Craigslist Type Hookup Site
Jan 06, 2020 Craigslist Personals has been a leading destination for casual hookups for a while. The community loved it for efficiency, directness, and availability. For free, you could post an ad with the description for a preferred partner and give your contacts right away. No limitations or tedious matching systems. Why We Loved Craigslist Personals. We researched possible CL alternatives, so take a look: HookUp Site Ads. Various sites specialized for finding opposite or same-sex partners, free and paid. One of the most popular and fastest growing Craigslist personals replacements. Famous social site has own section for personals.
We researched possible CL alternatives, so take a look: HookUp Site Ads. Various sites specialized for finding opposite or same-sex partners, free and paid. One of the most popular and fastest growing Craigslist personals replacements. Famous social site has own section for personals.
Craigslist Personals has been a leading destination for casual hookups for a while. The community loved it for efficiency, directness, and availability. For free, you could post an ad with the description for a preferred partner and give your contacts right away. No limitations or tedious matching systems.
Why We Loved Craigslist Personals
Before diving right into the review of sites like backpage and craigslist, let’s take a walk down the memory lane and discover what was so special about the platform and how come, in the world of numerous fancy dating app, it was still so popular among daters of all ages.
Here are the five reasons we loved Craigslist Personals:
1. It was free
The cost is definitely one of the biggest downsides of the mainstream dating app. Paying for subscriptions immediately turned hookup search into a possibly failed investment. Thousands of people were not ready to bet on themselves, their looks, and online dating skills.
To that end, Craigslist Personal was a breath of fresh air: it was free, required no commitment, and had a lot of guys and girls posting ads every single day.
2. It helped recover Missed Connections
The “Missed Connections” tab on Craigslist Personal was extremely helpful whenever we had to reconnect with a lost partner. A lot of my friends and online reviews describe how helpful the page was, how it helped reconnect with long-lost crushes, start a committed relationship, or get a one-night stand you didn’t know you needed.
3. It was straightforward
Even if you are ready to put up with the fee OkCupid or eHarmony ask to pay, filling in endless compatibility surveys makes you feel like the circle of potential matches is narrowing down, and there is nobody to like you.
Craigslist gave people more freedom. They didn’t have to match with others, were not constrained by location-based matches, or other fancy tricks. The entire platform was at your fingertips: it was up to you how far you were willing to go for a hookup.
Reviews of the top Personals replacements
However, Craigslist online personals was blocked by FBI due to sex trafficking — it turned out that some ads on the service weren’t legit. Craigslist decided to close the community, living millions of users in a state of uncertainty. If you are still looking for a valid replacement of your favorite hookup platform. I got your back. This is my list of favorite personals like Craigslist.
120members | 15,000 users per month | 75%/25% Male& Female |
75%/25% Male& Female | ||
3/5 hookup chance | Medium Sex Chance | GeographyUS, Canada |
high fraud risk | Verificationemail | Mobile Appno |
freesubscription price | Free versionyes |
Craigslist Activities is almost a look-alike of Craigslist Personals. Its functionality and interface closely resemble the original version, and the community members have the same mindset regarding dating. Here similarly to other free Personal classifieds like Craigslist, people are looking for quick hookups and post online ads with a detailed description of an ideal date, their profile, and contacts.
11 millionsmembers | 300k per months | 10%/90% Male& Female |
10%/90% Male& Female | ||
4/5 hookup chance | High Sex Chance | GeographyUSA, Europe, International |
low fraud risk | Verificationemail, phone, photo | Mobile AppiOS, Android |
$0.95 – $45.95subscription price | Free versionminimal set of functions |
A cutting-edge sex Personals site with a focus on privacy and encryption. The mobile and web sites like Backpage and Craigslist Personals make sure that the chat and profiles contents are deleted in an hour after the registration. This means people don’t ghost their matches but tend to schedule a live date almost right away. You could have a hookup in 60 minutes. The best thing is, your private data won’t get leaked since it’s erased from the server.
80 millionmembers | 400,000 users daily | 70%/30% Male& Female |
70%/30% Male& Female | ||
3/5 hookup chance | Medium Sex Chance | GeographyUSA, Europe, International |
high fraud risk | Verificationemail | Mobile AppiOS, Android |
$39.95 - $239.95subscription price | Free versionbasic |
One of the biggest casual dating sites like Craigslist Personals with more than 50 million users worldwide. This page isn’t just for a relationship or casual date, but primarily for sexual encounters. Users are asked about the characteristics of their intimate organs in detail — so the match can know all relevant specifics. There are quite a lot of fake profiles, but still, the user pool is impressive.
