Last Updated on February 8, 2023
The Basics
Unlike most other dating sites, Adult FriendFinder specifically targets the casual fun crowd. There are no expectations for long-term relationships or “forever love,” although there is always the chance for a repeat performance if you find someone you enjoy.
The site supports anyone looking for a sexual or physical relationship, whether swingers, threesomes, traditional partners, random hookups, or any sexual orientation. Many users enjoy finding partners with specific kinks and fetishes, making it easier to act on their own sexual preferences.
Upon accessing the site, new users will be asked for basic information, including email, username, gender, sexual preference, and a personal introduction. You will then be asked to verify your email, and then you can enter your account. Once you are logged in, you can add pictures, add an “about me” area, add your ideal partner’s characteristics, answer questions, and browse profiles. There are also various places to provide information about your personality and preferences, making it easier to find a partner you will enjoy.
To find a potential match or partner, users can search based on who’s online currently, who is nearby, VIP users only, or based on specific kinks. You are then given a list of profiles that might interest you, plus you can browse photos and select other profiles to view more in-depth based on your search. Once you find someone who fits your desires, you can Flirt, send them a message, or add them to your Hot List.
For members who prefer the swiping style of browsing, Adult FriendFinder has a “Hot or Not” feature where you’re able to browse profiles on the mobile app and swipe right for “hot” or left for “not.”
The History of AdultFriendFinder
In 1993, when the internet was becoming a household commodity and people were discovering the joys of meeting strangers online, the creator of Adult FriendFinder built the first known dating site on the internet, named WebPersonals. It was essentially the “personals” section of the newspaper, but digital. It wasn’t very exciting, but everyone starts somewhere.
After selling WebPersonals two years later, the team took a year to develop and launch FriendFinder. Within days, hundreds of adults were posting their nudes with emojis and winky faces to bring in their next sex partner for the evening. The site community rapidly grew, becoming a global sensation soon afterward.
At the end of 2007, AdultFriendFinder changed the parent company’s name to FriendFinder Networks. FriendFinder Networks has many sites perfect for niche fetishists to find like-minded individuals to share their night with. The primary Adult FriendFinder site continues to be one of the largest and most trusted dating domains anywhere online.
What to know about the dating community on the site
Most users on Adult FriendFinder are singles or couples looking for casual sex, a third for a threesome, swinger partners, or a friend with benefits. Most users are mid-to-late twenties, so you don’t have much of the immaturity that comes with the barely legal crowd, and the site makes it clear there are no expectations for extended romance. The site also has a large population of LGBTQ+ members, so there is a match for everyone.
The male-to-female ratio is difficult to calculate due to the large number of gender identities used on the site. Still, as of 2022, the best guesstimate is roughly 65% male to 35% female out of more than 105 million total users. During any given week, the site sees about 2 million accounts logging in and using the site.
Since the site welcomes all fetishes, kinks, and alt-lifestyle identities and preferences, you will almost always find someone in your area with your particular kink that is ready and willing to meet up and have some fun. Even if your kinks or fetishes are more of an untried curiosity, the overall population that uses AdultFriendFinder is open-minded, so you can safely explore those curiosities without judgment.
Pricing Information
Adult FriendFinder is free to register and browse, but a paid subscription is required to use features like messaging other users or seeing their complete profiles. Free members can create a Hot List, “like” photos and videos, join blogs or groups, use filters when searching, and comment on blogs and videos. All members can also access Group Chat Rooms, where you can meet and chat with other online users without browsing individual profiles.
For members who want to get the most out of the site, there is a paid subscription called the Gold Membership, with an additional add-on option. Subscriptions may be purchased for 1, 3, or 12 months with the price per month being lowered depending on your subscription length. Currently, one month is $27.95 a month, three months is $59.85, and 12 months is $179.40 each year, and all subscription options automatically renew unless canceled. Your paid membership allows you access to features like chat and private messaging, the ability to view complete member profiles, send gifts and add friends, watch live streams by other members, “flirt,” and get access to the Sex Academy.
Gold Members have the additional option to purchase an add-on feature called Standard Contacts. This allows free members to view your profile and send you messages, even though they cannot message basic Gold Members or other free members. Standard Contacts is automatically set for your subscription length. Still, you can reduce the time via a drop-down menu if you want to avoid purchasing this feature for your entire subscription. For example, one month is $24.95, three months is $35.85, and 12 months is $107.40.
