7 Best Free Dating Sites and Apps
Looking for dates, mates, or some casual hookups? Dating apps have it all – when you know which ones to use. With this guide, you can find The One for you.
There are so many dating platforms to choose from, but which app is best for you?
If you’re tired of endlessly swiping and getting nowhere, you’ve come to the right place.
Check out our list of the best dating apps below, so you can stop wishing love was in the air, and find it at your fingertips instead.
Top dating apps for students
There are options to pay to upgrade the below apps. But, these are the 7 best dating apps that you can download and use for free:
1. Tinder
Best for finding: Casual hookups and relationships.
Pros: Tinder is one of (if not the) most popular dating apps. As so many people use it, you’re bound to find users to chat with, even if you’re somewhere super rural. You can also use Tinder online if you head to the website.
Cons: It’s a tad too easy to accidentally swipe the wrong way – particularly with ‘Super Likes’ (where the other person gets notified).
2. Bumble
Best for finding: Casual hookups, relationships, work contacts, and new friends.
Pros: Women make the first move when members of the opposite sex match. The first couple of messages needs to be sent within a certain time limit, encouraging faster-paced chats. The Bizz and BFF settings also mean you could find a job and a new best friend on here.
3. Grindr
Best for finding: Casual hookups and dates with gay, bisexual, trans, and queer people.
Pros: Grindr is the biggest social networking app for its target audience. You can easily find local dates and hookups here.
Cons: It’s generally known for quite risqué chat and image sharing – if this isn’t for you, it might be worth giving this app a miss.
4. HER
Best for finding: Dates, relationships, and friendships with lesbian, bisexual, and queer people.
Pros: HER is one of the biggest free dating apps for LGBTQ+ women. They put a big emphasis on the importance of equality, inclusivity, and empowerment.
Cons: To filter by gender identity, sexual identity, relationship status, and when they were last online, you’ll need to pay for premium settings.
5. Hinge
Best for finding: Relationships based on individual preferences.
Pros: “The dating app designed to be deleted” – Hinge’s slogan highlights that it’s a great app for finding a long-term relationship. Its algorithm works out who you’re ‘Most Compatible’ with and suggests people for you to meet.
Cons: Each time you ‘like’ someone on here, they’ll be notified and given the option to match with you. This can make it feel a tiny bit more daunting than a mindless Tinder swipe.
6. Match
Best for finding: Long-term relationships.
Pros: Match is a really well-established dating site, aimed at helping people start serious relationships and find love. If this is what you’re looking for, you’ll be able to find like-minded people on here.
Cons: It’s free to register and start using Match but to read and send messages, you’ll need to sign up for a paid subscription (unless a user has the Connect upgrade, in which case you’d be able to chat with them).
7. Happn
Best for finding: Dates with people you’ve crossed paths with.
Pros: Happn shows you profiles of people you’ve walked past or are likely to cross paths with. It should make it easier to arrange dates if you already live, work or socialize near each other.
Cons: If you live somewhere rural, it’ll be harder to meet someone on Happn compared to some other apps. An app like Hinge that shows you profiles based on preferences, rather than just location, might be better.