980,000members | 28,400 monthly visits | 63%/37% Male& Female |
63%/37% Male& Female | ||
4/5 hookup chance | High Sex Chance | GeographyNorth America, South America, Europe |
low fraud risk | VerificationFacebook account | Mobile AppiOS, Android |
$14.99 – $19.99subscription price | Free version7-day trial |
BDSM hookups have gotten increasingly popular lately, and there is an incredible rise of independent communities that specializes in kinks and fetishes. FetLife Classifieds is a service like Craigslist, where the BDSM community can post ads and find a match directly. It’s the fastest way to find a kinky hookup up to date — although you won’t learn much about a potential hookup.
5 millionmembers | 450,000/weekly | 60%/40% Male& Female |
60%/40% Male& Female | ||
3/5 hookup chance | Medium Sex Chance | GeographyUSA, Europe, International |
medium fraud risk | Verificationemail | Mobile Appnone |
from $2.95/monthsubscription price | Free versionbasic |
Just like Craigslist, Locanto is a popular ad service with the Personals section. It’s one of the most popular parts of this ad board — users look for platonic, casual, and sex local personals. The filters include “Men Seek Men,” Men Seek Women,” “Women Seek Men,” “Women Seek Women.”
10 millionmembers | 3 million/daily | LGBTQ+ |
LGBTQ+ | ||
4/5 hookup chance | High Sex Chance | GeographyUSA, Europe, International |
low fraud risk | Verificationemail, Facebook | Mobile AppiOS, Android |
$9.99 – $47.88subscription price | Free versionall main features are free |
Even though casual dating ad boards usually include gay dating options, there is no better gay Personals community for men than Grindr. It’s the first casual dating website exclusive to all users, and it has gathered an active community of passionate casual daters. The platform allows choosing a date among 10 types — Daddy, Bear, Rock, etc. The site like Craigslist Personals is active mostly in big cities, but to my surprise, the community is large enough in small towns, too.
150members | 200,000 visits per month | 70%/30% Male& Female |
70%/30% Male& Female | ||
4/5 hookup chance | High Sex Chance | GeographyUS, Canada, UK |
medium fraud risk | Verificationemail | Mobile AppiOS, Android |
freesubscription price | Free versionyes |
If you are an active Reddit user, you can benefit from looking for love on your favorite social media. A great thing about Reddit is that it attracts a particular type of audience — these are smart people who want to talk about science, TV shows, video games, anime, and other geeky stuff. If you are up to the challenge, you can contact a member on the thread directly. To make a search by location easier, members create local personal threads. You can find R4R in California, Austin, Chicago, Las Vegas, etc.
40 millionmembers | 2 million/weekly | 65%/35% Male& Female |
65%/35% Male& Female | ||
2/5 hookup chance | Low Sex Chance | GeographyUSA, International |
high fraud risk | Verificationphone number | Mobile Appnone |
free of chargesubscription price | Free versionall features |
Even when Craigslist Personals was still around, Double List was the only casual dating service capable of providing decent competition in terms of simplicity of its matching algorithms and the size of the user pool. However, unlike Craigslist Personals and other sites like Craigslist casual encounters, Double List dating service requires a mobile number verification. The website allows posting personal ads like Craigslist for free, and you can freely react to offers from different people. Members aren’t prohibited from listing their contact information, location, and use of sexual vocabulary. The only problem is, once you’ve registered on the website, your contacts to the advertising database and you’ll get countless amounts of spam.
52members | 76,000 visits per month | 71%/29% Male& Female |
71%/29% Male& Female | ||
3/5 hookup chance | Medium Sex Chance | GeographyUS, Canada, UK |
medium fraud risk | Verificationemail | Mobile Appno |
freesubscription price | Free versionyes |
Another fetish classified and similar to other sites like Craigslist, this platform is created for kinksters by fellow-kinksters. The platform is based on location-based search — enter your city, or go even further and specify zip code. The website also vides users by their favorite fetish types. Here, you can find bondage, ABF, or fetish sex, and specify your favorite kinks. The website allows posting nudes and using sexual vocabulary — you get a perfect idea of what to expect from the date. However, this is one of the newer sites similar to Craigslist, so the user community is only growing.
60,000,000members | 9,420,000 users per month | 70%/30% Male& Female |
70%/30% Male& Female | ||
3/5 hookup chance | Medium Sex Chance | Geography50 countries |
medium fraud risk | Verificationemail | Mobile AppiOS, Android |
$29–249 per monthsubscription price | Free version100% free for women; free registration and profiles viewing for men |
For those who used Craigslist Personals and free Personals sites like Craigslist to look for an affair, I recommend Ashley Madison as the best alternative on the market. The website’s audience is slightly more premium — you can find a lot of people from prestigious neighborhoods and with high-paid positions. They are usually demanding when it comes to looking for a hookup — but the results are worth it. AshleyMadison had some security issues in the last couple of years, leading to millions of personal files being leaked online. Luckily, the team paid attention to securing private information, and the community seems to have successfully regained its former status.
