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Free Online Dating, Best Free Dating Sites

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The boom in Internet matchmaking over the past decade has created sites for everyone -- young and old, urban and rural, Democrat and Republican, cat lover and dog lover, gay and lesbian. There are also free dating sites, cheap online dating sites, and pricey online dating sites.

Obviously, if you only want to invest your time but not your money, a free dating site is the way to go. If you opt for the paid route, fees for reputable but cheap online dating sites hover around $30 a month, although the monthly rate typically drops substantially when you sign up for longer periods. Some high-cost online dating sites charge upwards of $60 a month and require a minimum three-month sign-up. Other online dating sites have a one-time registration fee, such as Mustlovepets.com, which charges $44.95.

What distinguishes the higher-cost sites from the free dating sites and cheap online dating sites seems to be more compatibility, matching, and personality mechanisms and tests. The upmarket sites are also more stringent about letting users contact each other, which means that a bit of the online dating process is out of your control. Although free dating sites and cheap online dating sites are often criticized for letting "anyone" join -- that is, not just people who are serious about love -- many of these free and cheap dating sites have begun putting screening mechanisms in place to weed out such "undesirables."

With good free and good cheap online dating sites the biggest part of the investment is your time and energy. As you shop around to decide which cheap or free dating site is right for you, note how it screens users and facilitates communication between them, how searches are conducted and matches made, and what privileges come along with paid membership. In terms of performance, you'll want to choose a free dating site or a cheap online dating site that offers a user-friendly interface and some certainty that users have been, and are, satisfied with the site's services.

After completing our research, we identified OkCupid.com as best free dating site and Plentyoffish.com as the runner-up for free dating sites. We picked Lavalife.com as best cheap dating site and SpeedDate.com as the good cheap online dating site. We found that PerfectMatch.com and True.com are largely panned by consumers and also charge higher rates.

Free Dating Sites vs. Cheap Dating Sites.

Most cheap or free online dating sites let you browse the ranks and even create a profile for free. This is a no-risk way to get a feel for who uses the cheap or free dating site. But to contact people and access other features, be it advanced search, IM, or compatibility reports, many online dating sites require that you pay to play. (A word of warning: One of the challenges in dealing with a cheap dating site is finding information about these fees. Membership rates and benefits may be hidden deep inside the site, necessitating some determined hunting and clicking, or require that you first answer questions about yourself. If the latter, you'll have to decide early in the process how far you're willing to go before actually making a commitment.)

Lavalife.com (starting at $39.95/month), for example, lets you create a profile, search, and reply to messages for free but charges a subscription fee to initiate communication and upload more than a few photos and videos. SpeedDate.com (starting at $29.95/month), which borrows from the popular in-person match-making events where you talk to as many as 20 people an hour, lets you video chat with service-provided matches for free but requires payment to continue the conversation or conduct your own searches. Paid memberships, sometimes referred to as subscriptions, for cheap online dating websites typically come in three-, six- and 12-month increments; the longer the period you sign on for, the cheaper the monthly rate. With PerfectMatch.com, you can buy a one-month subscription for $59.95 but save 45% off that rate by buying a six-month deal for $199.95; a 12-month subscription to SpeedDate.com gets you a 47% discount and the equivalent of a $15.99 monthly fee; a three-month subscription to Lavalife.com costs $26.65 a month.

There are a lot of free dating sites, such as OkCupid.com and Plentyoffish.com, that let you roam and use the site at will. Despite the obvious freebie appeal, some users caution that free dating sites are more likely to contain spam profiles or poor match potential (think "married," "straight out of jail," and "just looking for a good time") than the paid online dating sites, so proceed carefully. Moreover, some free dating sites, such as ItsJustLunch.com, have so few members that they may not be worth your time, according to Freedating-sites.com.

Too many profiles can certainly be overwhelming, but a free or cheap online dating site should offer plenty of options. The dating websites on our list boast hundreds of thousands of visitors a month. Note, though, that claims about membership numbers can be very misleading because people don't stay active.

