One of the best aspects of the online dating industry is the “try before you buy” culture. Many of the top dating apps give you the chance to try at least some (if not all) of their features for a period of time before you choose to upgrade to a paid membership.
These dating app free trials not only give you the chance to find a good fit before even thinking about upgrading, but some even let you communicate, which means you could find someone special without ever needing to pay!
Today, we want to share the most popular free trials available, a complete list of every dating app free trial we’re aware of, and some tips and tricks to get the most bang for your buck (or bang for your no bucks, since it’s free)!
Most Popular Dating App Free Trials
| Rank | Site | Free Trial Link | |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | eHarmony | Free Trial |  |
| #2 | Higher Bond | Free Trial |  |
| #3 | The League | Free Trial |  |
On top of these options that you can join today, here are several guides for other dating site free trials to check out.
- AfroIntroductions Free Trial
- Christian Mingle Free Trial
- eharmony Free Trial
- EliteSingles Free Trial
- FilipinoCupid Free Trial
- Happn Free Trial
- Higher Bond Free Trial
- Match.com Free Trial
- Muslima Free Trial
- Plenty of Fish Trial
- Positive Singles Free Trial
- WooPlus Free Trial
Are these free trials really free?
In the online dating industry, free trials are almost always completely free. What you will find is that they are usually limited in regards to what you can and can’t do, but they are still free. The trials that we’ve linked to and broken down above are only from dating sites that offer completely free trials. In our opinion, paid trials are great, but we think that dating apps should be so confident in their products and services, that giving parts of it away for free will only entice you to want to come on as a full-fledged member.
We’ll explain more in the next section when we break down the different types of free trials you’ll see out there.
The 4 Different Types of Dating App Free Trials You’ll See
To help you better set your expectations, we want to outline the four different types of online dating app and dating site free trials you’ll run into. Let’s look at each.
Limited-Feature Free Trials (also known as freemium models)
The most popular dating app free trial option you’re going to see is a limited-feature free trial. With this option, you’ll have access to some of the features the app offers, but not everything. There are three ways this is accomplished:
- You are given full access to every feature, but only a limited number of uses. Examples of this are apps like Tinder where you can swipe and message with the free trial (full use of features), but you’re only given a limited number of swipes per day.
- You are given access to some of the features on the app, but not everything. You won’t have a limit on how often you can use the limited features, but often, the limits will greatly impede your usage of the app. An example of this would be an app like Christian Mingle where you can create an account, see your matches, and even use their swipe feature, but—if you want to send a message, you’ll have to upgrade. Outside of swipe dating apps, this would be the most popular set up you’d see.
- You are given access to all the basic features during your free trial, but there are things you can pay for to get an advantage over other users. Often, this is in conjunction with one of the aforementioned set ups. For example, Tinder, limits how much access you get to the free features, but they also have a la carte things like boosts and super likes you can purchase to give yourself an advantage.
Almost all limited-feature free trials do not have a time limit. You are free to use them as long as you would like.
Ad-Supported Free Trial Sites
Technically, ad-supported free trials are just a fancy way of saying that the whole app is free. You’ll have access to all of the features of the app, but it will be littered with ads that are usually a bit invasive. Sometimes these apps are just free with no options to pay for anything, and sometimes they give you the option to pay a few bucks and remove the ads.
The most famous example of this type of dating app free trial is Plenty of Fish (POF). We included a screenshot below where you’ll see the ads at the top and right side of the screen. Yes, you are seeing that correctly. There is literally an ad for another dating app on the platform.
As a quick side note, this might sound great (because free is awesome, right?). Well, there are some significant drawbacks to a dating app that has a lifetime free trial type option. We’d encourage you to read our guide on how free is a mess and not something you want to be a part of to learn more about what we mean.
Limited-Time Free Trials
While much less common than they were back in the day, some dating app free trials offer you full access to all features, but only for a limited period of time (and almost always only on new accounts). The most classic example of this are free communication weekends on eharmony where you’re given the ability to communicate for the weekend, and then after Sunday (the end of the weekend), it goes back to whatever your paid or free trial status is.
Another example of this that’s a bit more robust is the 10-day free trial with Christian Cafe. As you can see in the screenshot below, you get 7 days free and 3 more if you add a photo (for a total of 10).
Money-Back Guarantee Offers
Lastly, and also a dying breed when it comes to dating app free trials, are money-back guarantees. These are technically not free trials (as you are making a purchase), but your purchase is protected in case you’re not happy. Most popular dating apps have had a program like this at one time or another, but they come and go pretty erratically. Often, if you’re unhappy, you don’t receive a monetary refund, but you receive more free service.
For example, Catholic Match periodically has a program where if you buy 6 months and don’t find someone, they’ll give you 6 more months for free.
Do these free trials require a credit card?
Almost all of the free trials that we have listed above do not require a credit card or any type of billing information to be entered. While we don’t fault dating sites or companies that do require these, we’re like you and are bigger fans of sites that don’t need this sort of stuff up front. Again, if the product is good enough, users will want to sign-up after they get done playing around with the free trials and seeing what the site has to offer.
What should I expect to get?
This is going to differ heavily depending on which online dating site or app you’re using. For the most part, though, free trials will allow you to create your profile, upload pictures, look through your matches, and see other member’s profiles and photos. Some sites have limits on which photos you can see, but for the most part you can see all of them.
If you want to know more, we’ve included free trial breakdowns at the beginning of this guide. Check out the guide that corresponds to the app or site you’re interested in.
Written By: Matthew J. Seymour, MSF
Matthew J. Seymour is a dating industry expert with over a decade of experience coaching singles, reviewing dating apps, and analyzing trends within the industry. Matt is a published author with his most recent work “Get More Dates: How to Master Online Dating Apps” that hit shelves in 2023. With a Masters of Science in Finance (MSF) degree from the University of Florida and extensive knowledge of the innerworkings of the online dating industry, Matt frequently serves in an advisory role to some of the largest dating apps on the market. In Matt’s current role with Healthy Framework, he leads the interview team that regularly interviews key dating industry leaders, and leverages his financial knowledge and dating app experience to review and share what singles need to know to get the most out of dating online.