The world of online dating is transforming. No longer is it all about quick hookups or having to scroll through profiles that do not fit what you’re after – dating sites are tailoring each user’s experience to help them find exactly what they want in a partner, with impressive results.
Christian Mingle Or eharmony – Which Is Better?
In recent years, more and more Christians are kissing fate goodbye and looking for love online, using dating sites to find love based on faith.
However, finding the right site can be tough. I have a full list of the best dating apps for all different kinds of people, and even then people struggle!
Both eharmony and Christian Mingle are used by Christians as both dating sites aim to unite people based on personality and interests.
So, whether you are looking to meet devout Christians or you’re a little more laid back, these sites can help you find others of the same mind.
Before you go any further you should be aware that both eharmony and Christian Mindle are dating sites tailored towards finding a serious relationship.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve tried to find a partner on a dating site in the past, or if you’re completely new – I’m here to help break down everything you need to know to make up your mind between the two.
So, let’s get started and consider which is worth your time – based on the apps, costs of membership, the sign-up process, and the users of these sites, to help you find the perfect partner without all the endless swiping.
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What Is eharmony Made For?
eharmony is a tried and tested way to find someone who is guaranteed to be compatible with you. In my deep dive eharmony review, I discovered that every 14 minutes, someone finds love on eharmony, so clearly they’re doing something right.
Their ‘Compatibility Matching System’ means that they only show you people with similar interests – saving you time and fast-tracking you straight to people you know who share the same values.
eharmony’s age distribution is quite evenly split, so there is undoubtedly something for everyone on the site. The majority of users on eharmony are looking for a serious relationship or marriage rather than wanting to take things slower, which is worth considering when signing up. eharmony is great for anyone looking to take the stress out of dating and match with others looking for something long-term.
If you are eager to judge it for yourself you can cut to the chase and sign up for free here.
Age Of Users
Who’s It Made For?
What Is Christian Mingle Made For?
Christian Mingle seeks to unite people based on faith, ensuring that you already have something in common with your matches. Like eharmony, Christian Mingle has been on the scene for a long time, and their 15 years of experience means that they know how to help you find Christian singles to match and meet. If you want to check it out for yourself (for free) you can sign up here.
Similarly, the users are quite equally distributed by age on Christian Mingle.
However, users of Christian Mingle are less set on only finding a serious relationship or marriage from the dating site, meaning that whatever stage of life you’re at, Christian Mingle is a good way of meeting people and seeing where things go. If you are in the 50+ age group, you may even be interested to know that both eharmony and Christian Mingle made my list of the best dating sites for over 50’s.
Age Of Users
Who’s It Made For?
eharmony vs. Christian Mingle Round One: Sign Up
So, you’ve decided you want to give online dating sites a try, it’s now time to sign up! Though it’s tempting to rush through this process to get straight to connecting with other users, both eharmony and Christian Mingle require a little input, in the beginning, to bring you together with like-minded singles.
eharmony’s sign-up process involves a 20-minute quiz to find out about you and what you value in a partner.
At first, the quiz feels reminiscent of one’s online to see which character of a Netflix show you are or which Hogwarts house you belong to, but they get progressively more thought-provoking. Initial questions aim to find out about your interests, such as “How do you most like to spend your free time?” Pretty standard.
However, they then become more situational, such as ‘How you feel at a party around people you don’t know?”, or simply asking you to choose which picture you are most drawn to instinctively out of two on the screen.
It does all seem random – but eharmony’s history of successful pairings speaks for itself and you just have to trust that these questions are going to help find you an amazing partner.
Later, the questions become personal, such as “How do you feel towards your body?” and “What do you find most important in a relationship?”. You certainly have to be ready, to be honest with yourself to fill out eharmony’s sign-up quiz.
Overall, the quiz is quite fun to complete, if you don’t mind investing a little time and thought to your answers. If 20 minutes is all it takes for eharmony to find you some partners perfectly suited to you, personally I think this is a small price to pay.
Plus, the actual breakdown of your personality is free, and very interesting if I do say so myself. So you can go ahead and create an account and take the quiz for free if you want to see your own personality analysis.
eharmony does provide the option to enter your religious beliefs, which if you choose to enter will help them match you to others of the same faith.
