Match.com was put out into the world in April of 1995.
Thus far, it is the longest-running dating site in the United States and that has given it time to garner trust and admiration from its users.
Whether you are seeking a serious long-term or short-term relationship, it is a dating site that delivers on both.
That said, it is reputed as more of a serious dating site, and has been responsible for a ton of marriages that few other dating sites rival.
It is free to sign up on the dating site or download the app.
That isn’t all that is free.
You have the opportunity to send likes and winks for free on the dating app platform too.
As a widely used dating site, it has over 39 million visits a month.
With a gender split of 49% male and 51% female, it is evenly split, making it a great location to find a romantic prospect for both men and women.
This even gender split is a rarity on other dating sites, as so many dating sites have a preponderance of men over women.
Match.com does have millions of paid members as well.
This means that there are a ton of people who take the dating site seriously and want to find their other half on it.
With such numbers, it has the advantage of being able to provide a bevy of options for people of various sexual persuasions whether they be heterosexual or part of the LGBTQ community.
Since its release in 1995, it has grown to massive popularity. With an excess of 15 million active patrons, it is by far one of the biggest dating sites on the planet.
Match.com’s reach is not only relegated to the U.S. It is available in over 30 languages and present in over 40 countries.
With such a wide reach it is easier to match with people of varying ages, ethnicities, backgrounds, and nationalities. Its generational split is about as even as its gender split.
Millennials represent 30% of the platform. Gen Z represent 38% and Baby Boomers represent 26%.
Additionally, it is over-represented, at about 80%, with people who have either attended college or graduated with a college degree.
This means that the chances of finding a quality date on this dating platform is strong.
Conveniently, it is available on Google Play and the App Store.
Match.com Features
1. Relationship Questionnaire
Thanks to a smart and well-thought-out relationship questionnaire, you get to create a deep dating profile with rich details that are sure to attract a greater number of matches. This relationship questionnaire delves into personality traits that enlighten potential matches on what you are like as a person. This makes for the most compatible matches.
2. Social Media Account Sign-Up
This is an optional feature, but provides a way to fast-track the creation of a dating profile through signing up through your social media account.
3. Multidimensional Profiles
Each dating profile provides the ability for you to enter a number of elementary statistics, interests, photographs, and even more personal information.
4. Daily Match Recommendations
These are recommendations made by Match.com’s powerful algorithm. It uses the information you filled out on your relationship questionnaire and profile to recommend the most compatible matches to you. These are drawn from how you rate in comparison to your potential match.
5. Reverse Search
This is a feature that gives you the capability to search for and see a number of dating profiles that have similar interests as yourself.
6. Event Calendar
With access to the event calendar, you know what social events are taking place in your city. This makes it easier to get out there and meet your fellow Match.com users or people outside of the dating site in real life, whether it be at wine tastings, trivia nights or happy hours at the local bars.
7. Mutual Search
This is a group of dating profiles that are mutually in line with your own dating profile. This makes it so much easier to quickly locate the people that are aligned with your interests and values.
8. Vibe Check
An exhilarating feature that gives you an opportunity to engage with a prospective match through video.
9. Discover Section
This provides search filters that let you search based on distance, interests, physicality, age, education, religion, background, relationship status, etc.
10. Dating Experts
You don’t have to walk through the world of online dating without support. Dating experts are on standby to guide you through the process of online dating so that you improve your chances of finding good matches. The initial session with a dating expert is delivered for free.
11. MatchPhone
This is a nifty feature that gives you a generic phone number other than your real phone number that you can use to call and text a mutual match.
12. Missed Connections
A feature that gives you second chances at reconnecting with people who you have come across in real everyday life.
Filling Out The Dating Profile
There are four distinct sections to the dating profile.
1. About Me
This section is where you include a bevy of information about yourself such as your relationship status, education, religion, ethnicity, occupation, body type, etc.
2. Summary
You get to write what you believe sums you up as a person. It’s always good to be imaginative here, as you want whoever views your dating profile to be left with a good impression of you at the conclusion of your dating profile.
3. Interests and Topics
This is where you get to be open about what your pastimes are. The more of these you include, the more you give the algorithm to work with so that you get a larger number of compatible matches.
Popular interests that people include involve volunteering, dancing, photography, gardening, painting, exercising, cooking, archery, creative writing, pottery, scrapbooking, chess, traveling, hiking, playing board games, book-reading, concert-going, hiking, biking, swimming, camping, etc.
Fill this out to your heart’s content.
Again, the more you add, the more compatible matches you are sent by the algorithm.
4. What I’m Looking For
This is the section where you fill in the details of what you are looking for in a prospective partner. Some of the information you include in your dating profile can be highlighted.
This makes it easier for users to see what you love doing the most.
On top of this, Match.com asks you to provide your deal-breakers in a partner.
