Christian Mingle Reviews: Is the Dating Site Legit?

ChristianMingle.com is a heavily-advertised Christian dating website. Read our Christian Mingle reviews from editors and readers.

About Christian Mingle

The review below was originally published in October 2012. The review has been updated in 2015 to include current information.

After seeing their “Find God’s match for you” commercial for the umpteenth time, we figured this was a good time to check the site out for ourselves. Below is our impression of the site, along with dozens of reader reviews.

Upon first glance, ChristianMingle is similar to most dating websites, which won’t let you do very much until after you sign up. Although there is a “browse for free” button, this still requires that you set up a profile and provide an email address before perusing other profiles.

Profile Creation

Setting up a profile on Christian Mingle is relatively easy. You simply answer a series of questions just as you would expect with any dating site, with the addition of a few questions regarding which sect of Christianity to which you belong.

They may also ask you if you want to opt in to believe.com or dailybibleverse.com.

Perhaps not too surprisingly, there is no option to select sexual orientation – so it is apparently only for straight Christians, but they do have the option to select that you drink “as much as possible.” And while there is no option to set your current relationship status as “Married,” those who are “involved” or “Dating someone” can enter and search for dates.

We set up a female profile, with no photo or bio so we could browse the site further. We selected a female because it has been our experience that women get contacted far more than men on dating sites. We found their color-coded matches based on personality types to be an interesting angle.

We browsed profiles of men in our area to see who was locally available and what the typical profile looked like. The types of men we saw varied greatly. Some men had photos of themselves flexing their muscles in the mirror, with no mention of God or faith in their profiles, while other men certainly wore their faith on their sleeves.

On the positive side, there seemed to be a large selection of men in our test profile’s area, and many of these stated their Christian beliefs in their profiles. Some of the profiles, however, were confusing. We saw, for example, a gray haired, divorced, retired man who listed his age as 18. Another guy appeared to be flashing a gang sign in his profile photo. One minor annoyance is that the paid or promoted profiles in the search results appeared to circumvent any search criteria. We tried searching for only Caucasian men, but promoted profiles featuring men of all races kept appearing in the search results.

We could not contact other members, because free profiles can merely browse without the option to communicate with anyone else. You’re allowed to compose a message, but when you attempt to send it, you’ll receive the following warning:

“To send this email, you must upgrade your account. In the meantime, feel free to try it out by creating and saving a draft. Click here to upgrade to a Premium Membership now.”

How much does ChristianMingle.com cost?

As of January 2015, the prices below reflect current Christian Mingle prices:

• 1 month: $29.99
• 3 months: $16.99 per month ($50.97 total)
• 6 months: $14.99 per month ($89.94 total)

A mysterious $3.99 “processing fee” is added to all first-time subscriptions.

We should note that when we first wrote this review in October 2012, the prices were different. Below were the prices in October of 2012:

• 1 month: 29.99
• 3 months: 13.29 per month ($39.88 total)
• 6 months: 8.39 per month ($50.34 total)
• 12 months: 6.99 per month ($83.93 total)

Also note that you have to subscribe first before you can turn off the auto-renew feature. In other words, all subscriptions are created with the auto-renew feature enabled. This is a rather disappointing, and unfortunately common, tactic implemented in a way that most users will forget to go back and turn auto-renew off after they’ve subscribed.

Television Ad

You’ve probably seen the ads for ChristianMingle.com on TV. A popular ad in late 2014 stated:

You’re single. You’re Christian. and you’re looking for a meaningful relationship. Find God’s match for you at ChristianMingle.com. It’s easy and it’s free. Start browsing millions of profiles on the leading site for Christian dating. If you’re hoping to build a Christ-centered relationship, log onto ChristianMingle.com today. Sometimes we wait for God to make the next move when God is saying it’s your time to act. The next move is yours. Join free now at ChristianMingle.com.

“Niche” Dating?

ChristianMingle is owned by Spark Networks. This company specializes in what former CEO Adam Berger referred to as “niche dating.” The company also runs JDate.com, BlackSingles.com, and LDSMingle.com. Some Christians have expressed objection to this, while others have not.

Our Christian Mingle Experience

Within an hour of creating a profile, we received two messages in our inbox from a user in our area. One of them said, “Great profile” even though our profile was completely devoid of any information other than the basic questions we answered. Our profile contained no photo or bio. The other message we received asked if we could upload a photo – from this “user” who had no photo of their own.

There have been reports of dating sites using fake profiles to contact new users via their internal messaging system as a means to get them to sign up and respond. While there is no way of knowing if those messages were from fake profiles, their appearance raised this question.

We didn’t have a good sense as to whether or not this site would be valuable to a Christian seeking a relationship. We had the sense that at least some men were exaggerating their faith, based on types of photos they posted and some of the things they posted in their bios. There also seems to be a large percentage of divorced single parents on the site. Obviously, most dating sites are filled with those looking to re-enter the dating field, but the proportion did seem on the high side.

Other User Reviews

We have received dozens of user reviews of ChristianMingle.com over the past two years. These have varied from glowing endorsements to dire warnings. We’ve spoken to couples who met on the website and were later married, but we’ve also heard horror stories of stalkers and scammers who will gain trust and then ask for money for some type of “emergency.” Obviously, any social website will have its dark side, and users must exercise extreme caution.

An interesting side note is that in 2012 this site ranked ChristianMingle as #3 behind eHarmony and Match.com in their “Christian Dating Sites” list. In early 2014 it was listed as the #2 spot, but by September 2014 it fell back to #3 again. As of January 2015, Christian Mingle is still ranked #3. It is unclear what criteria is used to rank these websites.

How to Remove Your ChristianMingle.com Profile

If you wish to delete your profile on ChristianMingle, it’s a rather painless process. Navigate to “Your Account” and click the “Remove My Profile” link. From there, you will be asked a couple of questions as to why you are leaving. Answer those, click on “Continue” and that should be it.

Google Trends History

The Google Trends graph below shows interest in Christian Mingle over time. Interest appears to have peaked in January of 2013, and has gradually declined since then. However, interest seems to be increasing somewhat as of January 2015.

Your Christian Mingle reviews

Have you used ChristianMingle.com? If so, tell us about your experience – good, bad, or ugly. Do you feel it was worth the money, and do you feel as if it is a good way to make a connection with other Christians?

Updated January 23, 2015
Originally published October 2012