Standard Features to Enjoy
As a free member, you can receive messages (but can’t reply), browse user profiles, participate in adult chat rooms, and watch live cam shows. You will also be able to search based on age and gender filters and see what users are near you, but you won’t be able to narrow down your search to the ideal hottie without getting a paid membership.
Paying for the membership unlocks all the features. For example, you can search categories like specific body types, whether you want athletic, slim, BBW, or other options like bra size, penis shape and size, and plenty of other specifics that you’d have to meet someone to discover with other sites.
Are there bonus features?
Adult FriendFinder has an extensive area for optional information about users. For example, users can fill out a Purity Test where they can check off any sexual adventures they’ve had, including things like shaving your pubic hair, giving oral sex, cheating, or rimming a partner. After filling this out, you can see your pure to naughty percentage and retake the test whenever you want. The percentage is then displayed on your profile, but specific answers remain hidden.
Members can also upload videos to their profile instead of pictures like other dating or hookup sites. The best part about this is that images and videos can be X-rated, so you’ll know exactly what you’re getting before jumping into bed with them.
The site also has a Sex Academy for paying members to watch instructional videos that give tips and techniques for different sexual positions, including oral and anal sex, and ways to meet people or make online connections that lead to more.
Additionally, members can access a library full of user-submitted content, such as erotic stories, magazine articles, journals, and user blogs. Members can read as much as they want and comment on certain content to provide feedback or ask questions.
Does it actually work?
This is truly the ultimate question when finding the best site for your money. To best explain the success rating of the site, here are a few statistics and numbers to show you the facts. All percentages are based on the average 2 million users who log in and actively use the site each week.
Of all matches made between various users, 94% of users report the match was of good quality overall. When you send a message to another active account, the chance that you will receive a reply within a week is about 89%.
When asked how much users enjoyed the site on a scale of 1 to 10, with one being not at all and ten being they love it, users rated Adult FriendFinder at an average of 9 out of 10.
For active users that have been members for one year, 58% say they have hooked up with anywhere between 1 to over 50 partners due to finding partners on AdultFriendFinder. Additionally, 43% have hooked up with up to ten people within the past year, 10% have hooked up with 10 to 25 partners, 3% have hooked up with 25 to 50 different partners, and a lucky 2% proudly boast they have hooked up with more than 50 partners that they met through Adult FriendFinder.
For those who hate numerical facts, this information means that with 2 million people logging in every week, you are highly likely to get a reply when you message that gorgeous profile that is DTF, and you are highly likely to hook up with them, at least once, within a few days of contacting each other, depending on their schedule. You also have a good chance of hooking up with at least ten different people over the course of one year, with countless amounts of repeat encounters for those friends-with-benefits.
Are there any downsides I need to know about?
Adult FriendFinder is a hookup site. It is improbable you will meet your future soulmate or spouse here, but plenty of people are looking for a good time until you’re ready to meet that special someone.
There are ads on the site, but they are easy to ignore and don’t have constant pop-up advertisements that detract from your search for the next Mr. or Ms. Right Now.
You will occasionally encounter a bot or a catfish, but the site continues working to remove those daily so that you won’t encounter nearly as many as a few years ago. Most people you meet are real people, and the catfish types are simple to spot within the first few messages.
There was a data breach in 2015, along with many other online companies in the same timeframe, but Adult FriendFinder has resolved the security gap and has not had a security breach since then, which is impressive, considering the amount of traffic. Furthermore, the data breach also caused the site to be one of the safest hookup sites on the internet today to prevent any further risk to personal data, even going so far as to implement in-depth encryption systems on the backend of the site.
The Bottom Line
Overall, AdultFriendFinder is great for anyone looking for a casual fling, hookup, or couples looking for an extra addition to spice things up. The site’s functionality is easy to use, and the subscription cost weeds out many bots and scammers while being reasonably priced for the number of features you can access.
The site continues to grow as “kink” culture becomes more widely accepted in society, and the site is one of the better selections for the LGBTQ+ crowd. While you probably won’t find your soulmate through group chats, you will most likely find someone that can help you with your physical needs and urges, and you’ll have more information about them than if you meet them out on the town.
While it’s fair to say that no hookup site is perfect, Adult FriendFinder is as close as anyone has come so far. If you want an affordable way to find local hookups with a very low chance of bots and pretenders, and you want a community that cares about the health of the people looking for lust online, then Adult Friend Finder is always the first site you’ll want to try out, and it may quickly become the only site you ever visit if your goal is to get laid.