Cougar Fling Review [2024] - Did I Get My Fling On?

What is Cougar Fling?

Cougar Fling is a dating website with a large US based audience owned by Elite Marketing Solutions Inc. (US) or ODS Online Dating Systems LTD (international).

Its focus is on helping to bridge the age gap between older and younger daters (aka, age gap dating) but more specifically - those seeking mature women. The copyright dates at the bottom of Cougarfling.com show 2006-2023, so it's been around for at least 17 years. Like most cougar dating sites, this one seems to be skewing heavily male, so there may be more activity on here for cougars.

This wasn’t open to having female cubs, so I had to set my profile up as “cub/male” in order to sign up and browse cougars. So how do you know if CougarFling is for you?

Cougar Fling is for you if you’re:

✔️A younger man or woman looking to date mature women.

✔️A cougar (*ahem* mature woman) looking to date younger singles.

✔️Single and looking for some fun and a casual hookup.

✔️️Looking for a site with free features because this niche is new to you.

✔️️Someone open to unconventional dating but not sure how to find it IRL.

Cougar Fling may not be for you if you’re:

❌Looking for a serious or long-term relationship (try OlderWomenDating instead!)

❌Not really into age gap dating or dating someone older than you.

❌Focused on privacy (we’ll get into that shortly!)

❌Seeking a cougar dating site with profile verification.

While I was browsing this dating site, I noticed there are also a few links to other ones, but it's hard to figure out if they're all owned by the same company because their layouts are all different. Here are the websites CougarFling lists on their site:

• Cougar Dating
• Cougar Hookups
• Mature Cougars
• Cougar Hookup

I haven’t reviewed these because they haven’t been on my radar. I’ll probably end up scoping them out later on and report back if they’re worthwhile!

How does Cougar Fling Work?

CougarFling is old school in the way it works. I fill out an actual registration form, but the sign up process is extremely fast compared to other dating apps/sites.

Once I'm in, I'm shown a list of people I can chat with, or I can search manually. Also, if you’re into letting the algo gods do their thing, there’s something called “Rapid Match” which is basically Tinder style swiping.

The feed serves me “fresh new profiles” for those who have just signed up, but also has a little sidebar with “our friends” and “cams online now” that look native but actually take you to a partner/affiliate site. 😑Don’t be tricked into accidentally clicking those!

Ok, back to using CougarFling. If I’m interested in someone, I can click their profile, check out their pics, message them, flirt with them, add ‘em to my faves, use a new feature called “Let Them Know You’re Interested” (which lets you know they were sent a message) and that’s about it!

If I don’t want to connect with someone right away, I have a handy dandy little “Contacts” drop down that lets me view my favorites, who I have been favorited by, who has viewed my profile, and who I viewed.

One feature for this dating site I really loved was being able to set filters on who could actually contact me (but only for first messages!) This helps filter out spam or peeps you don’t think are a match to an extent.

That’s about it bbs. Like I said, old school and straight forward.

📝 The tl;dr on CougarFling.com

First impressions mean a lot, and that also goes for CougarFling. Here's what I thought of Cougar Fling right off the bat:

• Outdated user interface.
• Heavy use of the "f" word.
• Several links that I clicked on took me to other dating sites.
• No mobile app (which isn’t a surprise for cougar dating sites, for some reason!)
• There are ads in my mailbox that look like messages.
• Didn’t get a ton of action on my profile.
• There are just enough features to make it easy and simple to use, without being overwhelmed.
• It has a nice filtering feature so you can choose who can send you an initial message.
• It has both manual search, and algorithm matching with Rapid Match.

Ok! I have some questions while signing up to work on my CougarFling review, and I bet you do too. Here are some questions/answers that might be helpful for you:

How to delete CougarFling account: In case you sign up and find out it’s just not for you, how easy is it to cancel? If you wanna delete your Cougar Fling account, here's how to do it:

• Click on "manage profile."
• Go to "edit settings."
• Hit "deactivate account."
• Check the reason why you're leaving Cougar Fling, add any extra information, and confirm your password
• Click again on "deactivate account."

Is CougarFling dating site free to use?: Sure is, but your access is limited so you may want to purchase a subscription!

How to send a flirt on CougarFling: If you want to let someone know you're into them, send them a flirt! Just click on the "send flirt to" button - you can find this underneath a user's pic on the left hand side. Pick a flirt from the menu and send it!

Is my profile automatically private on CougarFling.com?: No! You have to go into your settings under “visibility and content” then click “I don’t want my profile displayed on the site’s front page.”

Does CougarFling have invisible mode?: Yesssss but it’s only for paid accounts! I love this feature. You’ll also find that under settings, “visibility and content” then click “I would like to activate Invisible Mode.”

Is there a Cougar Fling app available?

📵No mobile app available. Sigh.

Unfortunately, no, there isn't a Cougar Fling app available. I was still able to access the CougarFling dating site on my phone though since it’s mobile friendly!

What's the signup process like for CougarFling.com?

🐇Super fast! Less than 5 minutes.

