Plenty of Fish hit the internet in the early 2000s, where it quickly established itself as a powerhouse in the singles scene. The site boasted incredibly large user numbers for the time, and regularly enjoyed positive reviews as its profile base continued to grow.
As of today, Plenty of Fish still stands out as a legitimate dating site, with a huge user base of over 3 million individuals worldwide, and over 11 million peer-to-peer communications happening on a daily basis. Their successes in relationship building are impressive as well, with POF stating that several hundreds of thousands of relationships are created on their site of every year.
But is it good for the average single guy just looking to hook up with someone? I put this to the test and I’m sharing everything you need to know about the network. Read it and weep…
If you don’t have any time to spend on digesting the info below, then you’re better off simply checking out this top 5 list and making a decision from there.
My Review of PlentyofFish (Full Details Below)
Signing up is free on this site, and unlike some lesser dating websites, they provide you full access to their site right away. No hidden fees are tucked away, and the costs for an enhanced membership are fairly reasonable.
Another great component of membership with POF is their free, mandatory background checks. This is a nice touch, especially for individuals who may have had uncomfortable encounters on other, less-vetted dating sites or apps.
It’s All In The Details
Something I enjoyed quite a bit about Plenty of Fish was the rigorous batch of processes they put new members through when putting together their member profile. Unlike an app like Tinder, the matchmakers at POF are determined to find their members as compatible with a partner.
To that end, they’ve put together a detailed set of questions up front, asking questions as surprising as whether or not you own a car or property, or if you harbor any secret ambitions in life. Along with the more esoteric questions, they also cover the standard bases such as whether or not you’ve got children or have been married before.
Another component of the profiles that I enjoyed wasn’t seen until after I was set up and perusing the site was the “Intent” section that users can optionally fill out after their initial sign up. These additional answers are fantastic at representing what the particular person is looking for, be in just a hangout session at the local coffee shop, or a long-term relationship with marriage goals.
No Facebook Here
Something that I’ve found gives Plenty of Fish a more mature edge is that they don’t provide an ability to connect to additional social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook. The reasoning for this is twofold. It keeps a sense of modesty regarding your private life, while also isolating your social profiles from companies looking to harvest your data.
For a lot of folks, privacy is key when dipping their toes back into the dating world, and PlentyofFish.com is great in that it maintains this added level of professionalism.
Note: it is important to mention that while POF doesn’t draw from your social media data, it can be connected simply for the purpose of transferring images from one profile to another.
Reaching Out
As I mentioned above, functionally is unlimited for all members, which means that once you’ve set up your POF profile, you can immediately start looking for someone to connect with. Messaging is straightforward and mimics most commonly messaging apps seen today.
An added bonus of the chat app is the voicemail function, where you can use your phone’s microphone to record a message that is then sent as an attachment for your potential partner to listen to. Our team found this to be a nice touch, as it added a bit of personal flair to an otherwise admittedly sterile form of communication. It also helps ease the tension of having that first-time phone conversation.
Mobile Dating
The build quality for the Plenty of Fish app is fairly impressive. I noticed no slowdown regardless of platform, and the messaging was just as responsive as other texting apps. Our one gripe about the mobile platform is that it isn’t nearly as robust as the desktop site, in terms of functionality.
Changing profile images is a bit more challenging, and features, like accessing the FAQ or changing personal settings such as your billing information, are completely non-existent.
A Few Extra Dollars
As I briefly touched on above, POF.com also offers enhances services through its platform if you decide to pay a little bit more. The extra features are offered through a monthly subscription fee, with discounts offered for longer subscriptions.
Three months of enhanced service is $12.90 per month, a six-month commitment is $8.50 per month, and for those serial daters out there the 12-month package is just $6.78 per month.
These costs may seem a little steep, but to POF’s credit, they pack an awful lot into the monthly service. Read receipts for all messages become available, as does the ability to see who’s been looking at your profile.
All popups and ads are eliminated in the paid service as well, which just makes the experience using the site a lot smoother. There are also extended profile options that come with members, like the ability to show when you were last online, as well as bumping the profile picture limit from 8 up to 16.
Customer Support
Something else that impressed us about the POF site was the responsiveness of their support staff. While I never encountered issues that broke the site, there were a few occasions where things weren’t working as intended.
After connecting to their live chat (yes, an actual person!) I was back browsing profiles in just a few moments. This is a rarity for dating sites, as shouldn’t be overlooked.
What I Think (Conclusion)
Plenty of Fish is a well-established brand that has been consistently providing a quality service to its users for over a decade. In 2019, the site still maintains a high degree of privacy and professionalism while also continuing to dig deeply into the wants and requirements of its users.
The site offers a few pieces of enhanced functionality that makes connecting to others a breeze, even if you’re the shy type.
I cannot recommend POF.com strongly enough if you want something free and mainstream and assuming you can deal with the tire kickers. That’s especially true if your a single adult looking for a way to date that streamlines the process and avoids those awkward, unconnected first encounters. Even as a free service, POF provides a painless way to re-enter the dating pool and perhaps find that special someone you’ve been looking for.
However, if you’re looking for something more adult-themed and straight hookup related, then POF isn’t for you. I’ll come right out and say it, you need Fling.com – nothing else.
