Every year, more people prefer to make new acquaintances on the Internet. This is a reasonable decision for the vast majority. After all, many people don’t have the time to try to meet new people offline. Let’s be honest; today, not everyone is inclined to date in the real world.
Developers of dating sites and apps are aware of this tendency and, of course, use it to their advantage. Today, there are already about eight thousand online dating services in the world, and in the vast majority of cases, they have paid features. The only question is, “Is it worth it for you to pay?”
Why a paid subscription to a dating service is not always a good solution
Certainly, any online service with a large audience should bring money to developers. These funds are necessary to support and develop the platform; this is logical. However, very often, the owners of dating sites abuse their capabilities by making users pay money for those functions that they could provide for free. What’s more! Many artificially limit their customers’ capabilities until they pay for a premium subscription. For example, they set limits on the number of messages, viewing profiles of other participants, uploading photos, and so on.
Developers (to be more precise, marketers) are trying to convince you that as soon as you pay for the premium, you will immediately find your love. In fact, this is not always the case for several reasons:
- Paid services do not guarantee the authenticity of the profiles of other members you meet.
- Your capabilities may be limited even with a paid subscription. Also, additional features often have to be paid separately.
- Not all of them, even paid services, are truly secure and confidential.The risk of encountering scammers, cybercriminals, or ordinary Internet trolls remains high.
Yes, in some cases, a premium subscription can be useful and give you a better chance of successful dating. However, in most cases, this is an ordinary marketing tool and nothing more. If you are not willing to pay every month for the opportunity to freely communicate with other people on the Internet, this option is not suitable for you.
How to date online without paid subscriptions
If you’re not ready to pay for premium access to dating apps and websites and need a free alternative. There are quite a lot of options for you!
- Free features of dating sites and apps: Typically, such services provide some basic functionality for free. Yes, you will probably face various restrictions, but they may not be critical. Tinder, Badoo, Bumble, and other dating platforms provide basic functionality for free. Take advantage of this opportunity. Perhaps, this is exactly what you need.
- Online video chats: These dating services are free in the vast majority of cases. They are often not mandatory for all users, even if they provide paid features.There are quite a few examples of popular video chats such as: Tinychat — not quite a classic video chat, but more of a video streaming service in which you can conduct or view various thematic streams; Omegle — quite a classic and at the same time free online video chat, where you can meet and communicate with new people on almost any topic; Meetzur — a minimalistic web chat that allows you to meet random chat partners in the same way, send media files, indicate your gender, etc.; Emeraldchat — an online video chat for dating one-on-one or in a group chat, allowing you to search for chat partners by gender, karma rating, and other parameters.
- Social networks: Today, even though people meet on social networks not as actively as at the dawn of their formation in the early 2000s, these are still convenient platforms for web dating. Especially, when considering that there are a lot of social networks today such as Instagram, Facebook, X.com (Twitter), and others. In addition to instant messengers, thematic forums, and more! There are plenty of options!
- Online video games: Some might say that this is not the most successful format for dating, but we disagree. Currently, video games are played by a wide variety of audiences and by people of almost all ages. Many online gaming projects are free and, most importantly, allow players to communicate with each other. This means that the next gaming session may turn out to be fateful for you. Why not combine business with pleasure?
You don’t have to stick to one online dating format. This way, you only limit yourself more and lose the opportunity to meet a huge number of interesting people. Try different formats and choose the ones that suit you best. You will definitely find good options for yourself!
Conclusion: Is it true that the audience of free dating services is less serious?
This is a common belief that is not entirely true. Many people believe that if a person pays for a premium, it means he is serious and committed to making a promising date. Conversely, users without a premium account do not have far-reaching plans and are simply looking for a way to have fun.
In practice, the situation is slightly different. Often, users without a premium account are beginners who are just exploring this or that platform. Moreover, they only came to the site for dating. Accordingly, many of them are more serious than those who have been using the site or application for several months or years. That is, it turns out exactly the opposite; users without a premium are often more serious and open to new dating.
An interesting study was conducted in 2022, during which users of popular free dating services such as Teamo, Beboo, LovePlanet, and others were surveyed. The main goal is to identify what these users want. The answers are quite indicative:
- Serious dating — 39%.
- Short-term relationships — 33%.
- Something in between — 28%.
That is, most users are serious, they want to find love and start a strong romantic relationship. Yes, a third of those surveyed take online dating less seriously. However, this does not mean that having met a nice and interesting person, they will not decide to start a long-term relationship. After all, the initial goals may differ greatly from the final result, and this is absolutely normal.
If you are just discovering the online dating format, we recommend starting with free services and free tariffs. There is no point in paying for a premium until you are sure that you need it and that it can significantly increase your chances of success. Until then, it will be a waste of your own money and perhaps a waste of time, which is more valuable today.
We wish you only hopeful, interesting, and promising dating on the Internet. Go ahead and make yourself happy and comfortable!
