Dating & Apps

Craigslist Personals Alternatives: 6 Sites Checked (Oct. 2026)

6personal-ad sites checked
7dating apps compared
8Craigslist traits, from 2017 archives
8questions about your inbox

Short answer: No single site replaced Craigslist Personals. We checked AseeksB, Doublelist, Lex, Locanto, Reddit r4r, and SeekingList against eight traits from archived 2017 Craigslist pages and eight questions about your inbox.

SeekingList keeps all eight traits. Doublelist keeps seven: anyone can see its ad titles, but reading a full ad needs an account. Of the sites that list their ads publicly, Reddit r4r was the only one where none of the 20 newest New York ads asked to move off-site or offered paid services.

Craigslist didn't require photos to show the poster, and replies were relayed to your own email. Going by each site's published rules and controls, not how well they work in practice, only AseeksB requires every photo to show the poster, lets posters choose who sees an ad, and keeps a conversation reportable after an unmatch.

Disclosure: AseeksB publishes this page and is one of the sites in it. No site on this page pays us, and there are no referral links. The eight traits were fixed before any site was checked, and every scoring rule applies to every site the same way. How we check

The yardstick

What Craigslist Personals got right, and what it got wrong

A good replacement keeps the first list and fixes the second. Every card below shows both, for every site, AseeksB included.

What it got right

The 8 Craigslist traits

  • Discrete ads with a title and a body
  • Words first; photos optional
  • Anyone could read ads without an account
  • You could answer an ad directly, without a match
  • No name, photo, or profile needed
  • Ads sorted by city
  • Categories for what you were looking for
  • Free to post and reply

What it got wrong

The 8 Inbox reality questions

  • Anyone could reply, as many times as they liked
  • Labels were self-declared on every post, so anyone could post as anyone
  • No rule said photos had to show the poster
  • Contact details were allowed in ads
  • Conversations ran through your own email
  • Email rules banned spam, threats, and email meant to drive traffic to a website, but nothing we found covered moving someone to another app
  • No account was needed to post, so there was no one to block or report
  • Bad posts came down only after enough flags
Start here

What did you miss about Craigslist Personals?

Pick what matters to you. Sites that have all of your picks light up below, and the rest fade to grey. Hover over or tap a faded card to read it in full.

Personal-ad sites

Sites where you post an ad others can browse and answer, in alphabetical order. Each card checks two things:

Craigslist DNA: what it got rightHow many of the 8 traits that defined Craigslist Personals a site keeps. Filled means kept, dashed partly, struck through missing. It measures similarity, not quality. See the 8 traits
Inbox reality: what it got wrongHow each site handles what made Craigslist fill with fakes, from who can reach you to how bad posts come down. See what it got wrong

AseeksB

Text-first personal ads app · Checked Oct 2026
Read without an accountNo
Who can see your adYour chosen audience
CostFree, with limits
Ads or redirectsNone
Report after they leaveYes
7 of 8 Craigslist traits
  • Discrete ads: yes
  • Text-led: yes
  • Open browsing: no
  • Direct reply: yes
  • Anonymous by default: yes
  • Local: yes
  • Intent categories: yes
  • Free to take part: yes
Missing: open browsing
Personals facts
Post an adFree, 1 active post; up to 7 with Supporter
ReplyFree; no limit on your own posts or in open conversations; messaging someone else's post depends on free post views, which refresh every 24 hours, and posting adds more
Read ads without an accountNo
Third-party ads or redirectsNone
AppiOS, Android
Inbox reality
Who can reach youOnly your chosen audience can see your ad; one message until you reply
Who you say you areSelf-declared at sign-up, then fixed
Photo rulesOptional, and your face isn't required, but every photo must be of you; no stock images, drawings, or generated images
Contact detailsBanned in ads; fine to swap once talking
Where the conversation happensIn-app; reportable even after an unmatch
Message rulesAsking someone to move to Kik, Telegram, Signal, WeChat, Zangi, or another app right away can get you banned; fine later if you both want to
Block and report a personYes, even after an unmatch or a move to another app; one account per person
How bad posts come downAdmins actively monitor posts; reported accounts can be banned
Off-site or paid adsOur own report, not an outside sample: admins actively monitor posts, and ads that ask to move off-site are removed quickly

Differs from Craigslist: Ads are read in the app after signing up. You search by gender, age, and place, and only people in an ad's chosen audience can see it or reply. Chats start in the app, where they stay reportable even after an unmatch, and AseeksB's rules say pushing someone to another app right away can get them banned.

