Best dating sites & apps 2024 for every gender and sexuality
Dating sites and dating apps remain the most common way to find love in the digital age. Despite best intentions, real life seems to have less of a place when it comes to finding “the one” – and even those hopeful of locking eyes with their perfect match on their morning commute are signing up to one of the best online dating sites.
Thanks to in-depth questionnaires and matching algorithms, today’s best dating sites will have you saying yes to profile photos from genuinely compatible matches. Even if you think your extensive dating experience has led you to view enough fake profiles to last a lifetime. Need proof? Recent research by Zen shows that 31% of people in the UK know a success story of a couple who have met online, and over a third of Brits are confident that online dating will continue to rise in popularity. Keep. On. Persisting.
Of course, with over 1,400 (!) dating platforms in the UK, it’s tricky to know which popular dating apps are, well, worth your energy. Match.com, eHarmony, Coffee Meets Bagel, Bumble, Tinder and SilverSingles all promote staggeringly good stats, so you’d be forgiven for being unsure which paid subscription will be home to the most appropriate dating pool for you. Enter, GLAMOUR’s guide to the best dating sites and trending app releases – compiled as a result of our mission to get out and meet people through all the subscriptions on the market. For queer women, heterosexual daters and LGBTQ+ singles.
SKIP TO: What is the best dating site for a serious relationship in 2024? | How did we test these dating sites? | Our full dating site reviews.
Meet the expert:
- Relationship expert at Match.com, Hayley Quinn
The best dating sites at a glance:
- Best Dating Site Overall: eHarmony
- Best Dating App Overall: Hinge
- Best Dating Site For Serious Relationships: Match.com
- Best For Hook-Ups: Tinder
- Best For Over 50s: OurTime
- Best On A Budget: OKCupid
- Best For Local Dating: Happn
- Best For Lesbian, Queer and Bisexual Women: Her
- Best For Influencers & Celebs: Raya
- Best For Muslim Daters: Muzz
- Best For Same-Sex Hook-Ups: Grindr
- Best For Jewish Dating: Jdate
- Best For Christian Dating: Christian Connection
How we chose the best dating apps and sites:
It is important to us that we provide unbiased, trustworthy and honest reviews of everything we test – from dating sites to sex toys. To compile this guide to online dating, single members of the GLAMOUR team have shared their dating experiences to help point you in the right direction. We continue to test as many of the featured dating sites in this edit as possible, doing so for at least a month, meeting potential dates IRL and scoring apps based on various criteria. Think: whether they’re suited to all sexualities, how safe they made us feel, whether they offered unlimited messages, the quality of the icebreakers and how appropriate our matches felt. For those we've not yet had the chance to test, we've referred to experts and user reviews. Find out more about how we test products.
What is the best dating site for a serious relationship?
“Contrary to popular opinion, when I was single, I found Hinge to be the best free dating app and perfectly suited to serious relationships,” GLAMOUR's Senior European Commerce Editor Sophie Cockett said. "Many of my friends have met fantastic partners on Hinge, too. It has countless people who don’t want to mess around – way more than Tinder did – and you can send an unlimited amount of first messages. As well as prompts, voice notes and videos. It helps you to get an insight into a dater’s personality before you meet them.”
Elsewhere, eHarmony is the best dating site for serious relationships, since it's exclusively designed to match people find long-lasting love. You'll be paired based on compatibility scores, dealbreakers, personalities, habits and interests after taking a lengthy but worthwhile quiz, so countless new subscribers report it being more successful than making a go of things through social media.
Ahead, the best dating sites and apps to give your love life a boost in 2024.
1. Best for beginners
Match.com is one of the biggest dating sites in the UK, boasting over 3 million UK users. And according to their site 1.6 million people have, umm, met their match. While some dating sites can be a minefield of ads, notifications and messy layouts, Match's interface is very user-friendly. A bit like Tinder, Match will show you one profile at a time, and you can decide whether to match or skip them. But unlike Tinder, you'll be given more information on the potential match as a person, so you're not just judging their hotness.
- Cost: Free to join, but paid-for plans start at £12.99.
