What Happened to Seeking Arrangement? (2026)
High prices, bans reviewers say come without explanation, limited refunds, fake profiles and a rebrand. What reviews and Seeking's own terms say, and where people are going.
Seeking Arrangement still exists: it renamed itself Seeking in 2022 and runs at seeking.com. It isn't dying, but plenty of longtime users are looking elsewhere.
Between the pricing ($109.99-$274.99/month depending on tier), account bans that reviewers say come without warning or explanation, complaints about fake profiles, and terms that say a terminated member gets no refund of unused fees, plenty of longtime users have had enough. Here's what's actually happening and where the exodus is headed.
If you've been on sugar dating forums, Reddit, or review sites in 2026, you've noticed a pattern. People who used Seeking for years — some for a decade or more — say they're looking for alternatives.
This isn't the usual "Platform X sucks" griping that exists for every dating app. The complaints are specific, documented, and widespread. They cluster around five problems, and many of the people raising them describe themselves as long-time members rather than newcomers.
We read complaint themes on Seeking's Trustpilot page (a TrustScore of 1.6 from 41 reviews in October 2026; Trustpilot doesn't verify reviews, and unhappy people review more), on Reddit and in third-party reviews. What follows summarizes what reviewers say, attributed as such, alongside what Seeking's own terms say. We run Arranged, a competitor, so weigh it accordingly.
What happened to Seeking Arrangement?
Nothing shut down. SeekingArrangement launched in 2006, and in February 2022 it rebranded as Seeking, dropping the "sugar dating" label and repositioning itself as an upscale dating site. The old seekingarrangement.com address now redirects to seeking.com.
Is Seeking Arrangement still a thing? Yes, under the name Seeking. "Seeking" and "Seeking Arrangement" are the same site. As of October 2026, its homepage says sugar dating and transactional relationships aren't allowed on the platform, which is where many of the complaints below start.
Problem 1: The price no longer adds up for many users
Per DatingScout's pricing table (updated September 20, 2026), men pay $109.99/month for Premium and $274.99/month for Diamond. On the 90-day plan, Premium works out to about $96.66/month.
To put this in perspective: Seeking's Diamond tier now costs about $3,300/year. That's more than most gym memberships, streaming bundles, and professional networking sites combined. For a platform that many reviews describe as stagnant, that's a lot to pay.
The math users are doing: at $109.99/month for Seeking Premium vs. $49.99/month for Arranged Premium, you could run Arranged for two months for what Seeking charges for one. If both platforms have active profiles in your city, that price gap matters.
Problem 2: Bans nobody can explain
This is the complaint that comes up most in public reviews: accounts closed overnight, without warning and without a specific reason.
Seeking doesn't publish how its moderation decides, and nobody outside the company knows. Its terms let it terminate a membership "for any reason, with or without notice," and they describe prohibited conduct, not a list of words. We're not going to guess at what triggers a ban.
What reviewers describe is consistent. Users widely report that appeals are ignored, denied without explanation, or result in weeks of silence followed by a form response.
User complaints about the ban system consistently describe:
- No warning before a ban — one day you're messaging, the next day your account is gone
- No specific explanation of what triggered the ban (just "violation of terms")
- Appeals that take 2-4 weeks for a response, if they get one at all
- Diamond-level subscribers losing hundreds of dollars mid-billing-cycle with no recourse
The identity crisis is real: Seeking still has the audience it built, but no longer describes itself as a sugar dating site. People paying premium prices are losing money in that gap.
Problem 3: Refunds are limited
Seeking's terms say a terminated member "will not be entitled to any refund of unused subscription fees or unused credits." So if your account is closed mid-subscription, the terms don't promise you anything back, even when you don't understand why it was closed.
Say you pay $274.99 for a month of Diamond and your account is closed on day three. Under those terms, you've paid for 30 days and aren't entitled to a refund of the other 27.
DatingScout's review agrees on the practical side: refunds, when they happen, tend to be partial, and subscriptions renew automatically. Billing and refund complaints are among the most common on Seeking's Trustpilot page.
For users considering their options: if you value refund protection, transparency about moderation, and the ability to appeal decisions, that should factor into your platform choice. Our guide to getting a Seeking refund covers the options you do have.
Problem 4: Bots and fake profiles passing verification
Seeking's FAQ mentions selfie verification, and reviewers on Trustpilot and Reddit still describe running into fake or scam profiles: stolen photos, scripted replies, and accounts that push conversations off-platform within a few messages.
No verification system catches everything, ours included. A badge means one check passed once. It doesn't mean the person is who they say, so a video call before meeting and a firm rule against sending money to anyone you haven't met matter more than any badge.
