11 Best Totally Free Online Dating Sites (March 2024)
Totally Free Online Dating Sites

Online Dating

11 Best Totally Free Online Dating Sites (March 2024)

Hayley Matthews

Written by: Hayley Matthews

Hayley Matthews

Hayley has over 10 years of experience overseeing content strategy, social media engagement, and article opportunities. She has also written hundreds of informational and entertaining blog posts. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Bustle, Cosmo, the Huffington Post, AskMen, and Entrepreneur. When she's not writing about dating news, relationship advice, or her fantasy love affair with Leonardo DiCaprio, she enjoys listening to The Beatles, watching Harry Potter reruns, and drinking IPAs.

See full bio »

Edited by: Lillian Castro

Lillian Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro brings more than 30 years of journalism experience to ensure DatingAdvice articles have been edited for overall clarity, accuracy, and reader engagement. She has worked at The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Gwinnett Daily News, and The Gainesville Sun covering lifestyle topics.

Discuss This! Discuss This!
Advertiser Disclosure

In a Walmart commercial, Sam Cooke says that “the best things in life are free.” While the lyric was referring to the store’s free shipping deal, it really applies to so many other things, including totally free online dating sites.

Who says you have to spend your hard-earned money to find your perfect match? If you’re wondering which dating sites are completely free, then take a look at our list of the top free online dating sites where registration, profile browsing, and private communication don’t cost a thing.

Read on to see our reviews on the best free dating resources as well as some bonus answers to frequently asked questions by online daters like you.

Elite Singles offers an elite space for meeting new people. The online dating website and app cultivate a high-caliber dating network of college graduates who are over 30 and looking for a serious relationship. Approximately, 82% of its members hold at least a bachelor’s degree, and approximately 2,500 of Elite Singles members find love every month. On Elite Singles, the opportunity to search and swipe is totally free. The basic membership features won’t cost anything, and it includes registration, browsing, and certain forms of communication. However, you do have to upgrade if you want complete access to your inbox and other members’ photos.

BEST
OF

If we’re talking about free stuff, Match does a great job of giving singles a lot of value and keeping the cost low. Match is ranked as the best free dating app because it doesn’t skimp on quality. It’s absolutely free to fill out an online dating profile (with personal information about yourself and your ideal date), browse through profiles in your local area, and hear about exclusive Match events. The free Match membership also includes the ability to chat with Top Picks, aka the most compatible potential matches in the network. Singles can’t go wrong with the free dating site that’s been around since 1995 and has more success stories than any other online matchmaker in the business.

SilverSingles is a dating platform designed specifically for single seniors in the over-50 age group. The online dating site makes things easy for single people who aren’t tech savvy or feel nervous about online dating. The dating website has a clean, intuitive layout that anyone can learn quickly, and the features are streamlined for easy navigation (e.g., filtering searches, receiving compatible profiles, and sending messages). Most importantly, SilverSingles doesn’t charge you to test the site with a free membership and see if it’s a good fit for you. SilverSingles excels in pairing quality people in friendships and long-term relationships — it is not the best dating site for a casual hookup.

According to Business Insider, people over 60 make up approximately 11% of the world’s population, and that number is estimated to grow to 22% by 2050. This is a huge age demographic that deserves special attention, particularly the senior singles. OurTime is our go-to recommendation for older people in the dating scene for many reasons. 1) The dating website exclusively caters to senior singles who are 50 and older. 2) It’s safe and easy. 3) It’s free to try. Just complete a personal ad with some basic information, set some match criteria for your ideal partner, and start connecting with singles who share similar life experiences.

BEST
OF

Founded in 2000, eharmony is a well-known name in the dating industry, but it’s also known for its affordability (a basic membership is 100% free), ingenuity (the one-of-a-kind Compatibility Quiz), and simplicity (the dating site does all the searching for you). When it comes to success stories, eharmony is easily one of the top online dating platforms because it has led to over 2 million relationships in the United States. Plus, the dating site and mobile app create a new match every 14 minutes, so you’ll be in good hands if you join for free.

