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Tawkify reviews in 2024: Is it worth it?

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Dating can feel like a full-time job. It takes a lot of time and energy to swipe through countless matches and attempt to form connections with strangers. 

And if you have a string of awful (or even mediocre) first dates, it’s hard to find the motivation to keep putting yourself out there. If you're suffering from dating burnout, it could be time to call in some reinforcements — like a professional matchmaking service. 

This is why Tawkify intrigues me. It’s a matchmaking dating service that does all the searching and matching for you — without the very steep investment of traditional matchmaking services. All you have to do is show up on the first date.

Bottom line: Is Tawkify worth it?

To assess whether Tawkify is worthwhile, we scoured third-party and user reviews, and I interviewed three people who used Tawkify to see if it’s worth the hype. The definitive answer: No.

Our Tawkify ratings:
  • Member's experience
  • Matches
  • Cost
  • Customer service
2.8

Given the low success rates and high cost, we recommend those seeking serious relationships go to eharmony, one of the oldest dating sites/apps, and the only one that studies have found has a high rate of relationships and marriages.

Read our eharmony review, or try eharmony free now >>

Still wondering about Tawkify?

Is Tawkify legitimate?

Yes, Tawkify is legitimate. The company has an A+ rating on the Better Business Bureau website (though it's not accredited) and has 4.6 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot based on over 5,900 reviews — higher than most other dating services.

The matchmaking service was co-founded in 2012 by E. Jean Carroll, a former longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, and Kenneth Shaw, a 27-year-old Microsoft employee.

What is Tawkify, and how does it work?

Tawkify bills itself as a “personal dating concierge” — which is a hybrid between a dating app and a professional matchmaking service for people looking for serious relationships. While most dating apps rely on an algorithm to scour matches, Tawkify puts your dating life in the hands of its matchmakers, who will set you up on blind dates with other users. 

Tawkify is not for hookups.

Here’s how to get started on Tawkify:

  1. Go to tawkify.com and create a profile by filling out a lengthy (but essential) questionnaire that asks you all the basics (name, gender, sexual preference, and relationship status), plus personal questions about religion, physical appearance, income, and occupation. 
  2. There are also “free writes” where you can expand on your interests or anything else you'd like your matchmaker to know. You’ll definitely want to take advantage of this — it’ll help your matchmaker help you!
  3. Next, you’ll share details on your ideal match. You can mention specifics such as age and ethnicity and fill out the top qualities you’d like in another person.
  4. Lastly, you’ll upload at least two photos of yourself and confirm your phone number.
  5. When your information is in the system, your profile is set up.
Profile setup on Tawkify matchmaking site.
Relationship goals for Tawkify matchmaking service.

You can engage with Tawkify in two ways: 

Rolodex members join free and are only called when a matchmaker has you in mind for a client.

Paying clients are assigned a personal matchmaker who will find you dates. 

When I tried to sign up for Tawkify, it only gave me the option of joining as a Rolodex member — I assume because they have too many clients to serve.

The Phone Screening

Once you’re in the system, a matchmaker will call you for a 10- to 15-minute screening.

Your call with the matchmaker takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Most matchmakers will ask to Zoom for face-to-face interaction, but some might just call you up. 

Your assigned matchmaker will review your questionnaire and ask you to expand on your answers. For example, Sarah E., 34, a former Tawkify user from Orlando, Fla., indicated that she wanted children, and her matchmaker asked for details about how many and her timeline for having them.

For Rolodex members: If the matchmaker thinks you’re a good fit for their client, they will tell you more information about them, such as their interests, hobbies, type of work, location, age, and why they think you might be a good match, Sarah says. If you agree, they will run your info by their client, and if they approve, you’ll be set up.

For clients: After the screening, your matchmaker takes a few days to review your information and decide whether they'll take you on as a client. While your matchmaker reviews your materials, you’ll be asked to purchase a package to hold your spot. If you get rejected, you’ll get a refund. If you’re selected, your matchmaker will line up matches for you and plan first dates. 

