- Themed dating sites, or niche dating sites, allow members of similar interest or life experience, or those looking for people with certain characteristics, to find only such people in a single site. This eliminates the need to sort through thousands of people you are probably not interested in. There are different types of military dating sites. Some provide membership for active and retired military personal and those interested in them. Others extend membership to other uniformed services such as firefighters and police officers. Some sites are truly global. Like in all Internet dating situations, one needs to take the proper precautions to ensure one's safety.
- Most of the dating sites are free to sign up and join but to have full privileges, including emailing and chatting with members, you may have to pay a monthly fee of anywhere from about $10 to $50 per month. Some military dating sites such as Military Dating Online bill themselves as being completely free. (See Resources below.)
- An experimental nationwide search on Military Friends (which calls itself the world's largest military dating site) for a male between the ages of 28 and 39 in New Zealand resulted in a page that says there are 200 available members (see Resources). You will need to sign up for a free account to gain access to these members and pay a fee for certain privileges depending on which membership type you choose. Military Friends offers income, education, identity and occupation verification services to members.
- Military Love Links is operated by Australia-based Cupid Media, which specializes in niche dating websites. It appears to be the most sophisticated of the military dating sites. As of January 2009, the site boasts of 109,000 members, about 73,000 of whom are in the U.S. The site calls itself the international military dating site. A search for males in New Zealand between the ages of 28 and 38 produced 23 members. You are able to browse through the members and see details of your search before even joining. There are three levels of membership: standard, gold and platinum. Even though the standard membership is free, it allows you to post a full profile and have unlimited contact with paying members. The paid memberships allow you more freedom to contact any member and to engage in things like video and voice chat.
- SingleSoldiers.net also also provides international military dating. A similar search for a New Zealand male as described above produces 40 members. The site allows for basic and premium membership. Premium members pay between $9 and $17 per month, depending on whether they choose the 3-, 6- or 12-month payment options. Basic members can be contacted by all members but cannot initiate contact. Premium members enjoy open communication with all members. Also, the premium membership does not automatically renew. You will have to renew it yourself and if it expires your membership becomes a basic membership.
