Dating Reviews For The Best Dating Sites of 2024
An honest review of all dating apps!
An honest review of all dating apps!
When you’re on a mission to check out the best dating sites out there, no doubt you’re going to hear about Plenty of Fish (POF)... it’s impossible not to, right? It’s super well-known like eHarmony, Match.com, and even Ashley Madison (although maybe a little less infamous!)
I’ve heard about the POF dating site for years but hadn’t taken a look, so I figured it was time to make my way over and sign up. The POF dating site says they have over 150 million registered members, which feels like a great number to work with. After all, there’s supposed to be plenty of fish in the sea, right? (Sorry not sorry, this was just RIPE for a pun.)
But did I like the features? Is POF just coasting on being a “well-known name” without providing the best value? Did it feel safe and inclusive?
K, onwards to my Plenty of Fish review and let’s find out.
I’ll get into the full details in a bit, but let me give you a brief rundown of the Plenty of Fish dating site:
Setting up an account on Plenty of Fish: The POF sign up process couldn’t have been easier. It asks for your name, gender, ethnicity, date of birth, and where you live (to pull up local members) with a series of quick and simple pages. It took all of 2 minutes and I was ready to build my profile. It does require you to confirm you’re you by providing a phone number for 2-factor authentication, so keep your phone handy.
How to delete POF account: Deleting your POF account is pretty simple, too. If you go to “My Profile” and the “Settings” tab, you can scroll to the bottom and easily find the “Delete Account” option. It lets you know that deleting your account will erase all your data and deactivated accounts can’t be reactivated, so be absolutely sure this is what you want.
Temporarily deactivating POF account: One spot the POF dating site falls a little short on for some users is being able to temporarily deactivate your account. The POF app calls it “Take a Break” but it’s currently only available to some iOS users, not everyone. 🤔 There’s no option for pausing your POF account on the desktop or Android POF app versions right now so if you don’t want to continue using it… you’ll just have to let it go.
Hiding and unhiding Plenty of Fish profile: Like other places, the POF dating site lets you hide your profile if you want to be incognito for a bit. Toggling off the “Profile Visibility” option hides your account everywhere on the site. Lurkers, rejoice!
Plenty of Fish profile verification: One of my favorite features of the POF dating site is that you can verify your account. This lets potential matches know you’re legit, but more importantly, it works the other way, too. We can’t be too careful about making sure the person we’re talking to is actually who they say they are, right gals? I’ve caught those “Catfish” reruns…
POF dating site match game: You know I loooove a fun “hot or not” style match game on a dating site. It makes it easy to go through profiles and see who catches my eye. The POF app and site have a feature like this called Meet Me. You can choose ‘pass’, ‘maybe’, ‘like’, or ‘super like’ as profiles pop up one at a time. POF Premium members show up ahead of free users, so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re thinking about upgrading.
Is Plenty of Fish free? Yep, there’s a free version you can use, and if you want access to more features, Premium is the way to go. More deets on that later.
Still with me? Okay, let’s dive into Plenty of Fish a little bit more.
The first question on my mind whenever I check out a new dating site is whether or not it’s legit. Good news – the POF site seems very legit. Not only are there options for profile verification and a professional-looking interface, but you’re required to agree to “The Pledge” during the POF sign up process that pretty much just says you’re a legit person who will be respectful of others.
I’d think most of us at this point are pretty capable of signing up for a dating site, but some places make it confusing along the way. Not Plenty of Fish – the POF sign up process was sooo easy but get prepared with a cup of coffee, tea, or mimosa because there is A LOT to fill out.
The homepage looks nice, professional, and aesthetically pleasing. Call me a sucker, but that last one matters to me! It made me feel at ease compared to some other places that instantly read as sketchy. It has fun animated fish on the screen that leans into the Plenty of Fish name. I was a fan.
To get started, all you have to do is click Sign Up and follow these steps:
1. What can we call you?: I started by filling in my name.
2. Tell us who you are: Next up the POF dating site asked me if I’m a man, woman, trans person, or non-binary. I could also choose to have my gender hidden on my profile which is nice for those who may be worried about inclusivity or having that information public.
3. Date of birth: This is where they gotta make sure you’re legal! I popped in my date of birth – you’ll be good to go as long as you’re 18+.
4. Race/ethnicity: Next up, I was able to choose a race/ethnicity… or nothing at all if I preferred not to share. Again, +1 for POF giving the option to opt-out of answering certain Qs.
5. City and country: Even though there are several screens you go through, each one is quick and easy. This one asks where I lived, including the city and zip code. This is to bring up local profiles for you as you complete your POF sign up so hotties nearby can find you.
6. Email address: Phew. Normally this is frontloaded, but this step finally asks for your email.
7. Username and password: We finally get to the part where they had me create my login. Hooray!
8. Tell us who you’re into: This section asked about my sexual preference (I found it odd that it only had men and women, considering some of the gender questions earlier) plus what kind of relationship I’m looking for/my intent (which I thought was a unique thing to ask compared to other sites I’ve tried).
9. Tell us more: This screen asked about my occupation, education, and income. It also asked me how ambitious I am, which I think could be helpful in sorting out people with drive like mine. Living in the city isn’t cheap. 😅
10. Marital status and physical appearance: Time to share I’m single and describe what I look like!
11. Personality: Ok, at this point, the sign up process kinda felt endless as I was brought to another screen of questions. This one asked me more about my personality. I liked that it had so many to pick from, but you could only choose one, which was a little bit of a bummer.
