The best dating apps for women to fall in love, find a plus one, or end a dry spell

Read our full review of AdultFriendFinder.

Read our full review of match.

Who it's for:

If you're looking to make a genuine connection without the pressure of looming wedding bells, match is a great eharmony alternative. Whether you’re after a serious relationship or something more casual, match values meaningful conversations and compatibility based on personality traits.

Why we picked this:

Match (no more ".com") is a more laid-back dating app than eharmony, making it a pretty good option for anyone looking for a real relationship while keeping their options open.

Over the years, one of match's shining points of consistency has been its well-populated but balanced user base. There's a near-even split between men and women and users with and without children. And, thanks to its large user base, the platform is stacked with people to match with, even if you're looking for love in a less-populated area.

Match has totally reconstructed its questionnaire to be more conversational and less like a tedious interrogation. Instead of asking you a bunch of questions about your preferences, match now asks you how you would react to realistic situations — both with a partner and, say, a neighbor who needs help at 3. a.m. By asking these types of questions, match can get a better sense of how you think and how you handle conflict.

Read our full review of OkCupid.

Who it's for:

OkCupid is for people who know that it's not just about finding someone who's hot. It's about finding someone who's hot who also won't give you the ick with their political takes. And with more than 20 gender identities and 12 sexual orientations, the OkCupid atmosphere is inclusive for folks who may have felt a less-inviting vibe elsewhere.

Why we picked this:

OkCupid stands out for its commitment to empowering users to express their values and filter out potential matches with misaligned views. By answering deal-breaker questions like "Would you date someone who keeps a gun in the house?" or "Should the government require children to be vaccinated for preventable diseases?" users can highlight the issues they care about and weed out people they'd want to argue with. In fact, OkCupid's statistics show liberal women and politically engaged individuals have better success on the site.

Of course, politics are not the only determining factor in romantic connections. OkCupid provides detailed user bios that cover modern dating topics and explore love languages without resorting to clichés. Each profile is assigned a compatibility percentage, offering additional insight into potential matches.

Who it's for:

HER is a queer women-only dating app for women who are tired of being harassed or fetishized by men on other dating apps. It's a sanctuary where you can connect with other queer women in a safe and empowering environment, free from harassment or objectification.

HER welcomes all queer women with open arms regardless of age, background, or journey. Whether you're newly out or an LGBTQ+ veteran, HER celebrates your authenticity. This app provides a space where you can be unapologetically yourself while meeting like-minded queer women who share your passions and interests.

Why we picked this:

HER is an award-winning app created by queer women for queer women, offering a refreshing alternative to the limited dating options. With a rapidly growing user base of over four million, HER is carving out its spot as a go-to app for queer women who are over Tinder and Bumble — and are simply done with their dating pool maxing out at their existing social circles.

HER's commitment to inclusivity is evident in the expression opportunities when creating a profile. From sexuality, to pronouns, and even diet preferences like veganism, HER encourages users to showcase their uniqueness. The app also goes beyond the surface by providing space for a text bio, allowing you to infuse humor, describe your relationship preferences, and share specific details like being newly out or being in a relationship.

Read our full review of Bumble Premium.

Who it's for:

Bumble is the ideal dating app for women and non-binary individuals who want to take control of their online dating experience. If you're tired of waiting for someone to make the first move or sifting through countless unwanted messages, Bumble puts the power in your hands.

Why we picked this:

We hype Bumble because it addresses a common occurrence that both women and nonbinary people know all too well: receiving unwanted and creepy messages. With Bumble, women and nonbinary people are empowered to make the first move, creating a safety net of sorts that filters out having to deal with people you wouldn't have wanted to engage with otherwise. Compatibility features, like pushing interests and favorite Spotify artists to the top of a profile, make it easier to tell who you may get along with on Bumble than on other apps.

Matches on Bumble expire after 24 hours, encouraging active engagement and preventing your app from becoming cluttered with long-forgotten matches. Speaking of dead connections, Bumble is also anti-ghosting — IRL ghosting at least. If someone doesn't show up for a planned date, they risk being banned from the app if the other person reports it.

Read our full review of Tinder Platinum.

