Flirt.com Promises Easy Matches for Men — But Does It Deliver?

Overview

It’s no secret that men and women have different struggles when it comes to online dating. I wanted to see what it’s really like for men on a casual dating site like Flirt.com. I went undercover as a 35-year-old man on the hookup site to find out how easy or difficult it is for men to find matches on Flirt. While many women reached out to me, I found the site limited a men’s free membership when it came to messaging. I couldn’t respond until I upgraded (prices start at $2.99). Many of the profiles I saw were also very similar to each other, lacking personality details beyond photos, so the experience was pretty superficial.

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I’m no stranger to navigating the turbulent seas of online dating as a woman. There are high highs, sure, but there are also really tough parts. Creepy messages. Unsolicited nudes. And of course, the ever-present fear that the person you meet up with IRL won’t be who they say they are.

Men have a tough time online dating as well, but in a different way. Almost every guy I’ve talked to about dating apps has told me about how matches are few and far between. Their biggest issue is getting a real live girl to respond.

I got to thinking: Is that actually true? I decided to go undercover as a man on Flirt.com to see what it’s really like for the other half. Read on to learn how it went down for me (or rather my alter-ego, Sean).

Signing Up With Just an Email Address

Like most casual dating sites worth their salt, Flirt.com made its signup process extremely quick and easy to complete. 

I simply put my gender and what gender I’m looking for (for this exercise, I put that I’m a man looking for a woman), my age, my ZIP code, and an email address.

The whole thing took me two minutes flat.

I was disappointed to see that the gender options were binary (only men and women). That could make queer folks feel left out.

Once my email was accepted, I was prompted to add a photo. I added a pic of my alter ego, Sean, and I was ready to get scrolling.

Profiles Don’t Go Into Detail

After completing my profile, I was thrown into the Search page, where I could see tons of profiles of women who roughly fit my age range and location. 

Given that I put my age as 35, the site automatically set my age range to 18-40, which is pretty young, if you ask me.

The majority of profiles I saw featured attractive women on the younger side. Many of them had wholesome, lighthearted bios like: “Ready to take on life’s adventures with a playful and fun-loving spirit 🌟😎” or “Embracing the magnetic pull of passion, seeking a confident and alluring companion.” 

In fact, the bios were so similar, I wondered if some of them were created by the same person… or by bots. 

Beyond a couple photos and a bio, I couldn’t see much in these women’s profiles without a premium membership. I was only able to view their main profile photos. I couldn’t see their “looking for” section either.

The full-sized photos I get, but not letting free members see the profile’s dating intentions seemed random.

I could, however, see that almost every single profile came from Flirt’s sister sites, which were places like flirtymature.com or sexeronde.com. That didn’t seem to make users less responsive, and I understand why a niche site might want to pool its members, who did all seem to be casual daters.

I Received a Bunch of Messages

From the second I created my profile, I started getting a lot of messages, and that never stopped. 

But there’s a catch: Because I was using a free profile, I was only able to read the first few chats. I was also told the message would be deleted in an hour if I didn’t upgrade.

That’s a pretty clever — albeit annoying — way to convince people to upgrade to premium in a hurry. 

I don’t have proof of this, but I’ve got a hunch that at least some of the profiles messaging me were not real women. Some of the chats were giving generic bot energy.

Given the similarities between the profiles I saw and how many more messages I received as a man on this site (about 3x more than when I tested out Flirt as a woman), it seems a bit too good to be true. I would need to vet these matches in conversations to figure out if they were the real deal, but as it stood, it just felt like a way to upsell me on a paid membership.

The few messages I was able to read were fairly standard dating app openers, not nearly as graphic as the messages I’ve received as a woman on similar sites. 

Maybe the blocked messages are more explicit. I can’t say for sure because, as I’ll detail in the next section, I wasn’t able to upgrade…

Cost Breakdown

With how limited the free version of Flirt is, I would 100% recommend that any men interested in using it go with the paid version. It’s only a few dollars, and you can sign up for as little as three days (just be sure to switch off auto-renewal).

Here’s the complete price breakdown:

But I ran into a snag: My credit card wouldn’t go through on the site. The error read: “The transaction was rejected by your issuer.”

The site suggested using another card. I did, and I got the same error message. I think it must’ve been some sort of glitch, and when I looked online, I saw others complaining about the payment system being unclear or having unexpected charges.

The wording around recurring payments could be clearer, and I obviously wish I had been able to upgrade successfully to unlock all the features.

Paid members can see more photos and profile details, and they can share private photos in their chats.

And the price breakdown isn’t too shabby either, especially if you go with a three-day trial, which, in my book, seems like a good option for casual daters.

Just make sure you read the terms and conditions before completing the sign-up, and keep an eye on your credit card statements.

Pros & Cons

I got off to a fast start on Flirt.com. I was registered and receiving messages within minutes. That was encouraging.

I was surprised that my profile got so much attention since it was just a nondescript man. I did wonder how many catfish like me were swimming in this dating pool. Although I didn’t get anyone asking me to invest in crypto or help their sick aunt or anything, I always have my guard up with online dating.

Obviously, the biggest con was that I couldn’t pay for the full experience on Flirt.com. I would’ve liked to read all the messages I received and get a good feel for who is out there. As it happened, I got more of a free sample than the full scoop.

I will say that it was enjoyable to look at photos and send likes to profiles. All that was cleanly laid out without a lot of extraneous distractions. I saw plenty of women I would’ve liked to talk to… if I’d been able to upgrade.

Safety Considerations

My biggest concern on Flirt.com — funnily enough, even more so as a man — was safety. It was extremely easy for me to make a profile on the site with a different gender, even after having made a totally separate profile on the site before from the same laptop. 

Aside from putting in my email, I didn’t encounter any verification steps that would prove my photos or personal details were true.

I saw little evidence of security measures in place to protect against fake profiles. No facial recognition, no ID requirements. That’s kind of worrisome.

On the flip side, I saw a lot of profiles that seemed suspicious to me. Some profile photos looked AI-generated. A couple of women messaged me the second I went on their page or less than a minute after I sent a like.

And many of the profiles lacked any personality quirks or details that I’m used to on other sites.

Now, if you’re just looking to chat with some women online, I think the site is fine to use. 

But I’d be careful (as always) about meeting anyone in person, giving out financial information, or sharing sensitive photos. If you do decide to meet up IRL, make sure you meet in public and video call before sending anything you can’t take back.

Flirt Is Full of Hot Photos, But Use Caution

I was pleasantly surprised by the number of profiles I saw on Flirt. And definitely blown away by the number of messages I received as a man. My experience was not one of waiting around for a like or message, but rather being a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of contact I received.

But at the same time, the site felt a bit too good to be true. I didn’t trust the profiles I saw, and I didn’t see any verification checkmarks or tools to give them more credibility. And since I wasn’t able to upgrade, I never got to dig deeper. 

I think men will have a fine time checking out hotties on Flirt, as long as they remain cautious of the profiles they see and use their best judgment.