Most people only know Ashley Madison as the dating website for cheaters, but our Ashley Madison review seeks to go beyond the labels and get to the heart of what this dating network has to offer single and not-so-single daters.
Since its launch in 2002, Ashley Madison has attracted over 60 million members, and the dating website and app currently leads to over 1 million affairs every month.
Here’s a rundown of the features, prices, and perks of an Ashley Madison account, and you can scroll to find our reviews of other popular dating sites — just in case the Ashley Madison website and app aren’t enough to satisfy your online dating appetite.
Our Ashley Madison Rating: 4.2/5
Ashley Madison doesn’t judge people based on their marital status. This dating platform offers an open-ended dating space where people can privately explore their options.
Throughout its 20-year history, Ashley Madison has seen a fair amount of scandal and controversy. In 2015, a hacker group called Impact targeted the affairs site and stole its private user data. When Ashley Madison’s parent company Avid Life Media refused its ransom demands, the hackers exposed the private details of 30 million people. This data dump included names, email address, and credit card numbers.
Since then, Ashley Madison has taken extra care to protect its members from a cyber attack or data breach, and we commend the team for learning from past mistakes and continuing to move forward.
Ashley Madison is an extramarital dating site with over 80 million profiles in its private database, and it is full of temptation. The site and app offer a judgment-free zone where married people can consider their options and chat with singles who are willing to get together on the down-low.
- A uniquely open-minded dating network
- Privacy-conscious features
- Over 1.4 million matches per month
- Browse Ashley Madison profiles 100% free »
Ashley Madison recognizes that no one is perfect and infidelity happens. Many Ashley Madison reviews condemn the married dating site for facilitating extramarital affairs and cheating, but, despite the criticism, over 60 million people have created an account and used its under-the-radar services to satisfy their curiosity and fulfill their secret desires.
Ashley Madison Costs Women $0 Every Month
If you’re a woman on Ashley Madison, you have the run of the dating app and site, and you never have to pay a cent for any of the messaging and matching features. Congratulations on hitting the gender lottery.
Male users can create a dating profile and view other member profiles for free on Ashley Madison, but it costs extra to send and receive messages. Ashley Madison uses a pay-as-you-go credit system rather than the traditional monthly subscription plan. That means men buy credits and use them to start conversations and reply to incoming messages.
A bundle of 100 credits costs $49, a bundle of 500 credits costs $149, and a bundle of 1,000 credits costs $249. The Elite 1,000 credit package is the most expensive upfront, but it offers the lowest price point per credit (25 cents per credit), gives users the ability to start over 111 conversations, and includes a 30-day profile boost.
Ashley Madison will automatically replenish a member’s credit bank when it hits 0 unless men go into their Settings and turn the auto-renewal feature off.
To sum up, a female user can join, match, and chat using the online dating site and app without bothering with Ashley Madison credits, but male users will hit a paywall when it comes to messaging and sending priority mail.
Complete a Profile, Upload Photos, and Then Start Browsing
The Ashley Madison registration process takes less than 10 minutes (or as long as you need to come up with a good username, greeting, and bio), and includes the bare minimum needed to create a solid match.
Ashley Madison requires users to fill in their ZIP code, relationship status, date of birth, height, weight, body type, and ethnicity. You’ll also need to set your limits — meaning how far you’re willing to go with a partner — and the options provided include cybersexting, short-term dating, and long-term affairs. If you’re undecided, you can simply put down “Not Sure.”
When you upload a profile picture on Ashley Madison, you can choose to blur, block, or mask your face. You can also create Secret Photo Albums with raunchier photos that you can share at your discretion.
Members can describe who they are and what they want in the About Me section. It’s pretty open-ended, but most people keep things pretty brief (three sentences or less) and avoid oversharing too much personal information. A major faux pas on Ashley Madison is talking too much about marriage problems or sexual frustrations with a current partner. When creating a new dating profile, keep in mind that your dates want to know about you, not your spouse. Ashley Madison offers a fresh start for a new sexual relationship — so leave any relationship baggage off your bio!
Lasr of all, women have the option to choose a Quick Reply message that will automatically be sent to every Ashley Madison user who likes her profile. The dating service has a pre-written message that reads “If you are really interested please send a message and photos,” but members can also use their own flirty imaginations and write something else to their online crushes and potential dates.
