Ok. There are actually hundreds and possibly thousands of online dating websites out there. You’ve probably heard of a few big names, but there are many more that cater to “niche markets.” Like sites for widows and widowers, sites for dog owners, sites for smokers, sites for recovering alcoholics, sites that are exclusively gay or ethnic. Man the number of sites dedicated to an ethnic focus is staggering. Hispanic, Asian, Indian, Black and so it goes.

So let’s start with the power house online dating institution; Match.com. I’ve been a member over there for years. Sometimes I’ve used their free offers and sometimes I’ve bought membership. Over the years their design and navigation have pretty much remained the same, with one of my favorite features being the ability to turn on or off your profile. But I think they may one of the first sites to change your “results” page from a description to a photo album. And let’s be honest most people decide if they want to even read a profile based on how the person looks. They have a pretty exhaustive profile building process and a LOT less free offers than they used to. But I have had some nice contact with women through that site.

Another early player is Date.com but they have a free setup. But the navigation and general usability to get to your area is a little clunky. Not the greatest selection of people. I’m actually now in the process of testing that one so I’ll get back to you

Yahoo Personals is one I’ve also treated like Match, in that I’ve experimented with the free and the paid, and had ok results. I like the various filters for screening people, they also have a reverse filter sort of things that help you find people that are also looking for you. That feature doesn’t always work, and that can be a pain in the ass when you read about somebody after getting attracted to their picture then find out that you do NOT meet their criteria. But at least all that is free to do all your searching and browsing.

PlentyofFish.com is the powerhouse. Their claim is that they have more users than all the other sites combined. It’s also owned by a single guy, and is sort of a internet success story. Free site and gigantic profits. I’m currently on there and it IS a good site. The photo compression is a little crappy, but if you upload pictures to the exact size they say they use then it wont shrink or stretch your picture to make it fit. Usability is good, and for better or worse it shows you the people that looked you over AND it shows people that you looked them over (you can turn off that feature for yourself). It is totally free too, with no charges once you find somebody you like. The selection of people is not bad… its not as bad as date.com but I don’t think it’s as good as match.com

EHarmony.com, well no doubt you’ve seen the commercials and those commercials are very strong. They make you think that this is THE place to be. Of course its crap. The site has a pretty extensive questioning process you have to go through. I got turned down. Lots of people get turned down. It’s very expensive, and you go searching you’ll find tons of reviews that say they try to match you with somebody very far away. I think if you are really in some kind of weird tight spot this might be the way to go.

Chemistry.com as taken their cue from Eharmony even though they’re a part of match.com. So they’re supposed to use this special math to connect you to the right people. I tried it a few years ago and wasn’t impressed.