Where this comes from

Doublelist

Classified personal ads, site and app · Checked Oct 2026
Read without an accountTitles only
Who can see your adAnyone
CostFree, with limits
Ads or redirectsSponsored listings and a pop-up
Report after they leaveNo, chats go with the post
7 of 8 Craigslist traits
  • Discrete ads: yes
  • Text-led: yes
  • Open browsing: no
  • Direct reply: yes
  • Anonymous by default: yes
  • Local: yes
  • Intent categories: yes
  • Free to take part: yes
Missing: open browsing
Personals facts
Post an adFree, up to 3 posts; more is paid
ReplyFree (account needed)
Read ads without an accountTitles only; reading a full ad needs an account
Third-party ads or redirectsSponsored listings among the ads link to outside adult sites; "Find Hookups" links on every page; first category pick opened a sponsored sugar-dating site; on October 11, 2026, a sponsored "Hookup Finder" link led to a page Chrome blocked as dangerous
AppiOS, Android, web
Inbox reality
Who can reach youAny account holder; no audience controls stated
Who you say you areSelf-declared 18+; phone check; some ads marked Verified
Photo rulesUsing someone else's pictures banned; people pictured must consent; no rule that photos show you
Contact detailsPhone numbers and handles banned in ads, yet 3 of the 20 newest New York ads gave Kik or Telegram handles
Where the conversation happensIn-app messenger or masked email relay
Message rulesHarassment and paid sex offers banned; personal details can be shared in messages, with a caution
Block and report a personInside a conversation; deleting a post deletes its chats
How bad posts come downSays posts are reviewed before going live; ads breaking its own contact rules were live when we checked
Off-site or paid ads5 of the 20 newest New York ads: 3 gave Kik or Telegram handles, 2 were party invites asking for your details so they could reply off-site

Differs from Craigslist: Anyone can see ad titles, but reading a full ad needs an account. Members' photos are behind a paid plan. Sponsored listings sit among the ads and link to outside adult sites, and picking a category the first time opened a sponsored sugar-dating site. Its pages open with a paid pop-up, and on October 11, 2026, a sponsored link, “Hookup Finder,” led to a page that Chrome blocked as dangerous.

Where this comes from

Lex

Text-post app for LGBTQ+ people · Checked Oct 2026
Read without an accountNo
Who can see your adMembers, by their own filters
CostFree, with limits
Ads or redirectsShows ads
Report after they leaveNot stated
7 of 8 Craigslist traits
  • Discrete ads: yes
  • Text-led: yes
  • Open browsing: no
  • Direct reply: yes
  • Anonymous by default: yes
  • Local: yes
  • Intent categories: yes
  • Free to take part: yes
Missing: open browsing
Personals facts
Post an adA set number of free posts each month; more are paid
ReplyFree
Read ads without an accountNo
Third-party ads or redirectsShows ads
AppiOS, Android
Inbox reality
Who can reach youAnyone whose own filters include you; Lex says it's working on this
Who you say you areProfile with name, pronouns, and optional social links; birthday locked
Photo rulesOptional; a pet, meme, or Lexmoji is fine, but images that aren't yours are banned; no nudity; moderators review after upload
Contact detailsPhone numbers, emails, and links banned in posts
Where the conversation happensIn-app messages
Message rulesText only, per its blog; terms bar phone numbers, emails, and links; safety tips call a quick move to WhatsApp a red flag
Block and report a personBlock, and report from a post or profile
How bad posts come downReports reviewed within 72 hours
Off-site or paid adsNot counted; its ads can be read only in the app

Differs from Craigslist: LGBTQ+ only, app and account only, with in-app messages instead of an email relay.

