Tech Stacks. Which Escort Directory Uses What Technology?
Note from Love Sudo: Thank you for having me add comments to this post. Anything in this colour is our words with the hope to educate readers about the tech mentioned.
In building Sex Worker Search, with significant help from Love Sudo, my goal is to select technology that prioritises privacy and security while being ethical and effective for the workers who list with us and the clients seeking their services.
I’m fascinated by the diverse tech stacks used by sex workers for their websites. Recently, I discovered that I could analyse the tech stacks of other escort directories. To satisfy my curiosity, and hopefully learn how to improve this website, I examined the top 10 escort directories using BuiltWith and Ahrefs. The sites I looked at were: Adultwork, Tryst, Eros, Eurogirlescort, Privatedelights, Megapersonals, The Erotic Review (TER), Rentmen, Eccie, and P411.
Note from Love Sudo: A website comprises many elements: hosting, code, databases, analytics, and more. Many modern websites have evolved into fully-fledged applications designed to function seamlessly within a browser. The term "tech stack" refers to the complete set of platforms and tools used by a domain, including information about email handling as well.
Here are some intriguing insights I've uncovered about these top 10 escort directories, ranked by traffic from most to least visited according to Ahrefs. I’ve included summaries from Ahrefs to explain the traffic each directory receives and used data from BuiltWith to analyse the technology each directory employs.
My primary goal is to identify common technologies and evaluate their advantages and disadvantages for websites in the sex work industry.
Top 10 Sex Directories
Adultwork
I was completely surprised to discover that Adultwork receives the most traffic among all the sites I analysed. Despite its limited use outside the UK, Adultwork stands out in terms of traffic. In my opinion, it has the most outdated, unattractive, and user-unfriendly interface I’ve ever seen on an escort directory—it looks like a web marketplace from 1995.
Adultwork is notoriously difficult for sex workers to deal with. Every interaction I’ve had or observed with them has been frustrating, as if they take pleasure in being as uncooperative as possible. Moreover, there are troubling rumours that Adultwork shares the identity documents and selfies used for verification directly with U.S. border control. Accounts from sex workers report being flagged by facial recognition at the U.S. border and sent back to the UK, despite only giving these images to Adultwork for verification. For more details on this, visit the Sexworkersonly subreddit.
Despite all this, Adultwork remains inexplicably popular. It is, by a significant margin, the most frequented escort directory in the UK.
Notable insights from their tech stack are the use of Cloudflare (see Stack / Tool Insights section for an explanation of my thoughts, links to the tool, and notes from Love Sudo, about each of the tools used), Google Analytics, US Privacy User Signal Mechanism, ASP.NET, RSS, Atlassian Cloud, DoubleClick.Net, Amazon SES, SendGrid, Azure, and GoDaddy SSL.
I've spoken to Amazon and SendGrid about using their products and they both told me sex work-related sites are banned according to their terms of service, but Adultwork somehow seems to be using them.
The site has had more than 10 successful copyright takedown requests since 2011.
No surprise there. I expect all these directories get thousands of DMCA infringement reports sent via email directly to their site contact email, via their hosting company or via Cloudflare.
If an escort directory is displaying your images without your consent, find a template online for a legal take down notice and email it to the site contact. If they ignore you, do a whois hosting search and find the contact for their hosting provider if possible and send them the takedown notice. The site will get a warning which is usually enough to get them to remove the images. If they're using Cloudflare so their hosting is hidden, fill out the abuse report form here.
I'm surprised to see they're able to use Doubleclick. It's a Google product based in USA where sex work is illegal and is explicitly banned according to their terms of use.
Tryst
Whenever Tryst is mentioned on the Sexworkers subreddit, it's inevitably someone in a state of despair because they're desperate to get started and begin earning money as a sex worker but they've been waiting months for Tryst to verify them so their ad can get approved and become active.
Recently, Tryst has said that they've gotten their processing times down to an average of ten days but there are still people on reddit saying they've been waiting for months.
Notable insights from their tech stack are the use of PostHog, Ruby On Rails, AT Protocol DID Placeholder, Sentry, Let’s Encrypt, OVH, Hetzner, and BunnyCDN.
