Love is essential to every one of us as humans. There is an innate desire to share our lives with that one person who would be held in high regard and cared for and for a long time too. What isn’t common knowledge at the start of a person’s formative stage is the difficulty of finding that one person.
There is a narrative gladly pushed by Hollywood to make millions of dollars that the one will seek you out, as you will them, and all your failed relationships failed because ‘they were not meant to be.’
If you are reading this, it is probably because you’ve discovered that movies are precisely like that Sony slogan that goes – ‘make-believe.’ You can’t meet everyone to vet them out, or could you? You cannot, but you can search in a more prominent place than you can physically cover. One such place is a dating platform.
Zoosk vs. eharmony
Zoosk vs. eharmony is a matchup between two prominent platforms in the online dating sphere. Find out which is worth your time and energy.
Comparison of History
All dating platforms have some history to them. Knowing it gives you much-needed background enlightenment into how they work. Compared to eharmony and some other dating applications that have enjoyed the same success, Zoosk is young. It was founded in 2007 by two immigrant graduates from the University of Maryland.
In 2014, Zoosk filed the necessary paperwork for its initial public offering, which it got, and for a while, you could find love on the platform and make money off its stocks alongside. Whatever financial success you got from trading its stocks would have been short-lived as the company had to cancel its IPO due to the loss it suffered.
Zoosk weathered the storm and today has one of the best matching algorithms in the online dating sphere to help singles become couples. As of 2013, the company had revenue of $178.23 million.
Seven years before Zoosk was launched, eharmony was founded. eharmony has the pedigree of being the first algorithm-based dating website, all others before it left it all in the hands of users to determine their romantic fate. eharmony has been profitable for a long time. Nine years after its launch, its cumulative revenue surpassed the $1 billion mark.
Annually the platform raked in about $250 million from customers who were happy to pay for the success they were enjoying using the platform. By 2012, 14% of the US dating market fell under their control.
Key Features of Both Websites
In the online dating world, the business model is to offer users some functionalities for free and to keep others behind a paywall. Zoosk is no different and has the essential features an online dating app should provide you to succeed. You can create an account for free, make a profile, upload pictures, and view other users’ photos.
Found a user you like? Zoosk lets you send the smiles and heart, so they know someone thinks the world of them. There is an instant messaging functionality on Zoosk, but it is hidden behind a paywall. You can use Zoosk in incognito mode and see who likes you, but both require you to pay.
Zoosk has a brilliant feature that’s called SmartPick. Firstly, Zoosk collects a lot of data about your activities on the website. Zoosk takes all this data and processes it with its Behavior Matchmaking engine. It uses whatever is learned about you to find people who behave similarly to you on the website.
eharmony is very limited in the features it allows members access to using the free-tier. Profile registration is free, you can send winks to members you fancy, and you can view their profile in a limited capacity, and you can browse through matches outside your list of preferences.
When you pay for the premium, you are allowed to view the photos of other users, see who added you to their favorite bar; you can text them, and similar to Zoosk’s incognito mode, you can browse anonymously.
Comparison of the Sign-Up Process
Unlike non-dating platforms that try to get you to sign-up in the least numbers of clicks and key taps, dating platforms usually do the opposite. It is a process you should embrace because the more information you can provide, the better your chances of getting matched. For eharmony, the registration takes a lot longer than Zoosk.
eharmony wants to know a lot about you in order to start looking for a match immediately after signing up. You have to verify your email, and there will be pop-ups asking you to take compatibility tests to boost your chances of finding a lover. You also have the option of signing up via Facebook.
Zoosk works differently from eharmony. The sign-up process is faster. It takes about 10 minutes to complete eharmony’s sign-up process and half of that to complete Zoosk’s. You can sign up via your Google account or your Facebook account. After signing up, you are required to complete your profile.
Zoosk is very thorough, so they might see through your VPN and block you from signing up.
User Base
Globally, Zoosk has about 40 million members. They are open to countries worldwide, unlike eharmony, which even has some countries blocked from accessing the platform.
The United States alone accounts for half of Zoosk’s user base, and it has a gender distribution of 55% male and 45% female. eharmony has a user base of people looking for long-lasting relationships.
It has 66 million users in multiple countries with an age range of 25-34. There is a sizeable number of seniors on the site, and they even have a part of the website to cater to older single people. There are more men than women on eharmony; 53% to 47%.
Ease of Using Each Platform
The user experience on Zoosk is excellent. It is straightforward, and you won’t find it difficult to understand. The design is excellent, and the features are well laid out. However, there is still room for improvement, especially in the design section if Zoosk wants to appeal to a younger generation.
eharmony has not gone the extra mile with its interface. It is somewhere in-between modern and classic. Its navigation is smooth. There are ads, but they are for you to upgrade to the premium version; they don’t advertise for other brands. It is not entirely minimalistic in appearance, but buttons and menus are well organized.
Success Rate
eharmony has one of the highest success rates out there. There are stories of people finding life partners on the same day they made an account. The platform is incredibly focused on getting its users married. It is marriage-driven, maybe partly because its founder started it alongside his son-in-law.
Zoosk is excellent in the matchmaking department too. They take a very aggressive approach to analyzing their users and finding them a match. All the shiny new tech tools are applied to getting you matched with someone.
They certainly make an effort. It is essential to be aware that their algorithm is excellent because they collect a lot of data about you. If that’s a thing you are opposed to, you can browse in incognito mode or choose some other platform.
Pricing
eharmony
- Light Plan: 6 Months at $59.90
- Plus Plan: 12 Months at $35.90
- Extra Plan: 24 Months at $25.90
Zoosk
- 1-Month: 29.99 USD
- 3-Month: 59.99 USD
- 6-Month: 74.99 USD
- 180 Coins: 19.99 USD
- 480 Coins: 39.99 USD
Pros and Cons
eharmony Pros
- Has a friendly interface.
- High Success rate
eharmony Cons
- The free-tier is very limited
- Has a tedious sign-up process
Zoosk Pros
- Available globally
- Fast sign-up process
Zoosk Cons
- The interface could use an upgrade
- Collects a lot of data on users
Bottom Line
eharmony and Zoosk are fantastic platforms with high success rates. They do a lot of the work needed to find you a match for you. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Some users would rather let the algorithms do all the work and find them matches; they will love that it does the work for them.
Other users, after a few bad dates, may feel like they can do the work of getting matched better but won’t be able to sift through users themselves as flexibly as they’d want. You have to be prepared to upgrade to a premium account, as that’s when you get some use out of these dating platforms.
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