Dating Services

Recipient of Gold
Match.com

Recipient of Silver
eHarmony

Recipient of Bronze
Christian Mingle

The 2015 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award poll was launched on October 1st, 2015. By the beginning of January, 2016 when we closed the poll it had 459 people cast their votes. For the first question of the poll, it asked our visitors what paid dating site or app would you recommend for the Single's Choice Award. This question had 8 possible answers and included the top dating services of 2015. For this award the top voted service receives Gold, followed by Silver, and for third most voted site, Bronze.

The recipient of the Gold 2015 Single's Choice Award is Match.com. Match.com grew in popularity again this year and received 8% more votes than last year. For 2015 Match received 148 votes which is 32.24% of all votes cast.

The recipient of the Silver 2015 Single's Choice Award is eHarmony. eHarmony received 85 votes which is 18.52% of the total votes cast. This is roughly the same percentage of votes they had last year. This dating service continues to grow and launched several localized versions of their dating service in the past year.

The recipient of the Bronze 2015 Single's Choice Award is Christian Mingle. Christian Mingle received 60 votes which works out to 13.07% of all votes cast and 3% more votes than last year. This dating service continues to attract members thanks in part to a new and approved dating app which launched last year combined with a revamped web site.

Here are this year's standings for the Single's Choice award for all dating sites in the poll.

1. Match.com
2. eHarmony
3. Christian Mingle
4. Fitness Singles
5. OurTime.com
6. Are You Interested
7. Zoosk
8. Badoo

We would like to thank all our visitors who cast a vote this year for our Single’s Choice Award. The results of this award help guide our users to choose the best dating site or dating app for them. Each of the winning services receives a award badge on their review showcasing their accomplishments. All award winners are also added to the 2015 Award category.

From the first date, to the first kiss, to your first time between the sheets, every new relationship is marked by a series of milestones. Every one you reach is thrilling and nerve-racking, and daters have wondered since the beginning of time how to hack the system.

A new survey from Match.com attempts to answer the question of when it's the 'right' time to cross each milestone. More than 2,000 men and women in the UK were surveyed in attempt to map out the journey of the average (as much as any relationship can be 'average') long-term relationship. Here's what they found.

Within Two Weeks

The Match.com chart starts at the logical beginning: the first date. According to Match's research, the first kiss happens immediately. In the next one to two weeks, a budding couple will hold hands for the first time. They will also sleep together for the first time in that period, although they won't stay the night.

Within A Month

After the two-week point, things take a slightly more serious turn. A new couple will get undressed in front of each other – but only with the lights off – within a month. They will also introduce each other to their respective best friends.

Within Six Months

The relationship solidifies over the first six months together. Couples buy each other their first birthday presents and begin to call each other boyfriend and girlfriend. At five months comes one of the biggest milestones of all: saying 'I love you.' After that, the realities of a life together begin to sink in. Couples have their first argument around 170 days, reveal imperfections around 173 days, and introduce each other to parents before six months are up.

Within A Year

Couples become increasingly permanent fixtures in each other's lives during the first year. After six months have gone by, they are comfortable leaving toothbrushes at each other's bathrooms and having a drawer in each other's homes. Then comes the travel. At 204 days, they'll go away for a night together and at 298 days they'll take an entire vacation. Within a year, it's time to have a serious conversation about the future.

Over A Year

The biggest life milestones come after the one-year mark is reached. The average couple gets engaged at 743 days (around 2 years), gets a pet at 813 days, and buys a home together just before they reach three years. The average marriage comes at 1190 days, just over three years. Finally, the average couple has their first child together at 1422 days, after three years and 11 months together.

View the full flowchart from Match.com here and check our our Match.com review.

eHarmony has setup a free communication trial which starts Wednesday morning on February 10th and runs for 5 days until the evening of Monday February the 15th. This event is for both the United States and Canada.

To be able to participate in the trial an eHarmony account is required. So if you haven't done it already, all you need to do is create a free eHarmony membership and fill out the profile questionnaire. No credit card is required. When you do fill out the profile make sure you have 30 to 40 minutes as there are a number of multiple choice questions. You can save a partially answered questionnaire and continue on later, but I always find it is better to finish it in one sitting. Also, make sure you have a few photos picked out for your profile before hand. A head shot for your main profile photo is good along with a few more photo's showing yourself having fun.

Once your profile and questionnaire is complete, eHarmony will then send you about 5 matches right away. These matches are created by the eHarmony matching algorithm which is based on years of research by eHarmony Labs. The information from your profile and questionnaire about what you want in a partner along with what best matches with your personality traits is used to figure out what eHarmony members, when matched to you, have the best chance of creating a long-term and happy relationship.

eHarmony free communication trials happen about once a month. The dating site and app (which is available both for the iPhone and Android devices) is always extra busy during this time especially in February when Valentine's Day is fast approaching. Features not included during the trial include skipping the guided communication process and going straight to email. The guided communication process is where you and your match each answer a couple of questions about yourself. These questions are picked out by you and your match and are designed to help break the ice before you start writing to each other via email. Viewing of profile photos is also only available to paying members during this event.

