Part of Notes from the Road, our city-by-city series.
The short answer: Craigslist took its Personals section offline in 2018, in Australia as well as the US, and its Sydney site no longer has one. No single site replaced it. Personal ads in Sydney now live on Reddit’s r/r4rSydney, in the personals section of Locanto, on Doublelist, and in text-first apps including AseeksB. We read the 20 newest Sydney ads on three of those sites in October 2026.
In Sydney, the geography does a lot of the deciding. The harbour cuts the whole place in two, and which side you are on, north or south, quietly shapes who you will realistically meet; crossing the bridge for a first date takes real time.
Australians would ask whether someone is keen: keen enough to make the trip across town. That is exactly the question a personal ad answers up front. You can say which suburb you are in, how far you will travel, and spare everyone the ferry ride that was never really going to happen.
Here is how the places people in Sydney use actually work, from our checks in October 2026:
In October 2026 we read the 20 newest Sydney ads on three of these sites and counted the ones that asked readers to move off-site or offered paid services: none on r/r4rSydney; 8 on Doublelist, all offering paid services; and 11 on Locanto, including all 9 ads posted as women, which gave contact details or offered escort services. AseeksB ads can’t be read without an account, so they weren’t counted. How we check.
AseeksB publishes this page and is included in it. For how each site handles the eight traits that defined Craigslist Personals, see our full comparison.
Craigslist’s Sydney site still runs for jobs, housing, and things for sale, but its Personals section went offline in 2018, and its missed connections section, still listed under Community, had no posts when we checked. Which replacement comes closest depends on what you used Craigslist for: reading ads without signing up, replying without a match, or staying anonymous. Our Craigslist alternatives comparison lets you pick those traits and shows which sites still have them. Searching for Doublelist or Locanto in Sydney? See what we found above, and sites like Doublelist and sites like Locanto.
Coming from Reddit or a classified site? On AseeksB you still write an ad in your own words, but you choose who can see it, by gender and age; someone can send one message per post until you reply; and no photo or real name is needed. Posting, browsing, and replying are free. How AseeksB works.
“doublelist sydney” gets about 1,900 searches a month, up 50% on last year (Google Keyword Planner, October 2026). Doublelist has a Sydney page, but new ads there are rare. Anyone can see ad titles, but reading a full ad needs an account. Posting is free for up to 3 posts, and seeing members’ photos takes a paid plan; its help center lists two, Hookup and Hardcore, at $45 and $90 a year (US dollars).
In October 2026, 8 of its 20 newest Sydney ads offered paid services. That is a snapshot of the newest ads on one day, not a measure of the whole site.
If you’re coming from Doublelist, AseeksB works differently, though most of its members are still in the US: you choose who can see your post, by gender and age; someone can send one message per post until you reply; admins actively monitor posts; and posting, browsing, and replying are free. For more options, see sites like Doublelist.
The North Shore, the Eastern Suburbs, and the Inner West each have their own gravity, and the water and the train lines decide how close any of them really are. Bondi feels close to a lot of places until you actually try to get there on a Friday. Distance in Sydney is measured in kilometres on paper and in patience in practice, so it helps to be honest about your radius before you start.
A text-first ad lets you name your suburb, your scene, and how far you are willing to go, in plain words. AseeksB is American-built and most of its crowd is still in the States, so think of it here as an early, honest way to post what you are looking for and see who is nearby, rather than a packed local marketplace. It is free to download and post, and every post shows how far it was made from while you browse.
Sydney was writing personal ads long before apps. On September 27, 1954, the personal column of the Sydney Morning Herald ran this one, clipped almost to code:
“GENT., 39, Prot., wishes meet Yng. Lady view Mat. 7870, Herald.”
Sydney Morning Herald, September 27, 1954. Read the adThat is a 39-year-old Protestant gentleman hoping to meet a young woman with a view to matrimony, with replies to a numbered box at the paper. The same column carried two private messages: one asking J. to write to a box “in order to maintain dignity”, and one telling a darling that the seats were not available. More in our history of personal ads, The Personals Archive, and the story of personal ad shorthand.
If you want to skip the guesswork about distance and just say what you mean, a written ad is the honest way to start.
One honest difference: AseeksB ads can only be read inside the app after signing up, unlike Reddit’s board and Locanto. That is the trade for choosing exactly who sees each post.
Most of AseeksB’s members are still in the US. If you post in Sydney, you’re early, and we’d love to hear what would make AseeksB work better there: tell us through the app, from the profile tab.
Write what you are looking for in Sydney, in your own words, with Supporter controls when you want more.
No single site. Craigslist took its Personals section offline in 2018, in Australia as well as the US. People in Sydney now post on Reddit's r/r4rSydney, in the personals section of Locanto, on Doublelist, and in text-first apps like AseeksB. They differ mainly in who can read your ad and who can reply.
Doublelist has a Sydney page, but new ads there are rare. When we checked in October 2026, the 20 newest Sydney ads went back to February 2024, and 8 of them offered paid services. Anyone can see ad titles; reading a full ad needs an account.
r/r4rSydney is a subreddit where people post personal ads as threads. Anyone can read them, but posting or replying needs a Reddit account. Comments are switched off, so replies go by private message. In October 2026, Reddit showed about 2,400 weekly visitors and 60 weekly contributions.
Yes, though most of its users are still in the US. AseeksB is a free personal ads app for iOS and Android. Every post shows how far away it was posted, anyone can search by distance, and Supporters can also set a maximum distance on their own posts. A free account keeps one active post, and someone can send one message per post until you reply.