Match.com
www.match.com

Pros: Because this was one of the first dating sites and remains one of the most popular (it claims to have 15 million members), Match has superior search and other important functionalities. For example, you can select “MatchWords” from the essay portions of your profile and look for people whose profiles contain the same words. MatchMobile allows you to send and receive Match e-mails and wink and search for free (with a paid subscription) via your mobile phone, and matchTalk is a discreet phone service that allows you to talk to other members but hides your number. You can personalize your profile with 26 (!!) photos and five open-ended questions. Without paying, you can fill out and post a profile as well as check out your matches.

Cons: The biggest con is that using Match is like going swimming at the community pool on the hottest day of the year: everyone’s there, including the people you’d like to meet as well as tons of people you’d never want to see in a bathing suit and vice versa. There’s no top-level filter or self-selection whatsoever. So even if you narrow your search parameters, it won’t stop completely inappropriate or undesirable “matches” from getting in touch with you. Be prepared to do some digging, weeding, and discarding.

Talent: Match boasts a seriously diverse pool, which can either be a good thing or bad thing depending on what you’re looking for. There are plenty of handsome, active men with pictures of themselves atop mountains, on tropical beaches or completing triathlons, as well as the ones who apparently don’t have any friends because their only pictures are the ones they took themselves with their Webcams or cell phones.

Make it work: Because the database can be a bit unwieldy, create and save a few different customized searches based on a variety of parameters so you can narrow down the field.

Need to know: Subscription fees range from $19.99 per month for six months and go up to $39.99 for a single month. If you don’t find someone special in six months, you get your second six months free. The service is also linked to Chemistry.com, which is a competitor to eHarmony.