Where this comes from

Locanto

General classifieds with a personals section · Checked Oct 2026
Read without an accountYes
Who can see your adAnyone
CostFree, with limits
Ads or redirectsNone seen
Report after they leaveNot stated
7 of 8 Craigslist traits
  • Discrete ads: yes
  • Text-led: yes
  • Open browsing: yes
  • Direct reply: yes
  • Anonymous by default: partly
  • Local: yes
  • Intent categories: yes
  • Free to take part: yes
Missing: anonymous by default (partly)
Personals facts
Post an adFree
ReplyFree, 10 new chats a day (account needed)
Read ads without an accountYes
Third-party ads or redirectsPaid top spots; its terms let it republish ads on its other sites
AppiOS, Android, web
Inbox reality
Who can reach youAnyone with an account; no audience controls stated
Who you say you areSelf-declared; ads show a username, rating, and followers
Photo rulesNudity, celebrity and copyrighted images banned; screened on upload; no rule that photos show you
Contact detailsBanned in ad text; phone field on paid tiers
Where the conversation happensLocanto messages, with email alerts
Message rulesAsks you to keep chats in its messages; automatic safety warnings and scam filters; photos allowed in chat
Block and report a personBlock a user; report chats
How bad posts come downScreening, flags, and staff review; paid-service ads its rules ban were live when we checked
Off-site or paid ads10 of the 20 newest New York ads had a phone number or offered paid escort services

Differs from Craigslist: Its rules ban paid and commercial posts in Personals, but ads offering paid companionship, shows, and services were live when we checked. In 18 of the 20 cities where we counted them in October 2026, every Locanto ad posted as a woman was an escort ad; in the other two, all but one was.

Where this comes from

Reddit r4r

Subreddit threads, r/r4r and city r4r · Checked Oct 2026
Read without an accountYes
Who can see your adAnyone
CostFree
Ads or redirectsShows ads
Report after they leaveNot stated
7 of 8 Craigslist traits
  • Discrete ads: yes
  • Text-led: yes
  • Open browsing: yes
  • Direct reply: yes
  • Anonymous by default: partly
  • Local: yes
  • Intent categories: yes
  • Free to take part: yes
Missing: anonymous by default (partly)
Personals facts
Post an adFree; r/r4r and r/nycr4r let any account post, but some city boards, like r/LAr4r and r/SoCalR4R, require a minimum karma or account age first
ReplyFree (account needed)
Read ads without an accountYes
Third-party ads or redirectsNone seen on its personals boards (Oct 7, 2026)
AppReddit app: iOS, Android, web
Inbox reality
Who can reach youAnyone; chat settings can limit it to older accounts or nobody
Who you say you areA username with public post history; age checks for 18+ content; r/nycr4r mods verify posters suspected of being fake
Photo rulesNo site-wide rule that photos show you; intimate images posted without consent banned
Contact detailsPosting other people's private details banned
Where the conversation happensPublic comments under your username, or Reddit Chat
Message rulesUnsolicited sexual content and chat spam banned; images only after a chat is accepted
Block and report a personBlock and report accounts and chats
How bad posts come downVolunteer moderators remove rule-breaking posts; Reddit staff enforce site rules
Off-site or paid adsNone of the 20 newest r/nycr4r posts

Differs from Craigslist: Ads are public threads in city subreddits, and the volunteer moderators are active: none of the 20 newest New York posts asked to move off-site or offered paid services. In r/nycr4r you also have to confirm you've read the rules before you can post or comment, a step its moderators added after a rise in bots and scammers. There are no gender or age filters, and replies can be public comments that show the replier's username, or Reddit Chat. Our guide to Reddit personals covers r/r4r, r/dirtyr4r, and r/BDSMpersonals.

Where this comes from

SeekingList

Classified personal ads, web only · Checked Oct 2026
Read without an accountYes
Who can see your adAnyone
CostFree
Ads or redirectsMost listings open on Reddit
Report after they leaveNot stated
8 of 8 Craigslist traits
  • Discrete ads: yes
  • Text-led: yes
  • Open browsing: yes
  • Direct reply: yes
  • Anonymous by default: yes
  • Local: yes
  • Intent categories: yes
  • Free to take part: yes
Missing: nothing
Personals facts
Post an adFree
ReplyFree (account needed)
Read ads without an accountYes
Third-party ads or redirects18 of the 20 newest New York listings were Reddit posts that open on Reddit
AppWeb only
Inbox reality
Who can reach youAny logged-in member; no audience controls stated
Who you say you areSelf-declared by category; no verification stated
Photo rulesNo photo rule in its guidelines beyond images posted without consent; its blog advises original photos
Contact detailsNo rule found; both of its own ads in our count had phone numbers
Where the conversation happensEmail relay; addresses expire in about a day
Message rulesHarassment, threats, and spam banned; its blog advises staying on-site
Block and report a personBlock and report, per its blog
How bad posts come downFlags, reviewed in 1 to 3 business days
Off-site or paid ads2 of the 20 newest New York listings: both of its own ads, spam or escort ads with phone numbers

