Chemistry.com Reviews

Editor's Star Ratings:

Chances of Getting a Date:
Features:
Quality / Size of Members' Photos:
Help Files / Technical Support:
Ease of Use / Navigation:
Ease of Joining / Registration:
Value for Money:
Overall Star Rating:

Costs:

• FREE basic membership!
• Premium memberships are priced as follows:
  • 1 month: $49.95
  • 3 months: $99.96. But you can get 3 months for the price of 1 (i.e. $49.95) if you sign-up today by following any of our links to Chemistry.com!
  • 6 months: $159.90

Features:

• Approximately 11 million registered members.
• Based on the scientific principles developed by Dr. Helen Fisher, a professor with over 20 years of anthropological research.
• Chemistry.com is a spin-off website from Match.com
• Your whole dating experience with Chemistry.com will be split into 4 parts:
  • The You Part: Chemistry.com's personality profile captures your essential truths and goals, so they can find someone to spark a magical combination.
  • The Matching Part: Chemistry.com will send you up to five free matches with the potential to trigger chemistry every day. They're based on the latest science of what creates powerful attraction according to Dr. Fisher's research.
  • The Email Part: Chemistry.com's Guided Communications Process (more fun than it sounds) lets you fly past that awkward get to know you stage so you can see if there's a basis to move forward, or move on.
  • The Dating Part: That's why you're here, right? It's time for the chemistry check. If there is, they pop the champagne at Chemistry HQ. If not, tell them what fizzled and the Chemistry.com system actually learns!
• The initial questionnaire to determine your personality profile is intense and requires a great deal of time.
• After completing your questionnaire, Chemistry.com will analyze the results and will send approximately 5 matches a day to you. You will not have the ability to search for matches yourself - this is done for you.
• If you upgrade to a premium membership you may initiate contact with one of the matches that Chemistry.com sends you using the 1-2-3 Meet system, a guided communication system of Q&A's and emails to facilitate breaking the ice.
• If you think there's chemistry there, then you can send out a First-Meeting request and schedule to meet your date in person using Chemistry.com's scheduling system, where you can agree to meet at a place and time suitable to both of you without having to exchange e-mail addresses or phone numbers.
• After your first meeting, Chemistry.com will ask you how it went. Chemistry.com will take feedback from both parties and will let you both know if there's mutual interest there. If not, Chemistry.com will actually learn from its mistakes in an effort to provide you with better matches in future! Clever, eh?
• Your photo is only revealed when you feel comfortable doing so. Great news if you look like the back end of a bus! Not so great news if you're about to date someone who looks like the back end of a bus!
• The Chemistry Concierge - get advice from a real person on how to use the site. The concierge is available by email or by telephone.
• Meet-in-Person Promise: if after 3 months you don't meet at least 3 matches through Chemistry.com whom you think are great, Chemistry.com will give you an additional 3 months free! (Terms and conditions apply to this offer - see the Chemistry.com website for details.)
• Automatic profile transfers to Match.com, as long as you have a Match.com profile.
• Recommended for long term, serious relationships only - not for casual dates or simple flirting!
• Excellent technical support.

Joining:

• Sign-up to Chemistry.com for free.
• The initial questionnaire to determine your personality profile is intense and requires a great deal of time. It's designed to discover who you are, what you want from a relationship, and who you would fall in love with. It is split into 4 parts: self perception; communication dynamics; personal traits and preferences; and aspects of identities.
• As a free member you will be sent up to 5 matches a day that are compatible with your profile.
• You must upgrade to a paid subscription in order to initiate contact with any of the matches you are sent or in order to reply to anyone who initiates contact with you. (Premium membership prices are quoted above). There is currently a 7-day free trial on the premium service.

Performing a Search:

• You may not perform any member searches on Chemistry.com. The system will find matches for you based on your personality profile. These matches will be sent to you and only then can you view their profiles and choose to communicate with them.

Editor's Verdict:

Chemistry.com is very similar to eHarmony in many respects. It relies on various matchmaking and compatibility principles that were pioneered by eHarmony.com, but with the addition of personality (or chemistry) matching based on Dr. Helen Fisher's anthropological research. It is largely because of this advanced matchmaking system that we put Chemistry.com ahead of eHarmony in our ratings!