Find Matches on Your Own & Receive Suggestions Every Day
Ashley Madison streamlines the online dating experience, so it doesn’t take much to create a romantic connection.
An Ashley Madison user can adjust search filters by age range, location, and relationship status, and they can also search the database by last login (24 hours, 48 hours, anytime), new members, and profiles with public or private photos.
You do not need to create a mutual match to send messages or request access to a private photo album on Ashley Madison.
If you click the Contact Potential Matches for Me option upon sign-up, Ashley Madison will be more proactive with its matchmaking and actually send flirty messages on your behalf to anyone who meets your match standards. This could be a good way for shy people to get into conversations and break the ice without putting in a lot of effort.
Ashley Madison Has 5.7 Million Monthly Users
Over the last 20 years, Ashley Madison has added over 60 million members to its database. Of course, many of those are now inactive accounts that have been hidden from the Discover section.
The number of monthly active users (5.7 million) and new signups (22,000) will give you a better idea about the real-time activity and popularity of this affair dating site.
Before the Ashley Madison hack, the site and app saw over 30,000 signups a day. In 2015, membership numbers briefly skyrocketed as Ashley Madison made the news because of Impact’s ransom note and data dump, and then it plummeted to reflect the lack of trust people had in the brand.
The Ashley Madison team says they are working their way back up to that level and currently onboard 22,000 new members each day.
Ashley Madison is totally free for women, so it tends to have more female than male members. In 2017, Ashley Madison reported that it has 1.13 active female accounts for every 1 paid male account.
Every week, Ashley Madison welcomes more than 150,000 people into its network and facilitates over 1 million infidelity matches.
16 Best Ashley Madison Alternatives
A cheating spouse may prefer the discreet services of Ashley Madison, but infidelity isn’t the goal of everyone in the dating scene. Sometimes married people use dating sites and apps as a casual way to meet new friends, distract themselves from their everyday routines, and maybe release a little flirtatious energy.
If you just want to keep your options open or dip a toe into the single dating pool, then you may want to give the following popular dating sites and apps a try.
Best Overall | Gay & Lesbian | Hookups | FAQs
Best Overall Ashley Madison Alternatives
The Ashley Madison hack of 2015 shook a lot of people’s confidence in the affair dating website, and it’s reasonable to want a dating service with a better reputation and less scandalous history. For your convenience, we’ve ranked some of the most trustworthy dating platforms where men and women can mingle freely.
1. Match
Match.com has come a long way since it launched in April 1995. This well-reputed dating site has honed its match algorithm to identify long-term compatibility and facilitate countless first dates, serious relationships, and successful marriages. Match's esteemed dating experts go to great lengths to guide singles to a seriously good match.
- Match is the world's longest running dating site
- The Discover section has search filters by interests, looks, lifestyle, and more
- Match is available in 50 countries and 15 languages
- Browse Match profiles 100% free »
Match has been one of the top dating services in the world for nearly three decades now. It may not market itself as a dating site for hookups or extramarital affairs, but that sort of thing has undeniably gone on here.
The Match user base includes over 15 million monthly active members, and they come to this dating website and app with all sorts of intentions. About 75% of users are over 30 years old, so they tend not to play games or beat around the bush when flirting with a new person.
EliteSingles.com maintains a sophisticated network of young professionals seeking a relationship. Over 80% of its members hold a bachelor's, master's, or doctorate degree, and over 90% are over the age of 30. Elite Singles uses an intelligent matchmaking system to introduce daters to someone on their level.
- Over 2 million monthly users
- Premium members receive 20 wildcard matches a day
- Search features include age, height, education, ethnicity, and lifestyle habits
- Browse Elite Singles profiles 100% free »
EliteSingles is a high-end and no-nonsense dating service designed to satisfy busy professionals in search of a partner on their same level. Over 80% of members have graduated from college, and the majority of them have high-earning careers.
As you can see from our review, this premium dating site isn’t for everybody. EliteSingles requires members to sign up for a paid subscription plan if they want to view photos or exchange emails, and it will flag anyone behaving inappropriately and making users feel uncomfortable or unsafe.
3. Zoosk
Zoosk is a socially savvy dating site known for its diverse membership base and behavioral matchmaking system. Over 40 million singles in 80 countries have joined the network so far, and it's growing larger every day. The platform offers many different ways to communicate and express interest in members, so it's easy to form a fast connection here.
