Here’s the good news----this is going to be a super short blog!
Last night I was at a party and inevitably the conversation turned to dating—both by the curious marrieds and the more wary singletons. Of course, my favorite topic right? As a professional online dating profile writer and online dating profile consultant, I do get asked lots of questions (and advice, hey, doctors at parties, I don’t think you are even close to competing with me)!
I was asked last night: What are the best Free Online Dating Sites?
Quick, direct answer: There are none!
Question from a new friend, a 29 year-old NFL player: Then why am I always getting “free” membership offers to Match, Tinder, Hinge, etc?
Quick, direct answer: They want to count you as a member, then convert you to a paying member.
To play the online dating game, you must have skin in the game. Not a little skin, but premium skin!
Here’s a quick round up of some popular online dating sites and the program I’d recommend if you feel this is the right site for you. Caveat: I’m NOT saying this app/site is right for you without knowing your age, sex, geographic area, likes, expectations, etc.
Oh, I forgot to mention free trials are a waste of your time. Time to Commit!
Match 3-Month Premium Membership $23.99/mo (no one month package)
Hinge 1-Month Premium Membership $29.00
Bumble 1-Month Premium Membership $22.99 (Don’t do the 3 month as Bumble tends to not have the critical mass of members and certain geographic areas can run out of matches for you in a week)
eHarmony 1-Month Premium Membership $65.90 (Ok, this is an exception to my free trial rule---you can create a free trial with eHarmony and within a week or so they will sell you hard on a premium membership at 40-50% off quoted rates).
This is a big part of my job as a professional online dating consultant---choosing the right sites for my clients and the right program. I think Match is smart with starting their offerings at a 3-month benchmark---It does take some time to understand the matches that Match self-generates for you with their algorithm BUT they are one of the sites that lets you do micro-searching on your own---something Hinge and Bumble models don’t compete with.
*I don’t work for any of these sites! I’m the Founder of It’s Just Lunch which I sold a few years ago to work solely with the online dating world as it explodes!