The Date

If the client agrees with the matchmaker’s pick, the matchmaker will set up the first date. According to Sarah, dates typically are between two to three hours long — just enough time to get to know the person you’re meeting. It’s also a blind date, so you won’t know anything about this person (not even a name or physical attributes). The dates usually start with a drink or brunch, followed by a fun activity like indoor skydiving or mini golf.

After the Date

While most first dates end with a number exchange, with Tawkify, you’re not supposed to exchange them. Instead, you and your date are emailed a survey that allows you to share what you liked and didn’t like about the other person, including any red flags, and whether or not you’d like to see them again, Sarah explains.

If you and your match both agree to see each other again, the matchmaker then swaps your personal information. If it’s not a match and you’re a Rolodex member, you probably won’t hear from a matchmaker again unless they have another client in mind. If you’re a paid client, you simply move on to the next match.

What cities is Tawkify in?

Tawkify is available in major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Minneapolis, and Denver.

How many members does Tawkify have?

The site claims that more than 1 million people use Tawkify to find love — they’ve dubbed themselves the “Romance Rolodex.”

What is the success rate of Tawkify?

According to the Tawkify website, the service has an 80% success rate of creating successful relationships within 6-12 matches. Usually it takes that many matches for your matchmaker to really get a feel for your interests, what you’re looking for and match you with the right person. 

While this rate doesn’t factor in how long these matches last, there is a love stories page dedicated to Tawkify success stories, proving that some are endgame.

How much does Tawkify cost? Is Tawkify expensive?

Because of its premium service, Tawkify costs more than other dating services on the market. There are two packages for paying members (again, Rolodex members are free): Matchmaker Client and Matchable Member — the latter of which is very expensive. Below are the costs and what each offers: 

What you get for signing up as a Matchable Member ($99/year):

  • No set number of matches is guaranteed. You’ll only be contacted if a matchmaker has a paid client in mind.

What you get for signing up as a Matchmaker Client (packages may range between $2,000 to $40,000):

  • One date each month curated to you and your match's interest
  • Your own personal matchmaker
  • Matches carefully selected based on your profile

There is no information on Tawkify’s website regarding monthly packaging (they only give a range between $2,000 and $40,000, so you have to call for more details).

When I tried to call Tawkify, one woman put me through to the sales team, but no one got back to me. Jamie T., 36, from Los Angeles, who joined Tawkify as a client, paid $1,600 for four dates, and Robyn M., 68, from Chicago, paid nearly $9,000 for five dates.

These prices are similar to competitor It's Just Lunch — which only offers the high client rate.

If you're a wealthy single looking for love, check out our review of Millionaire Match.

Pros and cons: Is Tawkify worth it?

Pros

All the work is done for you.

With Tawkify, the matchmakers are doing all the legwork, from picking out your matches to setting up the dates. All you have to do is show up. If you’re feeling burnt out by dating, I can see why the idea of having a matchmaker sounds appealing. 

You get to rate your dates when you’re finished.

As mentioned, you don’t exchange numbers at the end of the first date — a plus for those who don’t want random people who haven't had a background check to have their number. Being able to rate your dates also gives the matchmaker insight on what works and what didn’t.

Dates are curated based on you and your date’s interests.

You’re practically guaranteed a first date that you’ll actually look forward to. Matchmakers will take into account what you and your date like to do when planning the first date. Sarah for example, went on dates that including indoor skydiving.

Cons

You might not always work with the same matchmaker. 

For Jamie, the most disappointing part of her Tawkify experience was how often she was paired with a different matchmaker. 

“I had four different matchmakers,” she says. “By the time they passed me on to the third person, I told them just to read the notes from the previous two because [the phone calls] were a waste of my time.” Ultimately, the constant change of matchmakers was a factor in Jamie not getting quality matches. 

You can’t see other members’ profiles.

Because your dating life is in the hands of the matchmaker, you don’t really know anything about your matches until the first date — not even what they look like. “What [the sales reps] don’t tell you before you pay them is that they are all blind dates,” Jamie says. “ You don't get to see any photos or even know the guy's name before you meet them. I never agreed to that and definitely got tricked [by the company].” 

Expensive compared to dating apps.

