LoveHowTo Dating Directory: Top Services

At 20 million members (1.35 million paid) worldwide, one of the largest. Also powers Love@AOL and MSN Dating. A torturous registration process, inexact and redundant. And yet it seems to be worth it...an embarrassment of riches in all categories. If you put in some effort, you won't be disappointed. Best features: "Reverse Matches" evaluates your profile and finds matches who are looking for someone with just your features. "Match Words" identifies key words in profiles and lets you find others with the same interests. There's also a quick snapshot comparing the ways in which you do and don't match up with any profile. Extra features (mobile, seeing whether your email has been read) cost extra, which is pretty cheesy. Owned by InterActive Corp.

13 million registered users. Site seems to be more about quantity than quality. Offers a personality matching program with featured (i.e., paying) members.

11 million members. You must enter a credit card to join and receive a seven-day free trial. While you might not want to give True your credit card info, the site's advantage is that it screens all communicating members against criminal records databases. This means a much higher likelihood that people are who they say they are. Free (and time-consuming) compatibility test endorsed by Psychology Today identifies 99 factors found in successful relationships. Video chat and private chat. Lots of action here, but caliber of members seems slightly lower than average. True aggressively follows up to make sure you find someone, though.

5 million members. In-depth (almost 500 redundant questions – be sure to answer consistently or you’ll be rejected!) personality test required as part of signup. Profiles use canned text (none of the members' own words) and are not accessible – you only get to see the ones eHarmony selects for you. You must describe yourself as single (e.g., not "Separated") to qualify. If you click "Separated" you'll still get the whole massive questionnaire, but then eHarmony will refuse to let you participate in the dating service, instead steering you toward their online counseling service. And then they'll send you endless emails nagging you to use them to help put your marriage back together. And your personality test results can get you rejected even if you are single. Assuming you're accepted, if you cancel your dating membership you'll be bombarded with emails saying NOW they've found you the right one. Marriage-focused and claims to be results-oriented, although our experiences showed those results are more money for eHarmony and difficulty extricating your credit card from the relationship. Primarily but not exclusively Christian. Time.com named it one of the 5 Worst Webites for "its power to cause utter despair." As a result of a lawsuit filedby the state of New Jersey, eHarmony will launch a same-sex matching service, called Compatible Partners, by March 31, 2009.

About 4 million members. Chemistry.com promotes itself as friendly to everyone, including gay and lesbian users - and in fact it is. Registration involves a personality assessment designed by Chief Scientific Advisor and esteemed anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher of Rutgers University, who also tells you how each profile matches up to yours. Matches are made for you via a "guided communication process": you review their (her?) choices, which are categorized ("builder," "explorer," etc.) and they learn what you want. Well-done and results-focused. Sister site to Match.com; you can transfer over your Match.com profile.

With 3 million users and the power of Yahoo! behind it, this service goes broad and deep. In terms of functionality it's pretty stripped down, but really, who needs the winks and the surveys anyway? "Premier" service features "free" relationship test, a matching system to zero in on marriage material. We had some success on this one.

3 million members. Registration process includes compulsory and extensive personality survey. Matches are made for you on the basis of the results of your survey. No searching on your own or contacting anyone unless you pay to upgrade. Advice from Dr. Pepper Schwartz. Built by the pioneers who started Kiss.com/uDate.com, took it to more than 7 million members and sold it to Match.com in 2002.

Primarily 18-34. You join in one, two or three categories (Dating, Relationship, Intimate). Since searches are done in single categories, this potentially limits who will see your profile. You can duplicate your profile but this seems like more work than should be necessary. While popular (5 million members), we found Lavalife to be more limited than other sites in their approach to creating profiles and the member base. Also, the same people hang in for way too long - where are the newbies?

This is generally a more serious crowd - these folks are looking for love! Be sincere and you'll get sincere responses. Features video messaging as well as IM and chat. Annoyingly, if you try to click away without signing up, pushy popups beg you to stay and IM with a "live agent." Operated by Avalanche.

3 million members. An annoying signup process involves writing much more about yourself than any but the most dedicated memoirist would want to do. Then you have to get through a few "special offers" before being able to search - on pages littered with ads. Worse, if you try to click away without signing up, annoying popups beg you to stay and IM with a "live agent." Operated by Avalanche.

2 million members. If you're the type of person who likes to meet people in bars, this is the place for you. Browse profiles and offer a drink. But expect to read stuff like this: "IF YOUR HERE TO START BS...... KEEP MOVIN AND TAKE UR 3RD GRADE ASS BACK TO MYSPACE." Heavy on the attitude and drinking metaphors. Definitely not for the over-30 crowd.

3 million members. Offers a "personal matchmaker" who acts as a middleman to connect matches so users don't have to give out phone numbers. Exclusive singles events.

1.9 million members. A decent selection, with notification when someone is online. Webcam chat. Owned by Various LLC.

Chat, message boards and e-cards, otherwise not much in the way of exciting features. Owned by Spark Networks.