This means that if you are set on finding someone who shares your beliefs, eharmony can help you do this even though not all its users are looking for a connection based on faith.
Christian Mingle does not have this quiz feature when setting up your profile, though it still takes a similar amount of time to fill in your information and your preferences in a partner.
They start by asking you to add photos of yourself, and then enter some details such as height, marital status, whether you have or want kids and your level of education.
What separates the two is that Christian Mingle is a lot more specific about religious views than eharmony. There is a drop-down menu to select your personal religious views, with over 20 options ranging from Anglican, Evangelical, Pentecostal to simply ‘Not sure yet’.
Christian Mingle also encourages you to be more specific by asking about the frequency of your church attendance; whether you go every week, once or twice a month, several times a year, or just for special occasions. Basically, if you do not attend church, Christian Mingle is probably not for you.
Christian Mingle then asks for a summary about yourself, giving you the freedom to put across your best side and share your personality with potential dates.
You can then select a few interests from a huge list under categories such as sports and fitness, arts and entertainment, music, and eats and drinks.
Though the questions are not as philosophical as some of eharmony’s, Christian Mingle still wants lots of information to help you find the perfect match.
Once you’ve filled out everything about yourself, Christian Mingle asks you the same questions about who you are looking to meet. You can enter gender, an age range, their maximum distance from your location, as is standard for dating sites.
They also ask what type of relationship you are after; ranging from friend and activity partner to long-term relationship, to marriage and kids, saving you a lot of time by finding you people with something similar in mind. You can do all of the above without spending any money as well, so feel free to create an account and complete your Christian mingle quiz.
Christian Mingle also asks you to specify the religious views you desire in a partner, offering the same drop-down list of more specific views covered under the umbrella of Christianity. You can even enter your preferences about your potential partner’s church attendance, level of education, whether they want children and their drinking and smoking habits.
Though many Christians are initially wary about online dating, this is an undeniable advantage as you are likely to be well-matched with other users and therefore have a better chance at relationship success.
These advanced preferences are completely optional, allowing you to spend less time signing up if you’d rather get straight to finding compatible matches and keep an open mind.
Personally, I found the eharmony sign-up process to be more enjoyable than that of Christian Mingle. I love that they find matches for you based on your answers, without you having to enter specific requirements for a partner. However, if you have specific religious views you wish your matches to share, then Christian Mingle may be more suitable.
Winner: eharmony
eharmony vs. Christian Mingle Round Two: Profiles & Messaging
When you’re looking for a site to help to make dating easier, the app must be designed to help you find out what you need to know about potential matches. When signing up for eharmony and Christian Mingle, both apps ask you to add photos of yourself and fill out a short bio telling others on the site a little about you.
Alongside this, your age and location will be visible to other users.
I found eharmony a pleasant app to use, its minimalist blue and white design means that the app never feels too cluttered with potential matches. You can also favorite profiles, allowing you to narrow down your search and never worry about not being able to find a particular match amidst the rest.
The option to ‘video date’ your partner is also a great idea which isn’t always an option on a dating app and encourages users to get to know their matches beyond their compatibility stats.
You Might Also Like: eharmony vs. EliteSingles
Christian Mingle’s app design is quite similar to eharmony’s, with a clean white interface and different pages for messages, new matches and browsing potential matches.
On the browse page, users are separated into new profiles, who is online now, who is closest to your location, and the closest % match between your shared interests with other users.
By separating potential matches into these categories, Christian Mingle makes sure you are not overwhelmed with all your matches on one page, making sure you do not miss out on the perfect pairing.
This one was close, but the different pages for users online, users nearby, and users new to the app on Christian Mingle give it the edge over eharmony for me.
Regardless, both apps are perfectly functional for use and allow you to find other users nearby without any hassle.
Winner: Christian Mingle
eharmony vs. Christian Mingle Round Three: Free Features
Both eharmony and Christian Mingle are free apps to sign up for, and it’s certainly worth exploring what both free versions have to offer before upgrading to a paid membership.
eharmony allows you to access some matches on the free version of the app, but without a paid membership, you cannot send or receive messages from potential dates.
