SilverSingles Review: Our Hands-On Test

SilverSingles Pros and Cons

SilverSingles Memberships Compared

SilverSingles offers three paid memberships: Premium Light, Premium Comfort, and Premium Classic. What you get with each membership is exactly the same in terms of features. The only difference is the length of a subscription and the costs you’ll pay.

Once I paid via PayPal, I could see photos, send unlimited messages, and even get read receipts when someone read my messages.

SilverSingles Pricing

A SilverSingles membership will cost you anywhere from $13.95 per month for Premium Classic to $44.95 per month for Premium Light. The caveat is that Premium Classic’s total cost is actually $83.70 for six months of service. Except for SilverSingles’ free membership, which has highly restricted features, the paid memberships have the same functionality despite the different plan names.

My Experience With SilverSingles

Confession: I’ve been in a relationship with my live-in partner for more than two years. We own a lovely three-bedroom in Rhode Island. So I’m not evaluating SilverSingles in terms of dates — that’s up to you, if you choose to use it. However, I am evaluating it in terms of the interface and functionality, plus my overall experience.

The first thing I did when I signed up for SilverSingles was take a personality test. The test took about 20 minutes. It asked me basic questions, like my height (which I will not reveal here), education level, and what I am looking for in a partner. It also asked me to complete some image association tests.

For me, this test was a bit lengthy, but you may appreciate SilverSingle’s attempt to gauge compatibility. Once I had finished the test, I filled out my profile with pictures and prompts, and was taken to my dashboard, where I could search for new matches. If I saw anyone I was interested in, I could have messaged them or sent a smiley face. I could also filter by age, distance, desire to have children, and ethnicity/religion, if I was looking for, say, Jewish senior dating.

I liked that I didn’t need to “match” with someone in order to message them, which isn’t the case on apps like Hinge, which requires both parties to like each other before messaging. Rather, SilverSingles offered me matches on a, well, silver platter. From there, it was my prerogative whether I wanted to message them or not.

Overall, this website is easy to use, although the personality test was a bit long, in my book. But again, others may appreciate the level of detail, which in theory, leads to more compatible matches.

SilverSingles User Reviews

As of 2024, SilverSinles has an overall rating of 1.2 stars out of five stars on Consumer Affairs. This overall rating is based on 110 user reviews of the site and its services.

Many users take issue with the matching algorithm as well as the pricing structure. That said, many users wrote rave reviews about the site’s app, features, and the access it gave them to eligible singles.

Here are some review excerpts:

“I went in with very low expectations. This was my first dating site. By the third contact via email, I had met an interesting man. He was very dubious as to my profile truthfulness. Never thought to lie. We talked regularly for several weeks. By the time we met in person, we were exclusive. Silver singles worked for us. 4 years+ together. Would have reviewed sooner but couldnt find this site. But–be aware there are some fakes and scammers out there.” — Marrha M (via SiteJabber)

“I have encountered 3 scammers on this website- all turned out yo be German strangely. If he’s Anglo, good looking and highly educated, be wary!” — Steff P (via SiteJabber)

“While I have met/communicated with men on the platform, I have only IRL met three. The preponderance – maybe 97% – live 50 miles or more away from where I live, as there is no shorter distance choice available with Silver Singles. Many men do not include a picture, many men appear in their car, in their living room surrounded by pets, are in their undershirt in their bedroom, at the gym in whatever clothing, etc. I have found the thumbs up facebook liking part ridiculous, as I am not looking for likes – I am looking to communicate in words and not graphics/thumbs up.” — Dana (via Consumer Affairs)

SilverSingles vs. eHarmony

SilverSingles and eHarmony work pretty similarly. I took personality tests, and then, with a premium membership, could see unblurred photos and send limited messages.

In terms of pricing, SilverSingles is cheaper, starting at $13.95 a month with the six-month package compared to $29.90 a month with eHarmony’s 24-month package. Plus, the shortest amount of time I could sign up for with eHarmony was six months, while SilverSingles offers a one-month option.

There’s also the question of the members. SilverSingles is 80 percent people ages 50 and older, while, according to a 2020 survey from Statista, only 7 percent of eHarmony’s members are 55 and older, and only 10 percent are 45 and older. But while SilverSingles has a higher percentage of older members, eHarmony has many more members in general, as evidenced by its much higher number of Google searches from July 2023 to a year later. In other words, eHarmony is a much larger pool, but SilverSingles is more targeted to seniors.

I’d recommend SilverSingles if you want to save money or are looking for seniors specifically. However, if it’s in your budget and you are open to a wider group of people (and a bigger group in general), eHarmony could be worth the splurge.

Want to learn more? You can read my full review of eHarmony to see if it’s for you.