Many of the free services have some of the same features as a paid service of course without the price. Because of the number of free online dating sites to choose from many of them offer you quite a lot of features and protection to get your business.

One downside to dating for free online compared to paying to date online is the seriousness of the person joining. A more serious person is going to join a paid membership site and the free members will miss out on those potential partners.

Here are 5 guidelines to look for when you are considering joining a free online dating site.

1. Privacy policy

All dating sites must have a privacy policy. This is for your protection and should state that your name or email address will never be sold or given out.

2. Background check

It always pays off to do a background check before committing to any dating site. It is best to find out first if the site has a larger membership database than others. More members mean more choices for you.

3. Online Features

How many features does your free online dating site offer. Not all services offer the same amount or quality of features. You would expect a paid online dating site to offer more, but there are differences in what free online dating sites offer.

4. Security measures

When you join a free dating site never use your real name when creating a user name and e-mail address. You may even want to set up a free email account with Yahoo or Hotmail just for your dating responses. It is always best to maintain a certain level of secrecy for security purposes.

5. Free trial offers

Nearly all online dating services offer some sort of free trial. It is a good idea to join as a free member first to try out the features before upgrading to a paid membership.

As you can see, these online dating services have to do the basics as well as be competitive if they want to attract members who may later become paid members. By joining a free online dating site this gives you the chance to check everything out and get a feel for how it all works before you commit to spending any of your hard earned cash.

Not all dating sites are created equal and it is very important you try before you buy so that you can see which ones impress you the most.