Screening.

As cheap and free dating sites have grown in size and popularity, so have the number of fake or spam profiles and people looking for a quick hook-up instead of a real relationship, say expert reviewers. Many free and cheap online dating websites now feature a questionnaire or survey designed to weed out people who aren't serious about finding a potential mate or who are emotionally unstable. In addition, all sites have terms of agreement that give the site the right to remove users who violate the rules, which include prohibitions against harassment or offensive behavior such as sending messages or posting pictures that are abusive, pornographic, or defamatory. Some sites, such as True.com (starting at $49.99 a month), claim to scan criminal and marriage records to verify self-reported information.

Cheap and Free Dating Websites Contacting.

If you think contacting cuties is a free-for-all, think again. Most of the established, fee-based dating sites make you go through a multi-step process to communicate with other users. Chemistry.com (starting at $49.99/month), for example, uses a "1-2-3" meet process, which is actually a four-step process that starts with a match, proceeds to exchanging questions, then emailing, and finally, meeting in person. After SpeedDate.com makes you a match with someone who is currently online , you get to IM chat for three minutes before deciding whether to move on to the next match with someone else who's online; or, the two of you can become "buddies," which gets you longer IM sessions, and then the next step would involve setting up a real date.

The benefit of having a structured process for these initial communications is that it prevents potential undesirables from contacting you. Free online dating sites, by contrast, are more laissez-faire about letting people contact each other. The ability to initiate contact and/or respond is a hook many cheap online dating sites use to get people to sign up for paid memberships. Controlled communication is also a buffer against unwanted or excessive contact. Indeed, some free dating sites have been lambasted for allowing anyone to sign up, which allows anyone to contact you. Feeling the heat, free dating websites like OkCupid.com have installed a blocking function that shields you from contact by someone you're not interested in.

Dating Site Search and Match.

Not all matching mechanisms are created equal. A lot of the paid online dating sites woo customers by promising special matching systems that rely on "science" for success while free online dating sites often rely on user-generated criteria, like specifying a height requirement or certain hobbies, or questionnaires seen only by users and potential matches.

Chemistry.com, for instance, uses a multiple choice test to advise users about their personality type, which ostensibly helps them select potential matches. PerfectMatch.com has you answer questions that result in a compatibility profile based on letters that signify particular attributes, and then finds matches that are similar and complementary to you, although you can also initiate your own search. Lavalife.com lets you "match" yourself by signing on to a community -- dating, relationships, or intimate encounters -- that is unique onto itself, so all forums, content, searching and matching take place within that category. With SpeedDate.com you fill out a profile questionnaire and matches are made for you based on mutual preferences and who is online at the moment; the ability to find your own match requires a paid membership. Plentyoffish.com offers a "100% Free Personality Relationship Chemistry Test" that supposedly measures self-confidence, family orientation, self-control, openness, and how easygoing you are, and has you indicate the time of match you're seeking (i.e., casual date, intimate encounter, marriage partner). OkCupid.com lets you create your own matching system by selecting certain questions for prospective matches to answer, and then takes these questions and supplies your best matches based on percentages; it also has an upgraded "A-list" membership for $9.95 a month that gets you things like a higher search ranking, advanced search features, and private photo albums.

Extras.

Cheap and free dating websites also try to distinguish themselves by offering fun features. Plentyoffish.com has a "hot or not" photo rating system. Lavalife.com lets you send video greetings and make phone calls through the site. OkCupid.com features a spot for online journaling. Other enticing features usually available with paid memberships include access to members-only dating tips, advanced searching options, and first listing in all search results (the longer the time period you pay for, the higher up you'll be on the search results list). Back to top »

 

 

 

PerfectMatch.com
True.com
Plentyoffish.com
SpeedDate.com
OkCupid.com
Lavalife.com

 

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