out for that unrealistic ideal.
With a smaller site like singlesnet, however, you don’t have that problem. The people on this site mean serious business. They want to meet other singles and they’re not about to let a promising opportunity slide just because human nature tends towards holding out for that fantasy guy or gal who may be just around the corner.
- Pros
- Smaller member base
- Stellar free trial with lots more features than most – no credit card needed
- Takes less than a minute to get set up
- Active member forum
- Cons
- Smaller member base (no, you’re not seeing double—this is both a Pro and a Con)
- Emails automatically deleted after a set period of time
- Limited search functions and criteria
- Disproportionate number of complaints online about fakes, liars, and scammers
- Site access problems - sessions time out too frequently, forcing constant repeated logins
- No centralized member home page or start page
- Too expensive for what you get
- Uses overtly sexually suggestive advertising to promote itself
| SpecialPromo | 7-DayFree Trial of Paid Subscription, 30 Day Money Back Guarantee |
| Geographic:Areas Served | US Only |
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#5 — Friend Finder
FriendFinder is perhaps the most community oriented of “dating” sites, with 10 different chat rooms (including webcam chat), FriendFinder Mobile (for interacting with the site via your mobile telephone), video profiles (a MAJOR plus), tens-of-thousands of blogs with hundreds-of-thousands of posts (you can even create your own), and other attractive social networking features. This is surely FriendFinder’s biggest unique selling point. For people who love MySpace and Facebook, FriendFinder will be well-received (to put it mildly).
And in line with the global essence of your typical web 2.0 site, FriendFinder is also available in nearly a dozen different languages, inviting the appealing opportunity for cross-cultural communication. In fact, while we’re on the subject of FriendFinder’s global community it should also be pointed out that although there are less than 2 million members here (significantly fewer than, say, Match.com or eHarmony) they are surprisingly widespread across the planet—and there’s a public webpage where you can see that for yourself. Also, members can pay in their own currency.
FriendFinder is also the only dating site we’ve come across that has an incentive program of sorts, to keep members actively participating. Earn points by casting votes, referring friends, answering questions, and contributing articles. These points can then be redeemed for membership upgrades.
- Pros
- Numerous community-oriented Web 2.0-style features (i.e. webcam chat, blogs, online magazine)
- Video profiles
- Best site for meeting friends and acquaintances
- Profiles and photos reviewed for appropriateness and other important safety criteria
- Points system for active participation that can be redeemed for membership upgrades
- Available in several native languages
- Compatibility percentage listed alongside each search result
- Widespread geographical member base
- Pay in your own native currency
- Hosts many “special interest” spin-offs (i.e. Senior FriendFinder, Adult FriendFinder, etc.)
- Cons
- Less than 2 million members
- Advertising on most pages, including search results
- Large proportion of members don’t post their photos for all to see but rather make you request one of them
| Special Promo |
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| Geographic:Areas Served | US, Canada, Australia, Mexico |
| FreeMember Features |
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| Price | Silver Membership:
Gold Membership:
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Popularity: 8% [?]
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