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Choosing the best online dating site isn’t easy, especially with so many options these days. With so many fish in the online dating sea, how do you know which one has the greatest potential to find you a good match? What kind of ways can you communicate with prospective dates, while preserving your privacy?
While there have been lots of new players entering the online dating scene, we’ll help you choose between two of the best-known, successful dating sites in our eHarmony vs Match comparison.
Two of the oldest and most well-established online dating websites are eHarmony and Match, and both remain among the best dating sites on the web. It’s hard to believe that Match has been around for more than 20 years – and continues to be the largest, most popular dating site since 1995.
eHarmony joined the online dating pool in 2000 with a unique approach that caters to singles looking for a long-lasting relationship (wedding bells!). Which one better suits your online dating needs? Read on to find answers to some of your burning questions.
Best Dating Pool
eHarmony has more than 20 million registered users. Members on eHarmony tend to be more serious about finding loving, long-term relationships. eHarmony is not the site for casual daters; nor is it the site for people looking for same-sex partners – eHarmony is strictly for heterosexual singles. But eHarmony’s dating pool is still demographically diverse. The site’s most popular groups include Christian Singles, Jewish Singles, Black Singles, Hispanic Singles, Asian Singles, 30s Singles and Senior Singles.
Match is arguably the most diverse dating site online. With more than 21.5 million registered heterosexual and LGBT users from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, Match is for people looking for all different kinds of relationships – friendship, casual dating, short-term relationships and serious relationships. Match members tend to be more diverse in age range and educational and income levels than eHarmony.
Best Match Predictor
Both eHarmony and Match use sophisticated tools to find someone who’s compatible with you, but their approaches are pretty different. eHarmony utilizes its 29 Dimensions® of Compatibility test, developed by Dr. Neil Clark Warren, a 35-year veteran psychologist specializing in relationships and marriage. These mixxxer test results, along with your profile traits and “Something to Talk About” feature (where you talk about yourself and your ideal partner) enable eHarmony to find your matches.
Match uses an advanced matching algorithm that learns as you move through the site’s process. This algorithm finds you compatible matches based on your personality profile, your partner criteria, and your on-site activities, including your searches and indications of who you like. In addition to your independent searches, Match has a “Daily 5” feature that provides you five potential matches each day based on other members’ similar qualities.
Best Search Features
This category is a given, since eHarmony is a guided dating site. eHarmony chooses matches for you based on your compatibility test and profile. You can’t conduct your own search for a potential partner on this site. Match, on the other hand, has excellent search features, including search by profile criteria, by photo, location, keyword and more.
Best Communication Tools
eHarmony uses guided communication, a process in which you first complete several sections (“About Me,” “10 Must Haves” and “10 Can’t Stands”), then send icebreaker questions to a match you’re interested in and then send messages to your match. After you both complete this guided communication, you can email each other using eHarmony’s secure email system. eHarmony also has a SecureCall feature, which allows you to phone or text each other without disclosing your phone number.