Adult Friend Finder — or AFF as the kids call it — has one of the largest and most diverse user bases of any hookup site. Over 100 million people have created a personal ad or dating profile in this database. Plus, the adult dating network boasts making over 3.4 million connections. It’s definitely worth a free account to see what the sexy photo galleries and chat rooms have to offer. Once you create a personal ad or dating profile on AFF, you can start browsing sexy photos, erotic blog posts, and other X-rated content. Free members can send unlimited likes to other members, but they’ll need to use a paid credit system to unlock certain privileges, including the live model video feeds.

BEST
OF

BeNaughty is a good option for singles seeking a local hookup. This free sex site has millions of frisky men and women from all over the world, and they’re looking for all kinds of sexual encounters, including one-night stands, threesomes, affairs, and swinging partners. You can rest assured that you’re safe while using BeNaughty because the site verifies its members and uses SSL encryption to protect your personal and financial information. Plus all chatting and instant messaging is completely free on this dating site.

Ashley Madison is a bit of a controversial online dating app because it offers its matchmaking services to singles as well as married people, poly individuals, and others who’d rather date in private. The affair dating platform provides simple filters, blurred or masked profile pictures, and anonymous browsing options to help individuals see what’s out there. Ashley Madison is commonly used as a hookup site for people who don’t want a commitment — they’d just like a low-key free chat with no strings attached. Lucky for single women, all communication features are free on Ashley Madison. Single men have some free chat features, but they’ll need a premium membership to send unlimited messages on this sultry dating website and app.

Many Christian singles are seeking the perfect match who has the same beliefs, values, and lifestyle, and that can be challenging on mainstream dating apps. That’s why single Christians have turned to Christian Mingle. The online dating website and app rank among the most reputable and popular Christian dating sites, and a standard subscription is totally free. As a basic member, you can upload information and photos, search for date prospects, receive match suggestions, and communicate in a variety of ways. Christian Mingle was launched by the same team that created JDate, a dating site for Jewish singles, and its faith-first approach to online dating has been embraced by million to single people worldwide.

BlackPeopleMeet is a People Media site, which means it can be trusted to connect you to great dates and perhaps even a potential partner . The niche dating site’s focus is on connecting biracial and Black singles. Launched in 2002, BlackPeopleMeet sees more than 1.4 million visitors a month and has a four-star rating on Google Play. Whether you’re looking for casual dates, pen pals, love interests, or a husband or wife, BlackPeopleMeet can help you make the right connections and swipe your way to Black love.

OkCupid

BEST
OF

Since its launch in 2004, OkCupid has been been completely free, and the team says it’ll stay that way as long as the site is running. That’s right — you don’t have to pay to create a dating profile, search for compatible dates, receive a potential match, flirt, send and receive messages, or anything else. OkCupid is most known for its proprietary matching algorithm — you’ll answer numerous questions, specify how you want your potential dates to answer the questions, and then rank the importance of each question. That’s how the free dating site calculates your compatibility ratings with other members. A match percentage of 85% or higher means you’ve got quite a lot in common!

URL: https://www.okcupid.com/

Plenty of Fish (POF) is another free dating site that promises to never make you pay to send or receive messages — and that’s a really good thing because POF users have more conversations than those on any other dating site and exchange 1 billion messages a month. Some other impressive numbers include that 70,000 new people join the site every day, and it’s available in 11 languages and more than 20 countries. One user named Simon Whitelock wrote on Google Play: “Been on a couple of other sites a week now and had absolutely nothing at all. Cast my net on POF and, within 48 hours, I’ve had some contact. Proves that POF does work.”

URL: https://www.pof.com/

Mingle2

BEST
OF

Mingle2 is a free dating site that keeps things simple. All it takes is some basic information (gender identity, email address, and ZIP code), and then you’re on your way to meeting a lot of authentic people. The team monitors the site to ensure that all the profiles are real and to keep fake profiles and scammers away. One helpful feature is the Members Online Now section, where you can see who’s logged in at the same time, which makes for even quicker connections. Mingle2 says you can put away your credit card as well because they won’t ask you for it.