12. Kids? Pets?: The POF dating site is nothing if not thorough. I appreciated that I could put all this info out on my profile, but this is a lot of questions! The one asking my parents’ marital status confused me a little, but if it helps the algorithm, fine by me.
13. Profile headline: This is where I started to get to type things about myself instead of just clicking between choices.
14. What’s something you want people to know?: I liked this part because I got to show a little bit more of myself that is authentic instead of just clicking a bubble response.
15. Something you’re excited about: This prompt was great because I think it’ll help break the ice with new people.
16. Hobbies and interests: This section kinda expanded on the earlier ones. Since you get to type in whatever you want, though, it makes it more personalized. Also, I think the “oops, almost forgot” language is adorable even though we know it’s not true.
17. Phone number for 2FA: Next is something I appreciated, which was using two-factor authentication. You enter your phone number and they send you a verification code. It helps keep out the bots and scammers, making Plenty of Fish feel more legit than a lot of other places already. If you’re someone who isn’t willing to give up your digits for sign up though, this isn’t for you.😬
18. POF dating site pledge: This was the last step before we dive into the main part of the POF dating site. It’s a pledge that makes you promise you’ll be yourself and be respectful of everyone else on the site. I think it’s a nice way to make people feel comfortable and safe.
After getting through the sign up screens, I was able to build my profile.
If you skipped the above section where it had me fill in endless answers during the sign up process, here’s a quick tl;dr for you on what the profile setup process is like. It asks for the usual suspects:
And more.
What I found interesting is that Plenty of Fish also asked about my intention, so I was able to choose whether I’m looking to get married (not right now…), just looking for fun, dating, and other options. I thought this was great because it helps you find people who are more likely to want what you’re looking for, too.
A few more screens into setting up my Plenty of Fish profile, I got to the part asking what describes my personality. They had dozens of options, but I was a little disappointed you could only choose one. For having so many things available, having to narrow it down to either “foodie” or “bookworm” for me was a challenge and kinda felt a little limiting. But otherwise, I was impressed with the options they had listed.
After that, you end your profile creation on POF by answering a couple of short prompts about what kind of person you are and what things interest you. They have you write a profile headline to grab people’s attention and you’re ready to go.
I wouldn’t be writing up a Plenty of Fish review without checking out if they have an app, since you know I’m always on the go. Being one of the bigger dating sites people have heard of, it’s no surprise that there’s a Plenty of Fish dating app for iPhone and Android users.
What is interesting to remember, though, is that only some iOS users are able to pause their POF Premium accounts right now. Android users and people using the desktop site don’t have that ability just yet. Sorry Android users… blue bubble baddies win this one.
Once I was in, I decided to check out the POF dating site features and started at Search. Like other dating sites, you can filter your search based on a number of factors like:
While there wasn’t anything here that stood out as majorly different from other sites, it was easy to use and that’s all that really matters to me.
Going through the POF sign up process, you’re not asked to enter any credit card information or anything like that. It does give you the option to upgrade to a POF Premium account when you finish building your profile, but I wanted to see what I was getting into before I spent any money on it.
Signing up for Plenty of Fish is free, but using it to its full extent definitely requires upgrading to the POF Premium.
Getting signed up for a new dating site makes you excited to dive in and start talking with other people. If you’re wanting to do that on the Plenty of Fish dating app, however, you’re gonna need to go POF Premium.
If you’re on a free account with Plenty of Fish, you can…
That’s kind of where it ends, though. Free members are only allowed one “first contact” per day. So if you’re looking to stay on the free side, choose the person you reach out to wisely because you’ll be waiting 24 hours to pick another…
A paid Plenty of Fish dating site membership is a subscription. You’re given options to sign up for 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months at a time:
The POF Premium subscription allows you to have access to extra features like:
Because pausing your account can be difficult on the Plenty of Fish dating site, I went with the 3-month plan to start. #Optimism
In addition to POF Premium accounts, the Plenty of Fish dating site also has a live stream feature that’s kinda similar to TikTok LIVE. It doesn’t cost money to watch live streams from other users or to go live yourself, but to send virtual gifts to others, you have to buy Live! credits.
The Plenty of Fish Live! credits are sold in bundles:
If you are streaming live on POF, people can also use these credits to send you virtual gifts. Users who stream receive these gifts as “Diamonds” that can be cashed out for real money later. It’s sort of combining the POF dating site into a social media platform. Not sure I’ll be sending virtual gifts (been there, tried that on other dating sites) but it’s a cool concept, for sure!
For being so well-known, I expected a lot when I signed up for the POF app and I wasn’t disappointed. Some of my biggest impressions were:
I was excited to try out Plenty of Fish since I’d heard about it for a long time. After just a few minutes on here, I knew how I felt about it. Let’s kick things off with the positives.
Some of the unique things about the POF dating site I thought were cool are:
With the good comes the bad. I don’t wanna knock the POF dating site too much, though, because I really enjoyed my time on it. A few things I wished were different are:
As I mentioned throughout this Plenty of Fish review, I had reasonably high expectations signing up for this dating site and I wasn’t disappointed. The signup process was easy, the website and POF app were simple to navigate, and I felt like the users were real, not bots. For someone who has looked at a lot of dating sites, Plenty of Fish was top-notch.
With so many millions of members on the POF dating site, I also feel like you’re more likely to meet interesting people and maybe hit it off. The dating intention on your profile also really helps make sure everyone is transparent about what they’re looking for – it broke the ice right away and helped me find some great matches. There are plenty of fish in this metaphorical sea, so let’s see if I hook the right one at POF. 🐠😉
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