CougarFling's signup process was a breeze, but it could definitely use some more inclusivity. I wish that other dating sites/apps were this easy to register for!

1. First things first - choose who I am, who I'm looking for, age range, and city. There's also an option to do a rapid signup process - but I'll walk you through the regular signup process.

What’s interesting here is I could pick that I was a “cub/male” looking for a “cougar” OR a “cougar” looking for a “cougar!” And it was the same vice versa. Unfortunately I couldn’t sign up as a female cub, but choosing “cub/male” seemed to work fine.

2. Then, I'm taken to another CougarFling.com sign up page that looks a lil’ outdated, but I'll take the outdated layout in exchange for a fast registration process! BTW, notice all the way at the bottom of the page where it has the T&C and privacy policy. In there it says,

“In some cases, we make your profile visible on other brands within our network of dating websites and applications. These are simply brand extensions of the Site, with the same database of users on each of these other websites and applications. This is only done for marketing purposes, usually to account for differences in terminology for certain interests in different locations.”

Keep this in mind if you don’t want to use a dating site where you may appear on other dating platforms too! Ok, back to it:

I fill out the below information, and click on "create account":

• Email address.
• Username.
• Password.
• DOB.
• Who I am and who I'm looking for (again…)
• City.

2a. As I was filling out the signup page, a bonus offer popped up at the bottom of the page above the "create account" button. The bonus offer is for a free membership to CougarSexPartner.com - another site they're trying to promote for some reason.

3. After I create my account, I have to answer a few questions about myself. First question is what my (first) name is. On to the next!

4. Here's where I can upload a photo - only one though so I gotta choose carefully! (Don’t worry, you can upload more later.)

5. I love combo questions because that means a faster signup process! There are three qs on one screen to answer about my height, ethnicity, and body type.

6. Next is a headline (10-40 characters!) Time to get my head in the game and come up with a catchy way to attract some cougars.

7. The final step is to describe myself and who I'm looking for in 40-4,000 characters - then I'm done bbs!!!

Btw, usually after the registration process there is a view of the main feed…except with Cougar Fling. Instead, I'm taken to a site that asks me to choose a subscription and enter my credit card info to upgrade my free membership…BEFORE I even get to check out the site! A very bold ask.

What’s the main feed of CougarFling.com like?

Here's what the main feed looks like. FYI - this site is NSFW, can be pretty vulgar, and contains links to ads. I blocked out the “f” word on the screenshot to save your eyes, lol. Overall, it’s a decent interface, not overly cluttered, and nothing you have to go searching for to use.

On the main feed I was able to do the following, with some not shown in the screenshot above since I had to scroll way down for them:

• View my notification and news.
• Manage everything about my profile and settings.
• See their advertising partners (Our Friends and Cams Online Now) which sneakily look like a native part of this cougar dating app.
• See “fresh new profiles” for those that have just signed up.
• Do a quick search.
• Browse for members.
• See my contacts.
• Free conversations (more on this shortly!)
• Favorites/who favorited me.
• Who viewed me/who I viewed.
• Blocked members.
• Rapid match.
• IceBreakers list.
• Mailbox and all the message related options like “contact preferences.”
• See who is online/offline and what country they’re from.

The “Free Conversations”option in the sidebar was pretty cool. If I go on to fill out more than 50% of my profile, I qualify for unlimited free convos!! Count me in.

Also, I have a bonus!! I can choose one person to send free messages to right now. Hmmm….who will I choose?

What are the Cougar Fling profiles like?

The Cougar Fling profiles are basic, but they provide a good amount of info on each user. Here's what I was able to see from someone's profile:

• Age.
• Description of themself.
• Horoscope sign.
• Location/distance.
• Who they are and who they're looking for.
• Pics.
• If they're online or not.
• Last time they were online.
• Info about their appearance.

There isn’t the ability to verify profiles on here, so that’s a little bit of a red flag for me!

How can you search for matches on CougarFling?

🔎Quick search, Advances search, Rapid Match, front feed.

Searching for members is the fastest way to find a cougar here, since my inbox didn’t seem to be getting a lot of action. CougarFling has the ability to do a quick search, advanced search, and also play Rapid Match like I mentioned in the “how it works” section earlier!

Quick and advanced search

Here’s what I could search for:

• Fresh new profiles.
• Quick search: I had a good amount of filters to search by, including:
  • Who I am. The options are: cougar seeking cougar, cougar seeking cub, cub seeking a cougar, or a cub seeking a cub (this is the first time I see a gender inclusive option with Cougar Fling).
  • Age.
  • City/zip.
  • Distance.
  • In the same country or not.
  • Whether or not they have a pic.
  • I could then drill into who was recently online and sort by distance, newest members, or who has the most pics.
• Advanced search: This has more search features so you can dive into things like body, type, ethnicity, personality, interests, hobbies, etc. plus the ability to save it.
• Browse members: Browse by their pics.

