Ashley Madison Review 2024 — Real Married Dating Site or Scam?
| Active Audience | 65% |
| Quality Matches | 86% |
| Popular Age | 24-26 |
| Profiles | 2 150 000 |
| Reply Rate | 89% |
| Ease of Use | 9.4 |
| Popularity | 9.2 |
| Fraud | Very Rarely |
| Rating | |
| Registration | Free |
Ashley Madison users sign up here as well:
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Josie
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26 May 2020Updated:11 Mar 2024
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2483 Views
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9 min read
Pros and Cons
- Meant for a particular segment of users
- Outstanding mobile app experience
- No charges for female users
- Excellent anonymity on every front
- Profiles do not have a lot of information
- No premium membership even if users are interested
- Men have to pay charges for using the site.
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Ashley Madison has quickly grown into one of the best places for users who are keen on relationships outside of their marriage. In fact the tagline of this site would be ‘Life is short. Have an affair.’ The site has generated tremendous interest around the world, as it provides an anonymous and comprehensive view of finding joy outside marriage.
The Mechanics Behind Ashley Madison
Among several online dating sites that were meant for users of the same views, Ashley Madison differs in that it covers married individuals who are often outside their marriage. The tricky nature of the segment makes it crucial for Ashley Madison to have a range of mechanisms to protect the identities of its members. Users from all the countries are accepted, and this opens up the possibilities of having an international affair.
Huge Audience Diversity
Ashley Madison is diverse, even though the site primarily covers extramarital affairs. Most of the users are between 25 and 60, which makes it a great place to find matches of different age groups and satisfy various fetishes. Even though Ashley Medison is also available for users below 25, the vast majority of members are over 35 years old. Men are in the majority here with a 70:30 ratio as compared to females.
The members of this site are from more than 50 countries around the world, but users from the United States and Canada are most active. There is also immense diversity in terms of religious beliefs, ethnicity, and race.
Best Features
Even though Ashley Madisons site can seem simple, some key elements on the site can be of great use. The best features of Ashley Madison are:
Discreet Photos
Members can make their photos private or discreet. This option is available to increase protection of users’ data, as a most of the users are married. To avoid giving away their identity, they can use this feature. Alternatively, users can make their photos blurred, so that potential matches are given a hint of what to expect. A user can always make photos available for a specific person with the help of the key.
Message Plus
This feature is useful for users who want to get in touch with the members they previously contacted with. They can access this feature as part of the free trial, which has a 30-day validity. If a user loses touch with a previous contact and they want to get back to the roots, they can use this feature.
Favorites List
It can be difficult to keep track of the 50 million+ users on the site. This can result in many exciting profiles being lost without even initiating contact. For this reason, a Favorites List feature can be used, so that profiles are stored in a secure manner to be used later.
TravelingMan
If a user is on the road for most of their time, it can be difficult to use online dating apps. They can use this feature in such a situation to instantly connect with at least 30 different profiles within the vicinity. A user can contact with these profiles in advance so that a date can be planned before visiting the place.
Winks
Sending winks is a subtle but effective way to spark an interest in a specific profile. It is available on every profile page. After visiting the profiles of interest, users can find the wink symbol. By clicking the symbol, you will send a notification to the other member that you are interested in communication.
Priority Man
Since there are several million profiles on Ashley Madison, it can be challenging to stand out without a boost feature. Male users can purchase this feature that helps them stand out from the list of other members. The highlight will also be applicable in the search results, and this puts them in an advantageous position when trying to attract other users.
Ashley Madison User Friendliness
Ashley Madison has managed to come out with two ways of accessing the content. Users can use a mobile app or a desktop site depending on their preferences. Both of them have been modified suitably to ensure that users can perform various functions on the platform even if they are not Internet savvy.
Site Access and Design
The modern nature of Ashley Madison is reflected by a design that is catchy, simple, and neat. The process of navigating through the site is rather easy, and this can be crucial, since many of users are not millennials.
Ashley Madison’s Mobile Experience
The mobile experience of Ashley Madison is provided with apps and a mobile site. Apps can be used on Android and iOS devices, but users have to spend some space on their phone. Yet, this is the only worry with installing an app, as the developers have done a remarkable job at providing various options to hide the app. Users can use the app to find any nearby profiles, and it can be a handy feature.
Customer Support System
The help section is provided with a reasonable amount of information offered in the form of questions and answers. Yet, they are substantially less informative for someone who has a serious problem. In that case, they can use the email, which will help them to get in touch with a professional support team. The interactions with the team are likely to be positive, as they are friendly and professional.
Ashley Madison Sign-Up and The Interface of Profile Section
The signup process offered by Ashley Madison is simple and understandable. There is a significant difference as compared to other dating sites, and this lies in the lack of personal information being collected by this site.
Once a member finishes the signup process, they go to the profile interface that can be changed in different forms. Crucially, users can hide their profiles, or make them private or public, and this is also applicable to the pictures. Other members are eligible to see the pictures by requesting access from the user. The profile interface can convey plenty of data like the current status of the relationship, interests, physical desires, languages known, and more.
All users are permitted to upload a maximum of 13 pictures. Apart from the designated fields that cover different aspects of a person, an ‘about me’ section is also provided to express details. If a user feels threatened, they can switch the profile into a discreet mode that is only applicable for safety purposes.