Differs from Craigslist: Most of its New York listings are Reddit r4r posts that open on Reddit: 18 of the 20 newest, 5 of them already deleted on Reddit by the poster or by moderators. Its own ads follow the Craigslist model closely: free, city-based, and relayed by email. Outside New York, it is thin: in October 2026, it had fewer than 20 ads in 12 of the cities we checked, Denver's going back seven months, and most of the newest listings in the Bay Area, Chicago, Seattle, and London were Reddit copies, many already deleted on Reddit. Of the ads posted to SeekingList directly as women, every one was an escort ad in 8 of the 9 cities where we counted them; in Orlando, 1 of 7 was.

Where this comes from
Try it

Write your ad

Have an old Craigslist ad saved? Paste in its title and text. Nothing is sent; it stays on this page. Still comparing? Skip to the full comparison.

Not sure how to start? AseeksB Assist can draft a starting point from a few details you give it, or polish what you've already written, and it only uses what you tell it. Your first post includes it. How Assist works
Preview: how it reads as an AseeksB post
Your genderYour ageYour city

Your title

Your ad appears here as you type.

Seen only by the audience you chooseOne message until you reply
  • From your account: your gender and age are set when you sign up and can't be changed later. That is what lets each post's audience hold.
  • For each post: your location is updated when you post, and you choose who can see it by gender and age range. Nobody outside that audience can see it or reply. Supporters can also set a maximum distance.
Download on the
App Store
Get it on
Google Play
Side by side

The full comparison

Every personal-ad site on one table, measured against Craigslist Personals as it worked in 2017. The ad count is out of the 20 newest New York ads on each site, on October 4, 2026.

SiteCraigslist DNAPostingReplyingRead without an accountContact info in adsPhotos must show youMoving to other appsOff-site or paid ads, NYCSpam controlsSends you elsewhereApp
AseeksBText-first personal ads app7 of 8Free, with limitsFree; messaging other posts limited by post views, refreshed daily; open conversations unlimitedNoNot allowedYesRight away can get you banned; fine laterNot independently sampled; none live, by our own reportAudience filters; admins monitorNoiOS, Android
DoublelistClassified personal ads, site and app7 of 8Free, with limitsFreeTitles onlyNot allowedNo; others' photos bannedBanned in ads; allowed in messages, with a caution5 of 20Review before postingSponsored listings and a pop-upiOS, Android, web
LexText-post app for LGBTQ+ people7 of 8Free, with limitsFreeNoNot allowedNo; others' images banned, pets and memes allowedContact details barred; quick moves called a red flagNot counted (app only)Reports, review in 72 hoursShows adsiOS, Android
LocantoGeneral classifieds with a personals section7 of 8FreeFree, with limitsYesNot allowedNo; celebrity and copyrighted images bannedAsks you to stay in its messages10 of 20Screening, flags, staffNoiOS, Android, web
Reddit r4rSubreddit threads, r/r4r and city r4r7 of 8FreeFreeYesNot addressedNo site-wide ruleNo site-wide rule found0 of 20Volunteer mods, Reddit staffNone seen on its personals boardsiOS, Android, web
SeekingListClassified personal ads, web only8 of 8FreeFreeYesNo rule foundNo rule; its blog advises original photosAdvised against, in its blog2 of 20Flags, reviewed laterMost listings open on RedditWeb only
Benchmark: what every site is measured against
Craigslist PersonalsBenchmark, 2017 archive8 of 8FreeFreeYesAllowedNo ruleReplies relayed to your own emailNot countedFlags after postingNoWeb only
For comparison

Apps people try instead

Dating apps that come up in the same searches. Most need a profile, and most need a match before anyone can message, so they keep fewer Craigslist traits.

