LoveHowTo Dating Directory: Lesbian

There's not much you can do for free here. But sincere, accomplished and attractive members make this site worth the required three-month commitment despite a dearth of features. Part of TangoWire network.

Gay.com claims to be the world's largest gay online dating site. It's certainly one of the most attractive, with an engaging design and tasteful and appropriate ads. Most importantly, a wide range of warm and sincere women. Part of the PlanetOut network.

Claims to have a massive user base, but that may be because they're including the total date.com and gay.date.com users. Certainly we didn't find as many users as we might have liked when we conducted our users. Still, it only takes one. And the ones that we did find were surprisingly compatible. Not a lot of flash, just straightforward and effective. Operated by Avalanche.

A massive database, and these women are HOT! More sexually oriented than some of the other lesbian sites, with more shots of body part than faces. They know what they want, they aren't afraid to ask for it, and they're happy to share what they have too. Highly recommended. Owned by Various LLC.

Unlike some sites that go after gay and lesbian daters with profile-builders carelessly adapted from straight sites, LDate gets into the nitty gritty, with 11 "Life types," from "Lipstick Lesbian" to "Stone Butch." Accurately express who you are and find who you're looking for.

Falls into the LoveHowTo pet peeve trap by offering this sample headline: "Prince seeks princess." On a lesbian site? Not a lot of members, fewer than 100 online at any given time. Doesn't feel like the place to be. Owned by Cupid Media.

Currently in beta (it is a little glitchy) and offering free messaging, so check it out. Penis alert: even when you specify you're searching for women (straight, gay, and/or bi), you can still get men in mixed in with your search results since the site uses one database of profiles for both gay and lesbian searches. Understand the thinking, don't quite love the execution.

Elite? Not so much. You'll have to scroll through dozens of weird and spam-like ads during your signup process (a Pamela Anderson type pitching a diet shake, a stock newsletter, Smithsonian Magazine, religious joke site, a Christian dating site AND sex sites). The gay and straight elements of the site aren't separated after all, and you'll see plenty of ads for straight men and women along the side of the page.