- Who is it for? Singles looking for a long-term relationship. It's perhaps better suited to beginners in this field than eHarmony is. Around a quarter of users are under the age of 30, and another quarter of users are above 50. What's more, 59% of its users are single parents.
- Availability: Online, Android, Apple Store.
- Pros: Lots of users, lots of information provided, easy to use.
- Cons: The demographic on Match tends to skew a little older.
2. Best for long term relationships
According to the site's 'Married Couples by the Numbers' facts report, 71% of women and 69% of men meet their spouse on eHarmony within a year of joining the site. Setting up a profile is simple, and the algorithm filters matches by personality, habits and interests. The most popular age groups on the dating site are between 30 and 44, and 55 to 64.
- Cost: Free membership, though this is limited, and you have to pay for more premium plans. Subscription costs start at £7.95 per month for 24 months.
- Who is it for? Those looking for serious, monogamous relationships.
- Availability: Online, Android, Apple Store.
- Pros: High success rate, matches based on personality and values.
- Cons: You need to subscribe if you want to send customised messages and receive unlimited access to your match’s profile.
3. Best for non-conformist dating
Eliminating the judgement barrier that those open to polyamory and sexual fluidity (to name a few preferences), Feeld makes accessing your romantic and sexual passions more of a reality - play the Feeld, as it were.
- Cost: Free to download and use with membership options with added features for a fee.
- Who is it for? For individuals with a penchant for exploring new things and looking beyond the age-old outdated archetype of a nuclear family, Feeld will likely be worth your time.
- Availability: App: Android and iOS.
- Pros: Diverse and non-judgmental.
- Cons: Some users claiming the app needs to be a bit more curated, due to reports of sex workers using to the app to advertise paid services.
4. Best for mature singles
Our Time is a dating website owned by the Match group, with free membership and over 150,000 active users. It's a fairly new addition to the dating site scene, but it's perfect for anyone who is tired of swiping left and right and just wants to meet someone in person for a walk in the park or a takeaway coffee. Your profile will appear on other dating sites owned by the Match group when you sign up, but that can only be a good thing, since it widens your pool of potential partners.
- Cost: Membership is free but you have to pay for a plan (starting at £19.99) if you want to access the features.
- Who is it for? Those over the age of 40 looking for love.
- Availability: Online, Android, Apple Store.
- Pros: They also host regular singles events which you can actually take up to three friends along to for moral support.
- Cons: It's aimed at over-40s, so consider what you're looking for before you sign up. You also have to pay to send messages, and the sign-up process takes a little bit of time.
5. Best for fussy daters
There are more than four million users worldwide (2.5 million of whom are in the UK), and with OKCupid, you can choose everything from the type of relationship you're looking for (marriage/hook-up/short-term fling) to the gender you'd like to date (from 22 different genders, FYI) and the sexual orientation of the person you'd like to date (from 13 orientations). It's very inclusive. You then get to answer a tonne of questions about lifestyle, religion, politics and more, leaving you with matches who finally might fit into your very specific criteria.
- Cost: Free membership, but paid accounts start from £7.95.
- Who is it for? Anyone, really. There are slightly more men than women on OKCupid (64% male; 36% female, according to recent data), so it's perhaps a little better if you're hoping to date males. The median age is 32 years old, so it skews younger than eHarmony and Match.com.
- Availability: Online, Android, Apple Store.
- Pros: It's very inclusive. The questions are super in-depth and it caters well for those in the LGBTQIA+ community.
- Cons: You have to pay to upgrade to the Premium membership for extra features.
6. Best for serious online daters
Parship is a great dating site, which uses a pretty complex test to analyse your personality traits when you first sign up. Sounds complicated, but it really does mean you'll be able to start chatting to like-minded people more quickly.
- Cost: Free limited membership, or from £14.90 per month.
- Who is it for? There is a fairly even male/female split in the users, and 52 per cent of them are graduates. It caters well to the LGBTqia+ community.
- Availability: Online, Android, Apple Store.
- Pros: It's great for finding long-term relationships with other professional people. Most members on the site have fairly similar incomes and education levels. There's a specific gay version of Parship for those looking for a committed and long-term same-sex partner.
- Cons: You can to pay above the basic free membership to be able to message your matches.
