Backpage was once the one-stop online ads hub for everything and anything. Users can post ads on houses, rent, interviews, selling, buying, services, and endless. Meanwhile, many people post personal ads on it and connect with people alike for dating. Now it’s no longer available, people are lost wondering where else to meet for shared interests.
But no worries, you don’t have to cut away from the natural need of finding someone in your area. We’ve found the best 15 replacements for Backpage for casual encounters and dating. They are niche and quality sites with a huge amount of users from around the world with similar minds and ready-to-go attitudes.
Top sites like Backpage, reviewed:
1. AdultFriendFinder - largest and most inclusive alternative for Backpage dating
2. Oodle - traditional classified site with personal ads
3. AshleyMadison - overall the best alternative for Backpage personals
4. DoubleList - all around parallel to Backpage
5. Passion.com - alternative based on shared interests
6. Locanto - most international classified alternative
7. NoStringsAttached - focusing on NSA connections
8. Craigslist - OG classifies ads site
9. VictoriaMilan - another alternative for NSA dating online
10. Reddit Personals R4R - free site similar to Backpage
These are the sites you can use as Backpage alternatives for casual hookups with no strings attached. Only one thing to note: as always, watch out for catfishers and other scammers when seeking online adult dating. Now it’s time to reveal the full list of top 15 Backpage replacements.
1. AdultFriendFinder - most Inclusive for Backpage dating
AdultFriendFinder is an adult dating platform for everyone who seeks online dating, no matter it’s casual encounters, hookups, or long-term connections.
As the most inclusive Backpage Personals replacement, AFF caters to all gender identities and orientations. Users of it have a variety of preferences when it comes to dating.
After a free and pretty quick registration, you can start searching potential matches through various filters of specific preferences or geolocation for a nearby date.
To provide a fun and fulfilling online dating experience, the site offers a good range of features for both free and paid Gold members: free users can view profiles, receive messages and interact publically through likes and comments, while Gold members get to private message others, watch live-action performances and have better visibility.
2. Oodle - traditional classified site with personal ads
As a traditional type of classified ads site, Oodle offers many features just like the one you are familiar with such as Backpage.
For personal ads especially, you can find categories of “Men Seek Women,” “Women Seek Men,” and others. It’s no doubt one of the most popular alternatives for casual dating and hookups after the Backpage shutdown.
The site enables search filters to help you locate the ones that suit your requirements or preferences on age, gender, distance, etc.
You can post personal ads for free and there’s no verification, so very fast and simple to get the message out to people in your area.
3. Ashley Madison - overall the best alternative for Backpage personals
As a top online dating platform with more than 54 million users, Ashley Madison is the go-to alternative to Backpage Personals for casual encounters and dating.
AshleyMadison features quality users, quality matches, and a wide range of interesting functions to interact among members. It caters to various connections ranging from casual dating to mutually beneficial arrangements, and serious relationships. This is a safe place for people to find compatible dates or partners.
Plus, to ensure there’s a worry-free environment for low-profile dating and hookups, AM enables a panic button to conceal messages and a blurred profile picture to remain anonymous when exploring intimate relationship on the site.
Signing up is a free process. Based on a pay-as-you-go credit system, the site offers controlled spending to users when enjoying its variety of features. That’s not all, the best part about AM is that women users get full access to the platform for free. That’s why you can find a huge number of attractive women active on it.
4. DoubleList - all around parallel to Backpage
DoubleList is another site that’s highly similar to its predecessors Craiglist and Backpage, with a range of categories for users to post things, including personals for dating of course. It’s no doubt a good alternative hence, and even with bonuses.
Doublelist.com is free to use through a simple sign-up, so it’s like a given to find someone compatible who shares your mind and interests, with a huge user base of over 40 million worldwide.
It has a resounding tagline of “Connect with straight, gay, bi, and curious!”, so it’s an inclusive site for dating. Real people meet on the site, with various preferences. And you can even filter what kind of date you are looking for specifically.
5. Passion.com - alternative based on interests
Passion.com, as a dating site focusing on causal dating and shared interests, is a good Backpage alternative for hookups and casual dating, rather than long-term relationships.
The site is inclusive of LGBTQ users and various types of preferences.
Fun features include “WebCam” for smoother and more direct interactions with potential matches, and “PassionGuarantee” for additional three-month Gold membership without charge for those who have not found dates in the initial three months.
6. Locanto - most international classified alternative
As another good Backpage alternative for free personal ads, Locanto has a similar interface. It has a “Casual Encounters” dedicated to dating, with many subcategories for you to choose from.
You can post personal ads for free on this popular platform, specifying what kind of dates you are looking for. The site features matching people from lots of locations in the world or nearby, no matter which country you are in. It’s one of the most international classified sites for listings, with active online dating seekers.
7. NoStringsAttached - focusing on NSA connections
NoStraingAttached is a site for hookups and casual encounters. It is a viable Backpage alternative, especially for those seeking short-term relationships.
The site has a diverse user base with various ethnicity, gender identities, and orientations. Once signed up, users will be provided with automatic match suggestions with profiles and pictures to review; you can also search potential matches using match filters.
