Dating Reviews For The Best Dating Sites of 2024
An honest review of all dating apps!
An honest review of all dating apps!
Dating.com is like the "nice guys" of online dating - there for you from the beginning, reliable, upfront; so why haven't I tried it yet?! Much like Plenty of Fish, I've always heard of it (it's one of the OGs of dating sites) but it kinda got lost in the shuffle of other sites and apps. I signed up and spent a bit of time on it, so hopefully this Dating.com review will help you determine if you're missing out, if it’s safe, or if you should give it a hard pass. Alright! Let’s go.
If you're like me, you may sometimes wonder if your soulmate-to-be is in a different country after exhausting all local options. You can test that theory out with Dating.com as it connects you with people across at least 32 countries! I think of it as an online version of "90 Day Fiance" but without the time limit and way more options.
Dating.com focuses less on hook-ups and more on fostering a ~true~ connection through communication. Rather than shying away from distance, this site embraces it as a way to grow cultural awareness and open us up to new opportunities. Members are connected by their interests and similarities instead of their location, so if you're looking for someone nearby, then this might not be for you.
Free members are matched up with paying members to broaden the dating pool. The benefit of this is that paying members may receive more attention and increased response rates, while the free members encourage others to check the site and services out. Compared to other sites like Coffee Meets Bagel, using the site is pretty simple.
Dating.com does a great job of verifying their free members, which I appreciated. In order to even qualify as a free member, the info you provide must be honest, and your content must be of higher quality level (profile, profile description, photos, videos, etc.). That means if you’re someone who likes to put one photo up and a sad, lonely sentence about who you are, you may not be able to sign up.
You also need to be pretty involved in using Dating.com, specifically at least 8 hours a week. While this seems like a lot, it breaks down to a little over an hour a day which flies by pretty fast. You also need to stick to the “Communication Policy for Free Members” and ground rules in place.
On top of that, I noticed Dating.com uses a group of offline companies to verify free members throughout different regions. These offline partners also provide translation and interpreting services. Due to its enforced policy and verification process (also the fact that it's been around since 1993), I’d say that Dating.com is as legit as it gets.
First impressions for those of you who like to skim? After signing up, I immediately received messages and chats, and pretty much everyone on the site (males and females) were extremelyyyyy attractive. I did feel like the few comments I could see were a bit stale ("Hey Beautiful" and "It's a pleasure to meet you"), so it didn't feel as natural striking up a convo with this app compared to others like Coffee Meets Bagel.
It was also hard to test everything out initially and get a real feel for the site as my options were extremely limited as a free member.
How is safety on Dating.com: Dating.com is serious about safety, especially because it’s a global dating platform. Not only do they verify their members, but this app will never share your personal contact info. It also uses both AI and manual tools to make sure there’s no illicit activity going on. I’d say they give safety a huge focus.
How to delete Dating.com account: Deleting your Dating.com account is pretty easy and painless! Just go to settings, scroll all the way down the page to "Manage account", and click on the blue "Go here" link. From there, you’re given a few different choices:
Log out of your profile (not sure why you would need to go through settings to do this, but okayyy.)
Hide profile (this lets you lurk for a bit)
Turn off email notifications (out of site, out of mind?)
Delete profile (ding ding!)
What communication opps are on Dating.com?: You have a few different ways to communicate with other daters. This includes sending text, video chats, emails, live streaming, and personal video clips.
Is there a free trial for Dating.com?: Not quite a free trial, but there is a heavily discounted offer at $19.99. Beware though, if you forget to cancel, you’ll be charged a hefty $49.99 the following month.
Yup, for both iOS and Android. You can download dating.com on your mobile device via the App Store or Google Play Store. If you prefer to access Dating.com on your desktop, you can do that also! For an even faster registration process, link it to your Facebook account.
I was really excited to download the app and start connecting with people globally since you know I’m a little globetrotter for work. I found the registration process to be super simple, quick and straightforward which you know I’m all about.
K, Once I downloaded the app, I was given three different ways to join Dating.com: via email, Apple, or Google. Who doesn't love options? I chose to sign up with my email address.
Next, I had to fill out my first name or nickname, DOB, and email. Easy enough.
This is where I had a chance to upload a pic, and remember that you're "competing" with singles from all over the globe, so choose a hot one. NBD, right? This page will also display your name and age, which I decided to white out because ya know, privacy please.
On the next screen I was asked for my gender as well as which gender I’m looking for (notice that you only have two options, male or female). I was also asked which age range I was looking for. At first it took me a lil bit to figure out how to switch the age range (hint: you swipe the number you want to change to the left or right), but that just might be me.
Once I filled out all that stuff, I was done with the signup process! I've dealt with lengthy signups before, so it was nice to set up an account within minutes. You will need to check the email address you signed up with and click the link that was sent to verify also.
After clicking the email verification link you’ll be automatically gifted with 5 free chats, 5 free emails to send and read, and 1 free Let's Mingle (more on this later).
I was immediately prompted to mingle and write a message that Dating.com will share with my potential matches. I decided to go for it and write a message. Dating.com doesn’t waste any time, that’s for sure.
SUCCESS. I received a notification that my message was sent to 5 people: 4 men and 1 woman. Interestingly enough, I chose just men for my gender preference this time rather than both, so I’m not sure how a woman got thrown into the mix.
After I sent my optional message, I was dropped into the main feed. The bummer with the free subscription is you can see who likes you or if they send you a message or video, but you can't actually read the message without upgrading your account.