AppCraigslist DNATraits it keepsHow it differs
Bumble3 of 8Local, Intent categories, Free to take partYou browse photo profiles in the app, and a chat opens only after a match.
Facebook Dating3 of 8Direct reply, Local, Free to take partYou build a profile that Facebook suggests to others, and you can send one like or message before they reply.
Feeld3 of 8Local, Intent categories, Free to take partYou build a profile with Desires instead of writing an ad, and chat only after a mutual like.
Hinge3 of 8Local, Intent categories, Free to take partYou like or comment on photo profiles, and chat opens only if they match.
Pure5 of 8Discrete ads, Text-led, Anonymous by default, Local, Intent categoriesIt uses ads, but you subscribe and post your own ad to see others, and chat opens only on a mutual like.
Sniffies5 of 8Open browsing, Direct reply, Anonymous by default, Local, Free to take partPeople appear as pins on a live map instead of written ads, and you message them directly.
Tinder3 of 8Local, Intent categories, Free to take partYou swipe photo profiles and can message only people who like you back.
Left out on purpose

Not included, and why

Several of the lists that rank for this topic earn referral fees or are labeled partner content, so we checked every site we compare ourselves. These come up on other lists or in the same searches, but they aren't options here. We don't link to them; where we compare them on another page, we link to that page.

Adult dating networks

These lead many other lists, but they are profile-based dating networks, not personal-ad sites. We read each one's terms and summarize anything a reader should know.

  • AdultFriendFinder: Its terms say chats, avatars, and images from its automated features are fictional (it labels them), its footer says people in photos may not be actual members, and your content can appear on its other branded sites.
  • Alt.com and FriendFinder-X: Same terms and footer as AdultFriendFinder, from the same parent company.
  • Flirt.com: Its privacy policy says it creates a duplicate of your profile on partner sites.
  • Fling and KinkyPeopleMeet: Their terms say your profile is displayed across a network of websites under different addresses. Both say they do not create profiles of their own.
  • NaughtyCharm: Its terms allow profiles run by partner models, marked Partner or Promotional.

Also profile-based, with nothing of that kind in their terms: Ashley Madison and Victoria Milan.

Adult-services ad boards

These appear on other lists, and their own listings or press and legal coverage describe them as boards for escort and adult-services ads. We don't compare them.

  • Bedpage: Described in legal coverage as hosting personal ads, including ads for escort and adult services.
  • MegaPersonals: Described in press coverage as an escort site, and its terms of use point to Romanian law. On October 6, 2026, all 20 of the 20 newest New York ads in its Women Seeking Men section were escort ads that gave contact details. If you came looking for MegaPersonals alternatives, the six sites above are the ones we checked.
  • Skip The Games: Described in local news coverage as an online escort service.
  • YesBackpage: Its own search listing calls it a Backpage alternative for escorts.

Sites that were empty or spam when we checked

Other lists, or Google's AI answers, still suggest these.

  • WhispersList: In New York, Women Seeking Men had no ads and Men Seeking Women had one. It also shows banner ads for another dating site.
  • DoULike: Google's AI answers for San Diego and Phoenix personals suggest it. When we opened it on October 10, 2026, its San Diego listings were spam and escort ads.

Classifieds without personals

  • Oodle: Its FAQ says it doesn't allow posting in the personals category.
  • Kijiji: Canada's big classifieds site has no personals section, and when we checked in October 2026, its Missed Connections category was mostly listings selling something.
  • Gumtree: The UK classifieds site has no personals or missed connections section; the closest it has is a page for finding travel partners.

Compared on other pages

These come up in the same searches, but they're built around profiles and matches, or memberships, rather than standalone ads.

  • SDC, SwingLifestyle (SLS), Kasidie, SwingTowns, Quiver, and 3rder: sites and apps for swingers and ENM daters, most with paid memberships for full messaging. See Swinger Apps and Sites Compared.
  • Nymph, OkCupid, #open, and 3Fun: profile apps where a chat usually opens after a match. See apps like Feeld.
  • FetLife: a kink social network, built around communities, profiles, writing, and events rather than personal ads. See FetLife and AseeksB.

Curated personals, by email or in print

Personal ads published on a schedule, rather than boards you post to and browse yourself.

