Most of this belongs to other people. Nothing here is ranked and nothing paid to be listed.
You fill in a private form covering hashkafa, personality and life goals; their system looks for alignment and sends a short written summary of a match with no names attached, and names are exchanged if both sides agree. Aimed explicitly at people who feel overlooked — older singles, widows, divorcees, converts. Free to join, with a success fee if a suggestion of theirs leads to an engagement — their site has the current figure, which was $1,000 per side as of October 2026.
A few suggestions a day, which you mark as interested or pass on. When two people both show interest, a real shadchan makes the introduction and stays with it from there. Every frum hashkafa, divorced and widowed welcome including with children, and parents can manage a profile for their own child. Nothing is posted publicly — you are only shown to a potential match. The site is free; you pay the shadchan the normal rates.
A free nonprofit database with thousands of singles on it, and the main way a résumé reaches lots of shadchanim at once: hundreds of shadchanim have access, each with their own client list, so one profile is visible to far more possible matches than a single shadchan could ever hold. Filtering by age, location and hashkafa. Has the haskama of Rav Moshe Heinemann. Free.
Around 300 matchmakers worldwide who send you curated profiles rather than letting you browse, with ongoing support from the matchmaker. Deliberately broad — all ages, locations and levels of observance, including single parents, widowed and divorced. Membership is paid, with tiers; the higher ones let you pick dedicated matchmakers.
A programme of Yeshiva University's Center for the Jewish Future. Profiles plus volunteer "Connectors" who make targeted introductions, plus a real calendar of events, which is the part the others don't have. Also runs dating coaching, halachic guidance, genetic screening information and a podcast. Skews Modern Orthodox and younger.
Describes itself as the largest network of shadchanim and shidduch programmes — 350+ shadchanim and dating coaches across 30 cities. More a clearing house than a single service: a database, speed dating, coaching, communal davening, and social events. Rabbinical endorsement from Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff. Start here if what you want is a human being who works your area.
AI aimed at shadchanim rather than at singles. It surfaces candidate matches from profiles and drafts the explanation, and the shadchan decides what to actually send — so if your shadchan uses it, you may already have met its output without knowing. Around ten years old, hundreds of engagements, run by Dr. Shmuel Neumann. Worth mentioning to a shadchan who is working from a notebook.
What to ask, how to behave, and what the halachic shape of this is. Useful whoever set the date up.
From Adopt-A-Shadchan. The most comprehensive single document on this list: the mechanics of how shidduch dating actually proceeds, start to finish. If you are new to the process or restarting after years away, read this one first.
Questions and conversation starters for an actual date, aimed at getting past the interview feeling, on the premise that the question which gets a real answer is rarely the obvious one.
A dating coach's list, organised by what you are trying to find out rather than by date number. Good on the harder subjects and when to raise them.
Sourced halacha on dating, and a plainer overview of the same ground. Neither replaces your own rav, who is the right address for anything that actually applies to you.
Research, community data, and the public argument about why this is hard. Worth reading if you have been told the difficulty is you.
A large qualitative study of what people actually report as the struggles in shidduch dating. The recurring theme is being judged on superficial criteria — which is the finding this whole service was built in response to.
Community-level data on how singles are treated and what they say they need, with recommendations aimed at communities rather than at singles. Useful to hand to somebody who thinks there is no problem.
An argument that the difficulty is structural rather than personal, and what would have to change. Opinionated, and a good counterweight to advice that puts it all on the individual.
Plain background, including the demographic arguments and the fact that serious people disagree about them. Start here if you are explaining the system to somebody outside it.
On the specific difficulty of shidduchim as a giyores or ger, including the part where the system assumes a family that can vouch for you.
Obstacles and advice for people well past the age the system is built around. Blunt about what changes and what does not.
Several of the services above take this seriously rather than as an afterthought: MDY Shidduch and SawYouAtSinai both say plainly that divorced and widowed people, with children, are welcome. Worth saying because plenty of places are vague about it.
If you are in crisis, these are the right numbers and none of them need you to explain yourself first.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US) — call or text 988
Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741
Amudim — crisis support within the
Jewish community, 646-517-0222
NEFESH — a referral network of
Orthodox mental health professionals
There is also real research on what this process does to people's mental health — clinical guidelines for treating it exist, which tells you how common it is. None of this list is a substitute for any of the above. Anything worrying in an email gets said plainly and put in front of a person.
If you want a short answer: get on Zivug Zone because it is free and puts you in front of many shadchanim at once, find a human through Adopt-A-Shadchan because somebody who knows your community is hard to replace, read the practical guide, and try whichever of the matching services suit you.
None of these are exclusive — being on more than one at once costs you nothing. The only resource genuinely in short supply is somebody paying attention to you specifically.
Checked October 2026, and each organisation's own site is the authority — fees especially. If something here is wrong or missing, say so and it will be corrected.
Or read what this actually is first. No fee, and nothing to cancel.