- Send messages to premium members for free
- Over 3 million messages sent a day
- Premium perks include photo verification and sending virtual gifts
- Browse Zoosk profiles 100% free »
Zoosk is a popular dating website and app with over 40 million members to its name. The social network has a lot of matching and chatting options, including the ability to use tokens to purchase virtual gifts.
Once you’ve finished setting up your Zoosk profile, you can start viewing people’s profiles and sending messages to certain members. Not all messaging on Zoosk is free, but the site and app unlock enough conversation windows to give users a free sample — and have them hankering for more.
4. eharmony
Since its launch in 2000, eharmony has endeavored to find the formula for love. Its 32-dimension personality test uses psychological truths to identify areas of compatibility between two individuals. The dating site's mission is to foster relationships that last, and every potential match has a reason behind it.
- Over 2 million people have found love here
- Users can filter their match recommendations by age or city
- Compatibility Quiz identifies common interests, lifestyles, and goals
- Browse eharmony profiles 100% free »
Since its launch in 2000, eharmony has focused on building strong relationships based on mutual compatibility. It may not seem like an obvious spot for married individuals to pick up a date, but its smart matching system and video chat features can lead to some great romances.
The eharmony match algorithm takes the lead and provides compatibility ratings based on a psychological assessment, so you don’t have to worry about picking the right partner. To date, eharmony has inspired over 2 million relationships in the U.S., and it could help you find that loving feeling again.
Since its launch in 2002, BlackPeopleMeet has created an African American singles network that stretches across North America. This niche dating site has 1.5 million members who are attracted to Black and biracial people. It takes less than two minutes to create a full profile and start browsing through profiles sorted by age, location, and orientation.
- One of the largest Black singles networks in existence
- Straightforward search and matching features
- Use Tokens to appear higher in search results
- Browse BlackPeopleMeet profiles 100% free »
BlackPeopleMeet boasts having the largest Black dating network in North America. The dating site and app have created a diverse dating pool where it’s easy to find dark-skinned dates that meet your standards.
All it takes is a valid email address to join the BPM network and start viewing other people’s profiles. However, if you want to send a message, you’ll need an updated account with premium features.
“I found someone very special on this site, and we are pursuing a relationship,” said a BPM user in a testimonial. “We would never have met, if it was not for BPM.”
6. OkCupid
In 2004, OkCupid's founders decided to create a fool-proof formula for love, and they launched a free dating site to delve into what personal attributes made relationships work. OkCupid members can send unlimited messages for free. It's easy to discover mutual interests and compatibility on the platform's information-rich dating profiles.
- Free, unlimited communication for everyone
- Singles can swipe or search for a compatible date
- Over 91 million connections every year
- Browse OkCupid profiles 100% free »
All communication is free on OkCupid, and that’s why millions of online daters choose to mingle and match on this dating site and app.
OkCupid provides a dynamic dating profile, smart match questions, and tons of search filters to help get something going, and you don’t have to wait for your online crush to like your profile to send a greeting.
The OkCupid platform has 22 gender options and 12 orientation options, so it’s a great space for exploring your sexuality and going outside the box of cis straight monogamy.
Plenty of Fish prides itself on being one of the best dating sites for conversations. It supports 100% free and unlimited messaging for over 120 million monthly users in 20 countries. Since its launch in 2003, Plenty of Fish has developed a science-based matching system that has proven successful.
- Free registration, searches, and messaging
- The Chemistry Test creates a compatibility framework
- Over 1 billion messages sent per month
- Browse Plenty of Fish profiles 100% free »
Plenty of Fish is a free dating platform with free communication, so nothing stands between you and a hot date. Over 150 million people have joined the POF community, and members engage in 3 million conversations a week.
Free dating sites like Plenty of Fish tend to attract a lot of people, and all of them have different agendas. Some are just looking for a quick chat and confidence booster. Others are hoping to fall in love and get in a serious relationship. And others may have more secret motives and desires in mind.
The Plenty of Fish team automatically hides inactive accounts to make sure singles aren’t messaging a fake profile or dead end.
8. Bumble
Since its launch in 2014, Bumble has positioned itself as one of the queens of the online dating world. The dating app turns gender stereotype on its head by empowering women to make the first move in a conversation with a man. Once you've made that mutual match, you have up to 48 hours to respond and make a connection.