With this information, the algorithm matches you with the most compatible people that reside in your locale.
Free Membership Features
1. Edit Profile
You get to create and edit your dating profile without charge. This means that you don’t only get to rework your bio until it sounds just right, you get to post and repost photos until you get that right too.
2. Search
Unlike plenty of dating sites, you get to freely use Match.com’s search capabilities to find compatible matches.
3. Free Likes And Winks
When you are interested in someone’s dating profile, you get to send a free like or wink without charge.
4. Top Picks List
These are people that have been picked out for you by the algorithm that it believes to be your most compatible matches. With this feature, it’s easier to find compatible matches to send free messages to that you may have missed in your search, all in one place.
5. Filter Search Results
Improve your search results by getting even more specific. This is where you can choose to be shown dating profiles that only have photos or are actively online at that moment. You can even get more specific by using keywords to find a compatible match.
Paid Membership Features
1. Unlimited Likes And Messages
As a paid member, you get to send as many likes and messages as you want to whoever you choose to send them to. This gives you more opportunities to connect with a greater number of matches.
2. See Who Read Your Message
This is a great paid feature that lets you know that the message you so carefully constructed was sent and read by the person of interest. This gives you peace of mind that your message was received.
3. Unrestricted MatchPhone Options
You get to have a generic phone number assigned to you and get to message any member you choose, as opposed to only being relegated to messaging a mutual match.
4. See Who Liked Your Profile
This cuts to the chase, leaving little doubt of who likes you or is interested in you. Unlike so many dating sites, you get to see who liked your dating profile, which makes it so much easier for you to know who already has the eye for you.
5. Automatic Monthly Boost
With this feature, your dating profile is automatically boosted each month, once a month. This exposes your dating profile to a lot more people which increases your chances of getting more matches.
6. Rewind
This lets you correct any mistakes you have made in the past in overlooking a dating profile. With this, you get to reevaluate a dating profile and see whether you actually have an interest in it.
7. Super Like
This gives you a chance to give someone of interest a Super Like, which lets them know that they stand out to you, increasing the chances they message you.
Match.com Safety Features
1. Personal Verification
This filters out fake dating profiles and scammers on the dating site.
2. Background Check
This saves you from bad actors on the dating site who have questionable histories.
3. Blocking
You get to easily block and report anyone that is harassing you on the dating site or making you feel unsafe. This is taken seriously, as you do hear back from Match.com within 24 hours.
4. Flagging
In addition to blocking, you get to flag any dating profile that has obscene, abusive, fake, or suspicious content. This saves not only you from being presented with this specific dating profile in the future, it saves your fellow users from being presented with it in the future as well.
Once reported, these malevolent dating profiles are investigated and expunged from the dating site if it is deemed that said dating profiles are dangerous.
5. Social Media Account Connection
This allows you to connect with a user through your social media accounts. This makes it easier to verify whether the user is who they say they are through their social media account.
6. Verification Badges
When Match.com has verified that a user has a valid social media account, email address and phone number, it puts a badge on the user’s dating profile to make other users know that this is a user that has gone through an extensive verification process and can be trusted. This makes you feel safer in messaging the person when you come across the person’s dating profile.
Pros Of Match.com
A massive and varied user base that is present in more than 40 countries.
Get your own personalized match suggestions, sent to you by the algorithm, thanks to your match preferences.
A myriad of search tools that give you the autonomy to find your own dates.
Multiple methods to convey romantic interest and communicate with a user for free.
Match.com is responsible for a lot of marriages.
Match Events gives you access to meeting people from the platform and outside of it in real life at fun locales.
Unlike so many dating sites that make it difficult to connect with customer support, Match.com provides easy access to customer support whether it be through email or live chat on business days.
Cons of Match.com
Paid members are the only ones who have the ability to send unlimited messages or view who has liked their dating profiles.
A ton of features makes you spend more time on the dating site than you might want on a daily basis.
As a free subscriber, The Top Picks list isn’t within your control. This means that you are relying on the algorithm to fill out your list with the most compatible members and you have no agency in who is in the list.
Privacy mode provides the ability for you to browse while incognito and only paid members have access to this.
Match.com Pricing
1. Bronze Membership – 3 months at $27.99 per month.
2. Silver Membership – 6 months at $23.99 per month.
3. Platinum Membership – 12 months at $20.99 per month.
Cancel at anytime.
Recommendation
Match.com is a dating site that has endured for decades.
As the pioneer in online dating, it has had many copycats but very few that match its bevy of features and commitment to pinpoint matching.
The never-ending success stories speak to just how good Match.com is at matching compatible people.
This is further facilitated by its massive user base and how evenly split it is in its gender and generational ratio.
There is a reason why it has lasted for so long.
It is a behemoth of a dating site and is worth joining.