Tawkify is not a dating app or site, but a personalized matchmaking service — which are expensive. By comparison, sites like Bumble or eharmony cost around $30 to $50 per month.

The matches are not as personalized as they claim.

Tawkify claims that their matchmakers are skilled at pairing up their clients, but all three women I interviewed for this article agreed that while their dates have mostly been “nice,” most of them were not a good fit. 

For example, Robyn specifically told her matchmaker that she was not interested in dating a Christian man and wanted someone who loves dogs. Her first date was with a man who regularly went to church and couldn’t handle dog ownership. Her next three dates were also a poor match.

Tawkify reviews on Reddit

There are plenty of Reddit threads discussing the matchmaking service. Overall, it’s a mixed crowd. On one Reddit thread, many people felt that their dates weren’t bad, but no different than what they’d find on a dating app. Others expressed frustration with their matchmakers, saying they were being dishonest and not taking their preferences into account.

Other reviewers complained about how hard it was to get a refund when they tried to cancel their membership. There are also reviews on the BBB that echo this sentiment.

One Reddit reviewer found that Tawkify worked for her. Her biggest advice?

“Be open and honest and once you've completed your questionnaire, return to it often to continue adding details as you think of them. Also, be honest about any ‘deal breakers’ with your matchmaker.”

No, Tawkify is not worth the thousands of dollars it charges for matchmaking. As Sarah put it: “I just don't see the point in paying someone to send me on bad dates.” I agree. If your matchmaker isn’t going to bother taking your profile and interests into account, you’re better off joining a reputable dating site like eharmony. You’ll save a ton of money doing so.

Alternatives to Tawkify

Check out other dating site reviews:

Plenty of FishZooskTinder
Christian MingleAdult Friend FinderMatch.com
Catholic dating sitesOKCupidElite Singles
Spiritual dating appsSingleParentMeetBumble
Is Tawkify legitimate?

Yes, Tawkify is legitimate. The matchmaking service was founded in 2012 by E. Jean Carroll, a former longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, and Kenneth Shaw, a 27-year-old Microsoft employee. The company has an A+ rating on the Better Business Bureau website (though it's not accredited) and has 4.6 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot based on over 5,900 reviews.

What cities is Tawkify in?

Tawkify is available in major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Minneapolis, and Denver.

How many members does Tawkify have?

The site claims that more than 1 million people use Tawkify to find love.

What is the success rate of Tawkify?

According to the Tawkify website, the service has an 80% success rate of creating successful relationships within 6-12 matches.

Is Tawkify worth it?

No, Tawkify is not worth the thousands of dollars it charges for matchmaking.

11 Comments

Hello. I simply joined Tawkify as a $99 dating pool member. I figured I did not have anything at stake if things did not work out. From my perspective, the site can potentially work. I have had 4 dates with ladies who are definitely high caliber. 3 of the 4 dates we each wanted to meet a second time. However, the chemistry just did not ignite and lead to anything serious. As a man, the ladies of Tawkify seem to be educated and successful. From a womans perspective, maybe the available guys dont measure up as they would like.

Please, please, PLEASE don’t be fooled by this! If you’re a single heterosexual woman, you will NOT find someone serious. This is the most horrible sham and I’m in the process of filing something with the Better Business Bureau

I want to add a ditto to the above comments. I got treated so poorly by them and have filed a dispute with my credit card and a complaint with BBB. (As of right now, there are close to 50 complaints on the BBB website.) They are deceitful in their advertising and follow through. I wish there were other places I could warn women like myself. I have likely lost almost 3K.

Great article that validated some of my concerns. You saved alot of people substantial cash.
Although I dated on both Bubble and Hinde, I have been successful on both and found great female companionship & love.
My advice to all is be yourself and don’t be afraid to have fun. Don’t be a stiff.

I was recruited, I guess, to be a “human Rolodex” as it has since become known and feel that the constant (3 different recruiters) change in Matchmakers is the death-knell and a horrible business strategy. Not efficient in the slightest. I was rejected on the last 2 matches without even having been offered the chance to meet the paying members and Tawkify was rather mechanical in their reply back stating “we don’t disclose the reasons”. This tells me that they perhaps hype up their paying clients more than they hype up the non-paying ones. My question was legit: I wanted a sense of how many 45-minute sessions I would be expected to endure/waste for this 33.3% success rate in actually getting green-lighted for a date. So much for feedback. I think this service is not any better than the usual apps we all deal with.