For more details about this popular dating matchmaking service, you can read our eHarmony review.

You might not have known this if you’ve used popular dating app Tinder, but the service secretly calculates a score that ranks the most (and least) desirable people swiping on the service.

And every single Tinder user has a score.

In an article for Fast Company, reporter Austin Carr was interviewing Tinder founder Sean Rad, who let him know this wasn’t some urban myth. In fact, Rad went so far as to admit that not only does each user have a desirability score, but that the company spent more than two months developing the algorithm for rating people. According to Rad, it’s more than a popularity contest of which users get the most swipes or matches, or who has the more attractive photos, but a combination of factors that make a more complex overall view.

Still, the swipes probably have something to do with your desirability score. In fact, every time a Tinder user swipes right or left on you, that is factored into the equation – how often you are liked, versus rejected. And how many times there is a mutual swipe, versus a one-sided rejection or like. Then there are the more intangible factors, like career choice, words used to describe oneself in a profile, and educational background.

Carr got to look at his own desirability score, which was just slightly above average to his dismay. He cautioned his readers to avoid looking at their scores, as they could potentially end up even more self-conscious daters than they were already. Tinder wouldn’t give him any details besides a top line number of how he compares to everyone else using the app. Tinder does have more detailed breakdowns and analyses, but they chose not to share.

While it might be interesting to learn your Tinder desirability score, it doesn’t help if you end up on the lower end of the spectrum. It certainly doesn’t mean anything in terms of your ability to connect with that one special person – people are attracted to one another based on that intangible known as chemistry, for one.

Also, people have a wide array of tastes – what might seem attractive to one Tinder user might turn off another. OkCupid discovered this in its own study, where it researched the most-messaged users. More often than not, the ones with more unusual features tended to get more messages, and more people considered them attractive compared to those who were considered more "ordinarily attractive."

So if you are on Tinder, just keep swiping and dating without worrying about how you stack up against the competition. It’s just an algorithm, after all. For more information on this dating app you can read our Tinder review.

We talk about heartache when love is lost. We talk about hearts fluttering when love is found. We send heart emojis and heart-shaped Valentine's and make hand hearts on Instagram. We're heart-obsessed.

It was only a matter of time before someone harnessed that obsession, added a little science, and tied it to another popular obsession: health and fitness. That someone is Once, a new dating app that uses your heart rate to determine your heart's mate.

Once, which can now be integrated with Fitbit and Android Wear, shows users a single potential suitor each day. The matches are curated by actual human matchmakers, who work their magic by reviewing your profile and the profiles of people you've liked in the past. When you're given your daily match, you have 24 hours to make a move before the match expires.

OkCupid has built a reptuation as one of the more open-minded dating services available for singles. In their latest progressive move, the site is adding a feature designed to help users explore nonmonogamy.

The new setting became available for some beta users last December and rolled out site-wide in Januray 2016. Polyamorous daters who are listed as “seeing someone,” “married,” or “in an open relationship” can now link their profiles with their partners' profiles and search for new additions to their relationship.

The decision to add the option for polyamorous users comes after OkCupid noticed an uptick in interest in nonmonogamous relationships. According to the company’s data, 42% of its users would consider dating someone who is already involved in an open or poly relationship. Another 24% say they are “seriously interested” in group sex. Combined, reports The Atlantic, those two numbers represent increases of 8 percentage points from five years ago.

Perhaps more surprisingly, the number of OkCupid users who say they are solely committed to monogamy has fallen to a minority of all users: 44%, down from 56% in 2010.

The trend on OkCupid is reflective of a larger trend throughout the United States. Psychology Today reported in 2014 that "sexually non-monogamous couples in the United States number in the millions." Surveys suggest that 4 to 5 percent of Americans are now involved in polyamorous relationships.

This isn't the first time OkCupid has made headlines for its forward-thinking take on online dating. The site added an “open relationship” option back in 2014. Last year, it increased the number of genders it recognizes to 22. Tinder and Match.com, also owned by OkCupid parent company Match Group, do not yet have plans to add a similar feature for nonmonogamous users.

Outside of Match Group, OkCupid remains a trendsetter. Though specialized dating sites for polyamorous people were already available, this seems to be the first time a mainstream online dating service has offered a feature for nonmonogamous partners. In the past, poly couples resorted to creating confusing joint profiles or describing their arrangement in their bios.

Jimena Almendares, OkCupid’s chief product officer, told The Atlantic the company isn't trying to make a statement – it's merely following the numbers and giving users the tools they need to find the relationships they want.

“Finding your partner is very important,” she said, “you should have the option to express specifically and exactly who you are and what you need.”

For more information on this dating service please read our review of OkCupid.