There’s a lot of stuff on the web about the best Christian dating sites, but as singles ourselves, we haven’t found much of it to be truly helpful in our decision-making process.
Best Christian Dating Sites
SingleRoots Rating Dating Site URL Monthly_Price_Range Number of Members Ease of Use Christian Filters Privacy/ Security Personal Control Mobile Options
SingleRoots' eHarmony Review
eharmony.com $19.95 to $59.95
Save 20% on a 6-Month eHarmony Subscription! (Promo Code : EHCODE)High Simple Excellent Good Fair Yes
SingleRoots' Match.com Review
match.com $16.99 to $34.99 High Quite a Few Details Fair Excellent Excellent Yes
SingleRoots' Christian Mingle Reviewchristianmingle.com $14.99 to $29.99 High Option-Overload Good Excellent Excellent Yes
SingleRoots' Christian Cafe Reviewchristiancafe.com $8.99 to $34.97 Medium Option-Overload Excellent Good Excellent Yes
SingleRoots' Marry Well Review
marrywell.org $7.99 to $89.99 Low Simple Excellent Fair Fair No
SingleRoots' PerfectMatch.com Reviewperfectmatch.com $33.32 to $59.95 Medium Quite a Few Details Fair Excellent Excellent No
SingleRoots' Chemistry.com Review
chemistry.com $13.33 to $39.99 Medium Simple Poor Fair Fair No
Good news: We’ve been working to create a comparison chart and detailed resource of the best Christian dating sites and update it regularly as we get feedback from readers and do further research. Hey, we’re just trying to help a brother or sister out and keep it real. Just doing our part…
SingleRoots eHarmony Coupon: Save 20% on a 6-Month eHarmony Subscription! (Promo Code : EHCODE)
But here you are…
So let’s just stop right now and agree that we’re going to accept it for what it is: a tool that aids us in the search for Mr. or Miss Right. There’s no shame in using tools.
We’ve searched high and low for reliable information that would guide us to make an informed decision when choosing the best Christian dating sites, and there really aren’t many places that offer information from actual Christians.
We’ve done our fair share of online dating, and we just thought that we’d offer our experience and research to those of you who need it. A piggyback ride, perhaps? After all, if we’re still single, we’d at least like to think that our money went to something more useful than some awkward first dates.
We plan to update this page each month as new information arises, so check back often as our reviews of Christian dating sites grow. And if you have anything to contribute to the discussion, we’d love to hear it. Use a pseudonym if you don’t want to use your real name. There’s no shame in that either. After all, this is written by the SingleRoots “Team.” When it comes to using one’s own name, we have no room to judge.
DOLLA-DOLLA BILLS, Y’ALL!
Everyone wants to talk about money first. This is evident from our own lives, our conversations with friends, and from the preliminary data that we’ve conducted among online Christian daters.
If you show them the money, will they show you the love?
Money is a big issue.
So let’s talk scratch: Just because a site costs less doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily getting a good deal. That being said, just because it costs more doesn’t mean you get a better site either.
Many of the seven sites we’ve reviewed offer a free trial membership. While you’re probably not going to fall in love in ten days or less, miracles can happen. And, if you want to test-drive a site, a free trial is a good way to go.
But if you’re ready to go all in, you should know that many factors can change the price of subscription to a Christian dating site. Depending on how long you commit, you can easily make the price per month decrease. The average price for a one-month membership on Match, Chemistry.com and Christian Café runs close to $35, Christian Mingle is priced for about $30 for a month, and eHarmony or Perfect Match will cost you around $60/month.
Suffice it to say that if you’re choosing strictly based on price, then Marry Well is the front-runner at $12 for a one-month subscription. You can get three months for $25 on Marry Well (less than one month on Christian Mingle). They even have an $8 monthly plan for “cash-strapped” college and graduate students and a scholarship program for people involved in ministry.
Price :: SingleRoots Recommends:
Christian Mingle
Christian Cafe
Marry Well
NUMBERS, I NEED NUMBERS!
It’s hard to figure out what kind of numbers these sites are pulling in. They’re not too keen on publishing exactly how many active members you’ll have access to.