7. Best for LGBTQIA2S+ dating
A top pick for lesbian, bi, queer, trans and non-binary or non-conforming gender identities, HER offers a safe space for non-cis and non-heterosexual singles alike to meet and connect, not to mention being an 'editor's choice' app on the Apple app store.
- Cost: Core features are free, with premium options from £13.99.
- Who is it for? Lesbian, bi, queer, trans and non-binary or non-conforming gender identities.
- Availability: App and website.
- Pros: Great for meeting new friends in the community as well as potential partners and, for users in sleepy towns, it allows them to extend their dating scope into busier, neighbouring cities with a more thriving LGBTQIA2S+ scene.
- Cons: You'll have to bypass a paywall to unlock unlimited swipes and gain access to certain intel, such as who's already liked you.
8. Best for Indian daters
Shaadi.com is the best dating site for single Indians who are looking for love. In fact, you have to set your preference to "bride" or "groom" when you sign up, showing that it's exclusively aimed at those looking for marriage. You can filter your choices based on height, religion, whether you have children etc.
- Cost: It’s free to sign up to Shaadi.com. But there are some more comprehensive, paid-for packages which you can sign up to: Gold, Gold Plus, Diamond, Diamond Plus and Platinum Plus.
- Who is it for? Single Indian daters.
- Availability: Website only.
- Pros: You can get a personalised membership which means you get a personal relationship advisor to help you out.
- Cons: Shaadi is probably not for you if you're after something a little more casual.
9. Best for millennials
The world of dating is filled with tiresome tropes like ‘you’ve got to wait 72 hours before you send them a message' or rather, in heterosexual relationships, ‘only the man can propose!’ Bumble sets out to dismantle those archaic traditions and seeks out forward thinking individuals as the crux of its user base. Suitable for both Apple and Android devices, Bumble takes a somewhat feminist stance and challenges long outdated norms of the dating world - i.e. that men have to make the first move. Yep, for heterosexual couples, Bumble asks its female users to start conversations and then gives their male counterparts 24 hours to respond before the connection expires. Plus, for those not up for an intimate relationship, Bumble's also well know for its BFF finder - great for users just moving to new towns and cities.
- Cost: Free to download and use, with premium options available for a surplus.
- Who is it for? 18-35 year-olds looking for serious relationships, flings and casual dating. The male/female split is fairly equal.
- Availability: Android and iPhone apps.
- Pros: Gives women the control.
- Cons: For same-sex relationships, both parties are encouraged to message first, thus rendering the unique ‘quirk’ of the app a little targeted in favour of straight couples.
10. Best for live video chatting
Badoo will leave you spoiled for choice; it's a great app for keeping for options open. Dating profiles are made up of basic information, and you can drop in on people's live video chats. According to sheer popularity, analytics firm Statista reports that Badoo is the most popular online dating service in the world with more than 100 million visits per month, so you'll be spoiled for choice.
- Cost: Free membership for the most basic package. You can sign up to premium packages which start at £4.99 a week.
- Who is it for? Those looking for light-hearted dating and the chance to get to know lots of people at once.
- Availability: Android and Apple apps.
- Pros: You can select what you're looking for when you sign up: a chat, casual dates a serious relationship or to stay open-minded.
- Cons: You get notifications every time someone messages you or sends you a like, but since there are SO many users, things can get overwhelming.
11. Best for Jewish daters
JDate is the internet's largest Jewish dating service, and it has been around for nearly two decades. You simply upload a bio of around 100-150 words and up to six photos. Then, you can browse other dating profiles to your hearts' content, filtering by physical features, hobbies, religious practise and the type of relationship they're after.
- Cost: Membership is free.
- Who is it for? Jewish singles looking for love. It's LGBT inclusive.
- Availability: Website, on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
- Pros: There's a Look Book feature which makes it super easy to track who has liked you, and who you've liked in return.
- Cons: There aren't quite as many members as other dating sites.
12. Best for the Muslim faith
Designed for Muslim users who want to guarantee respect towards their religion and views, Muzz - formerly Muzmatch - has over 200,000 relationship successes within its vast community.
- How much does it cost? Free to download and use with gold membership available for a fee.
