Match, eHarmony and EliteSingles are three of the biggest, best-known UK dating sites, with thousands of members, user-friendly apps, and millions of successful matches – but which is the best option?
In reality, any of these quality dating services are worth considering, but if you're stuck and keen to ensure you know as much as possible about the pros and cons before you sign up, we'll look at some direct price comparisons.
We'll start with Match.com, which does have a free membership option. However, like most dating services, a free account has limited access to the top features and functions.
If you decide to upgrade, you can register a premium account for one month. This is a great option (even though it's the most expensive!) because you have the flexibility of cancelling after 30 days if you decide it's not the site for you.
One-month memberships are normally the shortest subscription duration. However, many dating sites only allow you to sign up for three or six months as a minimum, and you either need to pay upfront or commit to the monthly cost regardless.
Longer Match.com subscriptions are as follows, with a comparison of the price per day.
If you've tried Match.com before or are confident it's the best dating site for you to achieve your relationship goals, we'd suggest a six-month membership. It is the lowest cost per day and 67% cheaper than paying for six consecutive one-month subscriptions.
Match has plenty of features and in-depth filters, so you can narrow down your search parameters by any element that matters to you. The site provides personalised recommendations based on your preferences, and you can see lots of detail in each profile to work out whether a suggested match is someone you'd like to speak to.
The site is image-rich, with a generous photo capacity – this is far better than having one tiny profile picture to see whether you're attracted to somebody!
In terms of downsides, there aren’t quite as many active users in comparison to some of the other large global apps, and it can take a bit of time to create your profile.
However, it’s advisable to include as much detail as possible to improve your prospects and boost the relevance of each match.
Premium Match.com memberships aren't the cheapest, but the site delivers value for money, and it is a well-established, credible, and trustworthy dating platform with good security controls.
Next, we'll move on to eHarmony, which works somewhat differently from Match. The first point is that eHarmony subscriptions run for longer, but this is linked to the ethos and effectiveness of the dating service.
While you’ll find a real mixture of people on Match.com, almost everybody on eHarmony is after a long-term, committed relationship – and they tend to sign up for a year on average rather than looking for shorter subscription periods.
Another is that eHarmony is based on custom matches, but these aren’t solely based on your preferences and parameters; it’s a bit more scientific!
When you join eHarmony, you are directed towards a fairly long and in-depth personality quiz. Don’t skip this part; you can always come back to it if you don’t have enough time to work through the questions straight away.
The dating site uses an advanced algorithm to evaluate your personality, characteristics, qualities, and other metrics and uses those insights to recommend highly specific matches. Of course, it'll also take into account any preferences you have stated, such as height or age.
Costs look like this:
It’s well worth keeping an eye out for offers and discounts! eHarmony offers reduced 50% rates for the first three months on a Premium Plus subscription from time to time, reducing the cost to £11.95 per month.
Altogether that means a one-year membership drops from £286.80 to £250.95 and from £0.78 to £0.68 a day.
eHarmony is often considered one of the pricier dating sites – but that's for a good reason. The whole focus is on attracting genuine, authentic people who are looking for long-term relationships rather than generalised dating.
Because the prices are a little higher, all the users who participate in eHarmony are invested in their dating experiences and are considerably less likely to be time wasters.
It’s also hard to imagine a fake account spending money on a premium dating site membership purely to waste your time!
Advantages of eHarmony include the high-quality membership, excellent usability, and a long track record with hundreds of thousands of marriages reported by users who met on the site.
The drawback is that the cost isn’t cheap, and this dating site is weighted towards singles who are serious about finding love and committed partnerships.
Our third and final comparable online dating site is Elite Singles. Although the name can be slightly misleading, Elite Singles isn’t necessarily about wealth, income, or social status. Rather, it's about connecting single people who share a lifestyle, aspirations, or a stable career.
You’ll find a diverse membership, from business people to students, self-employed contractors, and freelancers. Still, most are more mature adults, with an average age of about 30+ (compared to 25 or so on other dating platforms).
Like both competitors, the Elite Singles price is a staggered subscription system, and you can sign up for free, although you'll get limited access to features, including messaging unless you upgrade.
Here’s how the pricing works:
Now, it’s important to point out that the three-month subscription is up there in price and a higher cost per day than you'd pay for either Match.com or eHarmony.
However, if you join Elite Singles for a year and pay £299.40, the daily cost of £0.82 is only four pence higher than eHarmony – so don't discount it based purely on the more expensive short-term subscription!
Elite Singles is focused on members who are keen to find like-minded matches, and around 85% of members have an education above average (which we take to mean at least a university degree!).
If this is important to you, you might choose Elite Singles over Match.com or eHarmony, although the other dating sites have the edge on costs.
There are very few fake profiles if any, and singles on this site are actively looking for long-term relationships, so it's a great option if you are serious about romance and love.
Drawbacks include the limitations on free accounts – although these are similar on most premium dating sites. For example, you cannot see pictures or match with users who have premium accounts if you have signed up for free.
The matching algorithm works a little like eHarmony, although the membership isn't quite as large. But you cannot browse the user database and need to wait for EliteSingles to suggest compatible matches.
Of course, that might be a positive if you prefer to sit back and wait for potential dates to drop into your inbox!
As we’ve seen from the price comparisons above, these three online dating sites are excellent options for anybody who wants to invest in a high-quality dating site where they can meet genuine singles, free from spammers and scammers.
The prices are competitive, if not low, and provide several options to sign up for free and browse the site or upgrade for a variable period depending on your budget and how quickly you anticipate meeting somebody.
Our advice would be to consider what you want from your dating experience, for example:
There is no right or wrong answer, but by picking a trusted and legitimate dating app, you’ll already be in good hands, with tons of features, functions, and tools to search for local dates or advise on your parameters to receive match suggestions.
Cost may be one of the most influential factors, but if you keep an eye out for discounts and offers, you'll normally be able to reduce the price you pay for a premium dating site membership without losing any of the perks!
