Over the past several years, the online dating landscape has changed dramatically, and in a large part due to the proliferation of free dating sites for every region, area of interest, and type of relationship sought.
These top free dating sites have been carefully chosen from the thousands of free dating sites current available. The number of members, features, what makes them different than everyone else and the target markets they serve have all been taken into account.
A mix of social networking, compatibility-testing and online dating, OkCupid is an unusual free dating site in that it allows its members to create the matching questions already pre-determined at sites like eHarmony or Chemistry. Additionally, users can contact anyone on the system - unlike the two online dating sites mentioned previously – whether or not you are matched well as an Enemy, Friend or Partner.
A long-time personal favorite, Casual Kiss is now offering free memberships again. With its unique and rich features, large international user base and social networking applications, Casual Kiss is an excellent free dating site choice for the younger set as most members are under the age of 40, with a strong concentration in the under 25 age range.
A review of the top free dating sites would be odd if it lacked POF (as it is known to its forum users), as it is considered to be the first successful free dating site model on the Internet. Owner Marcus Friend still runs the organization by himself, even though his user base outnumbers most of the pay-per-use websites in North America. The amount of people using this feature-rich site (which includes heavily-trafficked forums, compatibility questionnaires and the very popular Who's Seen Me button) is astronomical in its sheer ability to connect with users around the globe looking for friendship, love, and anything else in between.
Free dating abounds at Connecting Singles, which is geared towards US-based users. Forums, email, local event listings and chat are all free here for singles seeking friendship or love.
Book of Matches, or BoM as the site prefers to be called, offers a low-tech site full of dating options, such as forums, friends lists, and live chat. Some of Book of Matches' free dating features keep the larger user base growing constantly, such as scrap booking and blog tagging.