FilipinoToDate is the new kid on the block when it comes to Filipino online dating. So I signed up for membership in order to see what was on offer.
So here’s the deal. Ladies can sign up for free. Men can also sign up for free. However, men need to pay if they want to contact the female members.
Sign up wasn’t too difficult, but the forms weren’t as polished as those used by the Cupid dating sites like Filipino Cupid/Filipina Heart. Some of the English instructions weren’t that good either – I get the impression that the site designer wasn’t a native English speaker.
Like most dating sites, FilipinoToDate is free to join so you can have a no obligation look around before you commit hard cash. And that’s where it gets disappointing. At the time of writing they were offering a one month membership for $24.17, 3 months for $39.17 or a year for $249.17. Just for reference I paid $165 for a year’s membership of Chinese Cupid, and $139.80 for an annual membership of China Love Match.
Incidentally, the FilipinoToDate annual membership costs more than four lots of the quarterly membership because it has additional benefits. These include being listed first in the search results and galleries, and the ability to view the so-called “first class ladies”. I’m not sure what’s different about these ladies, but I could only find 8 of them listed on the site. Strangely I could actually view them with just my standard membership.
Now I know that it’s hard to get people to hand over cash for dating site memberships. But these fees are pretty steep for what is quite a basic looking site. It certainly can’t compare with the slickness of Filipino Cupid, or the free dating offered by DateInAsia. There’s no sophisticated search facility like Filipino Cupid offers. This makes it difficult to search for ladies who live in Cebu, Davao, Manila or one of the other cities that’s easier to visit from a Western country. So before you fall in love with a FilipinoToDate girl, make sure you can conveniently visit her in person!
Asian online dating is very competitive, so make sure only the best sites get your hard earned cash!
The photo gallery photos are quite small, and it’s quite hard to judge the girls from the small photos on the site. I know LoveMe is expensive, but at least their photos are top quality. You can actually rate the members if you want, although it’s again quite hard to judge the girls from the photos they’ve uploaded. I once got mislead by a girl uploading small and heavily airbrushed photos of herself to an Asian dating site. I really wish a site would take the lead and allow big photos to be uploaded. If you’re flying 6000 miles to meet a girl, you really do want to know that she’s worth the time and expense of visiting the Philippines.
On the plus side, there were already quite a number of Filipinas to choose from on the site. I counted around 1100, and the site appears quite popular in the Philippines.
If you want to chat then you can choose to search for members who are online at the same time as you are. Bear in mind however that you need full membership in order to chat to girls on the site.
So I guess it’s worth a look at FilipinoToDate. It’s still a fairly low priced Filipino dating site. But I guess it begs the question – why do we need yet another Asian dating website in what is a very crowded market. If you want top notch features then choose Filipino Cupid. If you’re strapped for cash then you can find over half a million Asian women on the free site DateInAsia.
Do you think FilipinoToDate is a good place for Western guys and Filipino girls to meet? Leave your comments below!