Christian Mingle’s latest commercial states that they have gained 2 million members in the past year alone. What does that mean for your search? Well, anyone can create a free profile on the site (or most sites). Just because there are a ton of profiles does not mean that there are that many actively paying members in which to communicate with.
Marry Well is still a new site, and a quick search from a metropolitan area such as Dallas/Fort Worth showed a much smaller selection of profiles than the sites that have been around for years such as eHarmony, Match, Christian Café, Perfect Match, Chemistry.com, and Christian Mingle.
Here’s what you need to consider: If you live in a small town or rural area and you’re not into long-distance relationships, the number of online dating profiles that are within your geographical region is already slim. You’ll need to either expand your driving distance or choose one of the sites that boast millions of profiles to choose from.
With the exception of Marry Well, all 5 of the other sites generally include hundreds to thousands of profiles for Christians to choose from that are within a reasonable driving distance (under 2-3 hours). Marry Well has potential, but it might be a bit longer before we can wholeheartedly recommend it for its large membership.
How many people do you need access to before you can get an ever-lovin’ date?
Membership Numbers :: SingleRoots Recommends
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| Runner-Ups: |
WHERE’S THE EASY BUTTON?
For some people, technology can still be a bit daunting. They’ve managed to conquer Facebook, but online dating is a brand new world and they might not want to seek help from a friend.
If you’re searching for the easiest site to use, the answer is probably going to be eHarmony. It’s pretty straightforward—you get sent your daily allotment of matches and you can communicate with them or close them out. There is a lengthy initial questionnaire on both eHarmony and Perfect Match, but it’s nothing high tech. Chemistry.com is pretty straightforward, too, with a less-lengthy questionnaire.
Most of the other sites give you more control options, which also translates with more details to learn how to navigate. If you’re a little more confident in your internet savviness, Match, Perfect Match, and Marry Well shouldn’t be too difficult. Christian Mingle gives users the ability to chat as well as offering a prayer room (because evidently they think we totally want to spend time in prayer with perfect strangers on the internets). Christian Café offers chat options, too, but more than anything, Christian Café just seems outdated. It is the least easy-to-use of the sites and could stand a fresh, new aesthetic.
Ease of Use :: SingleRoots Recommends:
eHarmony
THEY WILL KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY…OUR PROFILE?
We want to point out that while these sites aren’t all explicitly “Christian dating sites,” we know that a great deal of Christians use them to find relationships. Our research shows that Christian corporations do not necessarily own even the ones that have “Christian” in the company name. In fact, Christian Café and Marry Well are the only two sites in our review that are owned by Christians and could be considered Christian dating sites exclusively. If you feel this is an issue, we urge you to do your own research and find a site that is aligned with your convictions.
However, we believe that the best Christian dating sites can be websites that are not technically for Christians only. You just need to set your search parameters carefully and answer your questions in such a way that reflects the priority you place on spiritual matters. But even when you’ve done that, some sites can still make it hard to find like-minded Believers without having to click on every single profile that you find interesting only to read further and find out that he/she rarely attends church.
Match only provides a few multiple-choice questions about religion and church services. Perfect Match and Christian Mingle make things a little easier by allowing members to take a personality inventory along with similar questions to that of Match. Still, all three leave a lot to be desired. Chemistry.com proved to be the most difficult site when it came to finding other like-minded Christians, since they only allow you a small portion of the profile for including your own words. The rest are multiple choice answers, and of those, only a few discuss faith.
While it’s true that you have to sit through the lengthy initial personality profile with eHarmony, there’s something to be said for it. Especially when you pair that with the option to put a number on how important your match’s spirituality is. Our experience and our research shows this to result in profiles that are more aligned with what we were looking for. Marry Well was created by couples who have a history with Focus on the Family, and their mission is “to help people form good marriages for their good and God’s glory.” The idea is to engage singles (pardon the pun) as they walk the road all the way to marriage. Marry Well doesn’t want you to stop being a part of the site once you enter a dating relationship. They want to provide you with resources and community all the way until the wedding day. It is because of this, we believe, that most of the members of the site are usually committed Christians.