- Who is it for? Muslim daters.
- Availability: Apple App Store and Google Play.
- Pros: Muzz makes meeting a partner in a halal manner possible and, for those worried about bumping into friends and family on the app, it gives users the capacity to keep photos and names obscured.
- Cons: Said privacy feature makes finding a match for those with looks at the forefront of their non-negotiables a bit trickier.
13. Best for hooking up
It’s no secret that Tinder is one of the most widely used, most saturated apps and if you’re looking for a whole host of options, Tinder’s the place for you. You can get swiping immediately, you can choose how much you reveal about yourself, and it even has a catfishing-proof feature called Loops where you can see GIFs of potential matches.
- Cost: Free, with Tinder Plus options from just 79p.
- Who is it for? Most Tinder users are aged between 25-34, but 55 and above account for 16% of all users. It's best used for those who are after casual hook-ups or friendship.
- Availability: Android and Apple apps.
- Pros: Easy to use. Wide dating pool.
- Cons: Tinder seems geared towards casual dating, so if that's not your bag, you might look towards a dating site or app like Hinge. What's more, profiles aren't quite as detailed as they are on other apps – it's just your name, job, education, location and links to your Spotify and Instagram accounts which can be included. It has been reported that not all users are real people.
14. Best for dating people nearby
Happn aims to connect you with people you regularly cross paths with. If you pass them IRL, they'll appear on the app – and Happn will rack up how many times you come close to each other. There's no doubt about it – this is the best dating app for approaching that guy you always stare at on the Northern Line without looking like a stalker.
- How much does it cost? Free, with starter packs of coins available from £1.99.
- Who is it for? Younger people living in cities.
- Availability: Android and Apple apps.
- Pros: Great for local dating. Easy-to-use interface.
- Cons: Living in a big city can cause issues – think needle in a haystack.
15. Best for young people
Hinge is great for seeing someone's personality (as well as their looks) at first glance. It lets you customise your dating profile to add three key bits of personal information. You can add videos and voice notes to your profile but, even more essentially, the latest Hinge 'Date from Home' feature allows you to flag to your match when you're ready for a virtual date but just like when you match, they won't know until they've done the same.
- Cost: Free to download, with Hinge Subscription options from £10.49.
- Who is it for? Younger people looking to date via an app, but who want something a little more serious than the matches Tinder offers.
- Availability: Android and iPhone apps.
- Pros: People tend to want something a little more serious.
- Cons: It comes with the pressure of coming across as witty, fun and effortlessly debonair. Plus the answers might get a little old – we get it, people hate slow walkers.
16. Best for curing dating app fatigue
It was only released to the masses back in May of last year and, as its name suggests, has been working only on Thursdays ever since. It encourages users to spend time on themselves six out of seven days of the week, then exchange numbers – and meet up – with people close to them when they can log on. Your matches disappear at midnight on a Thursday, so you have to act fast.
- How much does it cost? Free to download.
- Who is it for? It's LGBTQia+ inclusive and the gender split is 52 per cent men to 48 per cent women. The age range skews younger, with most daters in their twenties.
- Availability: Apple and Android app.
- Pros: Fun and unique concept.
- Cons: It's only available in London and New York City.
17. Best for British South Asians
The Single Solution is a dating site for anyone between the ages of 25 and 60, although their typical members tend to skew slightly older and be professional. There's an Asian version of the site - Asian Single Solution - which, as the name suggests, is tailored towards Asian professionals looking for love.
- Cost: It's free to register and become a member of the site.
- Who is it for? Mature professionals and British South Asians.
- Availability: Online only.
- Pros: Tailored dating pool.
- Cons: Single Solution isn't as user-friendly as some of the other dating sites in this edit, and the website does look a little old. It's only available in a select few UK cities.
18. Best for personalised matches
An all-rounder, whether you're looking for a short term fling or something longer-lasting, Zoosk has had over 30 million downloads since launch. Thanks to being super modern, Zoosk is often hailed one of the best dating sites in the country – though it's lesser-known, so it's a good one to try if you're tired of Tinder, Hinge and eHarmony. Instead of completing the usual personality test upfront, Zoosk’s Behavioural Matchmaking algorithm gets to know each member as they use the dating site, then their SmartPick function gathers matches to pair you with singles you're likely to be attracted to.
