Dating has changed a lot in recent years. There are so many routes and apps out there that it feels like we’ve almost forgotten that the whole point is to meet someone and fall in love. Comparing the quick and dirty apps to matchmaking services makes you realize that getting set up on dates and meeting people you actually connect with are two very different things.

That’s how I approached these It’s Just Lunch alternatives. I wanted to know what you’re really paying someone to take over and how much room they have to keep searching when an introduction doesn’t go anywhere. After comparing the options, I’d consider local matchmakers if they’re available, or try Tawkify as a trusted national option. Their larger search pool and ability to recruit beyond it matter to me if options start to feel limited, and I like that there’s more built around the actual introduction too.

It’s Just Lunch Competitors At A Glance

Service	Public Pricing	Search And Reach	Screening
It’s Just Lunch	Not publicly listed, reported figures range from $2,000-6000	Human matchmakers, with multi-city options available in some areas	No background checks
Local Matchmaker	Varies widely	Usually concentrated in one city or region	Depends on provider
Tawkify	Packages start at $4,900	3M+ nationwide network, with recruiting beyond this available	Criminal-record and live video screening for every match
Three Day Rule	Premium memberships start at $6,300	250K+ network focused in major metro areas with recruiting beyond this available	Screening can occur, but is not universal for every match
Kelleher International	$50,000 to $500,000	Highly customized national and international searches depending on service	Varies by service
Dating Apps	Free and paid options vary	Large self-directed pools depending on the app and location	Depends on platform

What It’s Just Lunch Already Takes Off Your Plate

It’s Just Lunch is already a long way from sitting on your couch swiping through profiles. Clients work with a matchmaker who learns what they’re looking for, hand-selects introductions, coordinates the restaurant reservation, and collects feedback after the date. Client profiles stay private rather than being posted for other singles to browse.

It’s a pretty reasonable place to start, especially as a busy professional. If you have one free evening and you’re choosing between working late or studying, sleeping, seeing your family, or going on a first date, paying someone to do some of that early sorting could well be worth it. The hope is that you can spend more of your limited free time meeting people who were at least looking for the same kind of life.

It’s Just Lunch guarantees that clients will go on dates and uses feedback to adjust future introductions. It does not conduct background checks, and its public FAQ doesn’t give a simple package price, so you need to speak with the company about the membership and cost available to you.

If I were on that call, I’d spend less time asking how many dates were included and more time asking what my actual search looked like after location, age, lifestyle, relationship goals, and true deal breakers were factored in.

But there are reasons people look elsewhere. Its franchise model means quality can vary across locations, particularly around the frequency of communication with matchmakers, and some reviewers have reported long-term contracts that haven’t delivered in terms of suitable matches after several months. 

A Local Matchmaker Could Be Worth A Call

If I knew I wasn’t moving and had no interest in dating someone hours away, I’d see if there was a good local matchmaker before assuming the biggest national network was automatically the answer.

Someone who has been matchmaking in the same area for years may know the local dating pool incredibly well. Before paying, I’d want to hear how many active people they currently have who are anywhere near what I’m looking for, whether they recruit outside their existing contacts, and what happens when that pool gets thin.

I live somewhere where driving 40 minutes is pretty normal, but I’m not sure I’d want that built into every first date. I’d rather have a slightly awkward conversation about geography before signing a contract than find out later that the matchmaker and I have very different definitions of “nearby.”

Why Tawkify Is The First National Alternative I’d Compare

That limited pool is an issue though, and so we return quickly to the national brands. Of the other sites like It’s Just Lunch, Tawkify has one of the most similar models. Paying clients get a dedicated matchmaker who gets to know their relationship history, lifestyle, values, goals, location, preferences, and what they’ve learned from past relationships before beginning the search. The company currently lists more than 3 million singles in its network built up over 15 years of operating, with matchmakers able to search beyond the existing database when needed.