The site has had more than 10 successful copyright takedown requests since 2011, indicating a history of dealing with copyright issues.
Eros
Eros is an "interesting" one. They were raided in 2017 and their servers were seized by the feds, but they're still up and running. Rumour has it they're still up and running because they made a deal with the feds to provide an ongoing supply of the identities of all their users.
There's limited data for Eros. I guess escort directories that are effectively owned and operated by the CIA are more difficult to parse than others.
Notable insights from their tech stack are the use of Google Analytics, Ionic, SSL, and WAI-ARIA.
Eurogirlescort
Notable insights from their tech stack are the use of Google Analytics, US Privacy Signal Mechanism, Cloudflare, Nette Framework, DoubleClick.net, FastMail, and SSL.
The site has had more than 10 successful copyright takedown requests since 2011.
Privatedelights
I've seen multiple people on reddit complaining that Privatedelights is inconsistent in their approach to verifying accounts. They're said to pick and choose who they want on the platform and are allegedly racist in having an unspoken policy of rejecting African American providers.
Notable insights from their tech stack are the use of Express, Cloudflare, tawk.to, SSL, DNSSEC, and Amazon AWS EC2.
Megapersonals
Judging from mentions on reddit, their Fraud Bot tends to be a bit overzealous. One of their admins has a reddit account and is quite quick to respond to username mentions so if you are having trouble with MP, post on reddit and mention /u/megapersonalsreal.
Notable insights from their tech stack are Cloudflare, Java EE, GStatic Google Static Content, Openads/OpenX, SWFObject, SSL, and WorldStream.
The Erotic Review (TER)
Like all escort review sites, the denizens do like to write a graphic Penthouse Forum style account of their encounters filled with gratuitous detail. Many sex workers, especially in countries like USA where sex work is illegal, go out of their way not to mention specific sexual services in exchange for payment and very much do not consent to having these details published on review sites. One positive of receiving negative reviews on sites like this is that other reviewers, AKA hobbyists, are less likely to contact you. The hobbyist is distinguished by haggling, boundary pushing and casual misogyny so filtering them out is a good thing.
Notable insights from their tech stack are Google Analytics, User Privacy User Signal Mechanism, ASP.NET, GStatic Google Static Content, Cloudflare, DoubleClick.Net, and SSL.
The site has had more than 10 successful copyright takedown requests since 2011.
Rentmen
A male escort directory. I'm so happy that I don't need to use directories any more since my personal site ranks high enough on google for search terms related to the services I specialise in that I get enough clients from my own site without using any directories. I used to have an ad on rentmen and for every one genuine client, I'd get literally hundreds of timewasters. Ugh.
Notable insights from their tech stack are Google No Translate, Next.js, React, and Cloudflare.
Eccie
A toxic hobbyist community. It used to be popular. It's been hacked multiple times. Only ever gets mentioned on reddit as something to avoid like the plague.
Notable insights from their tech stack are Google Analytics, Cloudflare, US Privacy User Signal Mechanism, vBulletin, DoubleClick.Net, and Webair.
P411
It's a nice idea in theory. Everyone, sex workers and clients, must get verified. So, it's intended as an advertising platform where all the clients have already been screened. Unfortunately, it's best known for a client base that refuses to screen. The guys there feel that since they've already verified, they're entitled to meet whoever they want without providing any screening info, or references, or deposits. From what I've seen on reddit, a lot of them are blacklisted elsewhere for being difficult or even dangerous.
Notable insights from their tech stack are Cloudflare, Next.js, React, GStatic Google Static Content, FastMail, AuthSMTP, and SSL.
Stack / Tool Insights
Accessibility | Advertising | Analytics | Compliance | Email | Frameworks & Platforms | Hosting Providers | Monitoring | Multiple Feature Tools | SSL | Other
Accessibility
Note from Love Sudo: No matter what you build your website with you should put a heavy focus on accessibility. There are some places in the world that have laws that if your site is not accessible, you can be taken to court for it!
WAI-ARIA
WAI-ARIA is a way to make web content and web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies.
