Online dating sites
Contents
About
On this page I list out a few dating sites. The number of lifestyle and dating sites out there is overwhelming (well over 1000 [1]), and the problem with many is: (a) they are far more expensive than they should be, (b) many feature fake users, and (c) many send you constant spam and use every cheap trick they can think of to get you to part with your hard earned dollars. Instead of listing many sites here I'll try and recommend just a few - including a couple of sites (plenty of fish and okcupid) which won't cost you anything!
For more information about why you should try online dating and how to increase your chances try this page:
DISCLAIMER: Keep in mind this page isn't an extensive review, but based on me testing out a handful of sites (without actually paying for any!) research on the web and talking to a few people about what sites are good!
Dating Sites Worth Trying
| Name | Cost | Impression | Features |
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FREE DATING SITES | |||
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FREE |
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What I loved about this site are the ideals and mature intelligence of its design - especially the huge database of multiple-choice questions (eg: "How often are you open with your feelings?", "Which of the following would you do you do if your find a lost child...") which you can answer to help improve the accuracy of your matches. I spent a good hour going through some of these, and these will really make you think about your values in life! A great site for mature people (in age and/or emotional intelligence). Sadly I think it lost a lot of members to Tinder. | |
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FREEMIUM |
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The one everyone knows about. I have a love and hate reallocate with Tinder. It's quick to crate an account and then you can dusmiss people with a swipe based in physical appearance alone. Teaching kids that one photo is how you are judged. If you are not photogenic... bad luck.
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FREEMIUM |
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Most similar to Tinder, but only the woman can initiate a chat after you match.
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FREEMIUM |
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Worth trying if you are really deeply into yoga / vegan / spiritual... Hopefully to find another. Don't just assume they are what they claim though! Sadly it's hard to message non premium members.
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OTHER SITES WORTH LOOKING AT | |||
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Free for a few messages, but then
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What's clever with this site is it integrates into Facebook, Myspace and Bebo - it was the first and is largest dating application built for social network users. The word integrate is slightly deceptive as your Zoosk profile is really quite separate from your facebook. The coolest feature is the Zoosk Messenger which lets you "add friends" and chat to other online users for free (well for a while, then the ask you to subscribe unfortunately). It also has a coin system where you can get free coins when you login every 24 hours to get two free coins which you can use to buy "virtual gifts" when you message another user. You can only message a few users for free before you'll have to subscribe, an in these messages certain words are blacklisted (eg: Facebook) but that doesn't stop users from giving people their facebook contact details (even if they write it backwards)! This is one of the few sites I might pay for as it has quite a few users and a clever interface. | |
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Free 7 day trial and winks free
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I've listed this one because it the world's largest dating site as acknowledged by Guinness World Record. Note that it's fairly expensive, so before committing to pay anything make sure you search the site for matches in your local region, create a good profile, and gauge interest by sending winks. It does look like I pretty powerful interface and note that the most expensive six month options has a guarantee of you finding someone or they'll give you another six months. Another huge online dating site is eHarmony: the latter quite clever in that it bases matches upon pre-screening using personality tests which apparently takes ~1 hours to complete. | |
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FREE |
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Once a popular site in America, but was never updated, so it's not so good anymore. Simple interface and free. You can also instant chat with people who are online - click on "instant chat" and it will bring up a new window! I'd suggest trying this one FIRST! Don't forget to keep changing your profile ("changing the bait") and sending many messages of different lengths to many people ("casting the net wide") until you start getting bites. It really is like fishing, but when a website doesn't update in years it becomes a dead fish.
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Wink free but
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RSVP is for Australian's only and out of principle I actually would rather not recommend site! The stamp system is a rip off - you pay up to $10 to contact a single person - but believe-it-or-not this negative can actually be a positive. It means that other users are not flooded with messages and thus are more likely to pay attention to yours - plus it means you'll use those stamps carefully. If someone has stamps it means they are quite serious about meeting someone! The other reason I felt obligated to mention RSVP is that it is (unfortunately) Australia's largest dating site and if you're a mature person who's prepared to pay over $60 for a chance at love it's probably worth a shot. If you're young and/or poor try a free site instead! Some other specifically Australian sites are: RedHotPie (apparently full of fake users), LavaLife (same problem) and Aussie Match Maker (bit cheaper than most). | |
Dating sites - the biggest and the bizarre
Some of the biggest dating websites in term of users and hits are:
- Match.com - one of the biggest
- eHarmony.com
- True.com
- okCupid.com
One great way to compare sites is to use "Alexa", a service that lets you rank websites and see how many hits per month a site gets. This is demonstrated really well on this video.
It's also worth noting that small niche dating site are becoming more-and-more popular: whether you're a fitness fanatic (fitness-singles.com), vegetarian (veggieconnection.com), horse lover (equestriancupid.com), larger person ([2]), star trek fan (trekpassions.com), lover of apple devices (cupidtino.com) - you name it there is a probably niche dating site for you if you Google it! And yes, there are heaps of gay dating sites (although almost all sites let you specify what gender(s) you are interested in) and sites for specific fetishes or religious faiths! And of course there are also lots of "adult dating sites" specifically for people who want intimate encounters, but this page is not for those kind of sites. If you live in a smaller town however, you're unlikely to have much luck with smaller dating sites, and instead should go with one of the bigger sites!
Links
- Wikipedia - List of online dating websites - lists and summarizes the biggest sites quite nicely.
- Datingsitesranked.com - this guy list out the top few dating sites.
- Dating Australia - a review of online dating sites in Australia.
- Dating Sites Reviews.com - long list of dating sites with many review for each.
