The demographic served by OutPersonals is one of the fastest growing segments in online dating. That means that even though OutPersonals already has a huge membership base — new users continue to join the site in large numbers every day. It is for this reason that we evaluated the site in order to provide this OutPersonals review for the benefit of those curious about joining it for the first time.

— Pros and Cons of OutPersonals —

Pros

• Free membership is available
• Over 1.5 million members
• Rich profile builder
• Robust search engine
• Two paid tiers available
• Rich feature set

Cons

• Need a paid membership to communicate with other members
• New members are only visible to upper tier members for their first three days

— In-Depth OutPersonals Review —

With over one and a half million active members, OutPersonals.com is one of the largest online dating sites for gay and bisexual men. It is a dating site that serves a wide variety of interests. It serves those seeking serious long-term relationships, as well as those searching for casual encounters. OutPersonals can also be used to find a relationship that remains strictly online. The possibilities are quite varied indeed.

Operated by the FriendFinder Network — one of the largest, most experienced and most reliable online dating networks — OutPersonals is able to draw from an immense database of members to generate potential matches. This is especially beneficial for those users that do not live in large population centers. Often, these less populated areas do not fair so well with smaller dating sites. This is mainly due to the fact that the membership base for such sites is so small. Couple that with a niche demographic, and the match selection can become sparse. OutPersonals — by its own effort and with its affiliation with FriendFinder — does away with that problem. There is literally always a user base that is large enough to provide its members with a robust flow of potential matches — even in the most rural of areas.

— Registering on OutPersonals —

Kicking off the registration process for OutPersonals is simple and intuitive. You start off by navigating to the OutPersonals welcome page. Once there, you select your gender from a drop-down menu, select the type of relationship you are seeking, provide your birth date and location — and you are done with the first phase.

The second phase of the registration process involves providing the network with some additional details about yourself and the type of match that you are seeking. You can provide information regarding your physical attributes along with uploading a profile picture. You can also provide more nuanced information about yourself — such as details about your habits, lifestyle, sexual details, whether you are still closeted, religious views, etc. The more detail you provide regarding your physical appearance and personality attributes, the more precision you can expect when conducting match searches on the site.

It is not required that you provide all of this level of detail immediately, if ever. However, we would recommend that you at least upload a profile picture from day one. Then, with time, continuously add to your profile — tweaking it as you go along.

— OutPersonals User Experience —

The user experience that users derive from OutPersonals is directly correlated to the type of membership that they have. There is a free membership option in addition to two paid options.

As you would expect, the free version is the weakest in terms of features. It only allows for very rudimentary searches using a very limited set of search criteria. Also, the information that you can see on other member’s profiles is truncated. The free version also does not allow you to send any messages or winks to prospective matches. A paid membership is required for sending or responding to any message. In spite of its limitations, we believe that the free version offers an excellent way to get a feeling for the site and the possibilities that it offers.

— Cost of OutPersonals —

A “silver” membership package is available for $19.96 per month. This price can be lowered to $11.32 per month if you pay for three months in advance. The silver package opens up the communication features of the site. It also allows you to view the full profiles of other site members. It also allows you to use a wider range of search criteria in order to receive search results that are more in tune with your expectations for a partner.

The “gold” membership has a cost of $29.96 per month — $12.95 per month if you purchase three months in advance and only $6.95 if you opt for the 12 month package. With this membership tier you receive all of the benefits of the silver membership, but additionally, your profile also receives preferential positioning when it appears in the search results of other members. Also, gold members get exclusive access to new members for the first three days after their initial enrollment. The search criteria made available to gold members is also broadened. Gold members can search based on details such as specific physical attributes and personality details. If you are serious about vetting potential partners, the robustness of the search parameters provided by the gold membership will be very much to your liking.

— Other Features on OutPersonals —

OutPersonals is not just a robust dating site — it also offers additional features which make of it, in our opinion, a community. There are chat rooms, video chat rooms, dating and lifestyle advice blogs, erotic image galleries and an online store. Based on our experience on the site, the presence of these added features made the process of tweaking your profile, responding to messages, sending messages, etc. way more enjoyable. You don’t get stuck in a mechanized rut doing the same thing over and over. You can clear your mind, have fun — all while staying on the site. This allows you to be engaged for longer periods of time. This, in turn, improves your chances of finding your perfect match.