Written in Partnership with Pleasure SeekerCraigslist Personals has been gone for years now, but the search for great personals alternatives continues. Plenty of websites have stepped up and now offer their own form of personals for casual encounters and sex classified ads. This article will list all of them along with descriptions, reviews, pros and cons, and the main features.
Best Craigslist Personals Alternatives and Online Personals:
- Alternative where you can see users’ pics – Adult Friend Finder
- Similar section to Craigslist Personals – Craigslist Activities
- Sex dating site like personals – Be Naughty
- Casual sex site full of detailed profiles – Ashley Madison
- Gay-version of Craigslist Personals – Outpersonals
- Interested parties can comment on posted ads – Reddit R4R
- Most attractive and sexy users – SeekingArrangement
- Alternative BDSM lifestyle ads – Alt.com
- Free classified ads for escorts just like Craigslist Personals – Locanto
- Classified ads only for personals – Doublelist
- Social network for daters only into fetish – Fetlife
- Escort directory to find dates – Tyst.link
- Gay social networking app – Grindr
- Classified ads for everything adult related – Adult Search
- Closest classified ads to Craigslist Personals – Classified Ads
- Accessible online marketplace for various ads – Oodle
1. Adult Friend Finder – Best Casual Encounters Alternative Overall
With more than 80 million members, Adult Friend Finder is one of the world’s biggest dating and hookup sites. Anyone over 18 can join and use the site to find dating partners and sex encounters. AFF has fewer bots and scammers than Craigslist because only paying members can interact. To join AFF and unlock all its features, consider one of the following membership plans:
- 1 month = $39.95
- 3 months = $26.95 ($80.85 total)
- 12 months = $19.95 ($239.95 total)
With your AFF membership, you’ll be able to contact and interact with any member you fancy. You’ll also get loads of other features not found on Craigslist, such as member’s chat, blogs, erotic stories and model shows.
Features
- Hookup search (threesomes, casual sex, swingers)
- Dating forums
- Live chat, model shows
Pros
- Monthly, quarterly, annual payment options
- Pro-sex environment
- Large community (80 million members)
Cons
- 80% male
- Thots/bots
2. Craigslist Activities – Community Created Craigslist Personals Replacement
Some of the people who used to frequent the Craigslist Personals have since moved over to the sites’ Activities section, though it’s not geared toward relationships. Here, you’ll see lots of call-outs for sporting events, book clubs and other lifestyle interests.
As of October 2020, the Activities section is barely active. (A search in the greater Portland area yields only six recent ads while the San Francisco Bay area has 19 posts). Occasional, a lonely guy will post an ad for a female activity partner. Mentions of sex are prohibited on Craigslist Activities and will get deleted. Your odds of finding a love connection here are nil.
Features
- Localized search
- Miles from Zip filter
- Has Image check
Pros
- Free
- No clutter
- Easy, anonymous
Cons
- Little activity
- Few love-seekers
- Sex talk prohibited
3. BeNaughty – Casual Encounters Site Better than Craigslist Personals
BeNaughty is one of the more female-friendly dating sites with a favorable ratio for single men. The women here get to message men for free, which makes the entry price worthwhile. Unlike Craigslist, you don’t have to click profile after profile to see photos of members who fit your search criteria. BeNaughty displays dozens of members at once, complete with Chat and Like buttons.
BeNaughty doesn’t offer a free trial but you can test the site for three days for only $2.97. Or, you can take advantage of their discount packages:
- 1 month = $0.91/day
- 3 months = $0.51/day
- 6 months = $0.41/day
BeNaughty is not the most overtly sexual dating site but it’s also not tame or vanilla. There is a flirty vibe to the profiles. If you give it time, you could find a dating or casual sex partner here.
