Whether you’re a cougar or a cub, you’ll surely benefit from our in-depth Cougar Life Review.

Watch our video review on Cougarlife or continue scrolling to read more.

— Pros and Cons —

Pros

• Has been in operation since 2006
• Offers a money-back guarantee (with strict guidelines)
• Android and iPhone apps are available

Cons

• Free version offers minimal functionality
• Monthly subscription is expensive
• Requires purchase of credits on top of subscription
• Cancellation procedure is complicated
• Only 500,000 users of its 5,000,000 strong database are active

— In-Depth Review of Cougar Life —

Older women dating younger men — cougars and cubs in modern dating lexicon. Dating sites serving this specific niche have been growing in number in recent years. Of those sites, Cougar Life is one of the best known. Having been in existence since 2006, we wanted to find out if Cougar Life’s popularity is based on its performance as a hookup site or more due to its years in the niche and large marketing budget.

This Cougar Life review was conducted applying the context and perspective of the two key demographics that would use the site — older women and younger men.

— First Impression —

When you first visit the CougarLife.com site you are greeted by a sleek and modern landing page. It displays a rotation of images of attractive women — most of whom do not appear to even be 30 — one is left with the thought, “is this really a cougar site?”

The only action that you can take on the landing page is to click on the “view members” button. Upon doing so, you are taken to a short registration form.

We admit, the design of the landing page perplexed us, so we did a little further digging for out Cougar Life review. The “catch-all” landing page, which is the one that most people would see if they come directly to the site, is as it is described above. If, however, you came to the site from an invitation link, or a link from a Facebook ad, the design changes. Those landing pages are more specific to whether you are a male or female. That being said, the site seems to be geared toward a male-centric audience. Keep this detail in mind as you read further into this review.

— Registration Process — (Routine, Simple)

 

The registration process for CougarLife is similar to that of most online dating sites. You are initially requested to provide basic personal information and an email. You then choose a username and password. After agreeing to the terms and conditions, you are sent an email to verify your registration.

The initial registration process does not require that you provide any details for your search profile. That you can do once you log on to your account.

— Cougar to Cub Ratio — (Cubs Outnumber Cougars)

The male-centric approach that was noted earlier is likely due to the nearly 3-to-1 ratio of cubs to cougars in the site’s 500,000 active member database. This lopsided user base might make it difficult for young men to find a match. There are simply too many men for too few cougars.

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that CougarLife has few mechanisms in place to validate user profiles. Many of the cougar profiles, upon close examination, seem to be less than genuine.

— User Interface and Features — (Intuitive, User-Friendly)

The user interface for CougarLife is user-friendly. It is easy to scroll through member profiles. The features available on the site include searching for local matches, viewing who has seen or liked your profile, see who is online, send flirts, instant messaging and the ability to send private photos.

While the feature set is rich in functionality, every feature, except for the “send flirt” option, requires payment. Users on the free version of CougarLife are left with minimal functionality.

— Cost —

In order to use the premium features of the site (which basically is any feature, except for sending flirts) you need to pay for a monthly subscription. The monthly subscription costs $40. This is extremely high for a dating site — especially one that has only 500,000 active members out of a total of 5 million. The average monthly price can be lowered to $12 if you pay for 12 months in advance.

After you pay for a subscription on most dating sites, all of the premium features are made available to the user. During our Cougar Life review, we discovered that this site does not follow that model. In order to use their chat feature, not only must you have an active subscription, but you must also pay for chat credits. This seemed downright ridiculous to us. Not only are members already paying exorbitantly high monthly subscriptions, but then they are charged to chat! We would not blame users if they found that to be a deal-breaker for them.

— The Actual Matchmaking Experience — (Patience is Rewarded)

In spite of CougarLife’s issues, if users stick with the site it does seem to result in some effective matches. It may take a lot longer than other dating sites, but considering that it is a niche site, giving it a few weeks to yield a match that results in a genuine hookup seems reasonable. Having a one to two-month horizon for your expectations on this site seems fair.

— Cancellation Policy — (Cumbersome)

While a pro-rated refund on subscriptions should not be expected from any dating site, canceling and removing your profile should be easy. CougarLife not only does not offer pro-rated refunds, but they make canceling and removing your account time consuming and complicated. It involves the user having to call an 800 number, answer a series of questions to verify their identity only to begin the process of getting their profile removed. Some users report this takes weeks to complete.

This means that if you had a change of heart — maybe you no longer want your profile in circulation for personal reasons, etc — it could take weeks before your profile stops being circulated online.