What is eharmony? 11 Things to Know & Free Trial (Feb. 2024)

Launched in 2000, eharmony was one of the first dating sites on the web. Still, even though they have so many years under their belt, we still get a lot of readers asking us “What is eharmony?”

By that, we think they really mean “How does eharmony work?” and “How successful is eharmony?” and, ultimately, “Should I join eharmony?”

We’re here to answer all those questions and more, with a list of 11 things you should know about eharmony. Our dating experts have tested out eharmony — some even use it for their own dating adventures — so you can trust our full review to cover all the basic details and little-known facts.

In addition to being among the oldest dating platforms, eharmony is among the most popular dating apps on Google Play and the most popular dating sites on the web — seeing over 4.1 million visitors a month. Its relationship-minded members hail from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the U.K. Below is more information about eharmony’s demographics:

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User Base	Gender Ratio	Popularity (Visits/Mo.)	Today's Deal
All Singles*	48%* 52%*	4.1 Million*	View Profiles FREE

The main thing all eharmony users have in common is they’re all looking for a serious relationship. They may come from different backgrounds, but now they’re ready to settle down, and they trust eharmony’s psychology-driven algorithm to help them find the right person.

Dr. Neil Clark Warren, a clinical psychologist, Christian theologian, and seminary professor, founded eharmony in 2000 as an online dating service for commitment-minded singles. Warren has written eight books on love and marriage and used his extensive background in the field to create eharmony’s original 29 Dimensions® of Compatibility Matching System (more on that below).

Since its inception, eharmony has not only become a leader in the online dating industry, but they’ve also built an impressive global following. They now have more than 33 million members from about 200 countries around the world — and counting.

Creating an account on eharmony is totally free for anyone with a valid email address. All you have to do is fill out your name, gender, and location, and then you can take the time-tested personality and matching test we mentioned earlier.

A free eharmony subscription will never expire, so you can browse as long as you like. Free members can also complete a profile, fill out the personality questionnaire, add numerous photos, receive matches, highlight your unique traits via the Book of You, and use Guided Communication (we talk about that later). Only paid members can read and send messages, though.

If you want to upgrade your membership so you can access more helpful features, including unlimited communication, we have two exclusive eharmony offers that will save you money. Using the eharmony promo code DATINGADVICEBBB, you’ll get 73% off 12 months.

For a shorter period of time, use the eharmony promo code DATINGADVICEAAA and shave 60% off six months.

You’ll apply these eharmony coupon codes on the subscription page, which you can find by going to your settings at the top of your dashboard. If you’re a new member, you can use these offers as well. You’ll just have to go through the signup process first.

It’ll take a hot minute to complete eharmony’s entire questionnaire, but, honestly the soul searching quiz is worth the time because it can yield excellent matches. When it comes to matchmaking, eharmony depends on its Compatibility Quiz to get to the core of who people are. The quiz is optional and includes over 80 questions about your dating preferences, communication style, and goals.

The eharmony dating profile includes an in-depth psychological assessment.

Rather than relying on photos and quick bios, eharmony uses its quiz to assess deeper qualities like emotional temperament, personal beliefs, and family values. That way, it can create matches that last.

It takes about 15-20 minutes to finish the Compatibility Quiz, depending upon how much thought you put in your answers. The questionnaire isn’t required with a free membership, but it fuels the compatibility ratings you’ll see on other profiles, so it’s important to help eharmony help you.

The main difference between eharmony and other online dating sites is that eharmony doesn’t have a traditional search option or swiping features for users. Those who might feel overwhelmed by the thought of finding a date or partner on their own will love this aspect of eharmony — because it does all the hard work for you and delivers curated matches on a regular basis.

Every day, eharmony will send new match suggestions to your inbox, and it will highlight profiles that are compatible with you. Then it’s up to you to decide if you’re interested in pursuing an online romance.

We mentioned several of eharmony’s most helpful features above, but the one a lot of users want to know more about are Hidden Matches. This is a good way to stay organized and file away matches you’re not really all that into.

All you have to do is select the Matches tab, hover over the tile of the matches you want to hide, and then click the X icon or the word “Hide” in the upper right-hand corner. Your hidden matches will not know they’re hidden, and you can still reach out to them at any time or vice versa.

Hidden Matches are commonly confused with the act of blocking matches. To block matches, you must first have hidden them or started communicating with them. Once you do one of those things, you can hit “X” or “Block.” When you block a match, you will never see his or her profile again, and you won’t be able to make contact, and they won’t be able to contact you. So choose wisely before using this feature.

Once you see someone you like on eharmony, you can message them just as you would on any other date site, but eharmony also offers Guided Communication — which is just a better way to get to know your matches and determine who’s right for you. This feature is especially helpful for people who aren’t sure how to initiate conversation.

Once you’re a member, eharmony suggests reading your match’s About Me section first and then proceeding with the next steps:

1. Send five easy-to-answer questions of your choosing.
2. Exchange 10 “Must Haves” and 10 “Can’t Stands.”
3. Send a second round of more thorough questions.

After you’ve done that, Open Communication will be enabled. You can then take the messaging reins yourself, or continue to have eharmony help you out, including with setting up the first phone call and/or date. You’ll also find special advice messages from Dr. Neil Clark Warren in the top-left corner of the navigation.

The eharmony platform is full of conversation starters and icebreaker quizzes.

If you want to skip Guided Communication altogether, you can request “FastTrack” and go right to Open Communication. You’ll send the first message to a match, and then he or she can either accept the message or ask to stay in Guided Communication for the time being.

Numbers don’t lie, and eharmony has some of the most impressive we’ve ever seen, such as:

• 71% of women, 69% of men meet their spouse within a year of using the site.
• eharmony creates 15 million matches every day.
• They’re responsible for 4% of U.S. marriages.
• The site’s divorce rate is lower than the national U.S. average: 3.86% vs. 50%.
• 542 Americans get married every day because they met on eharmony.

As you can see, eharmony has worked for over 2 million couples around the world, so your chances of finding success are very high. For even more eharmony success statistics (via Harris Interactive, The Washington Post, and eharmony themselves), check out our in-depth article.

If you do end up deciding that eharmony isn’t the online dating service for you, then you can cancel your membership at any time and delete your profile. Here’s how:

• Go to Account Settings under the Settings tab.
• Click the Cancel My Subscription and then Close Account links.
• Follow the prompts.

Note: When you sign up for eharmony, your membership is set to automatically renew every month, so make sure you cancel it before time runs out. For more support, the eharmony customer service phone number is (844) 527-7421, or you can email them at support@eharmony.com.

We’ve laid out some pretty remarkable facts about eharmony above, and it’s easy to see why they’ve been a huge name in the dating space for so long. The Compatibility Quiz ensures like-minded folks can find one another, and there are some helpful communication features to get things rolling.

Now that you’re equipped with all the information you could ever want or need to know about eharmony, you can stop wondering “What is eharmony?” and start wondering “What are my match and I going to do on our first date?!” Cheers!