Features
- Profile thumb tables
- Online Now, New Members tabs
- Chat, Like buttons
Pros
- Five free chats
- Women message men for free
- Discounts, bonuses
Cons
- No free trial
- Must sign up to browse
4. Ashley Madison – An Alternative that Blows Craigslist Personals Out the Water
Ashley Madison is the most notorious of all hookup sites. Long billed as a meetup site for wandering-eyed spouses, its members are mostly interested in casual encounters. Unlike Craigslist, most of the women here are genuinely down for hookups and sex, albeit discreetly (most of them are married, after all). Membership rates are as follows:
- 100 credits = $59.00 (59 cents per credit)
- 500 credits = $169.00 (34 cents per credit)
- 1,000 credits = $289.00 (29 cents per credit)
As an Ashley Madison member, you’ll get to send and receive messages to your favorite matches. You can also send them virtual gifts. When you visit another town, use the sites’ Traveling Man app to see which members are down for a hookup at the destination in question.
Features
- Chat room
- Traveling Man app
- Virtual gifting
Pros
- Pay with credits
- Libertine, pro-sex community
- Swinger-friendly
Cons
- 90% male
- Purported fake female profiles
- Iffy site security (past breaches)
5. Outpersonals – The Best Gay Personals Site for M4M
Outpersonals is a gay social site and online community with more than 250,000 members. Unlike other gay personals sites that emphasize the hookup factor, Outpersonals gives members a place to find others with common interests. The tone here is far classier and personable than Craigslist Personals.
To message other users and participate in Outpersonals’ blogs and video chats, sign up for a Gold membership:
- 1 month = $29.96
- 3 months = $49.9612 ($16.65/mo)
- 12 months = $119.96 ($10.00/mo)
For an additional amount, Outpersonals will let free members contact you.
Features
- Video chat
- Blogs
- Wink/invitation functions
Pros
- Community environment
- Professional user-base
- Interest groups
Cons
- Long-term matchups rare
- Server issues
6. Reddit R4R – The Subreddit Like Craigslist Personals
Reddit’s R4R group is similar to the Craigslist Personals in that this too is a free dating forum within a larger site. Unlike Craigslist, subreddits are moderated. R4R has rules against spam and hate speech. All NSFW posts must be tagged as such. You cannot post personal info (phone number, email address) or exchange services for money or goods.
Though Reddit is all ages, this subreddit is strictly 18+. Launched in April 2010, R4R has 346k members as of October 2020. It’s creators intended this place for people in search of dates, activity partners, soulmates and FWBs. Like Craigslist, unfortunately, R4R is plagued with spammers, bots, prostitutes and pimps. Locked threads are marked with a gold lock.
Features
- Message feed
- Sidebar links
- Post flairs
Pros
- NSFW posts allowed
- FWB/hookup-positive
- Free to join
Cons
- Tons of locked posts
- Flooded with spam
- Connections rare
7. SeekingArrangement – The CL Personals Substitute With the Hottest Members
SeekingArrangement is a dating site designed for sugar babies and sugar daddies. This is nothing like Craigslist Personals, even if there were the occasional simps and gold diggers over there. If you’re a sugar daddy (or mommy), the Premium membership fees are steep:
- 30 days = $89.95
- 90 days = $239.85 ($79.95/mo)
- 30 days (Diamond) = $249.95
As a Premium member, you’ll get to unlock conversations, filter your inbox, hide your online status and boost your profile. A Diamond membership will raise your profile and boost your response rate. If you join as a sugar baby, you can get SA’s cheaper Attractive membership:
- 30 days = $19.95
- 90 days = $44.85 ($14.95/mo)
You can also sign up for a free membership but you’ll have to fill out two lengthy bios (400-character minimum). If you’re a man, you’re a sugar daddy by default. The lowest net-worth they’ll let you choose from their mandatory pull-down is $100k.
For obvious reasons, SeekingArrangement has garnered lots of female interest. Despite its reputation as a simp-fest, members of the PUA community (John Anthony, Bradicus) have gamed the site and scored without spending a dime on these women.
