Let me ask you a question. Do you really believe there is something like a 100% free online dating site?
Most people will only think about how something is for “free” without considering any potential consequences or costs.
Personally, I’m wary when a company attached the “100% free” tag to their service or product; most often, it’s a marketing ploy and you do end up paying in some way (with the personal information you share, and so on).
But I’ve got good news for you today. My team and I have dived deep and tested some free online dating services if you want to know more. Plus, I’ve also considered some reputable paid-for online dating sites where you can access services for free.
Reasons Why You Can Trust Krystyna
- Faithfully reviewed over 500 International online dating and matchmaking services
- She has been testing online dating services for over 10 years.
- She guarantees to review and revise the content regularly.
- Author of dating ebooks, including ‘International Dating Digest For Men: Finding Love Overseas’.
- She has contributed in many publications including Notsalmon.com, Marriage.com, or Medium.com.
Three 100% Free Dating Sites Tested by Our Team
Here are three free dating platforms we’ve recently tested:
eLoveDates.com
eLoveDates.com is a free online dating platform where singles from all over the world can find love. The platform was created in 2006 and is available in 13 languages: from English, German, and French to Russian, Romanian, and Spanish.
The company shares various statistics, like who is currently online, who has a birthday today, popular female and male members, and where most members are from.
At the time of writing, most eLoveDates.com members are from Bulgaria (14,174), followed by the USA (13,697), the UK (5,688), Germany (5,331), and India (4,063).
- Group chat
- Can block members from making contact
- Rate profile images
- Send a virtual gift
- Forum so you can get love and relationship advice
- List Item #1
eLoveDates doesn’t verify dating profiles but you can report any scammy profiles you come across.
There is no eLoveDates mobile app on either the Google Play Store or the App Store, but you can use the website on your smart device.
eLoveDates.com has a verified profile on Trustpilot. With 48 reviews, the dating site has a “bad” rating with 1.3 stars. However, 66% of the reviewers rated eLoveDates as excellent and 33% rated it as bad.
Negative reviews talk about how there are many fake profiles and fake messages and you can’t delete your account
Overall, there seems to be a mix of authentic-looking profiles and fake ones.
Kindly note, your profile is public on eLoveDates.com, meaning that even non-members can find you.
Mingle2.com
Mingle2.com (previously JustSayHi) boasts that it has more than 39 million members with more than 600,000 new members joining the site on a monthly basis.
The dating site was also established in 2006 and is operated by NextC LLC. You can browse singles via country or interest and see who is currently online.
Mingle2.com offers many services for free, but if you want access to exclusive features, you can join MinglePlus, the subscription program for US$27.97 for 3 months.
- Gender and sexuality inclusivity
- MutualMatch feature (aka Tinder-style dating)
- Send and receive instant messages
- Add friends
- Send nudges (kisses, hugs, winks, or butt kicks)
The dating site doesn’t verify profiles but you do need to verify your email address when you sign up.
Mingle2.com has mobile apps for iOS and Android users. You can download the app on the Google Play Store or the App Store (depending on which smart device you have) and date on-the-go.
External reviews on Mingle2.com aren’t favorable. There are reviews on Trustpilot and Sitejabber.
With 134 reviews on Sitejabber, Mingle2 has 2,07 stars. There are 50 reviews on Trustpilot, and the dating company has a 1.7 star rating that indicates it’s bad.
Bad reviews talk about how Mingle2.com continues to take payment even after the reviewer canceled their subscription, the tons of fake profiles on the site, and how there are many romance scams.
The profile quality on Mingle2.com isn’t great. There are many fake profiles in between the few authentic-looking ones.
Psst… profiles are also public on Mingle2.com.
fdating
Fdating.com was created in 2009 and claims to be a 100% free online dating site. On the home page, you can see thumbnails of popular members – men and women with their profile photo, age, name, and where they live.
The site is available in 14 different versions: English, Czech, Chinese, French, German, and more.
- Gallery feature which lets you search by gender, age, country, physical appearance, and religion
- Can add profiles you like to a Favorite list
- See who has viewed your profile
- Filter your mail
- See how many times your profile has been viewed in the last month
Fdating.com does verify profiles. More accurately, the company approves profile photos, and only when approved do the photos appear on someone’s profile.
Currently, there’s no mobile app on the App Store or Google Play Store for fdating.com.
There’s an unclaimed profile for fdating.com on Trustpilot. The company has 96 reviews and a 2.4 star rating – meaning it’s poor.
20% of reviewers rated the site as excellent, 15% as great, and 57% as bad.
Negative reviews mention the tons of fake profiles, how profiles get banned for no reason and with no reply from the customer service team, and the many scammers on the site.
All the profiles on fdating.com are public, so anyone can find you on the site, whether they are a registered member or not. The site also admits that there are many fake profiles and scammers, and after a brief look, I must agree.
Our Critic Points About 100% Free Dating Sites
When it comes to “100% free dating sites,” there are a few critical points you should take note of:
- These free online dating sites feature an old and basic web design. Out of the three sites my team and I looked at, only Mingle2.com has a modern interface. The other two sites look like they come from the 1990s.
- Free online dating sites couldn’t be bothered about your safety, so why would they verify profiles? The result, unfortunately, is that there are a lot of fake profiles, profiles that are mostly empty (in terms of the information provided by the person on the other side), and bot profiles. Chances of being scammed here are high.
