So you want a dating site like match.com
You want a dating site and you want it now - there are a range of options available as I found while researching the topic for a friend of a friend…
Free hosted options: There are many “free” options available. Sites will get you set up very quickly and even populate your site with profiles from their system. In return you receive commission.
- DIY Dating
- Bone Fish (dodgy name!)
- Affiliate Dating
The advantage of these sites is that they provide all the billing and customer service systems, which allows you to focus on marketing and promotions.
Installed options: There are free software packages which could be installed on a webhost. This would require some technical input from your team, plus design, templating, etc. You’ll also need your own payment gateway and analytics, etc. There are a range of installable options - from free and open source, to fully paid:
- osDate (free)
- PHPizabi (free)
- Dolphin (pay to remove ads)
- Dating Script (fully paid)
- Able Dating (fully paid)
Custom site: Finally, if you’re rolling in dough, you could find some developers to build you an entirely custom site and develop your own custom dating functionality like the matchmaking scripts and full profiling you find on the big sites.
