AdultFriendFinder vs Ashley Madison: Which Dating Site is Better?

Both AdultFriendFinder and Ashley Madison are casual dating sites. Both have tens of millions of members worldwide. But what are the differences between them? Which of them is actually better? We compare the best and worst features, as well as the pricing policy in our review.
Overall impression
Overview
AdultFriendFinder | Ashley Madison |
---|---|
Adult dating site for people looking for affairs, hookups, swinger partners, etc. | Casual dating site that works for people looking for affairs, casual relationships, and sugar relationships |
Premium dating site with a wide variety of paid special features | Messaging is a paid feature, but women can approach other members online for free |
Premium users can choose between 3 premium membership plans | Members can buy credits to unlock conversations with others |
Members can interact in plenty of ways, stream and watch streams, send private messages, join public chat rooms | Members can send regular messages or Priority messages to stand out and make the best match notice them |
Pro-tips and instructional videos for users | Some special features protecting a user’s privacy are available |
No restrictions for users who want to share their explicit content | Members can create private albums and grant access to the users they already trust |
Works for trans and gay people | Works for trans and gay people |
Free features
AdultFriendFinder | Ashley Madison |
---|---|
Unlimited access to profiles | Registration |
Likes and comments on photos/videos | Unlimited access to other users’ profiles |
Public chat rooms | Advanced search |
Advanced search | Winks |
Adding secret photos |
Paid features
Secret Benefits | Seeking.com |
---|---|
Private messaging | Messaging |
Viewing streams | Sending Priority messages |
Adding friends | Requesting access to secret photos |
Access to Sex Academy videos | Virtual gifts |
Sending gifts | Profile boost |
Costs
Ashley Madison and Adult Friend Finder use different payment systems. On Ashley, you can buy a credit package and spend them the way you want. There are not that many premium services, though—if you want to contact someone on the site, you can just spend 10 credits, unlock a conversation with this user, and then interact with them for free. The cheapest package costs $49 and includes 100 credits. On Adult Friend Finder, you need to pay for one of the premium plans, and the mid-price is around $25 per month, and there’s also an extra fee for those who want Standard members to be able to contact them, too.
Our editor’s conclusion

Both Ashley Madison and Adult Friend Finder are popular platforms, and both have their pros and cons. Still, I’d definitely recommend Ashley to someone who cares a lot about privacy and security (the security system has been significantly improved) and is interested in finding something else besides hookups only.