The pros and cons explored with our in-depth Ashley Madison review on the site’s security, costs and membership base.
Ashley Madison is a unique casual dating site that focuses on non-traditional relationships and affairs. When it originally launched back in 2001, the site was for married users who wanted to find someone to have an extramarital affair with. Ashley Madison enabled its users to do this in a very discreet way that wasn’t really an option prior to the formation of this site.
Although Ashley Madison still appeals to those seeking an affair, it now also has a much broader audience and user base. It now also has a large base of polyamorous users and users in open marriages, in addition to singles who are seeking multiple partners or are open to a non-traditional relationship.
Although the site was part of a high-profile data breach in 2015, it has since improved its security measures significantly. The site’s user base is now starting to grow again, and Ashley Madison is even expanding to new countries around the world. Its stronghold, however, remains in the U.S. The site is intended to be a place where people can explore affairs and non-monogamy safely, without jeopardizing their careers or other aspects of their personal lives.
Because of the discreet dating style that Ashley Madison encourages, it’s difficult to find definitive statistics about the site’s user base. All of the statistics released about the site should be taken with a grain of salt, because the user base is consistently fluctuating and a large percentage of information on the site is kept private. The gender ratio is reported to be about 1.13 women for every one man. The average age is between 35 and 44, although the age range skews older for women. The site’s founder, Ruben Buell, has stated that it sees 191,000 active users each day, and that 1.4 million connections are made each month. The site attracts over 5 million unique visitors per month, and the Ashley Madison app has over 500,000 downloads. Over 56% of visitors are from the U.S. according to data site Similarweb. Asley Madison Prices & Membership Numbers
Credits pricing system for premium messaging
The site is free to sign up for. If you are female, you can continue to use all the features on the site for free. If you are male, you will need to pay for credits to send messages. You can purchase 100 credits for $49 USD, 500 credits for $145, and 1,000 credits for $240. The more credits you purchase, the cheaper each credit is per unit.
Asley Madison Review of Features Ashley Madison is very easy to sign up for. You just need to fill out a very short questionnaire detailing what you are looking for on the site (ie. short term, long term, online affair, etc.) You’ll also fill out some basic information about yourself, such as your gender, sexual orientation and identity, current relationship status, height, weight, and ethnicity. After that, you can get started looking at other profiles, which are very easy to search through. Compared to other dating sites, this one is very easy to get started with, since you only need to provide very basic information when you first sign up. You are encouraged to add a photo and a short description for your profile when you sign up, but it isn’t required. Once your initial profile is set up, you can continue to customize and tweak it. The site has tools that you can use to make your profile pictures more discreet if you are worried about your privacy being compromised on Ashley Madison. This tool is intended to help users post pictures with more confidence. There’s also the option to upload private pictures and then send them only to specific users. It’s important to note that Ashley Madison doesn’t have usernames – you will only see a user’s location and their photo when you click on their profile. In fact, the internal Ashley Madison system only identifies users by profile numbers instead of usernames to completely protect your privacy. This is great for those who want to be discreet, but it also means that to be successful on the site, you really need to post a picture to draw in other users’ attention. In addition to uploading photos, you can also fill out even more information about what you’re looking for, your personality, and your sexual preferences. The site has a checklist of features you can use to indicate to other users what you’re about, like ‘little kinky fun’, ‘seeking a sugar baby’, and ‘hopeless romantic’, just to name a few. However, most Ashley Madison users don’t have much information available on their profiles. In general, if you want to find out what someone is interested in, you will have to send a message and get to know them better. While this might be a disadvantage on other sites, it’s a benefit on Ashley Madison, where discretion is absolutely crucial. However, if you are wary of messaging someone who doesn’t have much information listed on their profile, this site might not be for you, since the profiles don’t provide much detail about things like career, age, and hobbies. One of the most unique features that Ashley Madison offers it the ability to give feedback on other people’s profiles. After you have interacted with someone, you have the option to fill out a form about your experience with them. There’s a checklist of nine attributes, and you can select the ones which applied to the other user. For example, you can indicate whether or not the other user was fun to talk to or whether or not they are into exploring sexual fantasies. You can use this feature to attract other people to your profile by asking past contacts to fill out the form. It’s also fun to leave feedback on the profiles of other users and support them in their future endeavors. Contact on the site is made through text chat that is similar to email. Women can use the site completely for free, both initiating and receiving chats. If you are male, you will need to pay a credit to either make or receive contact from an interested party. Once you have made contact with someone and paid the necessary credit, you can continue talking to them for free. If you don’t have any paid credits, you can still indicate that you are interested in someone, and they can respond back if they are interested as well before you purchase credits to initiate contact. This way, you don’t need to pay for credits until you are sure someone is interested in you. However, the entire process is much faster if you purchase credits right when you sign up. It’s important to note that your credit card is billed discreetly, so ‘Ashley Madison’ won’t be listed on your credit card statement. This ensures the complete privacy you need when using a married dating site. So you can use the service on your phone as well. The app is available for both iOS and Android, and has the full functionality of the desktop site. You can browse profiles and message people just as you would on the computer. The app is listed as ‘AM’ to provide you with a bit of privacy when using the app. If you have a premium account, you can use a feature called Travelling Man to help you have even more fun while you are away from home. This feature allows you to change your location before you arrive in a new destination, so you can find someone to meet up with prior to embarking on your trip. Since many people consider trips the perfect time to try a discreet relationship, this feature is especially useful. Premium members can also use the Priority Man feature, which will ensure that your profile is highlighted and listed near the top of the search results for women located near you. This exponentially increases your chances of getting matches. 