Christian Café also has fairly detailed settings such as denominational preferences, church affiliation and involvement, and faith level and does not require a lengthy questionnaire. It can be useful for people who do not want to devote the time that it takes to evaluate yourself and your interests on eHarmony.
Christian Filters :: SingleRoots Recommends:
eHarmony
SAFE AND SECURE FROM ALL ALARM
There’s something unnerving about communicating with someone you hardly know. We’ve all watched Law and Order; we’ve heard the horror stories. There’s nothing wrong with being safe.
Can I put a padlock on my profile? And, while I’m at it, I could use one on my heart, too…
Your first option for safety on any site is to not use your photo. Girls like to say that only the guys care about looks, but that’s not true. Even the holiest of girls wants to see if his eyes look honest and kind (or if his hairline is receding or if his belly shows too much beer consumption) before she meets him for coffee. So not using a photo isn’t really going to reap a bumper crop of hot dates for most people.
Two of the sites, eHarmony and Perfect Match, prefer you to use your first name on your profile. Sure, you can create an alias, but for the most part, member profiles include legit names. The other sites allow you to create a user name, which sometimes can tell you more about a person than 10 profile questions!
But what happens if you get the one match who falls in love with you and won’t stop emailing and trying to communicate with you? You’re a good catch. It happens.
Blocking profiles is an option for Match, Perfect Match, and Christian Mingle users. The terms of use and privacy policy page are not updated on Marry Well, so it is difficult to determine what steps they want you to take in order to curb eager stalkers. eHarmony offers users the right to close matches to prevent further communication, but that does little to keep another user from continuing to see your profile. Christian Café also gives users the option to keep unwanted communications at bay with their mail block, but like eHarmony, they can still view your profile.
Privacy/Security :: SingleRoots Recommends:
Match
Perfect Match
Christian Mingle
CONTROL ISSUES
When it comes to finding the best Christian dating sites, Control Freaks, we’ve got you covered, too!
You’ve heard your friends talking about how they tried eHarmony and how you only get about 7 matches a day and that you don’t get to see your pool of available matches behind the curtain. Some of your friends said that occasionally they don’t get any matches at all. They also told you how that eHarmony thing used to make you walk step-by-step through their communication process, too. And you don’t care if they quit doing that, you still don’t like that site one bit. No, sir/ma’am. You want all of your matches and you want to make your own decisions! You know what’s best for you and not some computer program. And you don’t want to have to sit around and wait until Day 37 when said computer program drops him/her in your inbox. If that’s you, you won’t like Chemistry.com either.
But, you’ll be happy to know that the other 5 sites give you access to all of their membership profiles, as well as the ability to communicate on whichever level you choose. It’s important to note: while Marry Well doesn’t keep you from communicating with anyone, they discourage women from initiating actual relationships with men. That might fire some of you up, and others might find it refreshing. Jesus loves us all.
We think Perfect Match has a slight edge in the control department, though, because their better-than-some personality questionnaire helps them make more solid daily recommendations of profiles you might be interested in, along with letting you see what is behind the curtain (in their database).
Person Control :: SingleRoots Recommends:
Perfect Match
Match
Christian Mingle
Christian Cafe
IS THERE AN APP FOR THAT?
It’s the age of multi-tasking. Dating is no exception.
If you get an email or a wink from a match, you want to be able to see who it is while you’re at work or at the mall. We know…we do too. It’s just the way things are now. No one waits until they get home to get on a site. In fact, most people find it difficult to wait until they get to a red light. If this is you, you’ll be happy to know that all of the sites we’ve reviewed, with the exception of Perfect Match, Chemistry.com, and Marry Well, offer you mobile apps. Now you can find true love while reaching for that produce at the grocery store.
Mobile Options :: SingleRoots Recommends:
eHarmony
Match
Christian Mingle
Christian Cafe
We need your help! We know that not everyone will agree with our reviews, but that’s the beauty of our plan. Every month when we update our reviews, we want them to be influenced by and include feedback from you. Share your experiences (both good and bad) in the comments below!
*Photo credits: Mike Licht, Notions Capital.com;Giumaiolini; Book Glutton; CarbonNYC; Gustav H.
