Zoosk versus Plenty of Fish

Online dating can be both exciting and nerve-wracking. Choosing the right online dating site to meet your needs and desires can help you have a better experience. Two popular dating websites that people often consider are Zoosk and Plenty of Fish.

Kind of like having a blind date every day. At the same time, however, untold numbers of people find meaningful relationships thanks to online dating platforms like Plenty of Fish and Zoosk. So people in search of that special someone continue to take the plunge, and the popularity of these sites continues to grow. And with both sites offering what amounts to free entry-level memberships, you really have nothing to lose by tossing your hat into the digital dating ring. In this guide, we’re going to take a look at both to see if we can determine which is the best online dating site. Let’s get started.

Comparison: Zoosk Vs. Plenty of Fish

Let’s start by laying out a few basic facts about each dating website to see where they stand relative to one another in the dating marketplace. When choosing a dating site it is good to consider things like the demographics of each site, free versus paid features, and ease of use. Together we'll look at these important things to help you decide.

Who's on each site?

With any dating site, one of the most important things to consider is the demographic of who is actually using a given site. For example, if you're a young professional woman in their early 30's and you’re looking to date men in that age range then you wouldn’t want to be on a site with mostly users who are 50+.

Zoosk

The Zoosk dating site has over 40 million registered users in over 80 countries, meaning you’re likely to find people in your area, or alternatively you could use the app while traveling. Approximately 52% of those users are female and 48% male. The site includes options for straight, gay, lesbian, and queer-friendly dating preferences. However, there are not options for open or polyamorous relationships. The average age of Zoosk dating site users is 24-27.

Plenty of Fish

Plenty of Fish claims to have over 90 million registered users, with 3.6 of them visiting the site daily. The gender breakdown is a little more male dominated than Zoosk, with 60% male and 40% female. The average age of PoF  dating site users is in the 25-34 range. Although it includes it, Plenty of Fish seems to be less popular for LGBTQ+ dating.

Free & Paid Features

The first step to any dating site is signing up. Sometimes you can sign up and access full features for free, and other times you'll have to pay a subscription fee upfront. Both Zoosk and Plenty of Fish offer free sign up and features. Here we'll take a closer look.

Zoosk

Signing up and creating a Zoosk dating site profile are free. The free version also allows you to browse others, however, if you'd like to send or receive messages you'll need to sign up for a paid subscription. This can be frustrating, but it is honestly quite common with most dating websites. If you're feeling really unsure of committing to a long-term subscription, they do offer a 1-month plan for $29.95, and you can extend the subscription after that with a 3-month subscription for $19.95/month or 6 months for $14.98/month.

Zoosk’s premium version has quite a number of impressive features to help you find possible matches. To help you find what you’re looking for they’ve designed a carousel view that allows you to browse those with high match potential as determined by their Behavioral Matchmaking™ engine and algorithm. For those looking for a more serious relationship there is Zoosk’s SmartPick™ which sends you potential matches each day based on your overall activity on the app. They also offer premium messaging which allows you to be in contact with non-members.

Plenty of Fish

Like Zoosk, sign up and creating a profile on Plenty of Fish is also free of charge. However, here you can browse and message users without upgrading to a paid subscription.

So why pay to become an Upgraded Member? With a paid membership you'll unlock premium features such as viewing user's extended profiles, seeing if your messages are read or deleted, see who viewed your profile and more.

One of PoF’s more unique features is the UltraMatch matchmaking feature. Instead of simply letting user’s browse endlessly their special technology will list the top 50 most compatible profiles for you.

Ease of Use

Sure, each of these dating sites might have millions of other singles looking for a connection, but what good is that if you can't use their site or app? Let's see how user-friendly each of these services are.

Zoosk

Zoosk dating site aims to make your online dating experience an easy one from the very beginning. You can tell because their sign-up process offers the option to sync with your social media profiles, which is a great way to save time.

Several online reviews agree that both the desktop site and mobile app are well designed and easy to navigate. Browsing other profiles, editing your profile, and the messaging function are all easy to locate and use.

Plenty of Fish

With both a desktop version and a mobile app, PoF dating site users seem to prefer the mobile app, both for convenience and usability. Although some have commented that it looks a little bit dated, it is more or less easy to navigate. With communication being the focus, the first thing you see are your messages. One cool feature is that you can “spark” part of a user’s profile by highlighting it and using it in a message as a way to start a conversation.

Conclusion

As it is with people, each dating site offers different things and will be the right choice for different people. After taking a look at just a few main components of both Zoosk and Plenty of Fish, you can see that each is a viable option for online dating. If you’re looking for an inclusive dating community with a bit more technology to help find you possible matches, then Zoosk is a great option. For those who’d like to try online dating on a basic level without paying just yet, Plenty of Fish might be a good choice for you. Either way, someone is out there waiting to meet you!