URL: https://mingle2.com/

Which Online Dating Site Offers Completely Free Messaging?

Most people assume that a free online dating site will offer a free chat room for singles seeking dates, but sometimes the free services include only profile browsing and virtual liking — not the ability to send, read, and receive messages. This is a pretty big let down for some online daters, but luckily they don’t have get a paid membership to meet new people on a totally free dating site like OkCupid.

OkCupid offers 100% free communication between all its users, and they don’t have to pay a thing to access the messages in their inbox and greetings on other people’s dating profiles.

We’ve consistently ranked OkCupid as one of the best completely free dating sites because it has everything you need to make a great match.

Screenshot of OkCupid
OkCupid operates under the motto “Dating deserves better.”

We’ve already covered the basics of how OkCupid works and all the free dating services it can provide to support local singles, but a low price tag isn’t the only thing this totally free dating site and dating app have to offer.

The OkCupid match formula can direct users to the ideal first date and empower a single person to find their perfect match within no time. Every year, the OkCupid site and app create over 91 million matches between real people seeking the real deal.

Is Tinder the Best Dating App for a Casual Fling?

Most online daters are familiar with Tinder. It’s pretty much the most popular dating app on the planet, after all. Tinder launched in 2012 back when online dating was still very much stigmatized and underutilized by most people — but Tinder’s revolutionary swiping feature changed all that.

Tinder is a free dating app where users can express their likes and dislikes without holding back. By swiping on profiles, a single person can generate a potential match list comprised solely of people who turn them on. Plus, messaging is totally free between all users who like each other’s profiles.

There’s no denying that Tinder is a great hookup app where it’s easy to flirt with a stranger and pick up a hot date, and you can start chatting people up as soon as you create a dating profile connected to your phone number or Facebook account.

Tinder arranges over 1.5 million first dates every week, so it can definitely introduce you to some sexy local singles in the dating scene.

What Is Coffee Meets Bagel?

Coffee Meets Bagel is a free dating app where a single person can build a serious relationship with a potential soul mate. The app promotes authenticity, selectivity, and serious dating, so it’s a natural vehicle for single men and women who are tired of the traditional swiping scene.

By taking a quality-driven approach to online dating, Coffee Meets Bagel has changed the way local singles engage with one another online.

Screenshot of CoffeeMeetsBagel
CoffeeMeetsBagel was designed by three single women in Silicon Valley.

Coffee Meets Bagel limits the number of likes and matches a person can review each day, and that gives single people an incentive to slow down and consider each potential match more carefully and thoughtfully.

If you’re looking for true love, you should consider downloading this dating app for free and using its match capabilities to meet the person of your dreams.

How Do I Spot Fake Profiles on a Dating Website?

Spotting fake profiles is a regrettably necessary skill for any single guy or gal surfing on a free online dating platform because such free services tend to attract a few bad apples and unsavory characters.

As you chat with people online, you may start to pick up on certain warning signs and red flags that your online crush has something to hide. Things like speaking broken English, pressuring you to meet up right away, and making too-good-to-be-true boasts can all indicate that something fishy is going on.

Online daters should always do their research on a person before agreeing to meet up in person. You can do that organically by asking questions and carrying on a conversation in a private chat room — or you can straight up look that person up on Google, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

Searching for a new person by name, occupation, and location is useful because it can give you some good background information and pictures. This online footprint can verify that a person is exactly who he or she claims to be.

You can always trying using an online dating service like DateID to automatically screen your potential match and dig up the dirt before your first date.

Which Hookup Website Has No Hidden Fees?

An online dating site with no hidden fees can offer a great chat opportunity to singles looking to hook up right away, and that’s probably why almost 50% of singles under 30 have used a dating site or app to meet new people.

BeNaughty is one of our favorite 100 percent free dating sites for hookups because it doesn’t charge a penny to send and receive messages on the website — you can even send a mass text message to everyone who meets your dating criteria. BeNaughty is an incredibly fast-paced and sex-forward dating scene where singles can come into their own.

All you need to do to get access to free chatting on BeNaughty is upload a profile picture that clearly shows your face. As soon as the moderators approve your photo, you’ll be good to mix and mingle as much as you please.