Features
- Thumbnail rows (new, online, college members)
- Interests tab
- Messages inbox/archive
Pros
- Rich guys (sugar daddys)
- Attractive young women (sugar babies)
- Easy to game (according to PUAs)
Cons
- Expensive Premium memberships
- Lengthy signup process
- Primarily for gold diggers and simps
8. Alt.com – BDSM Dating Site Raunchier than Craigslist Personals
Alt-com is a dating and hookup site geared for people into the fetish and BDSM lifestyles. Unlike Craigslist, which attracted everything from predators to squares, the Alt.com crowd is specifically into things like latex, whips, heels and other kinky stuff. The site has a Facebook-like layout, complete with user thumbnails, message feeds, site tabs and sidebar filters. Membership rates are a follows:
- 1 month (Silvers) = $19.95
- 3 months (Silver) = $35.97 ($11.99/mo)
- 12 months (Silver) = $99.97 ($8.33/mo)
- 1 month (Gold) = $29.95
- 3 months (Gold) = $59.97 ($19.99/mo)
- 12 months (Gold) = $149.97 ($12.50/mo)
With a Silver membership, you can send/receive messages, access the videos and use the blogs and groups. As a Gold member, you can add extra-large photos to your profile and access the ICQ, AIM, YIM and MSN ID’s of members in your network. Gold members also show up at the top in searches.
Features
- Location-based chat rooms
- Kinky member videos
- Silver and Gold membership tiers
Pros
- Libertine/adventurous community
- Sex/kink-positive
- Savings on three and 12-month plans
Cons
- 80% male
- Cam thots
9. Locanto – New Craigslist with Better Design and Features
Like Craigslist, Locanto is a classifieds site with numerous categories, including personals. Locanto started in Germany in 2006 but has since spread worldwide. Each major U.S. city has its own Locanto, which allows you to narrow your search for potential dating partners. Since it’s a classifieds site, Locanto is free to use.
Locanto sports a more professional design than Craigslist. When you click to respond to a message, you’ll get a popup with safety tips, similar-interest links, a location map and a picture of the poster. You can sign up through your Google account and share Locanto posts on Twitter and Facebook.
As with the Craigslist Personals, Locanto’s personals section is flooded with spam and scammers. A quick browse of the personals reveals lots of prostitutes and links to porn sites. While Locanto does maintain a blog for safe trading, nothing seems to be done to keep the personals clean. Despite (or maybe because of) this, the U.S. Locanto personals are popular among users in India.
Features
- Follow User option
- Social media share buttons
- Safety tips
Pros
- Free
- Heavily trafficked
- Uncensored
Cons
- Spam-infested
- Bots
- Prostitutes
10. Doublelist – An Attempt to Replace CL Personals that Failed
Doublelist may look like craigslist personals, but don’t let that fool you, the site is a ghost town. Like the now-defunct Craigslist Personals, Doublelist does get lots of escort spam and troll posts. People have even posted warning ads about being stood up by Doublelist users. Beware of blue-highlighted sponsored links, as these lead to third-party cam sites.
Doublelist has a shorter signup protocol than most dating sites. However, they do require a phone number to verify that you’re not a bot.
Features
- Localized message boards
- Manage Posts function
- Favorites folder
Pros
- Free to use
- Easy to sign up
- Uncensored
Cons
- Escort spam
- Trolls
- Flakes
- Few Real Users
11. Fetlife – Sex Classifieds for Kinky Adults
Fetlife is a social media site for people involved in the fetish lifestyle. It’s not a dating site but it does offer a community atmosphere. Fetlife sports a micro-blogging-style layout with a Tumblr-like posting feed and a Pinterest-style wall of captioned photographs and replies. Aside from the “anything goes” vibe, this is nothing like Craigslist Personals.
On the Explore page, you’ll see tables of posts that you can filter by theme (friends, kinky, popular, pervy, etc.) If you’re looking for a hookup, join Fetlife’s Partner Finder group. You can also hit people up in your main feed but your odds would be the same as Instagram. To use the site without restrictions, become a supporter with one of the following plans:
- 6 months = $30 ($5/mo)
- 12 months = $60 ($5/mo)
- 24 months = $120 ($5/mo)
As a Fetlife supporter, you’ll be able to perv all the videos and photos you like. You’ll also get to perv backward through prior posts of the members in your friend feed.
