TeeBeeDee's Online Dating Guide
|
| Catholic Mingle | Christian Mingle | JDate | LavaLifePrime | Prime Singles | Senior Friend Finder | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One-Month Fee | $9.99 | $9.99 | $39.99 | Free right now | $19.99 | $19.95 |
| # of Members | undisclosed, but a small site | over 300,000 | 500,000 active members | new site, not many members | 40,000 active members | over 400,000 |
| Background Checks | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| % members 45+ | undisclosed | undisclosed | 35% | 100% | 95% | 95% |
| Male/Female Ratio | undisclosed | undisclosed | 49/51 | undisclosed | 49/51 | 60/40 |
| Relationship Types | casual to marriage | serious to marriage | serious relationships | casual to marriage | serious | casual to marriage |
| "Scientific" Testing | no | no | no | no | yes | no |
| Special Features | Meet like-minded Catholic singles seeking love and friendship. | A Christian singles community where you can meet other singles who share similar religious beliefs. | Designed for Jewish singles interested in forming a serious relationship with another Jewish person. Offers video chat rooms and message boards. | For singles age 45 and over. | Attracts those looking for serious relationships with others in their age group and offers an almost 50/50 male to female ratio. | A dedicated online relationship community for older singles. Allows you to also find friends, activity and travel partners. |
Have you used a site that we haven't listed? Tell us about it.
One-Month Fee
We listed the one-month subscription fee to make it easier to compare prices, but most sites offer a discount if you purchase a multi-month package. You can generally purchase a 3-month or 6-month membership, and on some sites a one-year membership.
Number of Members
This can get confusing. Some sites will tell you their membership number, but not their subscriber number (which is much lower). What's the difference? Members can post profiles, which means you will find them in search results, or they may be recommended as matches for you, but they often can't contact you unless they pay the subscription fee. Match.com has the largest publicly stated subscriber count at around one million, which includes their international sites. Most other sites don't discloser subscriber numbers, but are probably significantly smaller than Match.
Background Checks
If you join a site that requires subscribers to submit to a background check, remember that you must also submit to one. Some people feel that a background check can be misleading, as it certainly doesn't guarantee that someone is safe, but only shows (if it is completely accurate) whether or not someone has been convicted of a crime.
Percentage of Members Age 45+
Some niche sites only cater to older singles, so all, or most, of their members will be over 45. But some of the larger sites that cater to all ages may actually have more boomer members than the niche sites.
Male/Female Ratio
Sites that cater to the marriage seeking crowd, tend to have more women than men.
Relationship Types
This is a generalization to give you a sense of the type of dater you are likely to meet on a particular site.
"Scientific" Testing
There isn't a lot of evidence that any of the "science" backing up the compatibility algorithms these sites run really work. Users seem to enjoy relying on "science" to at least narrow the field of possible romantic partners.
Special Features
We can't list all the features a site offers on this grid. Visit the sites you find interesting and read their FAQ's, or look through their site map to learn more about what they offer.Want a copy of this plus some great tips for online dating? Download TeeBeeDee's free guide to online dating.
Have Something to Say?
