Jdate Online Dating Sites Review

Matching Criteria

Jdate promotes itself as the modern equivalent of a traditional "shidduch" or marriage arranger. But rather than putting yourself in the hands of a matchmaker to arrange a marriage for you, Jdate empowers you to find love on your own within a community that shares your faith and values.

Jdate doesn't require you to answer a whole lot of questions before creating an account. You're required to provide some basic identifying information and upload a photo to get started. The site does ask a handful of questions about faith and religious practices to help its technology hone in on matches whose lifestyles complement their own. That's about it. Signing up for Jdate doesn't take much time.

Arguably, that means the site may not be as effective at finding highly compatible matches as some sites that ask you to complete lengthy surveys in order to use their services. On the other hand, Jdate is a small niche site designed for users for whom the primary characteristic they're searching for is an affiliation with Judaism. That narrows the field quite a bit right there, compared to other sites that have no religious affiliation. Compared to sites that attract hundreds of thousands of new users a month, Jdate, with about 6,000 active users a day, there's simply less profile sorting to do. Bear in mind that Jdate won't deliver 100 matches to your inbox every day, but the matching experience Jdate delivers may be more manageable and pleasant for some users.

Profile Customization

Jdate profiles are brief when compared to other services' profiles. Just the facts, Jewish ma'am or mister. You can write a prose-style self-summary and answer a few multiple-choice questions about your preferences, interests, and relationship to Judaism and be on your way to browsing matches. But don't expect to see lengthy complicated profiles from other users. Jdate profiles are easy to scan and some users may prefer that to the very ponderous profiles you find on other dating sites. 

Some people get stuck when presented with open-ended requests like, "Tell us about yourself." If you find you're having difficulty writing your self-summary, you can reach out to Jdate's customer service team for support. 

Interface Features

It's pretty easy to create a profile and be on your way to browsing matches on Jdate. If you're interested in just checking out the service, you can sign up for a free basic account. That will give you a feel for the type of people you're likely to meet on Jdate and what it's like to interact with the site. As a free account holder, you can send other members "flirts"--the equivalent of a playful wave. However, to communicate any further with another member, you must purchase a subscription. Subscriptions are available in 1, 3, or 6 month increments and start at $29.99 per month when you pay upfront for a 6-month package.

Jdate's dashboard is very clear and easy to navigate. You can toggle between messages, matches, activity, and profile settings easily. The profile pages of your matches are similarly easy to view. Each profile you view is assigned a match percentage to give you a sense of how well aligned you might be with a potential date. The amount of information provided on each profile is digestible in a minute or two. That makes for easy browsing, though it may leave some daters wishing for more. That's when it's time to send an introductory message or a flirt and get the ball rolling on a potential new relationship. 

Jdate offers a free mobile app for iOs and Android users so you can take your dating life on the road anywhere you decide to go. The app earns a very good but not excellent rating on the Apple App store, but, based on the app's rating and on Google Play, Android users don't appear to have the same positive experience. 

Security and Privacy Measures

Jdate is more diligent than many online dating sites in its efforts to provide a safe online dating experience. Each user's profile is reviewed by a company representative for appropriateness and accuracy. The company offers customer service support 7 days a week and encourages users to report any suspicious or negative experiences, including harassment. Referrals of this kind are taken seriously and investigated by the company. The company commits to taking action when a member misuses the site. Jdate also publishes a section on its website devoted to safety in online dating and provides explicit advice on how to protect yourself.

We wish we could report that Jdate—and pretty much every other online dating site we've reviewed—takes stronger steps to protect your privacy. While the company does protect the data it collects from you on its own site through SSL encryption and other data security software, it still reserves the right to share your information in a multitude of ways. The company's privacy policy does not exclude the possibility that it will sell your information, stating, “If we exchange personal information with third-party partners for monetary or other valuable consideration in the future, we will take steps to avoid activities that could be considered a “sale” of California consumer personal information, such as by seeking consent or by excluding California residents from such promotions or activities." So Californians are afforded a little more protection but residents of other states don't necessarily enjoy the same.

Inclusivity

By definition, Jdate is about exclusivity. It offers a community made up nearly entirely of Jewish people—although, you can use the site if you're not Jewish. You just have to attest to some willingness to convert to Judaism at some theoretical date in the future.

Jdate doesn't easily accommodate people with fluid or hard-to-define genders or complicated sexual preferences. You can be a man or a woman and gay or straight and use the site easily, but Jdate doesn't make any accommodations for non-binary or bisexual individuals. But that's on par with most of the larger and most popular online dating sites. If you're somewhere in the more complicated regions of the LGBTQ+ world, you might be better off using a niche dating site that offers more freedom to search for matches, albeit in a smaller pool of users.