Privacy Tools
Private photos
Profile photo options
Profile details and discretion
Feedback on users profiles
Text chat
Discreet billing
Ashley Madison app
Travelling Man feature
One of the best things about Ashley Madison is that it is very easy to use. The signup process is very minimal, so it already doesn’t have one of the biggest hurdles that you find with other popular dating sites. Once you’ve signed up, the site is also very easy to navigate – every single feature is obvious and intuitive. The site also doesn’t have any ads to distract you, which is always a huge plus. The only thing that could be a bit confusing is the pay-to-chat aspect for men, but once you get past that and purchase some credits, you will be meeting people in no time.Ease Of Use
Since Ashley Madison was part of such a high profile data breach a few years ago, it’s understandable that you might be a bit wary of this site’s security features. However, Ashley Madison has since completely redeveloped its security measures and put their customers’ privacy first. The anonymity aspect of the profiles already ensures that you have a certain level of privacy, and you can always delete photos from the site if you would like. The fact that you can edit your photos to keep your identity a secret is a major selling point for many people as well. This helps people who wouldn’t otherwise be comfortable using a married dating site feel confident enough to test the waters. The Ashley Madison site is very secure and uses firewalls and encrypted transmission to keep your data safe from hackers. They also don’t store personal information on their servers, so you don’t have to worry about safety and security issues from the site itself. Since the breach, Ashley Madison has also added two-factor authentication and other security features to protect your personal information. However, with technology changing at such a rapid pace, it’s always important to be careful online and avoid revealing potentially compromising information too quickly with potential partners.How Safe is Asley Madison?
Ashley Madison has customer service options available if you need assistance while using the site. They have a page of general FAQ that you can check first if you need answers to common questions. If you aren’t able to find the answers you are looking for, you can contact customer service via email or phone. They have separate customer service lines in each country, so you can be sure to find someone to help you.Customer Service and Contact Information For Ashley Madison
The biggest positive aspect to joining Ashley Madison is that it can help you find the type of relationship you are looking for very discreetly, without having to deal with the taboos that society places on affairs and open relationships. Many users of Ashley Madison want to improve their sex life by meeting new people, but aren’t necessarily ready for their marriage to end either. This social network gives users a place to meet people and develop non-traditional relationships without judgment in a fun atmosphere. The site is also very easy to sign up for and use. There are versions in many countries throughout the world and a large user base. There are some downsides to Ashley Madison, one of the biggest being that men need to pay to initiate contact with people they are interested in. This can be a barrier to entry for many people. The site also doesn’t have very detailed profiles, so it can be difficult to know what you are getting into until you start chatting. Many people don’t mind this aspect of Ashley Madison, but for some people, it’s a major turnoff.Positives and Negatives
Pros
Cons
There are a few main competitors to Ashley Madison, but it has really established itself as the leading player in the married dating space. The biggest competitors include Adult Friend Finder, No Strings Attached, and Victoria Milan. The latter really doesn’t complete in the U.S. as most of its members are in mainland Europe. However, if you are looking for married dating, affairs, and open relationships, Ashley Madison is really the most reliable place to go.Other Sites to Consider
If you are looking to spice up your sex life and make things a bit more exciting by meeting new people, AshleyMadison.com is the place to do it, Although you may have heard negative things about their data breach a few years ago, their security has been beefed up since then, and the site now has a healthy user base again. It can be a great place to meet like-minded people and add a discreet extra dimension to your life if it’s right for your circumstances.Ashley Madison Review Final Words