- Cost: Free to join, but some features are paid-only. Plans include: £29.99 for a month, £20 a month for 3 months, £15 a month for 6 months.
- Who is it for? Younger singles who have gotten bored of Tinder and Bumble. It has a modern interface, Tinder-like swiping mechanism to sort matches, and the average age is between 18 and 40. It's also hugely popular in the US, so if you live in America, check it out.
- Availability: Online, Android, Apple Store.
- Pros: You can do video dates from the app.
- Cons: There aren't options to register as anything other than man or woman when you sign up to the site.
19. Best for ambitious and career-driven people
If career goals and intelligence are what turns you on, then Elite Singles is definitely the site for you. According to their website, 82% of its members are graduates and with pretty steep fees, it's clear this dating site is targeted at those who have not only have disposable income, but have grown out of quick hook-up culture and want a mature relationship.
- Cost: £89.95 a month or £29.95 a month for 12 months.
- Who is it for? Elite Singles is best for finding someone with similar aspirations.
- Availability: Online.
- Pros: Daily profile quality checks to ensure a safe dating experience with real people.
- Cons: It's quite expensive in comparison to some other dating sites, particularly if you pay monthly. The stats on their site are a tad outdated.
20. Best for Christian daters
This award-winning dating site is the best dating site for Christians. If you want someone with the same religion as you, make a beeline. It's for those who want a long-term relationship, but who struggle to find likeminded people outside of their church and work.
- Cost: Free membership, though this is limited. Packages start at £24 per month.
- Who is it for? Christian daters.
- Availability: Online, on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
- Pros: There are more than 110,000 users worldwide, and all it takes to strike up a conversation is a simple “wave".
- Cons: There are lots of questions to answer when you first sign up, but that can only be beneficial in the long-run. Membership is free but this only allows you to match, send waves and preset replies.
21. Best for setting up your mates
Wish your friends could do all the hard work for you? Well, you're in luck. My Single Friend is the best dating website for shy/cringed-out singletons, because every person on this site (including yourself) is recommended by their mates. The result? A fun and friendly space for you to chat to likeminded people - sans personal trumpet blowing - and hopefully fall in love.
- Cost: It's free to create a profile, but to unlock all features, you'll need to be a subscriber. Subscriptions start at £10.50 a month.
- Who is it for? Those who find dating websites super cringe, hate blowing their own trumpet and feel too shy to strike up a conversation with someone.
- Availability: Online only.
- Pros: Takes the pressure off.
- Cons: You can only select “man” or “woman” as your gender when you sign up, making it a little less inclusive than others.
22. Best for: dating over 50
Like eHarmony, Plenty of Fish has been around since the early 2000s and has focused on modernising its technology, aesthetic and approach. When you sign up, you upload a photo, basic info, and answer a pretty lengthy 'chemistry test', which is how the site matches you with those of similar character.
- Cost: There's a free version, with options to upgrade your membership at various costs from £9.99 per month.
- Who is it for? PoF has 32 million visit each month, according to recent data, making it one of the most popular dating sites of the year. Bear in mind, the number of men on Plenty of Fish outnumber women by 20 per cent.
- Availability: Online, on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
- Pros: Good value.
- Cons: It isn't the prettiest of websites, and others are definitely more user-friendly. But they do have more than 150 million registered users worldwide at last count, and they claim to be responsible for creating more relationships and conversations than any other free dating app. So do the graphics really matter?
23. Best for same sex hook-ups
Designed to close the gap between gay, bi, trans, and queer people and their community, Grindr has been around for over 10 years and, unlike some of its equally successful competitors - namely Tinder - the hookup app removes some of the barriers of dating, for instance, requited attraction.
- How much does it cost? Free to download and use with XTRA and Unlimited add ons available for a cost.
- Who is it for? Same sex daters.
- Availability: Android and iPhone apps.
- Pros: Users needn't wait for potential hookups to ‘like' them back and anyone on the app can message anyone.
- Cons: Said free-for-all messaging can result in unsolicited pictures in your DMs.
