When it comes to online dating, it seems there is a new app coming out every week that promises to help you find love. Now for many people, it is easy to get swept up into the latest dating fad. However, while those apps may promise to help you find a genuine and committed relationship, you might want to look into dating sites that have a history of success.
There are a few dating sites in the industry that have a proven track record. eHarmony and Match.com have been in the love and matchmaking business for over 20 years and have helped people from all around the world find their soulmate. Let's take a look at how the two services compare.
Signup Process
Signing up for eHarmony or Match.com will take you a bit longer than other dating sites. While some apps simply have you link your Facebook account with your dating profile, eHarmony and Match.com have you fill out more information than just the basics.
How long does it take?
eHarmony’s form can take an hour or more to fill out.
Although the signup process is painstakingly slow with eHarmony, the site is merely trying to match you with others who share similar ideas, opinions, lifestyles, and hobbies. If you’re genuinely looking for love, then eHarmony’s extensive signup process shouldn’t be an issue.
Match.com’s registration generally takes users about 15–20 minutes to fill out.
Signing up with Match.com might not be as thorough as eHarmony, but it still will require you to put some effort into your profile. However, Match.com guides you step-by-step throughout the process and you aren’t required to fill everything out then and there. One slight catch to the signup process with Match.com is the approval step. Once your profile is complete, it will need to be approved. Match.com asks that users give them 24 hours to approve the application but most of the time it doesn’t take that long.
Free and Basic Profiles
Neither Match.com nor eHarmony offer tons of features for their basic profile offerings. Most dating sites offer consumers the opportunity to get a taste of their service for free, whether in the form of a limited free trial or a basic free account. From there, the pricing model will require an ongoing subscription to access more features. So, here's the big question:
Can you try-out these services for free?
eHarmony's free Basic Membership is available to anyone (that is single, or legally separated). With the Basic Membership, you can:
- View unlimited matches from the compatibility quiz, (although pictures are blurred out for all Basic members)
- Upload photos to your profile and fill out several features about yourself
- Send (and receive) Smiles, as well as generic Greetings, and Icebreakers
- Respond to a first message
- See recent visitors to your profile
When you are ready to see other members' full profiles (and pics), as well as communicate freely with your matches, you need to pay for an upgraded membership.
Match offers a basic free membership to consumers. With the free option, you can:
- Set up a profile with photos and appear in search results
- View matches, receive top picks, and search profiles
- Send Likes to other users
If you want to send or respond to email messages, see who's viewed your profile and who has Liked you, you need to subscribe.
Match also frequently offers basic members the opportunity to do a free trial subscription, so that you can try out the features that a paid subscription has to offer. This will be offered on-site or through periodic email offers, once you are a registered user. As with most free trials out there, just remember to cancel before your trial period ends, if you don't want the trial to automatically renew into a paid subscription.
Premium and Upgraded Features
If you actually want to message your matches, you’ll need to pay for the premium features.
What can you get with an upgraded subscription?
eHarmony actually has two premium plans: Standard and Premium. The Standard plan lets you see who’s viewed you, send and receive unlimited messages, see match photos, and see who’s favorited you. The Premium plan includes all the previous features and adds the ability to browse matches anonymously and get read receipts on all messages.
Match.com has similar premium features. Subscribers can view and send messages, see who’s viewed them, see who’s liked their profile, remove members from view, search for matches, and receive daily matches.
Pricing and Subscription Options
Match.com
- Standard 3-month: $45.32
- Standard 6-month: $29.32
- Standard 12-month: $26.65
- Premium 3-month: $51.99
- Premium 6-month: $30.65
- Premium 12-month: $27.99
eHarmony
- Basic Membership: Free, but with limited features
- Premium Lite: 6-Month Plan — $59.90 per month
- Premium Plus: 12-Month Plan — $35.90 per month
- Premium Extra 24-Month Plan — $25.90 per month
Profiles and Matches
eHarmony uses its unique 32 Dimensions of Compatibility to help find people you’re most likely to be compatible with. This helps you narrow down your search and eliminates the need for endless scrolling. However, it can limit the number of profiles you see and that can be frustrating for some users.
Match.com allows a little more freedom, but they still try to match you with others who have similar interests and lifestyles. Match.com even uses your activity on the site to help find you a potential partner. For example, if in the original questionnaire you answered that you’re looking for someone who has brown hair and brown eyes but you’re consistently looking at profiles with people who have blonde hair and blue eyes, Match.com will consider this.