That size of pool means your options aren’t going to feel limited as soon as you have a few matches that don’t go anywhere. If I’m paying for matchmaking, I want to know what the search looks like after those first few introductions don’t work out. Are they actively finding new people, expanding the search area, or sitting down with me again to figure out whether something in my original criteria needs to change? Tawkify does have what it calls ‘scouting,’ where it will look for people outside of its network, and that’s a reassuring feature to have.

Tawkify has options to set up blind dates, where you intentionally don’t exchange photos before the date, although physical preferences are still part of the matching process. I get why they offer this. Dating apps give us endless opportunities to over-analyze people before we ever meet them, and I’m sure plenty of potentially good dates have ended because someone didn’t love one particular picture. 

They also take over quite a bit around the introduction itself. Every proposed match receives a criminal-record check and live video screening, and clients get custom date planning and a feedback process after dates. Its current service information also lists access to matches outside a client’s immediate area, with broader search locations available depending on the package.

It’s Just Lunch says it doesn’t do background checks. I’d rather have that extra step in there. It obviously doesn’t tell you everything about a person or mean you can completely let your guard down, but if I’m paying someone to do some of the vetting before a date, I want to know what they’re actually checking.

Knowing that the person has already gone through the screening would make the ‘blind’ part easier for me. I’d still have to decide whether I was comfortable giving up the photo beforehand, but I wouldn’t feel quite as much like I was walking in cold.

I like the privacy part too. Client profiles aren’t public, which I can see being especially nice if you work with patients, clients, coworkers, or just live somewhere where you seem to know everyone. I wouldn’t necessarily want my dating life floating around publicly just because I was trying to meet someone.

And the feedback loop with your matchmaker interests me as well because an intake conversation can only tell them so much. Someone can check everything you said you wanted, and then you meet them, and something is missing. I’d want to know what the matchmaker takes from that and how it changes who they look for next.

Tawkify’s pricing does start higher than It’s Just Lunch as well. It currently publishes client packages starting at $4,900, with the final cost depending on the package and level of service. Basically, the more guaranteed introductions and extras you’re after (like coaching, or scouting outside of their pool), the higher the final cost. Its highest level engagement, with scouting beyond its network and 12 guaranteed introductions, comes out at $70,000.

Read our full Tawkify review here.

Three Day Rule Offers More Around The Dating Process

Three Day Rule currently lists premium memberships starting at $6,300 and says its network includes more than 250,000 relationship-ready singles. As with Tawkify, that figure is made up both of paying ‘members’ as well as singles that can join their network of potential matches. So if you might have doubts about ‘the sort of people’ that would pay for matchmaking services (yes, we know that’s ironic given this article!), then that aspect of it balances things out a little.

Depending on the membership, there can be more wrapped around the matchmaking itself, including dating strategy, photography, styling, and feedback. Someone who hasn’t dated in years may appreciate having help with things they genuinely haven’t thought about in a long time, and the Three Day Rule team looks like it’s made up of real experts across all the areas you’d want help in.

We said at the start of this article that dating has changed a lot in recent years, and so if you’ve been out of the game for a while, it would be easy to feel nervous about what the scene looks like now. Having someone in my corner in terms of what to expect and how to plan a good date could definitely come in handy. I’d personally put more of my money toward the candidate search than professional photos or styling, but I can see why someone else might value those things. 

Three Day Rule also has a new AI-powered app called tai, which acts as a coach, vetting agent, and feedback loop alongside the human matchmakers you’d be more used to with services like these. I get the feeling this will be a divisive part of Three Day Rule’s offering. Plenty of people will have turned to matchmaking services specifically to get away from apps, and so the idea of going back to a more impersonal screen might be off-putting. But if you’re the sort to embrace AI and use it as a complementary offering alongside the human matchmaking and coaching, you could be getting more value. 

Screening is one area where I would ask Three Day Rule very specific questions to understand what I was signing up for. Their public terms allow for criminal screening in some situations, but they don’t describe criminal-record screening as something every proposed match receives. I’d want the company to tell me exactly what happens before my introductions rather than assuming broad words like “screened” or “vetted” mean the same thing everywhere.

