Well, just as “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” (Animal Farm…yes we read books now and again), all free dating sites are not free.
So watch out when you’re looking into which free dating site is the best one for you!
Why aren’t they 100% free?
Well, it costs a lot of money to run a successful dating site. With so many people logging in every day, there’s people’s photos to moderate (so you’re not shocked by some body parts some people post). There’s profiles that people write (not always nicely, politely, and not stuffed with email addresses and phone numbers). There’s scammers just prowling around looking for their next unsuspecting victim…our job is to sniff them out, then snuff them out.
Then there’s the technology. Software breaks and has to be mended. It also needs to be updated to make sure it’s current, and that it works well on different devices (eg smart phones, tablets, PS3…the list goes on). And all this technology has to run on servers. The more the members coming to the site, the more servers and server power is needed…
And all this worthwhile work costs money. So if you’re free a free dating site, never charging a bean, then how do you pay for all this?
Well, most free sites will run advertising on their site. Whilst this can be annoying for you, it’s essential for the free site.
Other sites choose to try and top up their advertising revenues by charging you, the user, extra cash for some extra functionality on the site. Simple functions like who’s been looking at your profile, elevating your profile up the ranks so more people will see your photos, the ability to add favourites, and many more, are all designed to get you dipping into your wallet so the free dating site can make a little more cash from you.
And then of course there are all those paid (or premium) sites who say it’s free to join but…once you’re in you need to pay in order to contact that special someone…
So what’s the best free dating site out there?
Well, POF (plentyoffish) is the mother of all free dating sites at the moment. They’ve been around for ages, and they’re huge. They also have a pretty good reputation as dating site owners, but beware they are not 100% completely free for everything. They do charge for some stuff.
OKCupid are a big site too, although mostly in the USA. They’re now owned by Match.com.
Smooch is another good free dating site, but they’re only in the UK (bummer if you’re from anywhere else).
Then there’s us. We’re aiming to keep FreeAndSingle.com completely free, for everything. We also run a host of premium dating sites, as we know that when people start to get serious about dating, they tend to like to pay. But for Freeandsingle itself, that’s going to stay free forever…we promise.
So sign up with us, and enjoy yourself….and did we mention it’s free? 🙂