Specialty Dating Sites

If you have a special interest, try a niche site

There are hundreds of niche dating sites catering to specific groups based on age, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, hobbies or a host of other criteria. However, we found far fewer reviews on niche dating sites. Members on these specialty dating sites tend to be more serious, and friends as well as partners can be found on them.

JDate.com (*Est. $40 per month) for Jewish singles is one of the few niche dating sites that gets a fair number of reviews. According to an article at OnlinePersonalsWatch.com (an online dating news site) from September 2011, a survey conducted by JDate.com on nearly 950 married Jewish couples showed "52 percent of Jewish married couples who met online met on JDate (compared to 17 percent on Match and 10 percent on eHarmony)."

The sign-up process at JDate.com can be a bit tedious with questions including religious beliefs and practices. Reviewers also note that not everyone at JDate.com is Jewish, and there's an emphasis on major cities. One nice free feature, though, is events listings to meet other Jewish singles and participate in charity or volunteer work. You can create the detailed profile and "flirt" with others for free, but chatting and emailing others requires a subscription fee. There's no instant messaging, but there is a mobile application.

Given the emphasis by many dating sites on the younger set, there are several niche dating sites for more mature singles. Lavalife.com offers LavalifePrime for people over 45. Matchmaker.com, a large site owned by Date.com, has a large base of people over 35. SeniorMatch.com says it focuses on people over 50 and doesn't allow those under 30 to even register. SeniorFriendFinder.com also caters to an older crowd and has an international user base.

You may be surprised to learn there are also dating sites that connect singles based on more unusual circumstances. For instance, 2Date4Love.com was created by a cervical cancer survivor for people who are interested in a nonsexual, romantic relationship. MySportsLove.com brings sports fans together while SciConnect.com caters to lovers of science and nature. LargeandLovely.com and LargeFriends.com are just two of the many sites that are geared towards plus-sized singles.