Guide to Free Online Dating Services
Where to Find Free Dating Web Sites and Their Pros and Cons
Many Americans spend their evenings alone with a keg of ice cream in one hand and a remote control in the other wondering: Where is Mr. or Mrs. Right? It needn’t be that way. Completely free online dating services offer the opportunity of finding love without even scratching the piggy bank. Knowing where to find these free dating services, and understanding the more common pros and cons of using them, will reveal whether they can be a worthwhile tool for discovering that special someone—and making Cupid proud.
Top Free Online Dating Services
Large numbers of free online dating services are being created daily and it is sometimes difficult to determine which ones are worth the time and effort involved in signing up, filling out profile information and posting pictures. Considering a few important qualifications when assessing free dating services can simplify the task:
- Notably, free online dating services should offer a large quantity of active members. More active members equates to having a better chance of finding that one special person with which to share that tub of ice cream and watch that cheesy flick.
- “Free” should mean free, at least for the most part. Some free dating Web sites offer only very limited free privileges. One should ensure that a site’s definition of free includes, at the very least, the ability to view profiles in their entirety and to send and receive e-mails.
Here is a selection of the top services offering online dating for free. Be sure to understand their terms of service before enrolling.
Plentyoffish
From the site: “Every day we have 250,000 to 320,000 PlentyofFish users login. Other dating sites talk about having millions of registered users. Yes, they may have millions of registrations, but 90% won’t answer an email because they left months ago.”
OKCupid
From the site: OKCupid is “a totally free matching service. It’s also extremely accurate, as long as (a) you’re honest, and (b) you know what you want. We don’t claim to evaluate you perfectly, but we do claim to find someone who claims to fulfill your claimed requirements, exactly.”
Matchdoctor
From the site: “Matchdoctor's mission is to provide an interactive place where people can meet, communicate, and fall in love for free. All basics on Matchdoctor - mail, profiles, searching, blogs, forums, etc., will always remain totally free to our members.”
Connecting Singles
From the site: “A 100% free Online Dating service for singles with loads of quality features to help you connect with friends and singles in your area and worldwide.”
Pros and Cons of Free Dating Services
As with anything, free dating services have pros and cons that should be considered. One of the benefits of these services is gaining access to a huge number of potential partners at no cost. In fact the most popular free dating Web sites have giant member databases that exceed even some of the better-known paid sites. Moreover, contrary to what some might believe, a number of free dating services offer robust communication tools, including e-mail, blogs, chat and instant messaging.
One of the widely assumed disadvantages of free online dating services is that many of their members are not too serious about dating. In reality, everyone loves a freebie and these services attract a wide range of people from the serious to the not-so-serious dating types. A more concrete downside to some free dating Web sites is little or no customer service: Even some of the largest free dating services offer only an e-mail contact form and plainly state that responses may take days.
Parting Words on Free Dating Web Sites
Free access to troves of potential partners and plenty of communication tools can outweigh the possible downside of having to spend a little more time separating the wheat from the chaff, as they say, and the inconvenience of little or no service. So maybe it is time to put the remote down, place that tub of ice cream back in the freezer, and give one or more free dating Web sites a try: It just might be the first step toward “happily ever after.”
Don’t forget to check out these other helpful Suite101 articles that provide more useful information on dating: Where to Find a Date, Six Key Dating Rules and Ten Fun Date Ideas.
Free Online Dating Services Can Help Find Love
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