On Christian Mingle, you can send ‘smiles’ to show your interest on a free account, you can view and like profiles, and see who has liked yours. However, like eharmony, you are unable to send and receive messages without a paid membership, arguably the most important aspect of a dating site.
| eHarmony Free |
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| Christian Mingle Free/Basic |
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Both of these apps do allow you to create a detailed profile and receive some matches on their free version. This means that you can try the free version of eharmony and/or the free version of Christian Mingle without splashing out any cash at first, and see what each has to offer.
For me, eharmony’s free app has the edge over Christian Mingle’s. You can find out more about your matches with Icebreakers (a basic feature, but is often a great way to start a conversation online), and seeing your compatibility scores with matches is fascinating.
Winner: eharmony
eharmony vs. Christian Mingle Round Four: Paid Memberships
Paid membership for both eharmony and Christian Mingle makes the online dating experience significantly easier. The free versions of these apps allow you to see your matches, but to make a significant connection, access to premium features becomes important.
With eharmony paid membership, users suddenly unlock loads of great features. You have access to all of your matches nearby at once, giving you the freedom to look through their profiles and express an interest in them.
You can chat with your matches on the messaging part of the app, which gives you so much more flexibility than sending the Icebreakers available on the free membership.
You can also see who has viewed your profile and have access to unlimited photos of your matches, allowing you to see who is interested in you and find out more about potential partners.
You can discover how compatible you are with your matches with a Compatibility score worked out by eharmony, so you know which of your matches you are most like. Amazing, right?
| eHarmony Premium |
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| Christian Mingle Premium |
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Another feature of eharmony premium membership is access to your full Personality Report, letting you know what eharmony has concluded from your answers to the sign-up quiz.
This is one thing eharmony offers above and beyond other dating apps – they get to know their users and want to help you know what to look for.
Likewise, Christian Mingle’s app becomes a lot more fun when on a paid membership. The most important advantage of a Christian Mingle subscription over the free app is, in my opinion, the freedom to send and receive messages with anyone on Christian Mingle.
You can receive read receipts to see if your messages have been seen by potential matches, and send photos to other members.
With a premium membership to Christian Mingle you can browse anonymously and hide your status and profile from any searches on the site. This could be really useful for some members who do not want to be accessible to all users on the site and instead want to focus on matches near their location.
Overall, I found eharmony’s paid features to be more useful and fun than Christian Mingle’s. Though the addition of messaging on both apps is great, the ability to access an analysis of your compatibility with your matches and a Personality Report are personal touches that ensure each user of eharmony feels as if they are understood in their search for love.
Winner: eharmony
eharmony vs. Christian Mingle Round Five: Cost
Both eharmony and Christian Mingle pride themselves in helping bring together like-minded people fast, and this does come at a cost. Without paying for a membership, neither eharmony nor Christian Mingle allows members to message their matches, which prevents you from getting to know your potential dates.
eharmony has three different types of membership. What’s the difference between these options? The main one is the length of the membership, so it really depends if you’re looking to invest long-term or just curious about what the premium features will add to your dating site experience.
eHarmony Cost
| Pricing | Total Cost | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Free | ||
| 6 Months | $395.40 | $65.90 |
| 12 Months | $550.80 | $45.90 |
| 24 Months | $861.60 | $35.90 |
When considering whether to invest in an eharmony membership, it is worth noting that the longer memberships are better valued per month.
You will save just over 30% when choosing Plus (12 months) over Light (6 months), or 45% when choosing Extra (24 months) over Light (6 months). Memberships start from an equivalent of $35.90 per month up to $65.90 per month depending on which membership you choose.
eharmony also does provide the option to pay in installments, so even if you are looking to invest in the site long-term, this can be made manageable.
eHarmony Premium Light Membership (6-Month Membership)
The equivalent of $65.90 per month.
eHarmony Premium Plus Membership (12-Month Membership)
The equivalent of $45.90 per month.
eHarmony Premium Extra Membership (24-Month Membership)
The equivalent of $35.90 per month.
There is no overall financial difference between which installment plan you opt for (1, 2, 3, or 4 installments), meaning that there is absolutely no pressure to pay for your membership all in one go.