- A feminist dating app puts singles on equal footing
- 60% of Bumble matches turn into dates
- Bumble Bizz and Bumble BFF spark non-romantic connections
- Browse Bumble profiles 100% free »
Bumble is a feminist dating app for women who know what they want and aren’t hesitant to make the first move. In 2014, Bumble made a splash with its women-first mentality, and it now has over 100 million users worldwide.
When a male user matches with a woman, he has to wait for her to send the first message (she only has 24 hours to do so) before he can engage in a conversation with her. Bumble has upended gender stereotypes in the online dating world by empowering women to take the lead, and that can set relationships on equal footing from the beginning.
Best Ashley Madison Alternatives for LGBT
Ashley Madison offers cheating options for gay and lesbian individuals, but it doesn’t have trans-friendly or non-binary options available just yet. Bisexual singles will have to create two separate accounts on Ashley Madison if they want to pursue men and women there. Or they could join the following LGBTQ+ dating platforms and enjoy a rainbow of dating options.
9. MenNation
Since 1996, MenNation has connected over 93 million men around the globe. This men-only dating site measures its success by the number of conversations and dates it facilitates with its intuitive matching system. Gay men love having a site to call their own, and its helpful features keep members engaged and entertained as they look for a hot date.
- One of the largest gay hookup sites in the world
- Search filters for age, location, physical attributes, and more
- Available in 12 languages and counting
- Browse MenNation profiles 100% free »
As a gay hookup site, MenNation can help men come out of their shells and enjoy sexual encounters online and offline.
MenNation welcomes single men and gay couples to an erotic playground where they don’t have to play coy or hide their deepest desires. Over 72,000 men mingle on this adult dating platform every day, and they’re all looking for one thing: sex.
10. LesbianPersonals
LesbianPersonals.com is powered by Friend Finder Networks, so it encompasses a vast network of sexually active women. The female-friendly dating site allows women, couples, and groups to create a profile and find online and offline romance. With over 2 million women in its community, LesbianPersonals is fast becoming one of the most popular lesbian dating sites around.
- Free membership includes viewing profiles and sending likes
- Exchange revealing photos and videos privately online
- Simple search filters by interests and appearance
- Browse LesbianPersonals profiles 100% free »
Since the 1990s, LesbianPersonals has maintained a female-friendly hookup site for adults who want to have no-strings-attached sex with women.
LesbianPersonals has sign-up options for lesbian women, lesbian couples, straight couples, and groups. It does not require users to submit their real names or upload a profile photo. However, if you want to exchange messages, share private photos, and even get in a video chat, you’ll need to upgrade to a premium account.
11. HER
HER is a women-only (or "womxn" as the team says) dating app that helps cis, trans, and non-binary identified singles come into their own. This is a strict no-boys-allowed zone. HER encourages LGBTQ+ women to mingle by commenting on photos or events in the Feed, or they can like profiles to initiate a private conversation with a mutual match.
- A quirky and unapologetic womxn-only dating community
- Queer events get users connecting IRL
- The constantly updated Feed facilitates social networking
- Browse HER profiles 100% free »
HER is a social dating app where real women mingle with one another. All its female profiles have been verified as authentic, and the moderators are serious about removing fake profiles and creeps.
Single men and married people are not welcome in this LBTQ+ space. It was created to help single women escape the chauvinism of the mainstream dating scene and encounter local ladies who share similar interests. HER offers a queer calendar and social media newsfeed to help lesbian, bisexual, trans, and queer women get to know one another.
12. Grindr
Grindr became the world's first gay geosocial app in 2009, and it continues growing its all-male user base more than a decade later. The app uses real-time GPS data to locate nearby date prospects and give gay and bisexual singles a chance to connect while they're out on the town.
- Social networking for gay, bi, trans, and queer men
- Location-based matches spark instant chemistry
- Grindr Equality advocates for LGBTQ+ interests on the global stage
- Browse Grindr profiles 100% free »
Grindr is widely recognized as the most popular dating app for gay and bisexual men. It launched in 2009 as one of the first apps to use location data to spark real-time connections, and guys have been using it to hook up ever since.
