OkCupid Review

By Sandra Aninwaeze Updated on: February 27, 2024 Fact Checked by Mariel Collado

OkCupid is a prominent dating platform that caters to diverse individuals worldwide. Here, singles seek casual encounters and committed relationships. Thanks to many free and paid options and an extensive questionnaire, users can find others who align with their views, values, and preferences, including political beliefs.

OkCupid has been offering dating opportunities since 2004. Over the years, the platform has made several changes to enhance the user experience for people of all ages, locations, genders, and preferences. We have been familiar with this service for a long time, as well as other dating sites and apps belonging to Match Group (for example, Tinder and Plenty of Fish). Further, we know what points are crucial for contemporary daters. So, we’ve checked out the main OkCupid features to see if they are enough to find perfect matches. Stay tuned for our findings to see if OkCupid is the best dating site for you.

✅ What We Like

• Many opportunities to match: Experts estimate OkCupid’s has a 70-million-member community, though the official site doesn’t provide an overall number of users. Maybe it is because this number is growing regularly. So, there are many active profiles to meet somebody who fits you. A special matchmaking algorithm and periodically appearing questions increase your chance of meeting a soulmate every time you use the service.
• Free communication: Most dating sites and mobile apps (for example, Zoosk or InternationalCupid) set restrictions or limits for some crucial options, including messaging. This is not the case for OkCupid. You can view all photos in the other members’ profiles, like them, and even send messages. It is all for free, and we appreciate all these free options, as they help those using online dating platforms on a budget.

• All dating types: From hookups to devoted friendships, from hanging out together to marriage, you can find anything and anybody you want here.
• Gender friendliness: OkCupid is inclusive of all genders, including bigender, agender, non-binary, etc. In total, there are 22 genders and 12 orientations offered. So, any new members can find somebody to match according to their gender identity.
• Awesome search filters: You can focus on the best possible matches and make your search focused. The members can define their preferences in many categories, including habits, lifestyle, appearance, and political views.

❌ What We Didn’t Like

• Challenging structure: It takes some time to figure out the functionality and navigation of OkCupid. Some users may find it rather tiresome, especially if they have used dating sites such as ChristianMingle or SilverSingles. However, it is not a problem for tech-savvy users and eventually you understand the logic behind the layout. If you prefer more simple navigation, try SilverSingles.
• Ads: This dating website has a significant number of ads, which can be quite annoying. We haven’t seen these many ads since Plenty of Fish. If you want to get rid of the ads, you’ll need to subscribe.
• Some provocative images: Despite OkCupid’s policy against nudity, we observed numerous profiles where users displayed themselves in scantily clad attire. As the site is for hookups as well, it seems quite natural, but those who are conservative may find it inappropriate.

💡 Features

💰 OkCupid Pricing

We can well rank OkCupid as one of the best free dating sites. This assertion holds because, technically, you have access to all the key features even without a paid membership or Boost. You can:

• Complete and update your profile
• Add photos and view other users’ pictures
• View all matches offered to you
• Receive and send Likes and Intros
• Have a conversation with users who received a like from you and reciprocated

It may be quite enough for many users, but experienced daters usually want more. So, they can benefit from paid features and a larger number of opportunities offered by a subscription:

• Unlimited Likes
• Dealbreakers option
• All Intros at once
• No ads
• See who likes you
• See public answers to questions
• 3 SuperLikes each week

OkCupid has several subscription plans, allowing users to choose between a cheaper or more expensive option.

Paid and free members can also take advantage of a very popular feature called Boost. It increases the visibility of your profile for 30 minutes, enhancing your chances of receiving more matches. Furthermore, OkCupid offers a SuperBoost, which lets you be a top profile for 3 to 12 hours.

Many payment options are available to users who want to subscribe. The list includes credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal.

📱 OkCupid on Mobile

OkCupid does its best to make dating as convenient as possible, so its mobile app is not a surprise. The software is available for both iOS and Android users, and we encountered no issues with downloading or onboarding.