Who it's for:

Tinder is something to have in your back pocket if you're looking for, well, pretty much anything more casual than a serious relationship. That doesn't necessarily have to be a hookup, though Tinder is an infamously successful no-strings-attached matchmaker. (Editor's note: If a hookup is what you're after, we have a guide for that.) It can also be a quick and convenient platform if you're simply looking to see who's out there in a new place or thicken the plot with an impromptu date whilst on vacation.

Regardless of your goals, anyone on Tinder will have to be down to do some digging. Unlike most other online dating platforms, Tinder's filtering options max out at age, gender, and proximity to you (based on miles). You'll have to have the patience to play the picture game that is swiping through everyone in those vague demographic categories, and probably a ton of fish pictures.

Why we picked this:

There's just something to be said for the instant gratification and lack of pressure that this OG swiping app provides. Based on numbers alone — over 75 billion total matches made in the app's history and 4.2 million GIFs sent between matches per week — Tinder's ability to put you in touch with people is hard to top.

However, Tinder is also one of the most innovative apps on the market. It's constantly rolling out unique features like Matchmaker, which lets friends and family recommend matches for you, as well as ways to tweak your swiping experience, like a relationship type indicator and the ability to block your ex.

Read our full review of eharmony.

Who it's for:

If you've officially moved out of "casually-dating-but-open-to-something serious" into "definitely dating to marry" territory, eharmony might be your secret weapon. This is the app for all of the Charlotte Yorks out there who are ready to dive into the deep end of marriage or long-term commitment and would prefer that goal to be a common (even if unspoken) understanding with the people being shown in a dating app feed.

Why we picked this:

While this longstanding site's success rate may not have been in question much, the "who" making up those successful couples may have made younger potential members wary. However, the platform's user base has seriously diversified in recent years. The number of LGBTQ members grew by 31 percent between 2022 and 2023, and over half of eharmony users are now millennials or members of Gen Z. With the help of GLAAD, an August 2023 update also expanded the gender options in the sign-up process (both for yourself and for setting filters to narrow down your dating pool). Crucial updates like this, plus a larger less-mushy rebrand in 2020, aim to distance eharmony from its corny, conservative roots.

The comprehensive questionnaire still covers more than 30 dimensions of what makes a happy relationship, but rather than straight-up asking if you're emotionally stable (a real question asked before 2020), eharmony now asks more natural hypothetical questions to draw more authentic responses, plus some fun ones to cover interests, views, and other conversation starters.

Who it's for:

SilverSingles is a dating site for people who are over the age of 50 and know what they want in a relationship. They're experienced, they're confident, and they're ready to find their happily ever after.

SilverSingles uses a personality test to match you with other users who are compatible with you. This means that you don't have to waste time swiping through profiles of people who you're not interested in.

Why we picked this:

Dating over 50 means that, more than likely, this is your second or third attempt at love. When match or eharmony's user bases still pose too much of a never-married-with-no-kids crowd, SilverSingles is here to let you know that putting yourself back out there doesn't have to be scary. 

You're not alone: 50% of marriages in the US end in divorce. Unsurprisingly, many men and women are finding themselves in the online dating world during their golden years. Because SilverSingles wants to ensure that your next relationship is your happily ever after, the sign-up process and questionnaires will take a good bit of time to assess the type of partner you are. The site will use your info to send you five of its best matches per day.

A sister site to EliteSingles, SilverSingles uses the same intense compatibility system that EliteSingles does, bringing in the popular big five personality traits to assess five levels of your being: Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. If you've heard of Senior Singles Meet in the past, SilverSingles is that same site with a rebrand — so they've been working on mastering the five-factor model in tandem with senior dating for about two decades.

Who it's for:

Pure is a dating app designed for individuals who want to skip the games and get to the point: casual encounters. There are no fancy algorithms, no mushy messages, and no time to take your time.

Why we picked this:

Women freely expressing their sexuality online is a beautiful thing that can be soiled quickly by male entitlement. Whether you're not comfortable with putting "sex only" in your Tinder bio for the locals to see or you're simply a practicer of non-attachment with the people you bang, Pure is a safer, hip solution that gives all the vibes of a hookup-centric site without the nasty ads everywhere.

