eHarmony Senior Dating Review, Our Hands-On Test

eHarmony Pros and Cons

eHarmony Memberships Compared

While it’s possible to use eHarmony as a free dating site for seniors — and I did at first — I wasn’t able to view photos, and messaging was limited. Even for someone seeking a serious relationship, looks are important, so most people will want to sign up for a paid membership.

The only differences between the paid memberships are their lengths: six, 12, or 24 months. The more time you sign up for, the less you’ll pay monthly.

eHarmony Pricing

Broadly speaking, you’ll pay $29.90 to $59.90 a month for eHarmony, but you have some choice as to how much of your membership you’ll pay at once. For example, I chose to pay for my six-month membership all at once, which was $283.89, but I had the option to break up those payments as well. The most affordable option is to sign up for the two-year plan, but since not many people hope to spend two years on a dating site, this may not be super appealing, even with the lowered price.

Note that these policies auto-renew, as well, and the costs rise after the first time. I received an email that my next subscription would auto-renew with a one-year membership for $718.80, or $59.90 a month. Fortunately, there are no other hidden fees or costs to activate certain features, so the membership is the only thing I paid for.

My Experience With eHarmony

eHarmony is best known for its personality quiz, which took me about an hour to complete — longer than any other online senior dating site I’ve tested. It asked me basic questions about my interests and hobbies but also deeper questions about my personality and values.

My hard work paid off. By the end of the personality test, I had more detailed information about myself and what I should look for in a partner. I even got a 45-page PDF sent straight to my email.

Once I selected a subscription, it was time to create my profile, which involved little more than uploading photos, as most of the hard work was done by taking the personality test. Then, I could search for matches based on my preferences, such as age, height, and whether they have children. I could also see who has visited my profile, if I wanted to cut to the chase.

From there, I could easily message people I found attractive. With eHarmony, you don’t have to match to send a message. You can message anyone, the same way you can approach anyone in real life.

In my experience, eHarmony was easy to use, with a well-designed site that let me quickly find potential romantic partners around me. I got notified when someone “liked” me, and could easily see their picture, age, and job. I could also see exactly how compatible I was with someone based on personality, habits, and interests.

All in all, it was a good user experience, and the service works well, showing people I’d actually be compatible with. This will no doubt lead to higher-quality dates.

eHarmony App

Aside from its website, I also tested eHarmony’s mobile app, which works pretty similarly to the website. I could “like” people, message them, and see who has visited my profile. As far as discovering new matches, I could see someone’s photo, age, and job; read the introduction they wrote for themselves; and see our common interests, such as dancing and badminton. If I liked them, I could press the heart button, and if I didn’t, I could press the X, permanently deleting them.

But don’t mistake this dating app for Tinder, which lets you swipe left to get rid of someone. On eHarmony, a much more popular dating app for seniors, I could get to know someone before deciding if I wanted to get to know them further.

eHarmony User Reviews

I didn’t want to base my impression of eHarmony solely on my own experience, so I checked its ratings with Consumer Affairs and Trustpilot. Overall, the ratings aren’t great: 1.1 and 2.9 out of five stars, respectively.

Many people were not happy with the auto-renewal of memberships. One woman wrote on Trustpilot, “They'll take your money and not give you the option to cancel your subscription or even delete your account.” Clearly, you can cancel your subscription and delete your account, but many users aren’t aware of this, causing anger and anguish.

Looking at the glass half full, not everyone was unhappy with eHarmony’s service. Another Trustpilot user wrote, “I've been on this site approximately one month. The site seems to have real people on it. I haven't encountered any fake postings. However, the software is glitchy, and it's often difficult to navigate the site. Then there are the notices that say ‘someone liked you’ or you got a ‘new message,’ only to discover it isn't true or I'm unable to find what they're mentioning. I've emailed eHarmony my issues without any reply. Another issue is seeing matches from far beyond my desired geographical filter.”

And eHarmony has worked well for many people. One woman on Consumer Affairs gave the company a perfect five stars, writing, “After years of being romantically alone, I looked at online dating sites and chose EHarmony. I am a 53-year-old professional woman, with adult children and very independent. It took me over an hour to fill out the questionnaire profile and upload pictures. Within four weeks, I had gone on 5 dates and, within 2 months, had been seeing one man only. Nine months later, we are still together, serious, and in a monogamous relationship heading toward marriage. I never thought this site was a “meat market”-the matches given to me by the algorithm were right on the money.”

Online dating is frustrating and can bring out the best and the worst in us. But as long as you know what you’re in for in terms of the pricing and auto-renewal, eHarmony could help you find your person.

eHarmony vs. SilverSingles

The biggest difference between eHarmony and SilverSingles is the members. SilverSingles is meant for seniors seeking seniors, and while anyone over 18 can join, most people are 50 or older.

But even though more of SilverSingles’ members are seniors, eHarmony most likely has more seniors overall, as it’s a much more popular website. While dating companies are typically quite tight-lipped about the size of their memberships, it’s clear from a simple Google Trends search that eHarmony is much more popular than SilverSingles, as evidenced by how many people Google it. Size does matter, so if you want a bigger dating pool, eHarmony is for you.

And after a recent price hike, SilverSingles’ pricing is similar to eHarmony’s, starting at $25.95 compared to $29.90. But a difference is that SilverSingles offers shorter-term lengths starting at three months instead of six. If you don’t want to make a long-term commitment (to an online dating subscription, at least), SilverSingles is more flexible.

For more information, read my full review of SilverSingles.

Bottom Line

In sum, eHarmony is a great way for seniors to find their next serious relationship. Although it’s on the pricey side and a bit of a commitment, you’ll appreciate that your matches are based on compatibility, which leads to better matches. Plus, eHarmony is one of the most popular online dating services for seniors, so it’s ideal if you want to date someone else 50 and older. If you’re willing to invest in the experience, eHarmony might just help you find the “one.” However, if it’s too expensive or too much of a time commitment for you, I’d recommend my list of the best senior dating sites, all of which I’ve tested personally.