Is Christian Mingle Free?

Partly. Christian Mingle has a free Basic membership. A man can create a page, browse members and send a limited number of likes each day without paying. Premium raises those limits and adds extras, such as seeing who liked you before a match. Two people who have liked each other can message on Basic as well, according to the site's detailed help pages.

A free member can join, build a page, look through members and send likes every day. He also gets a limited set of recommended picks each day.

That is enough to find out whether the site shows you women near you whom you would like to meet. Spend a week or two there before you decide anything about paying. The site publishes no figure for how many men get dates, so your own numbers are the only evidence worth having.

Here the site's own pages disagree, and it is worth saying so.

Its About page says a Premium membership opens messaging. Its membership comparison page and its messaging page say that any two members who have both liked each other can message, on Basic as well as Premium.

We follow the detailed comparison and messaging pages, since they spell out how it works. On that reading, a mutual like is what lets two free members talk. If you hit a wall, check your own account screen, because the site can change what it does.

To reach a woman before you have both liked each other, a man can send an Intro Message. Basic members get a small weekly allowance of them, and Premium members get a larger one.

On Basic, photos on incoming Intro Messages stay blurred. So when a woman writes to you first, you can read her note, but on Basic her photos stay blurred.

Use Intro Messages the way you would use any first line. Pick one real detail from her page, say something light about it and ask a question she can answer in a sentence. A man who spends a scarce weekly allowance on "hi" has wasted it.

Premium adds unlimited likes, seeing who liked you before a match, extra match filters and read receipts. It also raises the daily limit on recommended picks and the weekly Intro Message allowance.

Seeing who liked you saves time, because those women have already said yes. Extra filters help a man who knows what he wants. Read receipts tell you she opened your message, which is not the same as her answering it.

Christian Mingle sets no one fixed price, so check what the screen shows on the day, and check whether the term renews on its own. Do not buy a long term just to find out if you like the site.

a dating coach's view of paid apps is that a subscription scales whatever the free version already gives you. A few likes back and a couple of conversations can become more of both. Nothing in means nothing out, however much you pay.

He also says that refusing to pay for anything can hold a man back. So the sensible order is free first, paid second, and your own counts as the judge.

Use Basic for two weeks with your best photos in place. Count the women you liked, the likes you got back, the conversations that started and the plans you made. Write the four numbers down on day one and again on day fourteen, because a feeling about how it went is rarely as accurate as the count.

If the numbers are healthy and you want more reach, try the shortest Premium term on offer and compare. If they are flat, fix the lead photo and your first line before spending anything.

A faith-based site answers one question for you before you start. Everyone there is looking for a partner who shares your faith, so you skip a conversation that would take a few messages on a general app.

It does not write your first message. A woman reads your photos and your opening lines as she would anywhere else. Use a clear, recent photo of your face in daylight. Add two or three that show how you spend a week. Then say one true thing about your life that she could ask about, such as the Saturday shift you volunteer for. Then suggest a coffee near her, because the site is a way to meet and the coffee is where it becomes a date.