Reviews of the Top 10 Gay Dating Websites of 2024

Online dating is becoming a very popular way of meeting others, making friends, dating and developing more serious relationships. For gay guys there are plenty of options around too, and this Number1Reviews.com category takes an in-depth look at what's out there. By reading our reviews we hope to help you make a more informed decision on where to go, whether you're looking for dating, friendship or love. One word of advice; be patient, take your time and take a look around, as relationships are an integral part of our lives and deserve to be given due care and attention. The following should help guide you if you're considering joining a gay dating site.

Number and Activeness of Members

• The best gay dating websites not only have lots of members, but members who have a presence on the site and contribute to a sense of community.
• Typically, the calculation of the number of accounts, member listings, logins and other similar information on a site is updated every 24 hours. A 'member' is a user account which has been logged into within approximately 2 years, has an available profile and an active email account. A member is considered 'online' if they have logged in within the last hour. The calculations are approximations and should not be completely relied upon in making membership or payment decisions.
• The number of profiles on a site isn't always the best indicator of the quality of a site. Make sure you check out how many members are online at the time that you're likely to log in before you join. For example, if you logged in early in the morning the number online is likely to be modest, so make sure you also log in in the evening or at the weekend for comparison.
• Some gay dating sites feature male and female profiles, therefore the number of members advertised may not accurately reflect how many gay male profiles there are on a site (e.g. GayxxxDates.com).
• Niche gay dating sites (e.g. BigMuscleBears.com) will tend to have smaller membership bases because they cater to a specific gay social grouping, whereas more general sites, having a much broader range, will tend to have more members (e.g. OutPersonals.com).
• If you're looking to meet guys in person, you need to make sure that there are plenty of members located near you. Often, sites will allow you to perform a quick search to locate members near you. If few profiles are returned. it may be wise to try another site.
• Conversely, if you're just looking to meet and chat online, the 'currently online' figure is likely to be more important. SImply put, the more members online, the more there are for you to meet, as location doesn't necessarily make a difference.

Completeness of Member Profiles

• The better gay dating websites will have a large membership base with a high proportion of fully detailed, active membership profiles.
• A really important thing to bear in mind when joining a site is what you want to get from it. Think about whether you want to just meet guys online or whether you want to meet in person. You should also consider whether you're looking for 'hookups' (no-strings fun), friendship, dating or a serious relationship. This will influence the kind of site you should choose. A lot of websites cater for the hookup end of the market (e.g. DudesNude.com), some are geared to find you a relationship (e.g. GayParship.com) and the rest fall somewhere in between (e.g. MenNation.com).
• Most gay dating websites allow you to register and create a profile for free, which is great. However, a consequence of this is that you're likely to find a significant proportion of inactive and faked profiles. This is another reason why the sheer volume of profiles isn't always the best indicator of the quality of a site. Before you join a site, if you can, browse as many profiles as you can to see whether they are complete or not. Look out for the following signs:
  • The better gay dating websites will display the last login date somewhere on the member's profile (e.g. GayxxxDates.com, ManHunt.net). This tells you whether the member is still using the profile or not. Any profile that hasn't been logged in to for more than a few months may well be inactive.
  • Some sites also allow you to apply a filter when performing a search that filters profiles on the basis of last login date (e.g. the advanced search on Adam4Adam.com allows you to do this).

Search Options

• A good gay dating website will feature a range of search tools that allow you to easily find exactly what you're looking for in the most efficient way.
• Whilst search options will vary slightly from site to site, most will feature roughly the same search tools. Typically, the more basic search tools will be available to all members whilst the more advanced ones will only be available to members who upgrade to a subscription membership:
  • Basic search allows you to specify a limited set of criteria to narrow your browsing. Criteria are usually limited to age range, location and relationship being sought.
  • Username search lets you enter all (or sometimes part of) a member's username and returns all members with the same or similar name.
  • Keyword search involves entering your own keyword(s) into a search box. All profiles containing those terms are returned, so it helps to be as specific as possible with the terms you enter. You'll sometimes find keyword searches incorporated into basic and advanced search tools.
  • Advanced search is an extension of the basic search, allowing you to specify a much wider range of profile criteria and makes for a much more efficient way of browsing. If lots of profiles are returned you can refine your search further. Conversely, if few or no profiles are returned, you can remove some of the search criteria. A good advanced search will allow you to specify a radius distance so that only local member profiles (or within a radius of a location you specify elsewhere) are returned.
  • Preconfigured one-click searches are often found on a site's homepage. They're a quick way of doing a very basic search, e.g. yielding 'members near my location' 'members online' and hottest members'.
  • Tag search enables you to select tag words and return all content that has been tagged with those words.
  • Filtering allows you to screen returned profiles even further. It's common to be able to choose to retain only profiles with photos, members online and profiles with other features you are interested in (e.g. intro voice messages, intro videos and private photos). Filtering profiles by last login date is a great way of screening out inactive profiles. 
  • Sorting lets you order the results of a search in a number of ways, e.g. distance from your location, length of membership and login date.
  • Saved search allows you to save your search criteria so that you don't have to specify them all again the next time you want to perform that search.