Though the OkCupid mobile app is very similar to the desktop version, there are some small differences. For example, you should swipe profiles in the Discover section instead of clicking on hearts and crosses on the website. Still, we find it very handy and promising for those who want to meet friends, buddies, or lovers even while on the run.

🤔 How to Use OkCupid

OkCupid offers rather simple solutions for the signup process, matchmaking, and connecting with other users. We figured everything out and prepared comprehensible instructions for you.

Registration

The onboarding process took us 8–10 minutes. The steps are very simple, as most of the signup-quiz questions come with default options to choose from. Here are the instructions:

• Insert your email address and define if you want to receive discounts and promotional emails from OkCupid.

• Create a password and click on the Sign Up button.

• Enter your first name.

• Insert your date of birth. Be careful, because you can’t change it later.

• Provide your country and city.

• Define your gender. There are many options, and you can choose up to five of them.

• Set the gender of the people you want to date or slide the toggle switch at ‘open to everyone’ if the gender doesn’t matter much to you.

• Define the preferred type of relationships (friendship, long-term or short-term dating, hookups) and whether you keep to monogamy or not.

• Set the preferred age brackets.

• Upload at least one photo (overall, up to 6 photos).

• Write a short self-summary about yourself.

After that, a match quiz begins.

You must answer 15 questions so that the system can estimate your perfect match and show corresponding profiles right after registration. The questions are about topics like:

• Whether your parents’ opinion about your partner matters much to you
• Relationship goals
• Your self-description
• Your attitude toward religion, marriage, and astrology
• Political views
• Personal preferences

When you complete your questionnaire, you are required to verify your phone number to protect your account. Then the registration is over. Now you can specify a location radius, browse matches, send likes, wait for mutual, and more.

Making Matches

OkCupid offers a swipe-style search along with many features that help you enhance your matching according to your tastes and expectations:

• Discover: The system shows you one profile at a time. It allows you to take a closer look at a user’s personality and maybe contact him or her if you feel interested. The functions are a bit different between the profile and the app. When you use the OkCupid desktop version, you just click on the heart icon or on X to show your reaction. In the app, you drag the profile card to the right or to the left to like or dislike it. If you and another member like each other, you will receive the appropriate notification and can communicate.
• Cupid’s Picks: This helps you see the people you are highly compatible with. The platform provides new profiles daily, and you can view new potential matches rather often. For Cupid’s Pick, only SuperLikes are available. It may be a bit costly, but the chance of finding a soulmate is four times higher, according to OkCupid statistics.
• Stacks: It is a special feature within the Discover field that does matching according to certain categories:
  • Passport or matching by location
  • Recommended or offered to your preferences
  • SuperLikes
  • Cupid’s Picks
  • Match%, or people who have the highest compatibility with you.

Apart from Recommended with unlimited displays, all these categories offer up to 10 profiles a day.

Communicating with Matches

OkCupid offers traditional ways of communication between profiles along with some unique features:

• Likes: It is the most available and straightforward way to show your favor to someone. OkCupid also sends notifications about mutual Likes and adds the people you like to the Discover queue.
• Messages: This feature is general for international dating sites, but there are some helpful details on this platform. You can message only the members with whom you have developed mutual interest. To initiate a conversation, you need to first like their profile and wait for them to like yours back. Only then can you start chatting with them. Note that paid members can see who liked them even if they’ve not sent a like yet themselves.
• SuperLikes: The feature makes the service similar to Tinder. A SuperLike may draw more attention to your profile, but only 1-3 of them are available per week (depending on your membership plan).
• Intros: An Intro is a welcoming message that you may send to a user you haven’t liked yet. If you show mutual interest through Likes, you move on to the Conversation page for a chat. Free members can see only one introductory message at a time, while subscribed users may view all the Intros at once.