Advertising
OpenAds/OpenX
Note from Love Sudo - Originally OpenAds, it became OpenX in 2008/2009. Sadly, I have no knowledge about their ability, or willingness, to work with sex workers or their sites.
Analytics
Google Analytics
GA4 offers advanced tracking and analysis of user interactions across websites and apps, providing more comprehensive and detailed insights. It uses an event-based data model, enhanced user privacy features, and AI-driven insights, allowing businesses to better understand user behaviour, track key performance metrics, and make data-driven decisions. GA4 is designed to integrate seamlessly with other Google products and to handle future privacy and technology changes.
Note from Love Sudo - There are a lot better analytics platforms out there that put a focus on security and privacy and do not share data. They give you control over how data is collected and stored.
PostHog
I noticed a feature on Posthog which I never knew existed. They call it Replay. It allows sites using Posthog to view exactly what a user is doing on the site. So, they can watch your cursor moving around the screen as you move your mouse on your desktop or laptop or your thumb on your phone or other touchscreen. They can see if you highlight a word. They can see how long you look at which part of the page. They can keep recordings of all the above. Impressive. But also, very creepy.
Note from Love Sudo - PostHog does have GDPR EU hosting that stores data in Frankfurt. It’s one of those tools that when used for “Good” can help you ensure your site is user friendly and help you understand if visitors are getting lost, or stuck, but yes, there is something cool and creepy as well!
CDN
Note from Love Sudo - Content Delivery Networks are brilliant as they can speed up your website by creating quick access to pictures, and some companies, like Cloudflare, will host your entire website on their CDN meaning that speed is increased substantially!
BunnyCDN
BunnyCDN is a budget-friendly content delivery network provider that enhances website performance by distributing content globally.
GStatic Google Static Content
GStatic Google Static Cloud will off-load static content like (JavaScript/Images/CSS) to a different location to reduce bandwidth usage and increase network performance.
Compliance
Note from Love Sudo - There are a lot of interesting tools out there that can be integrated into a website to help ensure that regulations are being met.
AT Protocol DID Placeholder
DID Placeholder is a cryptographic, strongly consistent, and recoverable DID method created by the AT Protocol by BlueSky, used for secure identity management.
US Privacy User Signal Mechanism
The US Privacy User Signal Mechanism is a lightweight API used to communicate signals represented in the US Privacy String. This mechanism helps ensure compliance with US privacy regulations, which is critical for maintaining user trust and avoiding legal issues in a highly scrutinised industry.
Amazon SES
Note from Love Sudo - Amazon SES (Simple Email Service) is Amazon's emailing solution. It basically acts like a mail server and sends emails on behalf of someone.
AuthSMTP
Note from Love Sudo - AuthSMTP is another email relay. The focus is purely on sending.
FastMail
Note from Love Sudo - FastMail is a fantastic, and affordable, email solution that focuses on privacy, however, be aware their business is based in Australia. That country has some serious issues right now involving encryption.
SendGrid
Note from Love Sudo - SendGrid can be used as an email relay, but also to handle newsletter campaigns. But as Oz put it, they have stressed they will not work with sex workers.
Frameworks and Platforms
ASP.NET
Using ASP.NET can be more expensive due to licensing fees and the need for skilled developers who are proficient in the framework. The framework may be overkill for smaller sites, leading to unnecessary complexity and higher maintenance efforts compared to simpler alternatives like PHP or WordPress.
Note from Love Sudo - This is a Microsoft product. The .NET framework is free, but you may have licenses you need to pay for if you run IIS.
Ionic
Ionic Framework is an open-source mobile SDK for developing native and progressive web apps.
Java EE
Note from Love Sudo - This is an enterprise solution for Java and while Minecraft may be built in Java, I’d still recommend avoiding it as Oracle has some shady pricing practices.
Nette Framework
Nette Framework is a tool for creating web applications in PHP.
NextJS/React
Note from Love Sudo - NextJS (built on React) is a common framework for building JavaScript component-based UIs for websites and applications.