Some users might find it off-putting that the smallest eharmony premium membership you can commit to is 6 months. It is undoubtedly an investment, and I would recommend trying out the free version of eharmony before paying up.
It is also worth noting that eharmony do often offer generous discounts of 50-60% from time to time. It is only possible to see if these are available after completing the sign-up questionnaire, so if you want to check if there are any discounts currently running, be sure to quickly sign up and complete your quiz for free.
Christian Mingle Cost
| Pricing | Total Cost | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Free | ||
| 1 Month | $49.99 | $49.99 |
| 3 Months | $104.97 | $34.99 |
| 6 Months | $149.94 | $24.99 |
Christian Mingle’s membership options certainly suggest that they do not expect their users to be making as much of a commitment, as their maximum membership option is 6 months long, the same as eharmony’s shortest membership. If you’re looking to invest long-term, eharmony makes this easier for its users.
However, the option to invest in 1 month or 3 months of premium membership with Christian Mingle is perfect if you want to try out the premium features without breaking the bank. The cheapest eharmony membership is $395.40 ($65.90 per month) whereas Christian Mingle’s cheapest option is $49.99.
If you wanted 24 months of access to one of these dating sites, you would be paying a minimum of $861.60 for eharmony or $599.70 (buying the 6-month membership 4 times) for Christian Mingle. Therefore, whether you’re looking to invest for 6 months or 2 years, Christian Mingle’s memberships are cheaper than eharmony’s.
Personally, I think that Christian Mingle’s cheaper and shorter membership options win this round, as they allow users to see how things go, rather than committing to a premium membership for a long time.
Winner: Christian Mingle
eharmony vs. Christian Mingle Round Six: Success Rate & Reviews
It’s all well and good meeting someone online, but is it going to last? eharmony’s statistics say so, with an average divorce rate of only 3.86%, in comparison to the 50% divorce rate across America, meeting someone on eharmony sounds more and more like the perfect solution.
Success stories about the dating site are all over the internet, for example:
“I found my partner on eharmony and am so grateful for it. Very easy to find matches nearby, and if someone is slightly out of your criteria, they can still be found in the ‘What If’ section.”
Another said:
“I thought it was going to be useless like other dating sites. But I was wrong. This is really great and gives tonnes of options and it is really showing me results. Mainly I am impressed by the ‘Book of Me’ as it gives me accurate information about who I am. It’s 100% right.”
eharmony users want to take dating seriously and find a long-term partner, and the reviews show that spending some money on a membership to the site ensures that there are no time-wasters.
Christian Mingle’s reviews are undoubtedly a little more varied, with many users disappointed about the lack of users, narrowing the dating pool. However, we all know that it just takes that one special person, so I definitely wouldn’t let this put you off downloading the free app and seeing if there are users in your area.
Christian Mingle is praised in App Store reviews for being ‘a safe place to get to know each other’ and ‘easy to use’, so if you’re looking to meet people outside of your church community, this dating site is helping bring together people who uphold traditional values, even if there aren’t as many users in some areas.
Winner: eharmony
eharmony vs. Christian Mingle Final Round: Overall Winner
Undoubtedly, both of these dating sites have their pros and cons. This eharmony and Christian Mingle comparison has shown that there are so many aspects to a dating site to consider, and since both are free to sign up, I would recommend giving both a try and seeing which feels best for you.
Christian Mingle is a great idea if you are looking for a God-centred relationship and you’re not quite yet ready to settle down.
They have plenty of ways to tailor your matches to your preferences, helping you to meet potential dates from outside of your church community.
Both eharmony and Christian Mingle dating sites work best when you invest some time and money into them. Users of these apps are looking to find meaningful connections, and for many, this price is absolutely worth it to find someone to date and share their belief system with.
Though Christian Mingle comes out on top as the cheaper of the two, it’s worth considering whether that money is better invested into the science-based connections eharmony delivers for each of their users.
So, which is better between Christian Mingle and eharmony? Overall, I personally think eharmony provides a better experience and chance of finding a like-minded partner both for devout Christians and those who are more relaxed about their faith. 4% of all marriages in the US today were created by eharmony, and their huge base of users means that you are likely to find others of the same mind, no matter what is important to you.
Winner: eharmony
