Best sites · Lifestyle & needs
Tinder is the most-used dating app, Hinge suits singles who want a relationship, and happn helps you meet people you’ve passed in real life. The right singles dating site for you depends mostly on your age and what you want.
| Site | Fit for singles | Overall | Best for | Free version | Paid from | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tinder | Meeting lots of people fast | Yes | ≈ $10/mo | Visit | ||
| Hinge | Finding a relationship in your 20s and 30s | Yes | ≈ $30/mo | Visit | ||
| Bumble | Women who want more control | Yes | ≈ $15/mo | Visit | ||
| happn | City dwellers who want to meet people nearby | Yes | ≈ $10/mo | Visit | ||
| Match | Serious daters who like to search | Limited | ≈ $25/mo | Visit | ||
| Plenty of Fish | Free messaging and searching a big pool yourself | Yes | ≈ $10/mo | Visit | ||
| OkCupid | Matching on values and answers as well as photos | Yes | ≈ $10/mo | Visit | ||
| eHarmony | Serious relationships and marriage | Limited | ≈ $25/mo | Visit | ||
| Facebook Dating | Trying online dating without paying anything | Yes | No paid plans | Visit |
We rank for this audience, so the order follows the fit score. The overall rating reflects the site as a whole. How we score.
Fit for singles · Overall rating 4.0
Best for: Meeting lots of people fast
More online daters have tried Tinder than any other app, and you can match and chat without paying. Many members are under 35, and plenty want something casual, so say what you’re after.
Fit for singles · Overall rating 4.5
Best for: Finding a relationship in your 20s and 30s
Singles here mostly want to date with purpose, and profiles show whether someone wants something long-term or short-term. You can message matches without paying, but free likes run out quickly each day.
Fit for singles · Overall rating 4.2
Best for: Women who want more control
A large crowd of singles aged roughly 20 to 40, and women write first in man–woman matches. If nobody sends a first message before the timer runs out, the match disappears, so chats don’t sit idle for weeks.
Fit for singles · Overall rating 3.6
Best for: City dwellers who want to meet people nearby
Your timeline fills with singles who were recently near you, such as a neighbor or someone on your commute, with a rough idea of where. It works in busy cities; in rural areas you may see almost nobody.
Fit for singles · Overall rating 4.2
Best for: Serious daters who like to search
Most members are between 30 and 60 and dating for a relationship. A free account lets you search for singles by age, distance and lifestyle, but messaging anyone takes a subscription.
Fit for singles · Overall rating 3.6
Best for: Free messaging and searching a big pool yourself
You can message singles without paying and search the whole pool yourself, which is rare among big sites. It’s popular in the US, Canada and the UK, but has more inactive and fake profiles than paid sites.
Fit for singles · Overall rating 4.0
Best for: Matching on values and answers as well as photos
Singles answer questions about values and dealbreakers, and you see a match percentage with each person. Messaging matches costs nothing, and there are over 60 gender and orientation options.
Fit for singles · Overall rating 4.4
Best for: Serious relationships and marriage
Suits singles over 30 who want commitment: a long compatibility quiz decides who you’re matched with. You can browse matches for free, but photos stay blurred and you can’t message without paying.
Fit for singles · Overall rating 3.7
Best for: Trying online dating without paying anything
Completely free, and friends don’t see your dating profile. You set the age and distance range; how many singles show up depends a lot on where you live.
About three in ten US adults are single, which Pew Research Center defines as not married, living with a partner or in a committed romantic relationship (Pew Research Center, 2023). Only some of them want to meet anyone right now. Among single people who are looking for a relationship or dates, 45% had used a dating site or app in the past year, and 28% were on one when Pew surveyed them in July 2022 (Pew Research Center, 2023).
Age changes the picture. In the same survey, 53% of single-and-looking adults under 50 had dated online recently, compared with 26% of those 50 and older. So if you’re over 50, add a site where your age group is the norm, such as the ones we rank for dating over 50.