On the site, users can experience erotic interactions and pleasures through dating topics sharing and multiple functionalities such as Webcam and secure calling, while their privacy is well protected.
8. Craigslist - OG classifies ads site
Craigslist is the OG classified ads site where people post about everything in their life, from renting, automotive, jobs, and dating! Although Craiglist Personals was closed, Craiglist is still running and there are still opportunities to meet new people for casual dating or hookups.
In the “Missed Connection” section, you can explore and get close to like-minded people. You may not be able to post openly straightforward personal ads like before, though. It’s still a place worth trying to meet your ideal dates or partners for some casual fun.
9. VictoriaMilan - another alternative for NSA dating online
VictoriaMilan is another dating website replacement for Bakpage with a focus on NSA connections. It ensures privacy while you are enjoying online dating, casual or not, through a strong encrypted security system and various security features for users.
Optional anonymous profile and panic button make sure your private interactions with other members are well protected; billing statements do not reveal the real name. You can enjoy a relaxing intimate experience on VM.
Premium members have an ad-free experience on the site, apart from additional communication features to connect with your dates or compatible partners.
10. Reddit Personals R4R - free site similar to Backpage
Reddit Personals R4R is a dedicated sub-forum of Reddit for personal ads and dating. R4R short for Redditor-for-Redittor shows its function of connecting users on this forum for various relationships.
The site is all free to use and with its well-known big name worldwide, you can easily find your matches among the millions of active like-minded people.
There are more guys than girls on the site though, and you need to filter carefully in the large pool of posts.
11. GetItOn - alternative with multiple interaction features
GetItOn is a guilt-free personal ads platform as an alternative to Backpage personals. It focuses on casual encounters and hookups.
The site offers an easy-to-navigate interface. Interaction features include advanced searching, voice and video chat, live streams and models. You can search filter users based on specific preferences.
GetItOn is free to register but free users only get limited access to the site with a few features.
12. Kijiji - has a community section for networking
Kijiji is one of the free classified ads websites you can use as a replacement for Backpage for dating and casual encounters.
The site features good customer support. From posting and deleting ads, and adding images, to creating alerts, the site offers guides to tell you how to proceed.
There’s a dedicated networking category called “community” where you can interact with others nearby and explore the potential to meet up. But there’s a chance that you may get reported if found of doting interactions of more than simple networking.
13. BeNaughty - inclusive dating site focusing on casual fun
BeNaughty is one of the most versatile online dating platforms, as a Backpage alternative. It caters to people of different gender identities, orientations, and preferences. Most users on it seek hookups and casual fun, but there are also some looking for soulmates.
BeNaughty offers various communication features including messaging, video chat, and gifting. Messages and chats will appear as pop-ups like social media interfaces, grabbing your attention.
Women can access most features on the site for free, while men need to upgrade to premium membership for a full package of perks. Not ready to invest that much yet? New users can get a 3-day trial with a small fee to try the fun first.
14. Flirt.com - alternative for flirt to start
Flirt is an online dating form that’s been running for over 20 years with over a million users worldwide. As the name shows, it caters to people who’d like a bit of casual dating and hookup, replacing Craiglist Personals.
The site has a highly user-friendly interface. It’s simple to use from the very beginning of registration.
Features are fewer on the site but enable essential functions including communication. The Like Gallery shows matches where you can indicate interest. You can also send pre-written messages to multiple users and get to know better of them through video chatting.
15. Bedpage - versatile site for listings
Bedpage is another Backpage alternative site, with a majority of users in the US. Just same with all the other classified ads sites, you can find a wide range of listings in the world, from jobs, houses, services, and more.
The site is inclusive and friendly to the LGBTQ community. But as a versatile site with so many listings, it does not have a focus on personal ads, and you can easily get lost in the sea of millions of stuff.
FAQs to be an Expert in Finding Ideal Partners on Like-Backpage Sites
What Happened to Backpage?
Backpage, as the one-stop site for selling, buying, and dating, was shut down by lawmakers as an endeavor against prostitution trafficking in 2018. But the majority of people are using it all for legitimate reasons. That’s why we reviewed and selected these sites for those who still want to meet people online to explore a relaxing love life.
What Are the New Ones to Replace?
We listed the top new ones as Backpage replacements for dating and casual encounters, after carefully reviewing them from angles of quality and quantity, chances of matching, features available, free and premium membership services, etc.
As the review shows, AshleyMadison is overall the best alternative to Backpage for casual dating, and AdultFriendFinder is the next best for hookups and casual meetups.
But you should always choose the most suitable one based on your specific preferences.
Is It Safe to Use Backpage Replacement Sites for Dating?
Generally, it’s safe to use Backpage replacement sites for casual online encounters. After all, they are all legitimate sites for people to date online.
But you can always use extreme caution and take precautious measures for online adult dating. There are some tips to keep safe:
- Choose an art username on your profile rather than a real name
- Do not transfer money easily or share financial details with others online
- Use a particular phone number or e-mail address for online hookups
- Enough communication and face check through the online camera
- Identity check using reviews and every other tool you can get before hooking up
Disclaimer: The above is a sponsored post, the views expressed are those of the sponsor/author and do not represent the stand and views of Outlook Editorial.