After paying for a membership and getting only average dates, they called me in 2021 and asked if they could keep me in their data base for matches and I agreed. I went on two dates then the lack of professionalism began. I received an email for a date screening and was never contacted again. Two weeks ago I received another request for a screening, did it and never heard back again. This company lacks professionalism and the ability to know how to screen people. All I was asked two weeks ago was what do I do for a living and is this part of Baltimore to far for which I said no. The tawkify screener was in Hawaii, what does she know about Maryland? She had no business doing what she did along with absolutely no personality. If I receive another call for screening I will refuse. It’s a waste of time. Their idea of matching is oh, let’s put them together. Donate your money to charity instead. You will feel much better.

If Tawkify seeks to rise above the hundreds of online “matching” sites, it needs to do so much more work. Someone spent $3700 for no good reason! Someone equated this one to eHarmony, which gets a #1 disappointed terrible review from paid members. I’ve been exploited for money twice since 2016. Not exactly reassurance that the online space is safe and secure. As I’ve asked before, how is Tawkify different from eHarmony, OurTime, Match, PlentyofFish, and dozens of others? Tawkify has some explaining to do here.

I gave tawkify 2 rounds in the NYC area.
I won’t recommend it to anyone else here.

The matchmakers are hit-or-miss, and the customer service only seems to be considered about my ‘demographic’ when they cant seem to find professional matches they source on LinkedIn.

While i trusted my first/last matchmaker (none of the matchmakers in between because they can be unhelpful and judgmental messes who want to call themselves life coaches), it gets less convenient to get personal details about my date within the time that i should be traveling into the city to meet him. That has become FAR less comfortable in NYC these days.

I will add that i had to request a refund for tawkify to take me seriously in the second round.

The men are grabage, they will ghost you despite having a good time meeting you or the cost you give this service to retain the service of an actual matchmaker; making you question the service at all, but i appreciate that i was not the one who had to swipe left or right. It was an experience, the first round and the deeply discounted offer for year 2 in the pandemic, but i may be done without telling my friends.

I wasted $3700+ for 9 dates, and one match who seemed like a good dude. The rest were not really matches, one was a massive hypocrite (and not even justifiably so), others were just low account. But whatever…im not paying for this again.

I did not have a great experience on Tawkify. Be careful before signing on as a member – you will NOT receive a refund under any circumstances.
For various reasons, I was assigned 4 different matchmakers during the time that I was a Tawkify member. Only one matchmaker really took the time to get to know me and this definitely came through in the matches she selected for me. Unfortunately she moved on and I as assigned a different matchmaker after 3 dates.

I believe Tawkify can work if you happen to be assigned with a matchmaker who is keen on getting to know you and gets you!
Based on my experience, this seems to be rare. I was very optimistic when I joined Tawkify however I left feeling pretty disappointed.

After paying thousands of dollars in September 2023, to be matched with three dates in a year, Tawkify cannot even match me with one date, and does not want to provide a refund; rather they want me to change my standards so they can provide a match based on who they currently have in their pool. The Salesperson intentionally made multiple false statements which I relied upon to make my decision to join Tawkify and to determine my selection criteria. Team members were aware of my current criteria and stated that if I cannot be matched that a refund would be provided. Based on my current criteria, I cannot be matched, so a refund should be provided. Yet, Tawkify wants to pair me with a new Matchmaker fully knowing this will never address the intentional false statements made by Tawkify, only a full refund would suffice. Now I am out thousands of dollars for zero service.

Stay away!! I spent 10,000 on this service. The sales person fed me false information and I was foolish enough to not research the reviews. I thought I would be matched with other paying members, but I was matched with guys who are in their database, but are not really invested in meeting a partner. Blind dates with almost no information or picture. I can’t get a refund, so either I walk away from several thousand dollars, or continue to be set up with completely incompatible guys. I was hopeful about this service and found it to be a tremendous letdown.

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