- There’s no mobile app. Again, only Mingle2.com has mobile apps but that’s because they also offer monthly subscriptions.
- You only have basic dating services like profile creation, search and browse, messaging, and swipe matching on free dating sites. It’s rare that you’ll find more on a 100% free site, unless you buy coins or sign up for a monthly membership.
Paid Dating Sites You Can Try for Free
While a free dating site can help you “get the lay of the land,” it’s simply too risky.
Instead, find paid-for dating sites that are reputable and offer the basic services for free. Once you find the site for you, you can consider buying coins or paying a monthly fee to use the more exclusive services a paid-for online dating platform offers.
Here are four dating sites that are reputable. Each of these have various services and features you can use for free as a basic member, and there are also cool services and features you can access on a pay-for basis.
eHarmony
eHarmony boasts that more than 2 million members have found love on the platform. Read also: eharmony Review: Is eharmony.com a good dating site?
The online dating site has been around for more than 20 year and uses a proprietary matching system to match couples based on high compatibility features and interests.
- Sign up
- Complete the compatibility questionnaire
- Profile creation
- Search and browse
- Get matches
- Like profiles
- Send smiles
- Send 5-auto generated questions
- Favorite profiles
- Read the first message from a member
- RelyID
- Download the mobile app for free
- Send messages
- See photos
- See who has favorited you
- See who viewed your profile
- Set up a video date
- “What If” feature to get 30 extra matches
eHarmony often has free trials you can check out: Does eHarmony Have a Free Trial? The Complete Guide
The cheapest paid plan is the 24-month Premium Extra at US$17.95 for the first three months and then US$35.90 thereafter. Read also: eHarmony Cost: Pricing Options
Tinder
It probably feels like Tinder has been around for ages, and it has. Kinda. The initial release date for the swipe-style online dating app was in September 2012, and two years later, there were about a billion swipes daily on Tinder.
- Registering your account
- Creating your profile
- Limited swipes per day - like a max of 100 profiles every 12 hours
- Matching
- Messaging
- Find members nearby
- One daily Super Like
- See 1 Tinder Pick daily
- Video chat with matches (called Face to Face)
- Connect your Instagram and Spotify accounts to your profile
- Explore features, including Festival Mode, Swipe Night, Vibes, and Hot Takes
- Report other users
- Unmatch
- Download the iOS and Android apps for free
- Ads removed
- Unlimited swipes
- Visible to people you swipe right on
- Hide your distance and age
- Rewinds
- See who liked you
- More Super Likes
- Tinder Boost
- Access to Daily Top Picks
- Prioritized Likes
- Message before matching
- Passport feature to change your location
- Explore (browse through profiles based on interests)
- Noonlight safety feature
There are different subscription options on Tinder, and the services you access depend on which one you choose.
Tinder also has an age-based subscription system, so you’ll pay more if you are 30+. In general, Tinder Gold starts at US$29.99 per month and Tinder Plus at US$19.99 per month. You can also buy boosts.
Match
Match launched in 1995 and is an online dating service for singles in 24 countries. It’s owned and operated by the American Match Group, LLC, which also has Tinder, OKCupid, OurTime, and other dating sites as part of its portfolio.
- Sign up
- Create your dating profile
- Search (via the Discover feature) and browse
- Send likes
- Take part in a matchmaking game
- Get SingledOut matches
- Real Talk - conversation ice breakers
- Download the mobile apps for free on the App Store and Google Play Store
- Send and receive messages
- Instant Messaging
- Profile boost
- See who’s seen and/or liked your profile
- Grab a spot in daily matches
- MatchMe
- Video date
- Priority access to Match events
- Date check in safety feature
- Stand out with a Super Like
- Match Dating Guarantee where you access a six-month Match membership for free if you can’t find a match within six months
Match.com has two main subscription options. The most affordable is the Standard Plan at US$34.35 per month for a three-month subscription.
Plus, there are a couple of paid features: reply for free, MatchPhone, message read alerts, and private mode.
OKCupid
OKCupid was created in 2004 so the app is nearly two decades old (at the time of writing). It’s a highly inclusive dating app with many gender and sexual orientations to choose from.
The site boasts that more than 91 million connections are made annually and 50,000 dates are set weekly.
It’s available in 9 languages, from English and Turkish to German and French.
- Sing up
- Complete the personality test
- Profile creation and import your photos from Instagram or Facebook
- Messaging
- Match searching
- Browsing profiles
- Keep track of whom you like
- Use basic search parameters
- Take part in Double Take
- Selfie verification
- Stacks
- See who’s liked you
- Message read receipts
- Ad-free
- Use advanced search parameters
- Daily auto boost
- See public question answers
- Message priority
- Set dealbreakers in your search criteria
- Send unlimited likes
- See all “intros” at once
A one-month Premium membership costs US$34.99, while a Basic membership is US$24.99 for a month. You can also buy Boost credits.
Final Thoughts on Free Dating Sites
One thing you should always keep in mind is that “free” doesn’t equal safe or the best choice.
Sure, we all need to be budget conscious, but there’s pretty much always a cost when a site advertises it is “100% free.” And you should expect there to be a catch.
Rather opt for a reputable dating site where you can access certain features for free, and when you are sure, you can sign up for the paid services or a monthly membership.
Always be careful!
Wanna find out how to meet an amazing foreign woman and have experience in International dating, but you have no idea how to start it. Keep calm, we are right here to help! ☝️ Ask Krystyna