Every male member on Grindr has access to free swiping and chatting tools, but he’ll have to upgrade to Grindr Xtra to get an ad-free experience, more search filters, read receipts, a discreet app icon, and a PIN to lock the app.
Grindr has over 27 million users all around the world, so you’ll never run out of opportunities to match, chat, and flirt your way into a gay romance.
Best Ashley Madison Alternatives for Hookups
Whether you’re married or single, sometimes you just need to get laid without a lot of complicated feelings involved. That’s what a no-strings-attached hookup site is for. Sexually active individuals can join the following sex-positive platforms to flirt with strangers who are willing to get down and dirty.
13. BeNaughty
BeNaughty invites singles to walk on the wild side and explore their sexuality in a fun, free-wheeling environment. This adults-only dating site is full of X-rated content, but users can blur nude photos if they'd prefer to leave some things to the imagination. Premium subscribers get the most bang for the buck because they can send messages, browse incognito, and receive alerts when their messages have been read by someone special.
- Sexually active adults in 10 countries
- Browse the Like Gallery for hot singles
- Stimulate conversation in intimate private messages
- Browse BeNaughty profiles 100% free »
BeNaughty has gotten good reviews from users and been around for many years, so we have consistently ranked it as one of the best hookup sites available in North America and Europe.
It doesn’t cost anything to set up your BeNaughty account, add a profile picture, and start messaging other users. BeNaughty has a live chatting system that is secure and open to everyone, and it even offers prewritten flirts that can be sent en masse to all the users who fit specific search criteria.
In 1996, Friend Finder Networks began harnessing the power of online networking to help adults meet sexually active singles in their area, and it has now grown into a global X-rated phenomenon with over 93 million profiles. Adult Friend Finder provides a safe, anonymous dating platform where singles and swingers can hook up with another.
- Among the largest online sex and swinger communities
- Completely free no-obligation registration
- Live chat rooms and discussion forums open 24/7
- Browse Adult Friend Finder profiles 100% free »
Adult Friend Finder has more than 100 million users in its database, so it’s a great place to seek a sexual partner. Things move pretty fast in the AFF community, so an erotic chat could turn into an extramarital affair in the time it takes to say, “your place or mine?”
You can read our Adult Friend Finder review to find out more about how the hookup site works and what type of people find success there.
15. FriendFinder-X
FriendFinder-X specializes in delivering hot dates to your inbox. For the last 20+ years, this hookup site has amassed a huge following around the world and led to countless sexy encounters. Millions of people have created an account and searched for singles, couples, and groups who can satisfy their deepest desires.
- Open to casual daters in the U.S. and abroad
- Free members can browse profiles and watch sexy videos
- Chat anonymously in the forum or private messages
- Browse FriendFinder-X profiles 100% free »
FriendFinder-X is a hookup site powered by local connections and fast-paced flirtations. Singles and couples are welcome to explore this dynamic dating scene in search of no-strings attached sex.
Some users are quick to call FriendFinder-X a scam because of its pay-to-play policy, but membership fees can actually deter scammers seeking easy targets.
If you’re serious about pursuing an extramarital affair, threesome, or other sexual exploits, then becoming a paid member of FriendFinder-X can be a helpful way to bring more local date prospects within your reach.
16. Flirt.com
Flirt.com is a great hookup website for fun-loving and dirty-talking singles over the age of 18. The free registration and quick-and-easy searches appeal to online daters who know what they want and aren't afraid to go after it. If you're looking for sexting, virtual dating, or hot sex, then look no further than this flirtatious dating site.
- Over 70 million registered users
- Naked photos, videos, and private messaging available
- Send a Flirtcast to get in touch with all potential matches
- Browse Flirt.com profiles 100% free »
Last but not least, Flirt.com can offer an open-ended and X-rated flirting zone for anyone looking to get laid. Adults don’t need to post their real names or marital status to browse this hookup site, and its anonymous atmosphere appeals to a married man or woman hoping for a discreet affair.
Only members with valid emails and profile photos can send messages on Flirt.com, but they can do so for free. The hookup site doesn’t hold sex-driven individuals back in that regard. There is no paywall or mutual matching to worry about. All communication is free and accessible to everyone.
What is Ashley Madison?
Ashley Madison is a dating site where men and women can seek an extramarital affair. Its membership base includes singles as well as married individuals, and it offers privacy features to facilitate anonymous dating.