Ways of Contacting Other Members

• A good gay dating website will feature a range of ways for members to get in touch and connect. A good site will also give you a good range of contact options even as a free member. Like search tools, most sites follow suit and conform to the same contact features:
  • Email is the most common option for communication on gay dating websites. Email is advantageous in that you can easily send and track your messages as well as being able to email whenever it suits you. Sites vary in the length of time you can store email, or the amount of memory given over to your inbox. If your inbox is full you won't be able to receive new mail. In addition, sites often lure you with the promise of a free membership, then leave you high and dry by seriously restricting your email privileges unless you upgrade (e.g. OutPersonals.com). Others give you fairly unrestricted email as a free member (e.g. PlanetRomeo.com).
  • Flirting. Most sites let you send automatic, generic icebreakers so you can quickly register an interest in a member. Usually this is done by clicking an icon on their profile. Some sites let you send different flirts (e.g. smiles, hugs and winks) and if you upgrade you can also attach a custom message.
  • IM. To chat in real time and save the delay of initiating, responding and waiting for email, a great way to get to know guys is to use the Instant Messager (IM) function. It's usually very easy to do by clicking on the profile of the member you want to chat with (as long as they're online). You can usually download the necessary software from the site and even attach your webcam if you have one.
  • Chat rooms. Another way of chatting in real time is to enter a chat room. These are often arranged by topic or region, so that you can either join in a chat about a particular interest or issue, or join a chat room with guys from that area. You'll also find plenty of adult-themed chat rooms, especially on the hookup sites. Again, you can use your webcam to broadcast yourself, or watch other cams if that member lets you. In addition to entering public rooms, it's possible to enter private chat rooms that control who can enter too, or even set up your own.
  • You can also connect with others by creating a favorites list (your favorite profiles), hotlist (your sexiest profiles) or sending friend requests (the other member will have to confirm this). These features are common to all sites. When you add a person to your list or network they're informed, and this can open up contact.
  • Member matching. Some sites offer a matching service in which you're informed of potentially compatible members (e.g. Cupid Search on GayxxxDates.com). It's then up to you whether you get in touch with those members.

Features for Free and Premium Members

• Gay dating sites differ significantly in what they allow free and premium members, but there are some commonalities:
  The majority of sites will allow free members to view profiles, but may restrict them to preview profiles in which they don't get to access all member details and are prohibited from seeing all photos and videos, especially xxx themed content.
  • The odd site in this category is completely free and has just one level of membership (e.g. RealJock.com). This means that all features are available to all members.
  • A few sites are ostensibly free, but encourage you to donate a small subscription fee in return for a few membership enhancements (e.g. LadsLads.com).
  • Many sites allow you to join for free and create a profile, but seriously restrict critical features such as profile access and communication, such that it's not really possible to maintain a free membership without upgrading and paying a subscription (e.g. OutPersonals.com).
• Most sites feature 2-3 levels of membership; a free membership in which most features are disabled or restricted, a basic upgrade (often referred to as Silver membership) that gives access to all basic features and a premium upgrade (often called Gold membership) that gives you extra enhancements and usually full access to any adult-themed content.
• Gold memberships often give extra storage for email, features your profile at the top of listings, priority technical support and faster server speeds. Bear this in mind when choosing your membership level.

Value for Money

• Deciding whether a site is good value for money is no easy thing, and depends upon what you hope to get out of the site. It's important to have a look around before you commit.
• There are plenty of completely free sites out there, although they are often quite small sites with only very basic features.
• Some of the larger sites can be quite expensive to join on a short-term basis (e.g. 1 month) but very reasonable if you sign up for a year. The most sensible option is to shop around before you join anywhere. Look at a few different sites and see what you like and what you don't. If you find a subscription site, make sure you know exactly what you're getting for your money and sign up for a month as a trial (even though the monthly fees can be quite steep). If you like the site, you should consider joining for an extended period as you could get a really low per month fee.
• All subscription sites will take credit card payment (Visa and Mastercard widely accepted). However, other ways of paying are available too, including debit card, online check, direct debit, PayPal, Click& Buy, SMS payment and postal/fax payment. Check out our reviews to see how to pay.

Technical Support

• Nearly all gay dating websites feature help pages and a FAQs section, which may be more or less useful depending on your query of problem. If you do need to contact the site for assistance this is typically done by completing an email support form. The odd site will also have online support or telephone assistance to resolve your query more swiftly. Sometimes, this option is only available to members who upgrade, and premium members generally receive priority assistance.