  • The Cut's Personals: a weekly newsletter of personal ads from New York magazine, curated by its senior editor. More in personal ads in NYC.
  • A monthly printed personals paper from London: first issue December 2025; anonymous ads of up to 40 words, with replies forwarded by post. More in personal ads in the UK.
The benchmark

Craigslist DNA: the 8 traits

Taken from archived copies of Craigslist Personals from 2017, and fixed before any site was checked. Version 1.0. Craigslist Personals itself scores 8 of 8.

1Discrete adsYou publish a standalone ad with a title and a body, not just a profile.
2Text-ledThe ad is mainly words. A photo is optional, and listings lead with titles.
3Open browsingAnyone can read ads without an account.
4Direct replyYou can answer an ad without a match or an approval step.
5Anonymous by defaultNo name, photo, or public profile needed to post or reply. Contact stays masked until you share more.
6LocalAds are organized by city or area.
7Intent categoriesThe poster says what kind of connection they want.
8Free to take partPosting and replying both cost nothing.

In 2017, Craigslist Personals had nine categories: strictly platonic, women seek women, women seeking men, men seeking women, men seeking men, misc romance, casual encounters, missed connections, and rants and raves.

Method

How we check

Every 3 months we read each site's own public pages, help center, and written rules, and click through it the way a new visitor would. We note what posting and replying cost, whether ads can be read without an account, what its rules allow in ads and messages, and whether browsing shows ads for other sites or opens them on its own. For redirects we click into sections and through ads on each site, and note what opens. AseeksB's own row comes from its published rules and from us as its publisher.

How the traits are scored. A site keeps a trait only if it meets it in full; a trait kept only partly (dashed) counts as missing. Open browsing means full ads, not just titles, can be read without an account. Anonymous by default means no name, photo, or public profile is shown when you post or reply, and contact stays masked until you share more; an account behind the scenes is fine, but a public username with a rating, followers, or post history makes it partly. Free to take part means you can post an ad and reply to ads without paying; limits on free posts, chats, or views don’t change that, as long as both can be done for free.

Inbox reality asks eight questions, each a reason Craigslist filled with fakes: who can reach you, what ties a post to the person behind it, whether photos must show the poster, whether contact details are allowed in ads, where the conversation happens, what the rules say about messages and moving to other apps, whether you can block and report a person, and how bad posts come down. It lists a site's controls as its own rules and help pages describe them, not how well they work in practice. Where a site's own rules ban something and we found it live anyway, the card says so, with what we counted.

The count: on each site we opened the 20 newest New York ads and counted the ones that asked readers to move off-site (a phone number, email, handle, link, or a request for your details, spelled out or disguised) or offered paid services. Lex ads can be read only in its app, so Lex was not counted this time. AseeksB ads are also app only, so its row is our own report as publisher rather than a count: a count we ran on our own app wouldn’t be independent. Twenty ads is one day in one city, not a measure of how much spam gets through overall, and passing the test doesn’t make an ad genuine: an ad can look ordinary and still try to move you to another app once you reply. Our city pages run local counts, and each says what it counted: some count escort ads, others any ad that asked readers to move off-site or offered paid services. They cover Los Angeles; Las Vegas; Seattle and Portland; San Francisco Bay Area; San Diego; Denver and Colorado Springs; Phoenix and Tucson; Chicago; Houston; Dallas-Fort Worth; Austin; Miami, Tampa, and Orlando; Boston and New England; Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton; London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Edinburgh; Sydney; Melbourne; and Adelaide, Perth, and Brisbane.

The benchmark comes from Craigslist's own pages as archived in 2017: its personals categories and listings, its fees page ("All craigslist postings are free, except for" jobs, some rentals and dealer categories), its terms of use, its prohibited list, its flagging page, its safety page, and its help page on replying through a relay address.

Disclosure: AseeksB publishes this page and is included in it. We take no payment, referral, or affiliate fees from any site listed. The eight traits were fixed before any site, AseeksB included, was checked. A few scoring rules were clarified before publishing, and they apply to every site the same way. The photo and message rows were added in October 2026, after the first round of checks. They describe each site's published rules and help pages, are not scored, and changed no score.

Spot a mistake, or run one of these sites? Send a correction.

Frequently asked questions

What replaced Craigslist Personals?

