I have dated strictly online for the past 3 years. I have used many dating sites with full paid memberships, trial memberships and 100% free dating sites. I am writing this article to compare dating sites that are the biggest rivals for the online dating community. Both dating sites have a huge database and the reason why they are the most sought out online dating services. I chose to compare dating sites that are similar in cost and search function as well. These two sites are Match.com and Yahoo personals.

Match.com vs. Yahoo Personals

You should know right away that unless you plan on purchasing a membership right away with Match, this website will be absolutely pointless for you to use. Although you can set up a free profile on it and you can search freely, you are very limited in your contact efforts with someone you are interested. All you can do is send a “wink” to the other party to indicate you are interested in them. With a free trial you are unable to see who has winked at you, emailed you, viewed you which obviously makes it difficult to see if people are sending you genuine email messages.

The good thing about purchasing a membership on Match is that the amount of paying members is very high on this site so your efforts in reaching the point of full communication with the party of interest is extremely high. Searching on Match is very easy and very efficient since you are able to narrow down your search to find a more precise match by seeking things in a partner that are a must have for you. Some examples would be religious preference, political view, education, smoking and drinking habits or physical body shape. There are also 3 other methods to finding matches. The 5 daily matches which are 5 people that Match suggests you should check out. Generally these matches are profiles that have some of the things you are seeking in a partner and are profiles you have not viewed yet. There are also reversed matches, these allow you to view profiles of people that are looking for someone like you and then there are mutual matches in which you are looking for a certain person and they are looking for someone like you.

Match costs about $50 for a 3 month subscription. That is not too bad in my book and worth it to really give the website a chance.

Yahoo Personals happens to be one of Match’s main competitors. Signing up for a profile is absolutely free. As a free member you can show interest in members by using pre-set greetings such as “Hi, You’re profile caught my eye” or “Hello!” You can also browse profiles and search out profiles absolutely free. As a free member you are also limited. Although you can see who has viewed your profile, you cannot see who has bookmarked your profile unless you purchase a membership. One main difference between Match and Yahoo in regards to a free membership is that you can see who has viewed you and you can read your email messages. That would be one bonus of Yahoo.

Yahoo has a very similar search method to that of Match. Yahoo has a bit more options to narrow your search down though by using “must haves”. For example, if I put that a man doesn’t drink and tag it as “must have” then only men who have checked off “doesn’t drink” on their profile will be shown to me.

The major disadvantage Yahoo Personals has compared to Match, is that the number of paying members is very low. My suspicions as to why this is, is because the monthly fee is too steep. At $30.00 a month compared to Match’s $50 for 3 months, I can see why more people would rather use Match. Anyhow, with only about 25% actual paying members on the site, this will put a huge strain on successful communication with people.

Since I have used both services as a free member and a paid member; I can tell you that honestly I feel Match is worth the money and the service that they provide. In fact, I just renewed my membership at Match a month ago and have spoken with a few gentlemen and had one date already. At this point, I am not sure if I would renew my membership at Yahoo, even though I personally know of 2 people that have had success with Yahoo Personals and are now engaged.

You should compare dating sites by using free trials before you ever sign up for a membership. Also read reviews in which do not involve any sort of affiliate link in the article. Like mine! Because then you know they are honest reviews and not just a review in order to make a few bucks off you signing up for a membership.

If you are interested in more dating site reviews be sure to check out top ten dating sites.