750,000 membersmembers | 150,000 active users daily | 55%/45% Male& Female |
55%/45% Male& Female | ||
5/5 hookup chance | Extremely High Sex Chance | GeographyUSA, Europe, International |
low fraud risk | Verificationemail | Mobile AppiOS, Android |
11.99–54.99subscription price | Free versionFree for females |
The biggest BDSM dating community for long-term relationships, casual hookups, and sex dates. The website unites millions of BDSM daters all over the world, but it’s mostly popular among those who miss online classified ads like Craigslist in the United States and Canada. The matching algorithms sort dates by body types, favorite kinks and fetishes, previous BDSM experiences, age, location, age, and ethnicity. It’s pretty much a regular dating website with the Feed, group chats, and built-in messengers for text, audio, and video communication.
4 millionmembers | 450,000/weekly | LGBTQ+ |
LGBTQ+ | ||
2/5 hookup chance | Low Sex Chance | GeographyUSA, Europe, International |
medium fraud risk | Verificationemail | Mobile Appnone |
$29.96subscription price | Free versionbasic |
OutPersonals is a website like Craigslist where users can either post ads with their offers or use matching algorithms to find a casual hookup. The overall design and functionality remind me of AdultFriendFinder. Here, you can describe your body type and sexual preferences in detail, upload nudes, customize matches, participate in group chats, and even read stories about the sexual experiences of other members.
around 10 million usersmembers | 52%/48% Male& Female |
52%/48% Male& Female | ||
4/5 hookup chance | High Sex Chance | Geography |
medium fraud risk | Verification | Mobile AppAndroid |
$14-19,95subscription price | Free versionversion creating an account, chatting, profile browsing |
This is a sugar dating platform where mature well-off men and women can look for younger partners. Each sugar daddy can have up to 4 babies on the website — all relationships are strictly casual and usually come with sex in the package. Sugar babies, on the other hand, can count on mentorship, mature sexual experiences, and indulgences — like daily shopping, dates in fancy restaurants and clubs, and other financial benefits.
Best hookup apps similar to Craigslist Personals
Let’s take a look at the best mobile apps for casual dating — they are usually faster than desktop versions and are easier to manage for busy millennials. The functionality is slightly inferior to desktop hookup sites like Craigslist, but at least, dating becomes more accessible this way.
250,000members | 140,000 visits per month | 62%/38% Male& Female |
62%/38% Male& Female | ||
4/5 hookup chance | High Sex Chance | GeographyUS, Canada, UK |
medium fraud risk | Verificationemail | Mobile AppiOS, Android |
freesubscription price | Free versionyes |
Yumi is the first mobile hookup app that was created exclusively for casual dating. Each user has four shots at finding a random match. You get four cards every day — you can turn them to take a look at your matches for today. Sometimes, you won’t find a match on casual encounter websites like Craigslist— there is a 50% chance of turning an empty card. This system makes users appreciate matches more and gives hope for people who don’t do well with traditional online dating. Yumi is an anonymous dating platform where users only have to specify their location and upload a picture. You don’t have to confirm emails or phone numbers — this is convenient, but as you can imagine, the user pool is filled with fakes. Still, it’s a nice destination for those who are not sure in their online dating skills — the algorithms make finding a hookup incredibly easy.
11 millionsmembers | 300k per months | 10%/90% Male& Female |
10%/90% Male& Female | ||
4/5 hookup chance | High Sex Chance | GeographyUSA, Europe, International |
low fraud risk | Verificationemail, phone, photo | Mobile AppiOS, Android |
$0.95 – $45.95subscription price | Free versionminimal set of functions |
If you’d rather date on a more controlled environment, you can go to Pure — it’s also an anonymous dating website, but you get more choice options. Also, it’s safer — the app requires each member to confirm their email addresses. Also, there are no inactive profiles — if there is no interaction on the page in an hour, the profile is immediately deleted. One of my favorite aspects of Pure is its emphasis on safety. The app’s team is very transparent on their security practices — they delete users’ data in 60 minutes from registration, giving users an hour to schedule a date.
450,000members | 150,000/daily | 60%/40% Male& Female |
60%/40% Male& Female | ||
3/5 hookup chance | Medium Sex Chance | GeographyUSA, Europe, International |
low fraud risk | VerificationFacebook, phone numbe | Mobile AppiOS, Android |
$24.99 - $119.99subscription price | Free versionmain features |
Casual dating online is often very technical: all you have to do is to set up filters, upload a picture, and contact a date — and you are good to go. If you are into something more old-fashioned, I suggest trying out Happn — a dating service that brings back good old meet-cute. You need to connect your Facebook account to the application and allow the connection to your GPS data. Whenever you crossed paths with another Happn user, the app will immediately update you both — so you can get in touch online.