Unlike most other dating sites (with the exception of eHarmony and PerfectMatch.com), Chemistry.com doesn't allow you to browse and read members' profiles for yourself. Instead it does the matchmaking for you based on an intensive questionnaire that you have to complete when you join. This initial questionnaire contains hundreds of multiple choice questions designed to analyze your wants and needs and determine a personality profile for you. Filling out this questionnaire is a bit like applying for a job - many of the questions require a great deal of thought. This may put some people off, but for those who take their love lives seriously enough, this will be more important than applying for a job and they will be happy to spare the time and put in the effort to complete this questionnaire. The up-side of this is that it weeds out all but those who are serious about finding a long term relationship, meaning that Chemistry.com has only people in search of long-term serious relationships as members - there are no time wasters here!

Chemistry.com analyses the results of your questionnaire and categorizes you into a personality type - assigning you both a major and minor personality from one of the following types: builder, director, explorer or negotiator. It then tries to find you a suitable match based on your personality type and your wish-list (the things you asked for in a partner), which you filled in as part of your questionnaire. Chemistry.com will try to send you up to 5 matches per day based on your personality profile. 5 matches may not seem like a lot - but the idea is that these 5 matches will be very well-suited to you and you to them. The emphasis with Chemistry.com is very much on quality and not quantity.

When you find a match you want to make contact with, you can do so using Chemistry.com's Guided Communication System, which is a series of questions and answers that you both choose to ask each other. If you think there's chemistry there, then you can submit a First-Meeting request, which is basically a request to meet up (does all this seem a bit over the top to you?) Anyway, you can basically arrange to meet at a place and time through the Chemistry.com website, without having to swap phone numbers or e-mails. This is great news for anyone worried about maintaining their privacy and anonymity right up until the last minute. After your date, Chemistry.com will ask you both for feedback on the date. If the feedback is positive, then it will let you both know and you can arrange to meet again. If not, then Chemistry.com's clever matchmaking system will actually try and learn from its mistakes and find your better matches next time around. All very clever and hi-tech really!

Given the intensive questionnaire you have to fill out when you join and the rather steep joining fee, Chemistry.com is really only for those who are very serious about finding the perfect long-lasting relationship. If you're just curious or you just want a bit of casual fun and then see how it goes, then Chemistry.com is probably not for you - instead try one of our other recommended dating sites. But if you've had bad luck in the past, or you're shy, or you're worried you might be getting on in years and are sick and tired of the bar scene, then Chemistry.com may be just what you are looking for. You can sign-up to Chemistry.com for free and receive your daily matches free of charge too. You only have to pay when you wish to either initiate contact with another member or you want to reply to another member. Bear in mind that when you initiate contact with another member, he/she must also have upgraded to paid membership in order to reply to you. However, if he/she is interested enough in your profile, you can be fairly confident that he/she will do this in order to reply. And if he/she doesn't think it's worth it, then he/she probably isn't right for you anyway.

Whilst the lengthy registration process and the fact that you can't perform your own searches may put some people off Chemistry.com, there is no doubt that its advanced matchmaking skills make it an ideal choice for anyone serious enough about finding a long-term serious relationship to complete the lengthy registration questionnaire. Strictly speaking, Chemistry.com doesn't really belong in this category, as it is a matchmaking site, rather than a dating site per se. This is noticeable from the many differences between Chemistry.com and many of the other sites listed here. However, with more and more dating sites offering automatic matchmaking, the distinction between the two groups has become blurred enough for us to lump them all together in the one category. Although Chemistry.com ranks in 9th place in our top 10 dating site reviews, you should note that it is our favourite of the advanced matchmaking sites, beating off its nearest rivals in this genre, namely eHarmony and PerfectMatch.com.

Chemistry.com also makes you the Meet-in-Person Promise, promising you at least 3 great matches in the first 3 months or they will give you 3 months extra free! So they clearly have confidence in their own product. Also, for a limited time only, follow any of our links and sign up to Chemistry.com and get 3 months for the price of 1! This is a special offer discount available from No1Reviews.com.

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