I’m searching for a serious answer but I don’t have one because such sites popup on a daily basis. At any given moment there could be a flobbety gillion of these sites and the next moment only a half of a flobbety gillion.

well i’ve found a breakdown into 4 categories:

Content Services—provide text, audio, or video content to users who subscribe for a fee to gain access to the service. [Listen.com, Netflix, WSJ]

Person-to-Person Networking Services—are conduits for the distribution of user-submitted information, such as individuals searching for former schoolmates. [Classmates, Genealogy]

Trust Services—come in the form of membership associations that abide by an explicit code of conduct, and in which members pay a subscription fee. [Truste]

Internet Services Providers—offer network connectivity and related services on a monthly subscription. [America Online]

There’s no such list. There are just too many out there, more being created and others dying every day. You forgot to mention porn!

My guess? 17. I think there are exactly 17 pay sites out there.

My generous guess would be 18,000 “quality” subscription sites. Don’t question my methods either.

apparently somewhere between a flobbety gillion and a half a flobbety gillion. If you get a flobbety gillion people together to hep count, there will be times when they can count them all on one hand.