On Arranged, photo verification is optional: a live selfie checked automatically for a real face and apparent age, and verified profiles show a badge. It isn't compared to profile photos and doesn't confirm identity. What we lean on more is moderation inside conversations: contact details are blocked until the other person replies, copy-paste mass messages are blocked, and repeat offenders are suspended automatically.
Problem 5: The rebrand
Seeking dropped "Arrangement" from its name in February 2022 and now positions itself as an upscale dating site. As of October 2026, its homepage says sugar dating and transactional relationships aren't allowed on the platform.
The part of that rule that matters, we share: Arranged's acceptable use policy prohibits offering or soliciting sexual acts in exchange for money, and no site should allow it. The complaint reviewers make is about clarity. Many joined under the old name and say they no longer know what the site is for. A site that says plainly who it's for, and what its rules are, avoids that confusion.
Some long-time members compare it to a favorite bar bought by new owners who kept the name and changed everything else. Whether that's fair is a matter of opinion, but it explains why people start looking around.
Where are people going?
The exodus isn't going to one place. Users are spreading across multiple alternatives depending on their priorities:
Arranged is our own site, so take this with that in mind. It's a dating site for men and women open to an age gap, where men pay to message and women are free. Browsing full profiles, likes and matches are free. Premium is $49.99 a month, photo verification is an optional live selfie, and the rules on contact details and spam are published. The trade-off: a much smaller user base, since it launched in 2026.
Hanker is a newer site that announced its launch in April 2026, per its own press release. We haven't seen independent figures on its size, so treat claims about its growth as the company's own.
Secret Benefits attracts users who want to avoid subscriptions entirely. Credits from $59 for 100 don't renew, per DatingScout (pricing updated September 20, 2026), and VidaSelect's October 2026 review says women use it free. The trade-off: neither reviewer says it verifies income, and opening many conversations gets expensive.
WhatsYourPrice has men offer money for a first date. We don't recommend it: in our view, putting a price on meeting someone sets the wrong tone, and we'd rather people paid a platform to talk and decided for themselves whether to meet.
Our take
Seeking still has the largest user base, and in smaller cities that volume matters. The useful question isn't "is Seeking bad?" It's whether Seeking's size is worth more than twice the price in your city. Browse a cheaper site for a week first, and pay where the replies come from.
The bigger picture: what's happening to sugar dating platforms
In our opinion, the complaints say less about one company than about what members now expect. When Seeking was close to the only option, people tolerated its problems. Now there are alternatives, and trying one costs a five-minute signup and a week of free browsing.
The platforms that will win the next phase of sugar dating are the ones that actually serve their users — transparent about what they are, fair with pricing, clear about moderation rules, and willing to refund when they mess up. That's not a radical concept.
For an in-depth review of Seeking's current state, see our full 2026 Seeking review. For a direct feature-by-feature comparison with the leading alternative, check Seeking vs Arranged.
Frequently asked questions
Is Seeking Arrangement shutting down?
There's no sign of that. Seeking is still the largest sugar dating platform, though its size figures come from Seeking itself, and registered accounts aren't the same as active users. "Largest" doesn't mean "best," and complaints don't mean it's going away.
Why is Seeking so expensive?
Seeking doesn't publish how it sets prices. What it charges is public: $109.99/month for Premium and $274.99/month for Diamond, per DatingScout (September 2026). Its pitch is volume — more profiles than anyone else. Whether that's worth it depends on your city.
Can you get banned from Seeking for no reason?
Seeking's terms let it terminate a membership "for any reason, with or without notice," so it doesn't have to explain. Many reviewers describe bans without a specific reason, and nobody outside Seeking knows how each case is decided. If it happened to you, see our guide on what to do when Seeking bans your account.
What's the best Seeking Arrangement alternative in 2026?
It depends on your priorities. Arranged is a lower-priced subscription ($49.99 vs $109.99 a month for Premium) with free browsing first, though it's much smaller. Secret Benefits works if you prefer credits over subscriptions. Hanker announced its launch in April 2026. For a full breakdown, see our guide to sugar daddy websites.
Does Seeking still work for finding a sugar daddy?
Yes, but with more friction than before. The user base is still large in major cities. The problems — bans, bots, high prices — affect sugar daddies (who pay) more than sugar babies (who don't). If you're a sugar baby, Seeking is still free to use and the pool of sugar daddies is still the largest available. Plenty of men also use more than one site, so it's worth browsing a second one too.
Related: Seeking Arrangement review 2026 · Seeking pricing breakdown · Seeking app alternatives