Jdate Review

flag 52% of surveyed married users met on Jdate
  • Up to 7 targeted matches sent to you daily

  • All profiles/photos reviewed by Customer Care

  • Members from culturally Jewish to orthodox

  • Free and premium membership options available

Pros & Cons

  • Jewish singles of all ages
  • Singles seeking serious relationships
  • Anonymous browsing option
  • Free users can't send messages
  • Non-Jewish members can also join

Plans & Pricing

Jdate offers both paid and free membership options.

Free

As a free member, you can post a profile, browse the database and receive emails with relevant matches. You cannot, however, message or reply to other members and the privacy features are not available either.

Premium

Premium membership allows you to send messages to all users (including free members), to browse anonymously, and to see when users have read your messages.

1 Month – A one-month premium subscription costs $59.99/month.

3 Months – Three-months of premium membership costs $39.99/month ($119.97 total).

6 Months – The six-month premium plan costs just $29.99/month ($179.94 total).

You’ll receive the best deal if you choose a 6-month membership. These prices are consistent with what other dating sites charge.

 

1 month
$59.99/mo
3 months
$39.99/mo
6 months
$29.99/mo

Overview

Jdate is a niche dating site aimed at Jewish singles. It was one of the first online dating sites, having been founded back in 1997, and it claims to have over 750,000 registered members and 2 million monthly views. Since Jews make up only 2% of the US population, it’s not always easy to find love organically if dating someone within your religion is important to you. That’s where Jdate comes in, boasting that their site is responsible for more than half of all Jewish marriages that started with online dating.

Rating

  • "Price"
    8.5 /10
  • "Features"
    9 /10
  • "Ease of Use"
    9.5 /10
  • "Help and Support"
    7.5 /10

Ease of Use

It only takes a few minutes to sign up to Jdate, even if you take the time to complete all requested details. They will ask for your name, gender, age, zip code, and religious affiliation. Next, you’ll upload your profile pictures. The first must be a clear headshot. You need to upload at least one photo, and you can choose to add up to six total. You will then be asked to write a short biography (there is no minimum word count), followed by details on what you’re looking for.

Browsing other users’ profiles is quite straightforward, as is the process of receiving, sending, and checking messages. You can even see when a message has been read. However, some of these features are only available to premium members. Free members can receive messages but they cannot send replies without signing up for a premium plan.

Special Features

There are a few stand out features on Jdate that you might not find on the average online dating site:

JDate App

The Jdate app was launched in 2014 and is a great way to access the site, browse its members, and send/receive messages. Given how attached most of us our to our smartphones, the Jdate app is incredibly convenient. This mobile option that is just as streamlined, fast, and simple as the regular site.

Features

  • Instant Messages
  • Email
  • Mobile App
  • Video Chat
  • Voice Message
  • Match service

Jewish-Focused

Unlike most dating sites, Jdate includes questions (both about yourself and in terms of what you’d like in a partner) that are specifically Jewish-related, such as level of kosher observance (if any), how often you attend synagogue (if at all), and how you identify as a Jew (culturally Jewish, orthodox, reform, etc.).

These nuanced questions help to create better matches. For example, if you consider yourself culturally Jewish but never go to synagogue and enjoy the occasional cheeseburger, you likely wouldn’t do too well in a relationship with an orthodox Jew who is davening (praying) three times a day, not flipping light switches on Shabbat, and only eats at restaurants with a strict kosher certification. It’s incredibly refreshing for a site to recognize that not all Jews are the same and that just by the virtue of two singles being MOT (Members of the Tribe) doesn’t mean that they’re automatically compatible.

That being said, while Jdate was built with Jewish singles in mind, you don’t actually need to be Jewish to join. While some religious Jewish dating sites will ask about your lineage or else request a conversion certificate, Jdate doesn’t do any of this, accepting members all across the Jewish spectrum — along with “willing to convert” and “other.” The full choice of  affiliations to choose from include:

  • Conservadox
  • Conservative
  • Culturally Jewish
  • Hasidic
  • Modern Orthodox
  • Orthodox (Baal Teshuva)
  • Orthodox (Frum)
  • Reconstructionist
  • Reform
  • Traditional
  • Willing to Convert
  • Other

While there are a number of Jews who are open-minded about interfaith relationships, they most likely would feel comfortable signing up on a more mainstream dating site rather than a Jewish-affiliated one, if that was the case. When searching other members’ profiles, you can limit your search to certain affiliations (such as reform and reconstructionist only, or Hasidic only).

