Top Online Dating Sites And Services

There is no “best” dating service out there. One service may be the best for one person and not work very well for someone else at all. Listed here are some of the more popular dating services available. Finding the service that is right for you may take some trial and error and if you become discouraged after trying a single dating service consider trying another. I failed with the first few dating services I tried but eventually did meet the woman who would become my wife. Hopefully that serves as encouragement who found their first attempt at online dating disappointing.

Popular Dating Sites
	eHarmony The biggest of all online dating services, eHarmony provides their users with personality matching to try to find just the right person. I used eHarmony and liked it but eventually found the fact that I had to wait for new matches frustrating. I lived in a low population area and my matches kept getting further and further away. Still, those who have had success with eHarmony swear by it. The personality test is interesting too (although very time consuming). Interesting Statistic: eHarmony has the most visitors with over 4,200,000 visitors per month Visit eHarmony.
	Match.com I think Match.com is a great site. They have all the standard features you would expect for an online dating service along with some more that most other sites are missing (the phone calling feature is the first that comes to mind). I think Match.com as the measure for what an online dating service should provide (yes, even though eHarmony has more monthly visitors). I suppose I'm a little biased since I met my wife using this service. Interesting Statistic: As of June 2009, Match.com was averaging 3,379,000 visitors per month and had 15 million registered users. Visit Match.com.
	Chemistry Chemistry.com is a lot like eHarmony but less strict. By strict, I am referring to the fact that eHarmony will reject people (i.e., won't let them use the service) if they feel they can't match them. There are several reasons eHarmony will reject people and Chemistry has tried to address that by offering a matching online dating service that is more inclusive. Interesting Statistic: Chemistry.com has close to 4,000,000 members.
	Lavalife In many ways, Lavalife provides exactly what you would expect from a dating service. They do provide interesting features like online speed dating and online parties. The site is also unique in that it has three sections: dating, relationship and intimate. By default your profile will show in all three sections so if you're not interested in sleeping around be sure to remove yourself from the intimate section. Interesting Statistic: 2,000,000+ members
United Kingdom Dating Services
	Dating Direct Dating Direct is one of the largest (the largest?) dating sites for the U.K. The service is also popular in parts Europe. If you're in the U.S. or Canada I believe you can still use the service but the number of members is rather limited here. Someone in North America may find the service useful if they plan on travelling to the U.K. though. Interesting Statistic: There are over 5,000,000 register users at Dating Direct.
	Friends Reunited Dating This is another United Kingdom based dating site. The site claims that 50% of adults who use the internet use Friends Reunited. I'm assuming they mean 50% of adults in the United Kingdom...? Regardless, Friends Reunited Dating is a sister site for Friends Reunited. One note though: the service is not intended for finding old friends and then dating them. It's intended for meeting new people. It just happens to be run by the same people who run a service for finding old friends. Interesting Statistic: There are over 1,000,000 users at Friends Reunited Dating.
	Parship.co.uk Think eHarmony but for the United Kingdom. The site claims to be #1 for those looking for serious relationships in the U.K. One interesting thing about the service is that they offer live over-the-phone dating advice to their members for free. I know Match.com will offer profile improvement advice but that will cost you $30 (last I checked). It is interesting to see a dating site that provides free advice along with their service.
Canadian Dating Services
	Date.ca Date.ca is one of Canada's premier online dating sites. They have members from all walks of life, backgrounds, professions and ages from all across Canada. Date.ca claims to have thousands of active members (and I've seen some report there are hundreds of thousands) but details are unclear as I've not found any official numbers.
Specialized Dating Services
	SugarDaddie This site is for beautiful women and rich men. To many it will seem shallow but if that's your thing more power to you!
	Senior Friend Finder Recent reports suggest the most growth in online dating occurring today is for those over the age of 40. Senior Friend Finder aims to bring mature singles together and offers dating services such as chat rooms and video services Interesting Statistic: There are over 400,000 singles at Senior Friend Finder.
	More To Love This service is designed for BBW and BHM (and their admirers) and provides the standard features you would expect: profiles, chat rooms, instant messaging, message boards and so on. The site says that they create a community for creating relationships ranging from friendship to marriage and everything in between. Interesting Statistic: More To Love gains 1,000 new members a day.
	Single Parents Mingle Single Parents Mingle is a dating service that provides exactly what it sounds like. If you're a single parent, especially if you are still in your twenties, it is my opinion that this service could be very valuable. Why? Many people list being open to dating those who have children because they want their profiles to be as inclusive as possible. However, when they actually meet single parents I think many of these people don't follow through. With a service like this, the single parent would be dealing with like-minded people.
Faith Based Dating Services
	Catholic Match Catholic Match allows those of the Catholic faith to expand their social circle and meet other singles just like themselves. As a member, you'll be welcomed into a community with others that share your faith and with whom you can express your views and share your thoughts about relationships, religion and other topics relevant to today's single Catholic.
	JDate JDate is the premier Jewish online dating community. JDate has been around for a long time (at least a decade) and has been building the Jewish single community online during this time. Knowing very little of the Jewish culture, it was interesting for me to learn that there is still a strong traditional Jewish matchmaking process happening today. JDate offers itself as an alternative to this traditional matchmaking. Interesting Statistic: JDate has over 500,000 members.
	Christian Cafe Christian Cafe is one of the top online dating services for Christian singles. One really nice thing about this site is that they offer a 10-day free trial. The free trial includes emailing other members and chatting. This is nice considering most dating sites will only allow you to create your profile and browse other profiles for free. Obviously it only lasts 10 days but that's still plenty of time to decide if the service is right for you. Interesting Statistic: Christian Cafe has over 100,000 members.
Race Based Dating Services
	Interracial Singles Interracial Singles was founded to help form interracial couples for those singles wanting to date outside of their race (not too surprising based on the name, right?). According to the site, Interracial Singles has grown to be one of the most frequented sites for mixed dating. The services they offer are fairly standard and include chat rooms, instant messaging and so on. Interesting Statistic: Interracial Singles has over 1,000 new members join every day.
	Black Singles Black Singles was founded with the idea that Black singles looking for dating opportunities should have a place that makes the search for love easier. The site offers a sophisticated matching system, searching options, instant messaging, chat rooms, message boards, and so on. Interesting Statistic: BlackSingles has 1,000 new members every day.