10 millionmembers | 3 million/daily | LGBTQ+ |
LGBTQ+ | ||
4/5 hookup chance | High Sex Chance | GeographyUSA, Europe, International |
low fraud risk | Verificationemail, Facebook | Mobile AppiOS, Android |
$9.99 – $47.88subscription price | Free versionall main features are free |
This exclusively male dating website also has a mobile version that is similar to the original platform, only more portable. You can look for hookups in your area, specify your favorite type out of 10 available options, and publish personal updates on the profile. The app has been around for a while — it’s undoubtedly the most reliable mobile sex dating option for gay men.
450,000members | 15,000/daily | /100% & Female |
/100% & Female | ||
3/5 hookup chance | Medium Sex Chance | GeographyUSA, Europe, International |
low fraud risk | VerificationFacebook, Instagram | Mobile AppiOS, Android |
$14.99 - $89.99subscription price | Free versionmain features are free |
Another site like Craigslist, only this time, it’s exclusive for women. Her works like a mix of a dating service and social media — each girl has a blog with personal updates and can follow other users, too. The matching algorithms are based on interests, relationship preferences, and deal-breakers. Women can customize Feed’s filters manually or agree to get personalized dating digest, adapted to their needs.
360 millionmembers | 210 million/daily | 29%/61% Male& Female |
29%/61% Male& Female | ||
3/5 hookup chance | Medium Sex Chance | GeographyWorldwide |
medium fraud risk | VerificationFacebook, Instagram | Mobile AppiOS, Android |
Freesubscription price | Free versionyes |
SnapChat is not a dating app, but it’s the best messenger for dating, seriously. It’s effortless to connect to, and it provides a reliable connection between dates. You can see all stories shared by your partner — this is helpful if you want to get to know each other before the meeting. Also, you can receive and create personalized stories — protected and reserved only for your partner’s eyes — with sensitive content. SnapChat is the safest platform for exchanging this kind of data with the best sexting chat rooms.
Free gay Personals for M4M
Craigslist Personals was popular among gay and lesbian communities. When the service closed, gay daters went to other casual dating sites like Craigslist, only to find out that straight users largely dominate the majority of them. This is why I would recommend trying out specialized casual dating services instead.
All my gay friends who are into M4M dating, tend to look for casual relationships on Grindr, even when Craiglist Personals was still around. It’s a nice service among free hookup sites like Craigslist for matching up with people in your area, uploading nude pictures, and interacting with single gays for free.
The reasons behind the Craigslist Personals closure
Craigslist closed the service due to apparent legal reasons. FOSTA-SESTA law, passed by the government recently, requires top hookup sites to prohibit illegal sex trafficking. If someone published a profile of an underage person, Craigslist would be faced with serious charges and meet harsh legal punishments.
Of course, Craigslist Personals aren’t the only website that met a similar fate. BedPage, for instance, was faced with sex trafficking charges, and it forced the site to close altogether. Practically, all popular sex dating sites like Craigslist Personals based on ad posting were forced to either close or transfer to a different dating model. Luckily, we have plenty of alternatives on the market — and in my opinion, a lot of them can offer more than Craigslist ever did.
Find your hookup adventure in one hour
You'll crave for more!
Pure users are looking for adventures. They value anonymity, straightforwardness, and intimacy with no obligations.
The application works quickly and simply — no long registrations or endless questionnaires, no social media links or photo albums. The algorithm uses end-to-end encryption and deletes profiles and chats in an hour after they start.
Upload your favourite selfie, find the person who turns you on and start texting. You have one hour to arrange an adventure together.
BuddyGays.com
This easy-to-use casual dating base is a couple of years old and has gained immense popularity in its operating years. With approximately one-third of a million members from the United States, the chances of finding a link-up locally are greatly increased. Additionally, admins on this site only provide the safest screened ads available. You cannot miss this opportunity to engage similar-minded peeps on fully-screened personals.
BuddyGays, unlike Craigslist, offers personals from authenticated members. These are offered on an encrypted web page. It means all communication between flirting members takes place securely. All your fun engagements and naughty flirting happen with no compromise. You will not find your chat or photos on competitor sites. Unlike Craigslist, what you see is what you get. Very few fake profiles have been linked to our dating service, if any at all.
Funny Usernames For Dating Sites
Lastly, the site boasts of credible features for you to engage gay personals. That Craigslist-like experience is made better by swiping left and right in the Like Gallery. Make waves with newfound flings by sending flirty texts, along with winks to make your interests known. Much like Craigslist, you have a huge database available for your perusal. This user base needs to be engaged with sound communication features, which are available with the chat function. Take things further with chat rooms, private messaging, and instant messaging.