Online Dating Memberships

Online Dating Memberships - Free or Fee?

Free services

Some online dating services claim to be completely free to use. These are OkCupid and PlentyOfFish. But some online dating site services are subscription-based but may still allow new users to post profiles free. While the features of free memberships may differ from one online dating service to another, free begets only minimal access to the site’s features.

Free users can generally browse through the profiles, and initiate interest through ‘Smiles’, ‘Winks’ or other ice-breakers. Some online dating sites allow free users to respond to mails received from a paid member. But free users cannot usually initiate the contacts.

A free membership may come in useful if you are unsure of a site and want to spend time checking it out, to see the type of profiles and the features available.

Trial Memberships

A free trial membership limits your use of the online dating service to a particular period of time. Typically they last about two weeks.

Unlike free memberships, trial memberships allow full access to all features of an internet dating service. Members can communicate with other members through instant messages and chat, and can participate in forums. They have full access to advanced search tools, and can initiate contact with any member.

Paid Subscription

Singles looking for serious relationships, both men and women, are advised to take out paid subscriptions to the net dating services.

Many online dating services allow only paid members to use advanced matching and searching tools. Without these tools, you will be wasting a lot of your time reading through profiles that are of no interest to you.

A paid membership to an online dating service will usually allow you to initiate contact with any other member, free or paid. This way, you can get to know him or her through instant messaging, online chat, and email. Some online dating services allow video chatting.

There are some more perks to a paid membership. The profiles of paid members often come up in the first few pages of search results. Thus they are more likely to get responses. Also, since only paid members can initiate a contact, if you receive a contact from some member, you can know that they are as serious as you are, since they have paid.

It is not a good idea to take out a long term subscription to an online dating service, right away. First, purchase a one month plan. If during this period you don’t like the service, you can cancel the recurring billing, and try another online dating service. Almost all the online dating services are very similar in pricing options.

After the first month is over, if you like the service, you can take out a longer subscription like a yearly subscription. You will be able to save when taking out yearly subscriptions.

If you don’t rush, it’s always better to take your own time, and be more selective in whom you are communicating with, you have a better chance of finding that special someone in your life.