Online Dating on the Cheap

As the stigma recedes, flocks of eager singles have come to realize they can find their Friday night date in the same fashion they find apartments, check their bank statements, Google the latest Hollywood train wreck & stalk exes on social networking sites: the Internet.

Sites such as Match.com and eHarmony.com are heavily marketed; this is evident not only by an awareness of their catch slogans, but by their monthly subscription rates.

Let’s break it down, shall we:

eHarmony

• 1 month: $59.95
• 3 months; $36.95/month
• 6 months: $28.95/month

Match

• 1 month: $39.99
• 3 months: $22.99/month
• 6 months: $19.99/month

Yahoo

• 1 month: $25.99
• 3 months: $17.99/month
• 6 months: $25.99/month

For those easing into the online dating scene, paying to talk with a defaulted cyber other may seem a bit too much like civilized prostitution. An alternative is a site I came across one day on a completely non-relevant Google search: PlentyofFish

Plenty of Fish is a free online dating site that claims responsibility for half a million relationships/year. Considering its freeness (gotta love Google ad-derived profit) the site is decent. While not as aesthetically pleasing as the biggies, it has everything you need including a personality quiz. You can also see who has been checking out your profile and who has “favorited” you. In addition, users can set email guidelines to narrow down their inbox influx.

This site became popular via word of mouth and has grown to mammoth proportions considering it lacks the television and Internet exposure the larger dating sites have had. While I’ve deduced only 25% of users can distinguish between “your” and “you’re” I recommend others give Plenty of Fish a try, particularly newbies to the virtual dating scene.