No single site. The personal-ad sites people use in its place include AseeksB, Doublelist, Lex, Locanto, Reddit r4r, and SeekingList. Each keeps some of the eight traits that defined Craigslist Personals. The comparison on this page shows which ones, and what happens once people start messaging you.

What happened to Craigslist Personals?

Craigslist took its Personals section offline on March 22, 2018, after Congress passed FOSTA, which Craigslist said exposed it to liability when users misuse personals. It has not come back. Our article on what happened to Craigslist Personals covers the full story.

Is there a free Craigslist Personals alternative?

Yes. SeekingList and Reddit r4r are free to post and reply. Doublelist, Locanto, Lex, and AseeksB are free, with limits: Doublelist allows 3 free posts and charges to see members' photos, Locanto free accounts can start 10 new chats a day, Lex gives a set number of free posts each month, and AseeksB free accounts get one active post, no limit on their own posts or in open conversations, and post views for messaging other posts that refresh every 24 hours and grow when they post. AseeksB's paid Supporter tier adds up to 7 active posts and unlimited post views.

Is there a better site than Doublelist?

It depends on what you miss. Doublelist keeps seven of the eight Craigslist traits: anyone can see its ad titles, but reading a full ad needs an account. Members' photos are also behind a paid plan, sponsored listings among its ads link to outside adult sites, and in our check, picking a category the first time opened a sponsored sugar-dating site. If that is what put you off, compare the Sends you elsewhere and Inbox reality rows on this page.

What is SeekingList?

SeekingList is a free, web-only personal-ads site built much like Craigslist Personals: ads by city, free to post, and replies relayed by email. When we checked in October 2026, 18 of the 20 newest New York listings were copies of Reddit r4r posts that open on Reddit, 5 of them already deleted there, and the other 2, posted on SeekingList itself, were spam or escort ads with phone numbers. Outside New York, 12 of the cities we checked had fewer than 20 ads, and in 8 of the 9 cities where we counted ads posted as women, every one was an escort ad. Our SeekingList notes have the details and sources.

Are there Craigslist Personals alternatives without the spam?

No site can promise none. What differs is the controls: who can reach you, what ties a post and its photos to the person behind it, whether conversations stay where they can be reported, and how bad posts come down. Craigslist had almost none of these. We also opened the 20 newest New York ads on each site that lists its ads publicly and counted the ones that asked to move off-site or offered paid services: none on Reddit r4r, 2 on SeekingList, 5 on Doublelist, and 10 on Locanto. That is one day in one city, not a measure of how much spam gets through overall.

Do any Craigslist Personals alternatives require photos to be of the poster?

Among the six personal-ad sites we checked, only AseeksB's site-wide rules require every photo to show the poster, and they bar stock images, drawings, and generated images. Doublelist bans using someone else's pictures, Locanto bans celebrity and copyrighted images, and Lex bans images that aren't yours but lets you use a pet, a meme, or a Lexmoji instead of a photo of yourself. SeekingList's guidelines don't address photos beyond images posted without consent, though its blog advises original photos. Reddit's site-wide rules ban intimate images posted without consent, and r/nycr4r's moderators verify posters suspected of being fake, but neither requires photos to show the poster. Craigslist Personals had no such rule, even though 57 of its 120 newest New York ads carried a photo in May 2017.

Why aren't Tinder and Bumble listed as replacements?

They need a profile and a match before anyone can message, so they keep few of the eight Craigslist traits. We compare them separately, under Apps people try instead.

Does AseeksB make money from this page?

Only if you join AseeksB and choose its paid Supporter tier. No site on this page pays us, and there are no referral links. AseeksB publishes the page and is one of the sites in it.

Related reading: Casual encounters  ·  Missed connections  ·  Sites like Doublelist  ·  After the old classifieds  ·  How Facebook Dating works  ·  Personal ads vs. swipe apps  ·  Swipe fatigue  ·  Date me docs  ·  Safety & Moderation  ·  Anonymous dating apps  ·  Zangi, Telegram, and Signal scams  ·  How to write a personal ad  ·  AseeksB Personals Report  ·  Personal ads in NYC

Riley covers the move away from older personals and classifieds, and how text-first compares to swipe apps.

Reach the team at contact@aseeksb.com, attn: Riley.