Steps to Register
The process of registration starts from asking information about relationship status, preferred username, preferred password, date of birth, ethnicity, and more. It takes about five minutes to enter all the information, pick up the desired profile picture, and upload any of the photos that need to be shared. All members can blur their images if they are not comfortable sharing them.
Quality and Verification of Profiles
Ashley Madison is famous for not putting up a detailed profile, as the nature of the site allows its users not to disclose their identity. For this reason, Ashley Madison also does not require many details like a name. In most cases, profiles consist of basic information only. Many users choose not to fill up their profiles, and most photos are also blurred out. Yet, the quality of profiles remains high, and it is a reason for the brand popularity. The site manages to hold users who are open to experiments even after marriage.
Search Functionality on Ashley Madison
A comprehensive tool is available to filter users based on physical appearance like body type, and so on. Users can also include fetishes in the search, so that they can bump into people who are interested in specific fetishes like BDSM.
Finding Profiles and Texting on Ashley Madison
The process of finding profiles is developed via a matching system that covers all the members based on the user’s preferences. It is possible to put profiles into a favorites list, which can hold up to 100 profiles. The process of initiating contact can be done by men and women alike, but the site features are free for the latter. The men have to purchase credits, and they can contact with other users only with credits in their account.
Once users are shortlisted, members can start texting each other just like on any other dating site. Unlike some of the websites that only allow women to initiate contact, Ashley Madison does not have such restrictions, and this increases the possibility of finding a good match.
Reasons to Subscribe
Ashley Madison is a great way to meet interesting people outside marriage, but unfortunately, users have to pay to use many of the features. The differences between free and paid version are enormous, especially for men.
Free Version
Free version at Ashley Madison is only available for female users. Men can only register and create an account, which will be close to useless without purchasing and adding credits. On the other hand, women can use all of the features on the site without any cost. There are not too much available features for men without credits, as they can just view profiles and send winks, amongst other basic actions.
Features for Subscription Users
Paid membership is an excellent way to use Ashley Madison to its fullest, and it gives a lot of power to men, as they can now initiate contacts with prospective matches. There is plenty of adrenaline rush provided by the purchase of credits, as it now puts a user in pole position to attract other members.
Prices on Ashley Madison
Credits can be purchased in different amounts starting with the basic quantity of 100 credits that costs $59. The next option would be to go for 500 credits, which is priced at $169. The most expensive option would be 1000 credits, which is available at $289.
Canceling Your Paid Membership
Ashley Madison provides options for canceling subscription if a member is not happy for any reason. If a member has a credit-based membership or if they have a Priority Man subscription, it can be canceled by going into the ‘credit history’ section of the site. If the user has a subscription-based membership, they can just go into the ‘Manage Subscriptions’ section of the site to cancel it. If a user cancels his subscription before the renewal date, they would not be eligible for a refund.
User’s Security and Safety at Ashley Madison
The nature of Ashley Madison makes it essential to provide the highest standard of safety and security to users. For this reason, the site adopts the SSL encryption to avoid leaking information. Even before joining the site, users should consider opening up separate email accounts so that their data is not compromised at any stage.
Even during the registration process, the password is analyzed against the highest standards. Any payments made on the site will not feature on the credit card bill of the user. Instead, all this information will be protected so that users are completely safe from the possibility of being found out.
Best Alternatives for Ashley Madison
Even though Ashley Madison is one of the top sites for married people to have relationships outside of their marriage, it is also possible to use many other alternatives for different reasons. Some of the top options are:
Marital Affairs
This is a popular dating site that started out in the mid-2000s. It has become one of the stable platforms for finding people who are interested in adult dating and extramarital affairs. Just like Ashley Madison, this site promises to provide the anonymity and privacy required for this niche. This is one of the biggest features that sets it apart from a regular dating site. Comprehensive search functionality is available on this platform to look for members locally or worldwide. This provides a great dating experience for people who are frequently traveling or stuck at home.
Hush Affair
Hush Affair is another site that is focused on hookups for married people. This is a secure site with enough measures taken to protect the identity of users. A reasonable selection of profiles is available on this site in English, French, and Spanish. The global presence of the site gives users the opportunity to find matches from around the world.
This is an online dating site for people looking for extramarital affairs. The distinguishing feature is that this site has been created by women. There are more than 6 million users on the site, which can be accessed in multiple languages, including Italian, Turkish, and Portuguese.
The site only has a women team, and it is also 100% free for women, just like Ashley Madison. All profiles who sign up on the site will be subjected to approval. Furthermore, there is a great user experience for members that use apps. Apart from providing an anonymous and secure platform, they are also given access to a quality site that can offer freedom. Men get access to a credits-based system that does not have any obligation, while a 24 x 7 moderation policy is also provided.
Final Thoughts
Ashley Madison specializes in providing a clean interface that can be an excellent option for individuals trying to make a connection outside of their marriage. There is not much information about the users, and this is a huge success considering that anonymity is one of the selling points of the site.
The biggest gripe a member could have is the different billing policy adopted for female and male users. Females need not pay to access all the features, while it is up to the men to keep the site running. Even then, this is a great place to find successful one night stands, affairs, and hookups.
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