Rapid Match

This is reminiscent of Tinder and a lot of other dating apps I’ve used. You can “Like” or “Pass” on someone that CougarFling serves you in Rapid Match as a quick, visual way to find potential singles.

You can also just use “Browse Members” but there’s really no rhyme or reason to who they display, and it’s only pictures with no name, location etc.

Is Cougar Fling free to use?

✅Yes! Free features are available.

Looking to do a test drive? Well you can, because CougarFling is free to use!!! There is a paid version so not all features are free, but you can get a taste of it for sure.

If you want to get a sense of the Premium features, you can also pay for a free trial, which I’ll cover in the next section!

Free vs. paid subscriptions for Cougar Fling

CougarFling provides both a free and upgraded Premium membership (which it will remind you of every time you login!)

While you can check out basic features for free on CougarFling,com, you get more advanced features with the Premium membership. Not sure which subscription to get? I'll break it down to help make it easier!

Free features for CougarFling.com

CougarFling is free to use, but you can always pay to spice things up if you get bored!

Here's what I was able to do fo free on Cougar Fling:

• Create a profile.
• Check out profiles.
• Quick search and save searches.
• Rapid Match.
• Add profiles to favorites.
• Block/report members.
• Set up filters for who can contact you (you can keep married cougars or cubs away!)
• Send an automated message by Cougar Fling to a member to see if they're interested.
• Send 30 free flirts.
• One free icebreaker.

CougarFling Premium account features & cost

💰Premium ranges from $1.00/day to $14.99/month.

I was feeling extremely curious, so I checked out Cougar Fling's premium tier. Here's the pricing structure:

• 5 day trial - $1/day. This is great to try out the features!
• 1 month - $32.95/month, billed monthly.
• 3 months - $14.99/month ($44.97 billed every 30 days)

Here's what came with the premium subscription when I upgraded, along with everything that was free:

• Ability to send unlimited emails/flirts.
• I could Instant message other users.
• I could make my profile invisible for lurking purposes!
• Look at all the member pics.
• Disable ads.
• 24/7 customer support if you need it.

The feature that seemed most important was being able to send unlimited emails/IMs/flirts. I could deal without the other add-ons.

What sets CougarFling apart?

CougarFling.com could be a little bit more modern, but at least it has a few features that set it apart! Here's what stood out to me about CougarFling.com:

• Bonuses: Bonuses such as being able to send a free ice breaker and free messages to a lucky user.
• IceBreakers: Send these out to reach a large number of people quickly if you’re busy or aren’t great at crafting messages.
• Rapid Match: A Tinder-like approach to dating where you pass or like on a cougar's pic.

Outside of this, there didn’t appear to be anything that jumped out to me.

Pros and cons of Cougar Fling

Like almost everything in life, I like to weigh my pros and cons when it comes to making a decision. Not everything can be all roses all the time, so I'm here to see if Cougar Fling has any thorns.

✅Pros of CougarFling

Cougar Fling has some really great perks, including:

• Free features.
• The bonuses I mentioned.
• Can tell when a member is online/offline.
• Premium subscription is not too expensive.
• Ability to disable ads if you pay for an upgraded membership.
• You can be a female cub and search for cougars, even though the option isn’t necessarily there when signing up.

✖️Cons of CougarFling

There were a few issues I ran into when checking out Cougar Fling:

• There was a limited amount of uses on this dating app.
• There were several profiles I ran into that didn't seem legit.
• Certain links I clicked on (such as webcam) took me to outside sites.
• No mobile app.
• I didn’t get a lot of action on my profile. 🤷🏼‍♀️
• Privacy isn’t great – your profile is set up to be able to show on the homepage by default AND you can get pulled into partner sites just by signing up.

Is Cougar Fling legit?

At first glance, CougarFling does not seem too legit to me. I made a mistake and clicked on something, which turned into a slew of ads that I had to click out of. (Remember how I just said be careful what you click on?!)

It was also weird to me that an established website would try to get me to go to other dating sites. Also, all of the cougars just happened to be offline at 6:45pm on a Wednesday night, except for one that showed she was offline with a green button flashing that she was online - a lil confusing, no?

While signing up to try it for free has no harm no foul (outside of being pulled into partner sites – but if that doesn’t bother you, great!) here are a few other cougar dating sites that you may be better off trying first:

• Read CougarLife review or visit CougarLife.
• Read MatureDates review or visit MatureDates.
• Read OlderWomenDating review or visit OlderWomenDating.

So, final thoughts for my Cougar Fling review?

Cougar Fling is a good start if you're new to this "upgraded" dating scene, because you can test the waters to see if this is something you like. If you're an experienced cougar hunter, you may get a little turned off by the outdated user interface and features. I also don’t know if my profile just wasn’t good enough, or there were a lot of dead profiles on here, but it was really hard to get conversations going and match with someone! I wasn’t a fan of being pulled into partner sites, that’s personally a no for me when it’s a niche like this. I don’t necessarily mind it for other types of dating sites though!

Either way, if you have the time, it might be worth a try to take a walk on the wild side for free!

Visit Cougar Fling