(Disclosure, I may receive a small referral fee when you make a purchase through links on this post.)
eHarmony and Match.com are the household names when it comes to online dating. Two are extremely popular but you couldn’t find two more different online dating websites than the two. I have done detailed reviews for both eHarmony and Match.com for your reading. Lets face it, as much as free online dating sites are attractive, there is a sense of quality that is lacking in its members and the website. eHarmony and Match.com will bring that quality of service along with it’s members which will help you find that someone special. In this post, I will talk about some similarities but focus on the contrast between the two online dating services so you can make an informed decision on which site to join.
Similarities
Both eHarmony and Match.com have a tremendous membership base. The figures to the actual membership really depends on how you measure them. eHarmony boasts of 33 million registered users from all 50 states and 150 different countries. They have expanded their staple site from eHarmony.com to different tailored dating service such as CompatiblePartners.com for same sex partners and Jazzed.com. I will talk more about Jazzed.com later.
I was not able to find Match.com’s stats on registered members but they do indicate that they have members across 24 countries and websites in 15 different languages.
Contrasts
In terms of contrasts, these two sites cannot be any more different.
eHarmony was founded by Dr. Neil Clark Warren, a fundamental Christian clinical psychologist based in Pasadena, CA in 2000. Together with Dr. Galen Buckwalter, Dr Warren took his research on lasting relationship profile matching theory into testing. Through this, he created a questionnaire which profiles each individual. This patented profile method matches you based on their patented 29 compatibility features.
Once you sign up to register and go through a long series of questions which analyzes you by its 29 Dimensions. After answering all of the questions (which takes roughly 1-2 hours) you are able to see your matches based on their Compatibility Matching System. The downside to this matching system is that you are not able to browse through profiles outside what you are matched with. The big pro to eHarmony is that there are hundreds and thousands of people who has found their significant other through this matching system. All you need to do is to sign up and review the matches and initiate contact and / or respond to those who contact you. Because everyone is being matched a few profiles a day, it is more likely that you will begin communicating with people in no time.
According to comScore.com, Match.com was the most visited online dating site in Dec. 2010. It was founded in April 1995 and has been a pioneer of online dating ever since. Match.com is set up as most of us would imagine an online dating site, like an ordering catalogue. You specify the features of who you are looking for. You are not limited in the number of profiles you can view. The downside is unlike eHarmony, you will not be matched with any profiles.
Which is best for me?
So the big question is what is best for me? I will give the cop out answer and tell you that it really depends. If you are a person who wants to take matters into your own hands and have the patience to browse through potentially tens and hundreds of profiles, then Match.com would be your pick. If you feel you have done enough and want to have the site do the work by matching you with someone, then eHarmony. Both have a tremendous member base and you are bound to find someone who you are looking for.