Meet Maggie, PCMag'sDating apps help connect you to fellow singles, but it's only when you start communicating that a true romance can emerge. Plenty of Fish—or as it's commonly known, POF—focuses on that second part: the conversations. POF is one of the few dating apps that lets you contact and chat with fellow users without matching or subscribing. That makes it one of the most immediately usable dating apps I've seen during my many years of testing and retesting the service. Since my last review, POF has revamped its video features and affordable premium tiers. Although it's not as feature-rich as Editors' Choice winner, Match, POF is a viable alternative for singles on a budget looking for love.
The ad-supported Plenty of Fish has a strong hook: Messaging is free. That doesn't mean POF won't ask for your money, though. If someone likes you without messaging, the app prompts you to upgrade your account to see who it is. POF offers three premium tiers: POF Plus ($9.99 per month), POF Premium ($19.99 per month), and POF Prestige (variable pricing). These fees are on the low side compared with eharmony and Match, which charge upwards of $66.90 and $44.99, respectively, for a monthly subscription.
The basic POF Plus subscription grants access to a list of the newest users and the ability to unlock extended profiles. With the latter, you'll see people's preferences and answers to a few questions. It even removes ads and lets you add up to 16 profile pictures instead of just eight. With POF Premium, you can see who is interested in you. You also get read-message receipts and the option to see when someone views your profile (or when they were last online). Finally, POF Premium gives your likes, messages, and first contacts higher priority so potential matches are more likely to see them.
Like other dating sites, POF lets you boost your profile using Tokens, which cost $1.99 to $3.99, depending on how many you buy, along with Super Yes-es, which are essentially a way to say you really think you like someone. You can also use Tokens to boost your profile and make your message a priority, which, as mentioned, pushes it to the top of the receiver's inbox. It's the dating app version of jumping the line at the club.
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Founded in 2003, POF is one of the more mature dating services and predates the smartphone app era. It has successfully transitioned to the modern age with both Android and iOS apps, but it still offers a browser version if you prefer to go old-school.
POF's signup process now eases you in one question at a time, instead of hitting you up with a parade of questions on a single screen. It's as user-friendly as those of competing apps, such as eharmony and Match, which also have streamlined yet exhaustive processes. Our other Editors' Choice winner, Tinder, is geared more toward the hookup scene, so it prioritizes photos during signup.
A few interesting questions stood out in my testing. For example, POF asks if you drive a car and inquires about your ambition. In the marital status section, POF offers a Not Single/Not Looking option. However, that status doesn't preclude you from answering a question about who you want to date. Other questions concern your income and your parents and siblings.
After adding a brief description of yourself and a few interests, along with a photo or video verification, you can start looking for matches. One appreciated safety feature is POF's warning not to give away too much personal information, such as your name, phone number, or address, on your profile page.
Unlike other apps, POF puts messaging front and center, prioritizing your inbox and a list of users POF deems more likely to respond. Including the Will Respond profiles is a nice way to highlight members who are most likely to give you the time of day. However, you’re free to ignore these guidelines and message anyone you want from anywhere at any time.
OkCupid also lets users message for free, but it isn't quite as easy as POF, and messages are limited to introductions to folks you’ve already liked. The only limits for POF are that you can message up to 50 new people per day, and your age gap must be less than 14 years, or 9 years if you’re under 22. As with any free dating app, though, you run the chance of encountering casual users who want to dabble without committing to a paying plan. If you find yourself receiving too much spam, you can disable messaging on your profile.
The search function uses your standard filter options—age, intent, ethnicity, and body type—and lets you search by the length of your potential match's longest relationship. ("You haven't spent more than eight years with someone? Then you're not for me!") You can also sort by income if you're looking for a sugar daddy or mommy. There's a Nearby function for when you just need to chat with someone within 0.5 miles, and a More Prospects field at the bottom of most screens to keep you "fishing" longer. Unfortunately, even if you aren't being terribly picky, your search might return a "No Results Found" response or be automatically broadened, an issue I've experienced before. In general, POF's removal of barriers makes messaging easier, but its small number of extra features makes finding quality connections harder.
Profiles show the person's photo, age, and screen name at the top, plus whether they're currently online. To help you start the conversation, the screen lists things the user enjoys. POF prompts you to mention something specific about their profile, likely to keep the "lol u up jk" messages to a minimum. You also have the option to send the message as Priority, which moves it to the top of the recipient's inbox. Of course, that will cost you extra, as I've detailed earlier.
Individual profiles feel more or less like spreadsheets—tons of data, with nothing particularly highlighted or featured. Hinge, on the other hand, combines text and images in visually elegant ways that make a great first impression on potential partners. The Meet Me function works like Tinder, allowing you to swipe left or right to quickly browse profiles. POF banned face filters to help keep photos authentic. You can also add a badge to your profile to alert other users that you aren't interested in sending or receiving unsolicited nude pictures.
Many dating apps have added virtual dating options, a useful way to explore a connection before a full-on meetup. POF once had a unique livestreaming feature for mobile users, but it's since been scaled back to basic video chat. Other dating apps with built-in video chat include Bumble and eharmony. The company that owns POF also owns Hinge, Match, OkCupid, and Tinder. Of those, Hinge and OkCupid lack video chat.
Final Thoughts
(Credit: POF)
POF (Plenty of Fish)
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
Read Our Editorial Mission Statement and Testing Methodologies.
Considering that most dating apps limit how you message other users, POF offers a huge value by removing basically all barriers to this feature. Overall, it's not as full-featured as our Editors' Choice pick for dating apps, Match, which offers richer profiles and better ways to connect with them. But POF is a good way to get your feet wet in the dating pool without spending a ton of money (and even if you subscribe, the fees are lower than those of its competitors). In addition, its prompts to start meaningful conversations with other members make Plenty of Fish feel less like a meat market than Tinder, another Editors' Choice winner, which is based more on photos and less on conversation.
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About Our Expert
My PCMag career began in 2013 as an intern. Now, I'm a senior writer, using the skills I acquired at Northwestern University to write about dating apps, meal kits, programming software, website builders, video streaming services, and video games. I was previously a senior editor at Geek.com and have written for The A.V. Club, Kotaku, and Paste Magazine. I'm the author of the gaming history book Video Game of the Year: A Year-by-Year Guide to the Best, Boldest, and Most Bizarre Games from Every Year Since 1977, and the reason everything you know about Street Sharks is a lie.
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