Ruby On Rails
Note from Love Sudo - Ruby on Rails can be a complex solution if you’re not used to code.
vBulletin
Note from Love Sudo - vBulletin is more of a forum app than a framework.
Hosting Providers
Amazon AWS EC2
Note from Love Sudo - AWS EC2 can be an affordable solution for some platforms, but AWS (Amazon Web Services) pricing model can be confusing, and as Oz mentioned they will not allow sex workers to host sites with them.
Azure
Note from Love Sudo - This is Microsoft’s cloud hosting platform.
Hetzner
Hetzner is a hosting provider primarily based in Germany.
OVH
OVH is a hosting provider primarily based in France.
WorldStream
Note from Love Sudo - They offer servers and infrastructure in much of the same as Hetzner and OVH. Though I’ll always recommend reading the T&S of any solution like this as some of them have every explicit “No Adult Content” mentions.
Monitoring
Sentry
Note from Love Sudo - Sentry is common platform for monitoring performance and errors in code. A bit of an overkill if you’re just doing a simple website for yourself.
Multiple Feature Tools
Cloudflare
It's not surprising that most escort directories use Cloudflare. As a leading web infrastructure and security company, Cloudflare offers a range of services including content delivery network (CDN) capabilities, DDoS mitigation, Internet security, and distributed domain name server (DNS) services. These features are particularly beneficial for adult industry websites as they enhance performance, accelerate content delivery, protect against DDoS attacks, and ensure user privacy by masking the origin server's IP address, thereby improving both security and user experience.
SSL
GoDaddy
Note from Love Sudo - Avoid GoDaddy like it is diseased. There are a lot better businesses out there to get your domain, SSL certificates, hosting, DNS, and any other service they offer. They have a fantastic advertising department and an absolutely horrid platform and customer service.
Let's Encrypt
Let’s Encrypt is a free open Certificate Authority. I'm hoping to see this on all the directories. Everyone should be using SSL. Privacy and security are important.
Note from Love Sudo - SSL encrypts traffic between your browser and the server that is serving the web pages to you. In general, you should never add a link to your site or visit a website that does not start with https:// as it can change your ranking and put you, and your visitors, at risk.
Other
Atlassian Cloud
Atlassian Cloud is beneficial for an escort directory site as it improves team collaboration and project management, ensuring high availability and scalability due to its cloud-based nature. The integrated tools support various aspects of development and communication, fostering an efficient workflow. However, the subscription fees can be high, making it costly for budget-conscious projects. Additionally, the range of features might be overwhelming and unnecessary for smaller sites, potentially leading to a steep learning curve and underutilisation of services.
Note from Love Sudo - There are a lot of tools out there that can help with project management, issue tracking, task management, and documentation. Atlassian’s global headquarters are in Australia.
DNSSEC
Note from Love Sudo - To try and put this into remarkably simple terms, DNS is used to take a domain like sexworkersear.ch and point anyone who requests it to the correct IP address for the server. The problem is DNS was designed over 30 years ago and that means that it has some vectors of attack that can allow someone to spoof your DNS records so it will point your domain to another IP address which, in most cases, is a malicious version of your site. There is some setup DNSSEC, but it is possible to investigate this with certain providers.
Google No Translate
Note from Love Sudo - There was once a time where you could tell Google to not try and translate your page by using a meta tag. Those dates are over.
RSS
I love RSS. If I could wave a magic wand, I'd eradicate all the escort directories and all sex worker profiles from social media platforms, and give every sex worker on the planet their own personal website with a blog page set up for RSS. Then clients could use search engines instead of directories to find sex workers and use RSS feeds instead of social media to see blog posts instead of tweets.
Note from Love Sudo - I’m so with Oz in this. RSS is incredible and I wish more people did this. It seems to be a dying trend and I really wish it wasn’t.
SWFObject
Note from Love Sudo - I sure hope this is not being used on a website. Adobe Flash was horrid for security issues and should not be served to any visitors on a website. It’s not even supported by Adobe anymore.
tawk.to
Note from Love Sudo - While tawk.to is free, read very carefully their T&S and Privacy Policy. And make sure you read about why it’s free.