Global Reach

Jdate is often thought of as a US-only website, but it actually operates worldwide. The bulk of their users are in the US and Israel, but there are singles in other countries as well. Jdate is also available in several languages, including English, Hebrew, German, Spanish and French. It’s not unusual to find Success Stories on their site that cross state lines or even international borders.

Effective Dating

The nature of Jdate, combined with the fact that more users seem to be looking for serious companionship than casual flings, has led to a high success rate. In fact, a 2011 site-commissioned survey found that 52% of married respondents found their beshert (soulmate) on Jdate.

Life

Jdate members (both free and premium) can access the Jlife community, which hosts success stories, dating advice, and other information relating to Jewish singles. It is a great addition to the site and a good way to see more of the singles on its books.

Site Safety

Jdate is safe and relatively scam-free when compared to other more generalized dating sites. There are scam profiles on here, but no more than usual. Jdate provides a page dedicated to safe online dating. Customer support is available 7 days a week so you can easily report someone who is bothering you, and every profile and photo submitted by Jdate members are reviewed. You can also block users both from the messaging page and from their profile page.

Customer support

The support that Jdate provides isn’t the best, which is to be expected considering they are backed by a large multi-platform company. They can be a bit slow to respond to messages. You can contact them via their online “Submit a request” form or call them at 1-877-453-3861.  Their also is an FAQ page that answers common questions.

  • Phone Support
    Call customer support at  1-877-453-3861. 
  • Email
    Submit an online request and receive a reply within 48 hours.
  • Video Tutorials
    There are videos on the Jdate YouTube page.
  • FAQ
    An FAQ page is available on the company website.
  • Community Forum
    You can use Jlife if you have issues that can be addressed by the community.
  • Blog
    Jlife features blog articles on a variety of topics from general dating tips to Jewish-specific tips (kosher wine selections, tips for surviving Passover seder as a single, etc.).

Final Word

Jdate is not without its flaws and these seem to be a result of its size. Bigger companies tend to fall flat when it comes to customer support, as they don’t have the time or desire to provide a highly personalized level of care. This won’t affect the majority of users, but if you encounter an issue with the site, it can become a problem. The lack of a trial period is also a concern, but these issues aside, Jdate is the biggest and best dating site for Jewish singles. It is also one of the top niche dating sites on the internet in general. It has a pool of high-quality members to browse through who are located throughout the US and world. If you’re a Jewish single seeking to end up stomping a glass under the chuppah with a fellow Jew someday, you can’t do much better than Jdate.

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This website is an informative comparison site that aims to offer its users find helpful information regarding the products and offers that will be suitable for their needs. We are able to maintain a free, high-quality service by receiving advertising fees from the brands and service providers we review on this website (though we may also review brands we are not engaged with). These advertising fees, combined with our criteria and methodology, such as the conversion rates, our team of reviewer's finding and subjective experience and product popularity, impact the placement and position of the brands within the comparison table. In the event rating or scoring are assigned by us, they are based on the position in the comparison table, or according to other formula in the event specifically detailed by us. See our How we Rate page and Terms of Use for information. The reviews, rating and scoring are provided “as-is” without guaranties or warranties regarding the information contained in our website, which shall not be considered as endorsement. We make the best efforts to keep the information up-to-date, however, an offer’s terms might change at any time. We do not compare or include all service providers, brands and offers available in the market.
paul-writer
P. J. Aitken
author

P. J. Aitken is a published author who has penned numerous articles and books on dating and relationships. He has been happily married for close to 15 years.

We make the best effort to present up-to-date information; however, the terms of each offer can be revised according to the service provider’s discretion. The above shall not be considered as an expert or professional advice for any matter.

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Questions & Answers

Leah

Does JDate automatically renew my subscription?

answer
Yes, but you can turn off auto-renewal in your account settings.
Avi

Is there a Jdate app?

answer
Yes, there is a Jdate app available.
Sara

How many photos can I upload on Jdate?

answer
You can upload up to 6 photos to your Jdate profile.
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