Find our comparison of Three Day Rule and its alternatives here.

Kelleher International Is A Very Different Budget

Kelleher International pretty quickly became a different category once I looked at the current pricing. Its site says customized matchmaking can range from $50,000 to $500,000, with the exact investment depending on the complexity of the search. That’s more or less the same pricing story as the other matchmakers, but on a different scale altogether.

Their big selling point is that their pool is tailored to celebs, CEOs, athletes, and other ‘higher profile’ individuals. A lot of that is down to the reputation the firm has built up over 40+ years of operating, and that experience in itself lends a certain credibility to their services. Each client gets a team of 3 professionals to work with: a market director, relationship manager, and network developer, though it wasn’t particularly obvious exactly what each role is responsible for from their website.

As for the clientele, people accustomed to a certain standard of living, or moving in certain circles, and wanting to date within that, will be more likely to find someone compatible. Still, I wouldn’t assume paying $100,000 makes two people like each other any more than paying $5,000 does!

For someone who has the budget and only wants to meet people in the same sphere of society, that level of service may be exactly what they’re looking for. It just isn’t the same financial decision as choosing between matchmaking services like It’s Just Lunch that start in the several-thousand-dollar range.

Read our comparison of Tawkify vs Kelleher International here.

Dating Apps May Still Have A Place

I wouldn’t rule out apps just because professional matchmaking sounds appealing. They cost a lot less, you can see who you’re considering before you meet, and you decide for yourself who you want to talk to.

But of course, that means you’re doing all of the searching too. You’re browsing profiles, messaging, trying to figure out who is actually serious, making plans, and starting over when something fizzles.

And I know from experience that it doesn’t even take a string of horrible dates to get tired of it. Sometimes you’re just tired of having the same getting-to-know-you conversation again and wondering whether this one is actually going anywhere.

That’s where I think the decision between an app and a matchmaker really comes down to time and how much of the search you want to handle yourself. If you don’t mind doing that part, maybe you’ll get lucky trawling the apps. But if the searching itself is what has started wearing you down, I can understand paying someone to take more of it over.

Sometimes you can meet someone who looks perfect on paper and feel absolutely nothing, and then another person just clicks. That’s part of why I wouldn’t write off apps or other lower-cost ways of dating just because professional matchmaking sounds more thorough. There is an element of chance there! Having someone do the searching for you can save a ton of time, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to find the person you connect with first.

What I’d Ask Before Signing A Contract

I’d want to know how many realistic people are currently available within the distance I’m willing to travel and what happens if the first few introductions aren’t right. How often are new people recruited? Which of my preferences are being treated as firm, and where does the matchmaker think I may eventually need to be flexible?

The contract itself matters too. I’d get clear about what counts as one of my introductions, whether I can turn down a proposed match, what happens if the other person cancels, and whether I can pause the service if something changes in my life.

I’d want to understand how feedback actually moves through the process. If I’m explaining why something felt off after a date, I want that information reaching the person choosing who I meet next instead of disappearing into account notes somewhere.

Finally, I’d take the contract home before signing it. I know that if you’re at an age where marriage and kids are a pretty immediate priority, and you’ve still got a demanding career alongside that, time feels really precious and pressured. 

When you want something that badly, I think it would be pretty easy to get caught up in a sales conversation about finally finding the right person. I’d want to go home, look at the numbers and the contract again, and make the decision when I wasn’t sitting there imagining how it might all work out.

What’s the Best It’s Just Lunch Alternative for You?

Unsurprisingly, there’s no single right answer here. It’s Just Lunch is often seen as an entry-level introduction to more personalized matchmaking services, and singles looking to move past that could consider local matchmakers as a likely way to meet someone nearby. For greater reach, Tawkify’s impressive network size means it leads the way for us in the 4–5-figure bracket. Kelleher International caters to a specific clientele, and if that’s you and you have the funds, it’s easy to see the appeal there. And of course, signing up for matchmaking services doesn’t mean you need to leave the good old apps behind. But we’d understand if you wanted to!