Features
- Friend feeds
- Picture, video, message walls
- Kink-themed groups
Pros
- Libertine community
- Low-most membership
- Local group events
Cons
- Thots and escorts
- Predators
12. Switter – Adult Personals for Sex Workers
Switter is a social media site that mimics the tweet-deck format of Twitter, hence the rhyming name. On Switter, the tweets are called “toots.” It’s not a dating site but it does have an adult-oriented “anything goes” vibe. Switter is connected to Mastodon, a decentralized rival of Facebook.
The people on Switter mostly fall into two categories: sex workers and their fans. A lot of toots are advertisements for erotic services. Some of the accounts are run by cam sites and escort agencies. Despite the Twitter-like format, Switter is everything that Craigslist Personals became in its final years, a prostitute directory.
Unlike Craigslist, Switter has taken steps to rid its platform of fake ads and spam. As of October 2020, Switter has 339.6k users. Though it’s not a dating site, there is nothing to stop you from tooting for hookups. As with Twitter and Craigslist, Switter is free.
Features
- Tweet-deck (for toots)
- Profile directory
- Follow, re-toot, star buttons
Pros
- Free to use
- Uncensored
- Sex-positive
Cons
- Primarily for erotic entertainers
- Not a dating site
- Growing but still small
13. Grindr – Free Gay Hookups Like Craigslist
Grindr is a dating and hookup app up for gay men. It’s often thought of as the gay Tinder with a higher batting average. Grindr is light years removed from the Craigslist Personals because it features easy mobile features that suit today’s busy, roaming gay man. Roughly 90% of Grindr users browse the app for hookups.
You can sign up for free but you’ll need a premium membership to unlock all the features. Grindr Unlimited is priced as follows.
- 1 month = $49.99
- 1 year = $300.00 ($25.00/mo)
The Grindr monthly rate is steep but a one-year membership will get you six months free. With the Unlimited plan, you can contact anyone and see which members have looked at your profile. You can also browse incognito and see the typing status of your matches. With Unsend, you can retract a just-sent message before the would-be recipient sees it.
Grindr can be a dangerous app to use in countries with laws against homosexuality. The app has a geotracking feature that has been used by police to track Grindr users to their exact location. There have also been instances of HIV-positive users having that info exposed by work colleagues.
Features
- Viewed Me indicator
- Incognito browse
- Unsend messages option
Pros
- High hookup rates
- Easy to use
- Popular in big cities
Cons
- Geotracking risks
- Police (in anti-gay countries)
- Predators
14. Adult Search – Another Website Like Craigslist
Adult Search is a classifieds website with regional, state and city filters. It’s free to sign up and browse but most of the posts are by erotic entertainers seeking clients. If that’s what you’re looking for, you can contact them for free (most of them post their phone numbers).
Like Craigslist, there aren’t many actual people here looking for dates or casual encounters. The primary categories are body rubs and escorts (female, shemale, M4M). For $9.99, you can post a month-long ad for sexual services in your local area. Adult Search also has listings for local massage parlors, strip bars, sex stores and swingers clubs.
Features
- Sex worker search filters
- Sex club/parlor listings
- Location map
Pros
- Free to reply
- Cheap to post ads
- Uncensored
Cons
- Mostly escorts/strippers
- No dating/hookup potential
15. Classified Ads – 100% Free Casual Encounters and Generic Personals
The generic ClassifiedAds.com has a personals section. With its bland, archaic design and small text, it’s one of the least-inviting Craigslist Personals alternatives on the internet. Like Craigslist, Classified Ads has lots of anonymous ads that cannot be verified as legit.
Classified Ads has a pull-down search for the basic dating categories (MSW, MSM, WSM, WSW). If you made eye contact with someone in the wild that you wish you’d approached, you can place a “Missed Connections” ad here. You can even share personal ads on Pinterest and Facebook (?)
Features
- Social media share buttons
- Facebook login
- Missed connections
Pros
- Free
- Posts last six months
- Uncensored
Cons
- Few photos
- Troll posts
16. Oodles – Free Dating Profile Aggregate Similar to Craigslist Personals
Oodle Marketplace, which aggregates classifieds from sites like eBay and ForRent, has its own personals section. The personal ads are culled from the external Meetup4Fun.com. Each ad features a chat, video and meetup icon.