Most dating sites for singles look alike from the outside. The real difference is who uses them and what they want:
| Site | Who you’ll mostly meet | What most want |
|---|---|---|
| Tinder | 18 to 35, in most cities | Casual dates to open-ended relationships |
| Hinge | Mid-20s to about 40 | Serious relationships |
| Bumble | 20s and 30s | Dating and relationships |
| happn | 20 to 35, in big cities | Casual dates and relationships |
| Match | 30s to 60s | Relationships |
| Plenty of Fish | All ages, roughly 25 to 55 | Casual dating to relationships |
| OkCupid | 20s and 30s, strongest in cities | Dating and relationships |
| eHarmony | Over 30 | Long-term relationships and marriage |
| Facebook Dating | All ages, 18 and up | Dating and relationships |
Using two at once works well: one big app for choice, such as Tinder or Bumble, and one where people say what they want, such as Hinge or OkCupid. Over 40, Match and eHarmony usually have more people your age. Prefer not to pay? Our free dating sites ranking lists the apps where messaging costs nothing.
Most apps here let you set how far away your matches can be. In a small town, start with a wide range and narrow it once you see how many people are active. In a big city, a short range saves you from matching with someone an hour away.
happn is built around who’s nearby: it lists members whose paths crossed yours. Plenty of Fish’s Meet Me game shows people near you and creates a match when you both say yes. On Facebook Dating you set the distance yourself, and suggestions also draw on your Facebook activity (Meta). If you want to meet singles in your area but live in the countryside, our ranking of rural dating sites covers places with fewer people.
Wherever you swipe, keep your home address and daily routine to yourself until you’ve met in a public place.
The best-known singles websites with the word in their name are each built for one group. EliteSingles is aimed at professionals, mostly 30 to 55 and often with degrees, and we compare it with the alternatives in our dating sites for professionals ranking. SilverSingles is for people over 50, and LDS Singles is for Latter-day Saints, though it isn’t affiliated with the Church (see our LDS dating sites ranking). On all three, messaging is for paying members.
Some smaller “… Singles” sites are white-label brands. One company runs the software, and people who join any of its branded sites can interact with the same member database, as the white-label provider Dating Factory explains. That’s why the same faces can turn up on several “different” sites. Before you pay, check the terms page to see which company is behind a site.
Usually not. The big sites show full profiles only after you create a free account, and apps such as Tinder, Bumble and Hinge show people one at a time once your profile is set up. A free account is enough to browse and search on Match, Plenty of Fish and OkCupid. eHarmony lets you look at your matches for free, but you’ll see blurred photos until you upgrade.
Be wary of any site that promises a gallery of “singles in your area” before you register, then asks for card details to see more. Check who runs it and what the subscription costs before you hand over anything.
Put what you want in your bio, whether that’s something serious or seeing where things go. It spares you matches who are after something else, and it gives like-minded people something to reply to. If you’re stuck, try our bio generator.
Before you meet, check that the person behind the profile is real: look for a verification badge where the app has one, and suggest a short video call. Be careful if someone pushes to switch to WhatsApp or text right away, or brings up money. Our guide on how to verify someone online shows what to check.
We ranked sites on match quality, features, value, safety and ease of use, and weighed how well each fits this audience. See how we rate dating sites.
For most singles, Tinder, Hinge and Bumble are the best places to start: they’re free to match and chat and have big pools. Hinge suits people who want a relationship, and Bumble lets women message first. Over 30, Match is a good site for finding singles who want something serious.
In Pew Research Center’s surveys, a single person is anyone who isn’t married, living with a partner or in a committed romantic relationship. By that measure, three in ten US adults were single in 2022, and 57% of them said they weren’t currently looking for a relationship or casual dates.
Yes. In Pew Research Center’s July 2022 survey, 63% of men aged 18 to 29 described themselves as single, compared with 34% of women the same age. Adults under 30 were the most likely age group to be single, at 47%, while people aged 30 to 49 were the least likely, at 21%.
Yes, many do. One in ten partnered US adults found their current partner through online dating, and one in five partnered adults under 30 did, according to Pew Research Center. Choose an app where most people share your goal, and give it a few weeks.
happn is built for it: you see singles you’ve been close to in real life, which works well in busy cities. Anywhere else, set the distance range on Tinder, Bumble, Hinge or Facebook Dating, and widen it if you’re not seeing many people.