(Side note: the blurring is from Dating.com, not me).
I can see that Brandon is interested in me and sent me both a message and video, but what good is it if I can't access either?
While Dating.com is free, your access is extremely limited. With the free membership you can create and edit a profile, upload pics, send limited messages, broadcast a live stream, and check out eligible hotties. After that, the benefits of a free membership pretty much come to an end.
Dating.com follows a pay-per-action model when it comes to memberships. Let me break it down for you: you're only paying for what you want out of the app (emails, videos, chats). Depending on what services you want, this can cost more or less than a typical online dating membership. The cool thing is that if you find yourself not so active on this site or only using certain features, you're not paying for what you don't use.
In case my opinion wasn't clear for the people in the back, I'm not a big fan of the free membership. I wish they would try to entice free members a little more by giving them a glimpse of what they could have, even if for a limited time. I thought it was too much of a tease (and not in a good way!) to see you received a response, but you couldn't actually "see" the response.
The free features allowed me to,
Setup a profile
Share what my “mood” was
See that paying members sent me messages or video
Receive messages from the “let’s mingle” option I mentioned.
When you subscribe to a monthly membership, you receive a few perks such as:
Visibility: Putting your profile on display to everyone in their membership period.
Freebie credits!: You get 20 initial credits, unlimited free offline intro messages, and 10 free chats.
Communicating with members: You get full reign to communicate with others via chat, video, etc, given you have the credits available.
What stands out with Dating.com is there’s no type of membership that gives you unlimited access to the app/site. If you decide to join as a member, you can take advantage of their intro offer at just $19.99. It's important to know that if you go for the intro rate, the second month will renew the subscription automatically and you will be charged $49.99 a month going forward.
The most expensive credit bundle costs $300 a month and the cheapest costs around $50 a month - not including the intro offer. After you use up your credits, you will need to continue purchasing more credits in order to get any value out of the site.
Even though I didn’t use all the available features on Dating.com, there are some pretty clear things that set this dating site apart from others:
‘Let's Mingle’: Use this option to create and send a message to a handful of users based on the site's algorithm. The purpose is to strike up conversations with other daters.
Profile verification: Users can verify their account by going to your profile and clocking on "Verification". You can choose one of three different ways to verify your profile: photo, ID verification, or via phone. This helps create a safe and honest atmosphere within the dating community.
Broadcasting/live stream: This is a cool feature that allows you to broadcast or stream yourself with a chat room. This allows others to see you're a real person and engage with others on a broader level.
Today I am (mood sharing): This is kind of like a Facebook status except you have limited options to choose from including flirty, naughty, and serious. The mood sharing capability was one of the only things I could do as a free member and I took the opportunity to try it out. Did I feel like it increased my profile views? No, but it was still a cute option.
Video clips: Even though I personally didn’t like it as much, being able to send video clips is a pretty unique feature. It kinda felt like your own private IG story.
was excited to write my Dating.com review because it's been a staple in the online community. I'm glad I had the chance to test it out and give it a try, because I def have opinions on this site.
First, we'll get into the good stuff.
There were a few things about this site that I really enjoyed. Here are some of the benefits I found while using Dating.com:
You get to meet people from all over the world: This to me was an attractive part of using this site. For those who don't love the idea of their match being halfway across the world don’t worry - there’s an option to filter your search by country or city.
Attractive eye candy: As I mentioned before, the amount of hotness on this site was enough to make me forget how much the free membership version lacks. I was quickly reminded though, when I couldn't see what was being said to me until upgrading.
Lots of communication options: This site provides a wide range of options to connect with someone. I personally liked the mood sharing, broadcasting, and "Let's Mingle" features.
The layout and format: I liked how you could strike up a conversation with anyone you wanted without being matched to them. I thought the layout of the site/app was user-friendly and gave plenty of different people to choose from.
I don't wanna knock Dating.com (and being judgemental is one of my turn-offs) but I didn’t want to continue spending for the monthly subscription and credits since it was fairly high, so I only tried it for a short period of time.
With that being said, I am going to give this as much of an honest opinion as I can.
Very limited use with the free membership: I really don't understand the point of this free membership. It's not enough to really test the site out, and without knowing what you’re missing, it’s hard to feel a strong obligation to purchase credits. A 100% free trial here would have been great.
Credit based: This could be a good or bad thing depending on your personal preference. For me, the credit-based system was a negative. I like the fact that you're only buying credits for the services you use, but you need credits for pretty much everything. For example, just chatting to someone costs a credit a minute which adds up quickly.
Legitimacy: While the people on here look real and some even have the verified check mark, the intros I was getting made me second guess if these profiles were actually legit or not. It was all canned, rehearsed lines that didn't leave me begging to upgrade my subscription so I could read more.
Pop-up videos: This might be a personal issue, but I couldn't stand the pop-up video chat requests I would get every few seconds. It felt like spam to me, and I thought it took away from the legitimacy of the people on here when not done well.
With so many online dating options available, I feel that Dating.com really needs to bring the fire.
I absolutely love the idea of getting to know people from all over the globe, but I can't feel that spark just from one message. Having to pay for each item and monitoring how many credits I'm spending while getting to know someone just seems stressful to me, however from what I used of it, I felt like I got some pretty good matches.
Give me the full package at a reasonable price, and you've got yourself a paying member for more than a few months! So is this worth checking out? Yeah, it felt pretty safe and legitimate, and if you’re willing to pay the subscription price it commands, you’ll have some good luck here.
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