A lot of the profile pics in the women-seeking-men section are stolen from Instagram influencers, revealing mass Oodle bot activity. In any given locale, there are at least 200 men-seeking-women ads for every WSM. The Oodle personals are free to use but, as on Craigslist, unlikely to yield any real-life matches.
Features
- Chat Now
- Meet Her/Him
- Video Chat
Pros
- Free
- Photo rater
- Uncensored
Cons
- External links/profiles
- Bots
Craigslist Personals Replacements 101
What Was Craigslist Personals?
Craigslist is the world’s largest classifieds site. It features listings of job opportunities, apartment openings and services. One section now missing from the website is the Craigslist Personals.
Craigslist Personals was the site’s version of an online matchmaking service. In their personals section, you could post info about yourself and what you want in a partner. Thousands of couples met through Craigslist Personals.
Unfortunately, Craigslist Personals got abused by sex traffickers. Since Craigslist has no way of screening people who post on the website, traffickers were posting fake personal ads to lure young women into prostitution rings. The personals were also being used by predators and killers.
What Happened to Craigslist Personals?
In March 2018, the U.S. Senate passed HR 1865, “FOSTA” (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act). The new law holds personals sites criminally liable when their services are abused by third parties. Therefore, Craigslist could face lawsuits if users get stalked, killed or sold into prostitution through the personals section.
Craigslist stated that the new law could lead to a shutdown of the entire site. To protect all their other services, Craigslist folded the personals section upon the law’s passage. This same law also caused backpage to be shutdown and created a huge rise in the number of backpage alternatives.
Will Craigslist Personals come back?
The Craigslist Personals is unlikely to be reinstated. As a general classifieds site with millions of users worldwide, Craigslist lacks the centralized resources to eliminate the types of abuse that occurred in the personals section. Sites like AFF and Ashley Madison are better equipped to deal with FOSTA.
How to use Craigslist Activities?
Craigslist Activities is worth checking out to see if anyone is posting some sex ads in your area. Sometimes you will see some posts like “If you’re looking to join a book club or fitness group, check the Activities section on Craigslist for events in your area. As for dating and relationships, look elsewhere. Some people try to use Craigslist Activities for dating. These people are identified by whether they put M for F in their post. Or they will post “Female Activity Partner Wanted.” There are a lot of code words to decipher here. It can become confusing because you are unsure if someone is genuinely looking to golf or date. A few people looking for relationships in the Activities section are generally seeking something platonic.
What is the best site for gay personals and M4M?
The all-around best gay classifieds site is Outpersonals because of its emphasis on lifestyles and activities. You can find people you have things in common with here and actually meet a potential partner. If you are into the BDSM underground, Fetlife has an active M4M section where you can connect with people for discreet fun.
Grindr is primarily a hookup app that, while popular in big cities, is risky to use in places where it’s dangerous to be out or outed.
What is the best alternative for MF4M?
Couples looking for threesomes should check out Fetlife, Alt.com and Adult Friend Finder. Fetlife and Alt are the sites that singles and couples frequent for kinky adventures such as candaulism, where a husband/boyfriend or wife/girlfriend watches his/her partner have sex with another person. AFF automatically shows the profiles of couples in the site feed.
It’s easy to find single men who are eager to have sex with hotwives. Bi-women who’ll have sex with partnered women in front of boyfriends are considered “unicorns” because of their rarity. The likeliest sites to find unicorns are Fetlife and Alt.
What is the best substitute for M4F?
If you’re a straight, single man seeking women, your odds are best on Adult Friend Finder. AFF is the most widespread and well-trafficked dating site on a global scale with single women from all walks of life. The site’s 80m+ membership includes tens of millions of men, women and couples.
Enjoy Exploring These New Craigslist Personals Replacements
If you’ve used Craigslist Personals in the past, the alternatives covered in this article should give you plenty of other places to meet people. If you meet any of the users on these sites for casual encounters, make sure to spend some time with them in public before you go anywhere private. If you buy a premium membership, give it at least 30 minutes a day while you’re single. Happy hunting.
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