App rules urge you to "pretend like you're strangers afterwards," making no-strings-attached connections the name of the game here. If you see an ad (a profile) of someone who seems to have similar date ideas or turn ons as you do, you can like them or start a conversation. You'll have to act fast, though, because likes self-destruct every 24 hours, and you won't know their name after the fact. Nudes aren't allowed on profiles but are allowed in chats, and you can send them with confidence that they'll self-destruct and can't be screenshotted.

Who it's for:

Elite Singles is a dating app for educated singles over 30 who are looking for long-term relationships.

Why we picked this:

Differences in work ethic and professional schedules can throw a wrench into even the most head-over-heel relationships. For those unwilling to budge on their partner's educational values and career goals, EliteSingles attempts to offer more specificity related to where a person is career-wise and family-wise than eharmony and match.

Elite Singles' matching system utilizes 29 algorithms rooted in the Five Factor Personality Test, ensuring compatibility in attachment style and personal values. And don't worry; the process includes engaging questions like "Do you like sleeping with the window open?" and "Which of these foods do you like the best?" to add some fun to the mix. Unfortunately, you may not get many open-ended answers about a person past how they've answered these questions, as several Reddit users have noted that many profiles appear unfinished (or even seem downright spammy).

Read our full review of Zoosk.

Who it's for:

Zoosk is a dating site that anyone can use, but it's last on our list for a reason. Although Zoosk has a large user base, the app is loaded with spammy and fake profiles. We only recommend Zoosk if you've tried other dating apps and haven't had any luck.

Why we picked this:

Originally launched as a Facebook app in 2007, Zoosk has since expanded into a global dating platform with 40 million users across 80 countries. Rather than asking its users for dating questions, Zoosk picks dates for its users based on quick questions about physical appearance and religion, and then keeps tabs on who you talk to the most to get a better idea of what you're after. There are many flirty little ways to spark a conversation without actually giving an opening line, but you'll know next to nothing about the person going into it.

When Zoosk switched from a social media app to a legit dating site, it was more or less in a league of its own. Incorporating "liking" photos and having a similar look to a Facebook feed was super attractive to young, single people... in the early 2000s. The problem is that Zoosk hasn't changed much since then. It's plain, riddled with dead or fake profiles, and there certainly aren't any modern tweaks like OkCupid's politics-related icebreakers or Match's overhauled questionnaire. The whole "Zoosk coin" thing is old, too.

Zoosk is free to sign up, but you'll need a paid subscription to do basically anything. Not only is there a fee at the end of every message, but Reddit users complain about random charges to their accounts and ignore requests to cancel their subscriptions. The company also uses its own form of currency, "Zoosk coins," which are available for purchase. Daters can use these for features like adding a "boost" to their profiles in search or sending another user a virtual gift like roses. The whole coin system feels less like romance and more like you're playing some pop-up ad game, but they're there. 

Note: As of Dec. 7, we are temporarily pulling our recommendation for Feeld due to bugs with their recent app update which caused users' exact locations to be shared and deleted the accounts of other users without reason. You can learn more about these issues, along with others that occurred due to the update, from Mashable's Anna Iovine. We take safety very seriously when making our recommendations, and will revaluate Feeld's place on our list if and when they resolve these issues.

Who it's for:

Feeld is a modern, inclusive dating app designed for people interested in exploring their sexuality and embracing consensual non-monogamy. It's an app to try if your experience with finding a threesome (or more-some) hasn't gone so smoothly on Tinder, or if you don't want non-monogamy to feel like a dropped bomb at all.

This safe space caters to diverse identities, including the queer community, non-binary users, or just anyone who feels like they don't vibe with the mainstream mold seen on other dating apps.

Why we picked this:

Feeld refers to itself as the dating app for the curious, which could mean literally anything. And that's exactly it: The way that Feeld fosters the safe expression of "literally anything" when it comes it relationship goals is such a breath of fresh air.

This open-minded community has more than 20 sexual and gender identities to choose from and profiles have a spot for listing your desires. Polyamory, consensual non-monogamy, homo- and heteroflexibility, pansexuality, asexuality, aromanticism, voyeurism, and kink are all options here, making it way easier to find compatible matches. Partners can also pair their profiles, making it easy for users to find a couple and/or search as a couple.