The Battle Of The Free Dating Sites

Ladies and gentlemen, the match is about to begin.

In this corner we have POF, a popular free dating site since 2003 that claimed 40,000,000 members as of February 2012.

And in this corner we have OkCupid, a free dating and social networking legend that The Boston Globe once called "The Google of online dating."

This fight is gonna be a tough one, folks.

Looking at it by the numbers, POF comes out on top. Its many millions of members dwarf the member base of OkCupid, which gives its users access to many more potential dates. On the other hand, OkCupid offers more ways to find a match who meets your dating requirements. OkCupid's features include a greater variety of search options and a range of other fun tools, like quizzes, to assess compatibility.

At the end of round one, it looks like POF wins the battle for quantity and OkCupid wins the battle for quality.

Round two requires you to think seriously about what you're looking for in your online dating experience. Is it simplicity? Go for POF. Is it an aesthetically pleasing site? Go for OkCupid. Is it older singles? Try POF, which has a higher number of users in the 35-49 age range. Is it hip younger singles? Try OkCupid, which targets the 25-35 audience.

At the end of round two we've got another even split, depending on what kind of date you're looking for.

It all comes down to round three. This is the make or break moment for OkCupid and POF. How do you want to be matched with potential partners? And what kind of relationship are you looking for?

POF determines compatibility using the Chemistry Test and the Relationship Needs Assessment, which matches you with dates who think and act the same way you do in relationships. Outside of that, POF primarily matches users based on age range and area, which doesn't provide a very accurate picture of whether or not they'll click romantically.

OkCupid has a few more tricks up its sleeve. There are its famous member quizzes, a whole bunch of funny and weird questions, and also the additional option of creating unique profile questions that are tailored to your exact personality. Not only are they entertaining, but OkCupids matching features are more effective at judging real compatibility.

So, although it was a close one, at the end of round three I'm going to have to call this one in favor of OkCupid.

To find out more about these 2 free dating sites you can read our Plenty of fish review and our Okcupid review. For more related services you can check our the free dating sites category.