★★★★
BeNaughty 4.2/5.0

Our expert ratings are based on factors such as popularity, usability, value, and success rate of each site.

4.2/5.0

Relationships: Hookups, Chats

Match System: Search by encounter, location, and more

Our Experts Say: “BeNaughty is a premier hookup app where you can feel comfortable expressing your desires. Plus, it's free to join, browse, and flirt...” Full Review »

Browse Free: View Photos Now

As you can tell from our review, BeNaughty can give you a lot of bang for virtually zero bucks. It’s free to create a dating profile and send messages on this hookup site, and you don’t have to worry about your free membership ever expiring or tacking on hidden fees. In fact, you never have to give BeNaughty your credit card information or PayPal account at all if you’d rather mingle for free.

However, some singles find it useful to upgrade to a paid BeNaughty subscription because they’d like extra perks and security features. This is completely optional, but it can up your odds of meeting someone special online.

What Is Facebook Dating & How Does It Work?

Facebook Dating is a free dating service that launched in the U.S. in September 2019. Anyone with a Facebook profile is eligible to join Facebook Dating and expand their reach in the local dating scene. You can only access this free dating service through the Facebook app, and you’ll have to create a new dating profile to get started.

Your activity on Facebook Dating will not be visible anywhere on your Facebook profile or newsfeed. Users aren’t even allowed to take screenshots in the app, so you can rest assured your secret crushes will stay secret.

Our Facebook Dating review goes into more details about how the dating service works and what it can offer singles — as well as some alternative free dating websites and apps worth giving a try.

Which Online Dating Site Works Best for a Serious Relationship?

This is an easy one. Only one dating website has been around since the early days of the internet and created more relationships and marriages than any other dating service in the world — and it’s Match.

Match has spent years perfecting its algorithm, honing its search filters, and streamlining the online dating process, so now it can offer a no-muss and no-fuss dating solution for anyone looking for the perfect match. This smart matchmaking website has a lot of great bells and whistles — including a fully functional dating app — so singles can build a relationship that lasts.

★★★★★
Match.com 4.9/5.0

Our expert ratings are based on factors such as popularity, usability, value, and success rate of each site.

4.9/5.0

Relationships: Friends, Dates, and Relationships

Match System: Browse by zip, age, appearance, more

Our Experts Say: “Match has facilitated the most dates and relationships of any dating site, and its large audience and high success rate make it our top review...” Full Review »

Browse Free: View Photos Now

Match is by far our favorite dating website for finding true love and happiness because the smart algorithm assesses personality traits, educational background, family values, and other important factors when creating matches and recommending date prospects.

Plus, a majority of Match users are over 30 and willing to pay for a monthly subscription package, so it’s a more serious dating crowd than you’ll find on the typical free dating site or free dating app.

Love Shouldn’t Come With a Price Tag!

Sam Cooke didn’t have online dating on his mind when he was singing about life’s free treasures, but his catchy tune still applies to the modern dating experience. You don’t have to pay for swiping and matching with a free site or app in hand, and that can make your journey all the more enjoyable.

Totally free online dating sites have definitely become one of the most popular ways to meet new people and build relationships. So take advantage of the free sites we’ve just told you about — and put your credit card away!

Advertiser Disclosure

DatingAdvice.com is a free online resource that offers valuable content and comparison services to users. To keep this resource 100% free, we receive compensation from many of the offers listed on the site. Along with key review factors, this compensation may impact how and where products appear across the site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). DatingAdvice.com does not include the entire universe of available offers. Editorial opinions expressed on the site are strictly our own and are not provided, endorsed, or approved by advertisers.

Our Editorial Review Policy

Our site is committed to publishing independent, accurate content guided by strict editorial guidelines. Before articles and reviews are published on our site, they undergo a thorough review process performed by a team of independent editors and subject-matter experts to ensure the content’s accuracy, timeliness, and impartiality. Our editorial team is separate and independent of our site’s advertisers, and the opinions they express on our site are their own. To read more about our team members and their editorial backgrounds, please visit our site’s About page.