Optimize Your OkCupid Experience

Some options may help improve both the quantity and quality of your matches, so choose them to your taste:

• Use profile badges: To stand out and draw attention to your position about different life aspects, you can utilize profile badges such as Pro-Choice, I’m Vaccinated, Black Lives Matter, IStandWithPP, and others.
• Answer more questions: Help OkCupid’s algorithm find the best matches for you. The more questions you answer, the more information the service collects about you, and the better choice of users you get.
• Tell them about yourself: Thorough completion of the profile gives you a better chance of finding a perfect match. So, filling out all the sections is a good idea because the system will show your profile if somebody sets the same parameters in the Looking for section.
• Adjust your preferences: In this case, OkCupid shows you members who meet all your preferences first, and if there are none, you may see those who fall slightly outside your parameters.

• Avoid your opposites: If there are any qualities or features that are unacceptable to you in a potential match, you can avoid such people by setting your requirements through the Dealbreakers feature. In this case, the system won’t show you people with such characteristics in their profiles. However, if a user doesn’t point them out in their profile, you may see them among your matches.
• View likes from other members: It is a good way to explore potential matches outside your strict preferences and see what destiny has prepared for you.

👥 General User Experience

We find the OkCupid website and mobile application very engaging and rich in helpful features that allow you to reach people who meet your expectations. The profiles are very detailed, all users’ information is available for free, and the design is upbeat.

On the other hand, an extensive list of functions may provide a rather challenging experience for newcomers who don’t know online dating well. It takes time to discover all the options and understand how they work. Additionally, figuring out whether they are free or not can be a challenge. However, once you get the hang of it, you can get more new acquaintances.

🔐 User Safety & Security

While there have been reports of user data leaks in the past, OkCupid now implements robust security measures to protect user information. You can protect your personal information with two-factor authentication, and phone number verification contributes to your safety as well. Additionally, users can link their OkCupid profile to their Instagram account for added trustworthiness.

Also, the moderators are conscientious in removing suspicious and fake profiles, as well as in combating catfishing. Still, some users have ulterior motives, but there aren’t many of them.

☎️ Customer Support

Frankly speaking, we find the OkCupid customer support rather poor. Unfortunately, there is no live chat or a phone number for direct contact.

To resolve your problem, you can send a request by filling out the contact form in the “Contact Us” section. The response was not very quick; we received the answer to our question a few hours later.

We think customer care is not up to modern standards, and even the rich FAQs section doesn’t compensate for the lack of connection with a support team. Still, we hope it will be better in future.

🎖️ How Does OkCupid Compare?

OkCupid is an international dating site that helps people around the world find matches. We thought it would be interesting to compare it with another dating site with a large audience and chose Zoosk, a very popular platform, as its competitor.

Both services are similar in terms of dating options. You can find a person to have fun with, make friends with, date for a couple of weeks or several years, or even find the perfect match for a one-night stand or marriage. As for the crucial differences, they are the following:

• Matchmaking principles: Both sites offer matches according to the preferences of a certain user. However, OkCupid does it through a detailed questionnaire, while Zoosk applies a unique technology known as Behavioral Matchmaking.
• User experience: OkCupid is just like Tinder in terms of swipes. Zoosk also has a swipe-style feature called Carousel, but manual profile browsing is its main matching strategy.
• Membership plans: OkCupid is more flexible and offers three paid membership versions. Zoosk has only one premium plan with access to all its features at a lower price compared to the OKCupid premium plan.
• Free features: You can send messages and look through profiles and photos for free if you are an OkCupid user, while you have to pay for all this on Zoosk.

Smart Dating, Discover Your Perfect Match

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OkCupid Review

🏆 Final Verdict: Is OkCupid Right for You?

We find OkCupid attractive to individuals open to various types of interactions. It is also a comfortable platform for people of different gender identities. You can set any of 12 sexual orientations and 22 gender options, and the service will offer matches based on your preferences, allowing you to connect with like-minded partners.

Although 75% of users are looking for relationships, conservative users, older people, or religious singles may feel uncomfortable here due to the abundance of risqué photos and hookup offers.

OkCupid is for you if you are very curious about meeting new people and having diverse experiences. Here, a large community of active users who make more than 10 million swipes daily awaits you. The quality matchmaking algorithm ensures that you meet individuals who align with your expectations.

❓ FAQ