How Does Ashley Madison Work?
Our Ashley Madison review already touched on how the dating profile setup and matchmaking process works, but newcomers to online dating may need more direct, step-by-step directions for finding success on Ashley Madison, so here goes:
First, you’ll create your dating profile. You’ll need to provide a valid email address and come up with a username, but it’s not necessary to upload a photo on a free account. However, Ashley Madison members with a profile photo (even if it’s blurred or masked) receive 400% more views.
Once you’ve completed the Ashley Madison sign-up process and verified your email, you can start viewing people’s profiles and sending winks to any person you like. Women enjoy unlimited free communication on Ashley Madison, but men will have to purchase credits to send messages on the affair dating site. There may also be a mobile access fee for users who buy credits through the app.
Ashley Madison automatically renews subscriptions that are about to expire and automatically replenishes your credit bank when it hits zero, so be sure to go into your settings to turn off these features before your credit card gets charged.
How Long Has Ashley Madison Been Around?
Darren J. Morgenstern founded Ashley Madison in 2002 as a Canadian dating service for having affairs. It gets its name from two of the most popular first names for women in North America.
In 2016, a year after its massive security breach, Ashley Madison’s parent company Avid Life Media rebranded to Ruby Corp and appointed a new CEO.
What Sites are Similar to Ashley Madison?
We’ve listed quite a few alternatives to Ashley Madison, but most of these sites and apps are geared toward singles seeking romance and love, so they may not be the most efficient route if you want to be honest about your relationship status and solicit an affair.
Apps for cheaters will provide more clandestine features to keep your dating adventures out of the public eye. For instance, the Secret app only asks users to provide a photo of themselves for their profile, and they can seek casual daters without exchanging names or contact information.
Victoria Milan is another married dating site that has an international following, and it’s often compared to the Ashley Madison app. One more similar online dating site is Seeking.com (formerly Seeking Arrangement), which is a sugar dating site with many discreet matchmaking tools.
Is Ashley Madison Safe?
The infamous Ashley Madison breach of security in 2015 has made many married people wonder if they trust their emails, credit card numbers, and private details to the affair dating site. However, that disastrous hack has actually motivated Ashley Madison employees to add more security measures to the dating service.
Today, Ashley Madison has robust encryption standards in place to deter a cyber attack and prevent leaked data from appearing on the dark web.
Ashley Madison has worked hard to regain the trust of its users. The team hired cybersecurity experts to purge the membership base of any fake profile, scammer, or fembot lurking around, and its two-factor authentication system ensures all new users are real people.
“We represent how a company can come back from what could be seen as catastrophic circumstances,” Chief Strategy Officer Paul Keable said in a 2019 interview. “We knew we needed to fix the internal infrastructure. [We] hired a new security team, a new CISO who looked at everything from the ground up.”
Can Couples Join Ashley Madison?
No, Ashley Madison is not a dating site for couples. It doesn’t have features for polyamorous dating, unicorn hunting, or any other type of couples dating. The Ashley Madison profile only has options for a man or a woman seeking a man or a woman. As far as relationship status goes, you can identify as single or attached, or you can leave it blank and add a little mystery to your profile.
What Counts as Cheating?
Some people act like cheating is a black-and-white issue, but in reality, married individuals can find there is a lot of gray area. If you develop feelings for a friend, but your relationship is platonic, does that count as cheating? Some may say it’s emotional cheating, and others may say you can think whatever you want as long as you don’t act on those emotions.
In a member survey, 29% of Ashley Madison users agreed that creating a dating profile counts as cheating, and 46% said that sending naked photos to another person would constitute cheating.
Different marriages have different rules. A spouse may want a partner to cut off contact with exes or stop watching porn to signify their commitment to the relationship. Couples need to talk things out to figure out where they draw the line.
Ashley Madison Eases People Into the Online Dating Scene
As you can tell, we did a lot of research to make sure this Ashley Madison review includes everything you could possibly need to know as you consider reentering the modern dating scene.
This discreet affair site has helped millions of men and women spice up their love lives, but it’s not the only game in town. We’ve ranked dozens of popular dating sites and apps that can offer low-key dating opportunities and prove that sometimes cheaters do prosper.
In addition to joining Ashley Madison, married individuals should feel free to create multiple dating profiles so they have the best odds of meeting someone special.