Christian Cafe is an online dating site and app that’s been around since 1999. In online dating terms, that practically makes it prehistoric! However, the site has remained popular over the years and is still favored by many Christians looking for love.
Whether you're looking for love, companionship, or even something casual, our selection of dating sites has something for everyone. Find what you're looking for with Age Times!
Signing up
Signing up for Christian Cafe is easy as they will guide you through all the steps to do so. But you should set aside half an hour for it, as you must fill in several multiple-choice questions to create a profile.
After the multiple-choice questions, you can answer several other questions about yourself, your life, your faith, and other topics. There is even one question asking what you've learned from past relationships! These are questions where you write the answers in your own words. While you don't have to answer these questions, you should, as people will be more likely to connect with you.
Remember that on a dating site, the only impression people get from you is through your photos and what you share in your profile. People are much more likely to send you a message if they feel they’ve learned enough about you to get what they think to be an accurate impression of your personality. Online dating differs from meeting someone in person at an event because there isn't that instant impression.
Apart from the questions, you also can upload three profile pictures. If you post the photos, they will give you a 3-day free membership! Though they offer a ten-day free trial regardless.
Members
As you have to fill in a whole lot of multiple-choice questions when signing up, ranging from your education level and fashion sense to how much money you make every year, profiles are pretty detailed. Not everyone has taken the time to answer the optional questions, but it's nice to see that some have. It makes the profiles a whole lot more interesting to look at.
Overall, the quality of members seems good. Chances are you'll find some great matches here if you're Christian and looking for a long-term relationship.
Features
You can search for members using the following:
- Quickmatch
- Your own criteria
- New members
- Username
- Birthday
You can also create a list of Favorites that you can easily access, check your own search history, and see who has viewed your profile. In addition to that, you're able to see who is online. You can choose if you want to see males or females that are online and if you want to see people worldwide or only in your region.
If you like someone’s dating profile, you can message or wink at them. You can also add them to your Favorites list to quickly return to their profile if you want to wait to message them.
There’s more to the Christian Cafe than searching and matching with members. There are several forums, and you can post a daily prayer.
Overall, the functions on Christian Cafe are good, if not mind-blowing. The only thing that stands out as exceptional is the search function, as you can do highly detailed searches.
Site design
For some reason, the primary color on Christian Cafe is brown. Possibly because that is the color of coffee - and the reference to it being a cafe. Unfortunately, one does not necessarily associate brown with true love and happy days.
The overall design is also outdated, and the site could be prettier.
That said, the site is functional. Very functional. It's effortless to find single Christian men and women with the click of a button!
Members in the US
Christian Cafe is said to have over 2 million members worldwide. However, according to DatingScout, they have 44,000 members in the US, of which around 20,000 are active weekly. The age range varies from 18-55+, with a fair amount of members in the 45-54 age group.
The members on the site appear pretty serious about finding a relationship, and if you're willing to travel a couple of miles to meet someone, there is a fair amount of singles to choose from.
You are not limited by your location when searching for partners. While you can search for partners near you, and their Quickmatch search focuses on people nearby, you can match with people worldwide. There are no geographical limitations.
You must decide if joining a site with relatively few members is worth it. Remember that a few thousand Christian singles in one place is still a lot compared to how many you'll probably find at the local bar. The members on Christian Cafe also appear a lot more serious about their faith and finding a long-term relationship than many people on, say, Bumble or Tinder.
Cost
Signing up for a year will cost you about $10 per month.
Six months is about $17 per month, three months $20 per month, and one month $40.
Remember that the free trial lasts ten days, so you don't have to decide if you want to join immediately.
Reputation
Christiancafe.com has been around since 1999, and they proudly display 3,000 testimonials on their website. While that might not sound like an awful lot for having been in business that long, most dating sites don’t take the time to gather many testimonials in one place.
On Google Play, Christian Cafe claims that over 25,000 marriages have happened thanks to the site.
Newsweek has awarded them an award for Best Customer Service 2023. This shows that they care about their customers.
On SiteJabber, Christian Cafe gets 3.9 out of 5, which is extraordinarily good as many people who have yet to find the love of their life on a dating site usually go there to write complaints. People also tend to complain about auto-renewals for memberships to dating sites. But most dating sites are lucky if they score over two stars on SiteJabber.
Overall, people seem to think that Christian Cafe is a great site.
The Christian Cafe dating app
Unfortunately, the Christian Cafe app doesn't have as great reviews as the site, at least not on the App Store. There you'll find reviews saying there are scammers on the site who ask for money to hand out their phone numbers. Chances are moderators will remove those members very quickly, however, as you can report someone with the click of a button right on their profile.
It’s interesting to note that the last update for the app for Android was back in 2020 and for iOS back in 2019. That's a long time to leave between updates.
On Google Play, it gets 3.3 out of 5 stars, and in the App Store, it gets 2.6 out of 5 stars.
The verdict
Is Christian Cafe a good place to find potential matches?
Absolutely. And there are plenty of search options that help you narrow down your search.
However, there are not millions of members in the US, like on apps like Bumble and Tinder. But as you'll get a free ten-day membership when signing up, you can check if any members are near you before forking out any money.
Is the site easy to use, though?
Yes, it has all the functionalities you need, but there are no bells or whistles. So if you're looking for an innovative new site, look elsewhere.
So, overall, we’d say—give it a go. Christian Cafe. Members tend to be pretty active, and their detailed profiles make the site more interesting than many other sites that offer little more than photos of potential matches. And while you might wish for an upgrade of the design of the site, it's still straightforward to use and functional.
We spoke to Shannon Lundgren, from Shannon's Circle, who told Age Times: "If you are Christian, a niche dating site, like Christian Cafe, is worth giving a try. You are more likely to find like-minded singles who share your faith than on a bigger dating app. On any dating site, put your best foot forward with attractive, high quality recent photos of yourself."
Alternative online dating sites
You can search for people by faith on Match.com, Zoosk, and eHarmony. The latter requires you to take a personality test to join, as does EliteSingles, which makes them two of the best sites for finding long-term relationships.
Let’s say you are looking specifically for a Christian dating site or app. In that case, you might want to try Christian Mingle, Christian Cupid, Christian Connection (they offer offline events in addition to traditional online matchmaking), Christian Dating for Free, Catholic Match, and Upward. The popularity of these apps and sites varies from region to region. Still, they are all well-known sites for Christian dating.
Tips for using Christian Cafe
If you’re wondering what matters when joining a dating site, here are some tips:
- Do fill out your profile properly
- Do upload several recent photos, including at least one close-up of your face and one full-body picture
- Do use photos that show your life/hobbies
- Do state things in the positive (“I’m looking for someone faithful,” as opposed to “I’m not looking for cheaters”)
- Do meet someone as soon as possible after connecting and, failing that, get on a video call with them so that you can see they are who they say they are
- Do meet in public until you feel confident you really know someone
- Don’t use only selfies, and avoid bathroom selfies
- Don't give out any personal details before meeting up, including your phone number and social media if they can be traced to your personal or work address
- Don't schedule a 3-hour date for your first meeting—keep it short and sweet, as it removes unnecessary pressure. If you fear awkward silences, try doing an activity together or simply grabbing takeaway coffees at the local farmers market and going for a stroll
