LavaLife.com

Lavalife (or Webpersonals until 2001) stands alone among online dating sites. The most notable feature of Lavalife is the fact that registration is free and there are no monthly fees. This is because most contact with other members of the site requires the use of credits. As a free member, you can reply to messages and view videos, but sending emails or instant messages require expending credits.


The credits do allow substantial time for communications, however. The first email message is six credits, and all subsequent messages to the same recipient are free. Six credits buy a twenty minute instant messaging session, and twelve credits buy an hour. Two credits will extend your chat time by five minutes.
Lavalife allows great flexibility in match searches. There is no compatibility profile, as is in many online dating sites, so the user is forced to use their own judgment to make a match. Users can search for friendships, long-term relationships or casual encounters. When coordinating a casual encounter, there are several options to narrow the search, including blindfolds, spankings and aggressiveness.

Again, unique to Lavalife, is the ability to hide or change your profile name. You can also log in without an active profile name, allowing you to chat in a hidden mode. This would allow the user to “start over” after meeting an undesirable match.