Free dating sites have an obvious benefit.

They are free.

With a free membership on a dating site, you aren’t expending any of your own hard-earned money to use it.

The lack of financial expenditure makes a free dating site that much more attractive to a larger number of people.

Who doesn’t want to use a service for free?

It’s human nature to take advantage of such a situation.

With a larger user base, there are a greater number of people that are prospective matches.

Also, free dating sites aren’t as stringent with there subscription requirements.

People don’t have to go through a rigorous process to sign up, nor do they go through a long-winded process of identity verification.

It’s almost a free for all where people sign up without having to worry about having to divulge all that much about themselves.

This means that there is a fast signup process, which is unlike paid dating sites, some of which have new subscribers pulling their hair out as they answer lengthy personality questionnaires or wait for photo approval.

All of this is well and good for people who aren’t all that intent on finding serious relationships with serious partners.

Free dating sites are great for people who are primarily intent on banter and flirting.

These are people who aren’t particularly reliable in keeping conversations going online or ultimately meeting in person.

They prefer to banter until they get bored, before moving on to a new match to banter with.

If this is your goal with dating sites, a free dating site is right up your alley.

However, if you are seeking a serious relationship, free dating sites aren’t the best choice.

Paid dating sites are a better choice for finding people who are seeking serious relationships.

Given that these are people who are paying for the service, they are taking financial risk.

He is paying his hard-earned money so as to find a connection with a romantic prospect.

This isn’t someone who is likely to be on a dating site for mere banter and flirtation.

He wants much more than that.

Furthermore, paid dating sites take greater pains to verify identities than free dating sites do.

This means that whoever you match with has been vetted to an extent.

His photo has been verified by the dating site to confirm that he is who he says he is.

His dating profile has a check mark on it to let you know that he is someone that has been verified and is safe to talk to.

Although paid dating sites don’t have as many users as free dating sites, they have more quality matches for those seeking serious relationships.

In addition, paid dating sites are loaded with extra features that makes connecting with a person so much more streamlined and efficient in comparison to free dating sites.

Whereas a free dating site has very limited ways of communicating, such as through texting, a paid dating site offers a litany of much more personal ways of communicating.

Communicate through video or through your own phone.

Yes, there are paid dating sites that give you the option of communicating with a match through your own phone.

They do this by giving you a temporary phone number that is routed through the dating site so as to keep your real phone number private.

As you can see, free dating sites and paid dating sites have their benefits and shortcomings.

It all boils down to what type of online dating experience and relationship you desire.