While free dating sites can be tempting, they don’t always provide the best value for your time

Coffee Meets Bagel

This app takes a unique approach to online dating by taking bits and pieces from some of the best online dating sites and combining them into one awesome experience, giving users the best of all worlds.

The app does an incredibly good job at collecting feedback from singles, using it to help increase your rate of success. Members are given a report card-style dashboard that shows them why users liked or passed on their profile, down to the specific reason, such as low-quality profile pictures, as well as offering ways to improve their likelihood of getting �liked.� For any online dater, this dashboard alone is a good (and free) tool to gauge how their profile is performing compared to others.

As you might have guessed from the name, coffee beans are the currency of Coffee Meets Bagel, and you earn them through daily logins and other activities. The site is very reward-driven, giving you a limited number of matches each day, based first on the mutual friends you share on Facebook, with the number of matches increasing each consecutive day you log on. With the extra beans you accumulate, you can show interest in another group of potential matches who aren’t necessarily your handpicked matches of the day, but with whom you may share common interests. The concept of matching people based on mutual friends isn’t new, but because of how the dating platform is designed, it simply works well – as in, without being creepy or overly forward.

bumble vs coffee meets bagel

Are Paid Dating Sites Better?

  • Match
  • FriendFinder-X
  • eharmony

Free sites are often not designed to work as well as paid dating sites, meaning you could interact with more scammers and bots than you’d like.

Fake profiles are also just a fact of life on free dating sites, as well as an increased number of individuals on the sites who have their own agenda. As an alternative, there are paid dating sites that are well worth the extra expense per month to ensure you get the most out of your online dating experience.

Match

For years, Match has been an industry leader in online dating, and it’s no secret why. The company offers the right balance of features and members to keep making love connections happen. Although it’s easy to assume Match is only for serious daters, it’s actually an online dating site for anyone looking for anything from marriage to one-night stands. The site has a continually evolving matching algorithm that helps you find those you are interested in, even if you’re a little unsure of who exactly that is.

As a household name in the industry, Match has created so many successful encounters over the years and is often the next practical step for those looking to explore their paid dating options.

FriendFinder-X

If hookups are what you’re looking for but you’re sick of dealing with unreliable people and free hookup apps, FriendFinder-X is your best bet in the world of casual online dating. The self-proclaimed dating site claims to be the world’s largest site for casual dating, and is filled with an abundance of features that give you plenty of options in everything from the way you discover others and interact, to the way you design your profile. The site has a rating system incorporated into many aspects that ranks members by hotness, which provides some insight into what the purpose of the site is.

You can rest assured that everyone on the site is there for the same reasons, which is something free dating sites don’t always provide. There’s even a What’s Hot, Live Action, and recently added Connexion (life-like video cyber sex feature) if you’re looking to simply get turned on. The site has built in broadcast options to make cyber sex even easier, and the unique ability to search members by their sexual interests.