The 13 best dating apps and sites to find your match in 2026
The best dating sites and apps mean that both dating and long-term relationships are more accessible than ever in 2026
You may think that the words ‘best’ and ‘dating apps and sites’ should not appear in the same sentence. How can something that has brought you so much admin (at best) and heartache (at worst) deserve the superlative? Not to come over all agony aunt, but like anything worth waiting for, the road can be rocky — even treacherous — but it's almost always worth the effort.
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The fact of the matter: people are increasingly meeting one another online. There are even people getting laid via Letterboxd, and LinkedIn, and Strava. So while there is a strong kickback against all of this digital liaison in the post-pandemic era, with plenty of people meeting in bars and via friends-of-friends, most people you know probably met their partner on Hinge, or Match.com, or even Feeld.
And they're not the only options if you're looking for something long-term. Or not. The dating apps and sites featured below cater to different things: anywhere from a five-minute liaison to a kink exploration, to a lifetime of marriage. You can even choose a little from column A, a little from column B and a little from column C when you online date.
Whether you're reading this as an exhausted veteran or a springy newbie, we at British GQ hope that the fruits of our testing can lead you to the kind of interactions or relationships that you've been seeking. How do you choose between your eHarmonys and your Hinges if your mates' experiences with them are as personal as they are with sex toys? Here, we attempt to find an answer for you.
- What are GQ's pick of the best dating apps and sites?
- How we chose the best dating apps and sites
- Which dating site is best for serious relationships?
- What is the most trusted dating site?
- What are the best dating sites for the LGBTQ+ community?
- Do dating apps actually work?
- What makes a good dating app profile?
- How can you use dating apps safely?
How we chose the best dating apps and sites
This list has been compiled by several writers and editors of British GQ based largely on our own experiences with the dating apps and sites featured. We only included options that are well-reviewed, personally rated, anecdotally successful, or all three. Some of us have met our spouses online; others have had generational hook-up runs; all of us are, whether reluctantly or enthusiastically, convinced of the power of using a dating app.
Below you'll find testimonials from some GQ writers and editors who have actually tried the apps. Where names have been changed, you'll see an asterisk*.
What is the #1 best dating app? Read GQ's full edit for 2026…
Best dating app for long-term relationships: eHarmony
- Cost: From free
- No. of users: 5 million (in the UK)
- Available: Online, Apple's App Store and Google Play
You might think statistics aren't sexy, but wait until you hear that eHarmony matches 70 per cent of its members with a husband or wife before their first year as a member is out. One of the oldest and best-known brands, it also has over five million users for you to potentially match with… and that's just in the UK. The secret? A patented ‘eHarmony Compatibility Matching System’ that helps you only see like-minded people with personality traits that gel with yours.
Best dating app for features and usability: Match.com
- Cost: From free
- No. of users: 3 million (in the UK)
- Available: Online, Apple's App Store and Google Play
With 3 million users in the UK alone, Match.com is another OG in the game. The app and site claims to have matched 1.6 million users, perhaps in part due to the clean and easy interface the brand presents. You'll see one profile at a time, though unlike Tinder (which Match Group also owns, FYI), these personal ads are much more about the whole person than just the best selfie in their arsenal.
Best dating app for over-50s: Our Time
- Cost: From free
- No. of users: 150,000
- Available: Online, Apple's App Store and Google Play
While most dating apps won‘t discriminate against older profiles, OurTime provides a dedicated platform for those seeking a more mature partner who is swimming in the over-50s dating pool. A simple app that provides safe online chat features to arrange real-life meet-ups, OurTime eschews rigorous personality tests and algorithms in place of pairings based on shared interests, location and search criteria. You can send flirts, likes and virtual gifts, but if you want to chat with potential matches (and we presume you will), you'll have to pay.
Best dating app for threesomes and fetish exploration: Feeld
- Cost: From free
- No. of users: 2 million (worldwide)
- Available: Online, Apple's App Store and Google Play
Feeld has become the home of the polyamorous, and a great place to look for thirds, fourths or ways to either join – or expand – an open relationship. Feeld is praised for being an inclusive space for people to explore kinks and fetishes without judgement. Far more open-minded than many of its counterparts, Feeld's user experience mirrors that with over 20 gender and sexuality labels to choose from, and the option to join as couples or friends. You can use the free version to do so, and to chat and send photos with connections, but if you want to see who's liked you (before you swipe) or add private photos which only your connections can see you'll have to pay for a “Majestic Membership”.
Best dating app for general dating: Hinge
- Cost: From free
- No. of users: 5.5 million (worldwide)
- Available: Online, Apple's App Store and Google Play
Since it once allowed users to meet friends of friends, Hinge began as the virtual equivalent to a wedding. Now, it's one of the most popular dating apps out there, mostly due to its healthy balance of photos and personal details. When Hinge swelled in popularity, back in around 2018, users – including Brit Dawson – were sceptical about its format, specifically the requirement to answer three prompts, like, ‘They key to my heart is...’. Already inherently cringe by nature (trying to sell yourself to potential dates? Horrible!), a dating app that requires personality is a daunting prospect – but that’s exactly why it’s one of the best. You can find out who’s funny, charming, and who, by way of refusing to join in with the prompts, has no personality.
More dating apps we rate…
Thursday
Cost: From free
No. of Users: 350,000
Available: Online, Apple's App Store and Google Play
Resigned to the ubiquity of technology but sick of doing all your dating online? Thursday is for you. Every Thursday, it allows you to make a maximum of ten matches and arrange a date for that evening. If nothing has transpired within that window? The match will either disappear forever or roll back around next Thursday when you could always revisit the vibe.
If you're trying to minimise the amount of time you're spending endlessly scrolling through dating apps, it might be time to switch to this, Sarah* reckons. Going live only on, you guessed it, Thursdays, you have 24 hours to either match with other people in your area and organise a date — or attend one of the weekly events to meet a bunch of people at once. While we've yet to hear of a success story from this app (not to say that they aren't out there), if there's one thing Thursday can do, it's help focus your time and stop the ceaseless scrolling, while also attending some fun events.
Bumble
Cost: From free
No. of users: 22 million (worldwide)
Available: Online, Apple's App Store and Google Play
Whitney Wolfe is the person behind Bumble, and as one of the initial founders of Tinder, she's been more than well-placed to develop another smash hit. Conceived with the ethos of redressing the gender power imbalance on other apps and sites, Bumble requires the woman to make the first move after matching. If no chat starts within a day, the match disappears. Now one of the safest dating apps on the Apple Store, it is a popular spot for young professionals, and can even be used for more platonic connections and business link-ups.
Having used the app herself for a few months, Heidi Quill's had good and not-so-good connections come from Bumble. Although the app's key gimmick isn't as effective for same-sex connections, it sets a nice precedent for heterosexual interactions, where women are empowered to make the first move.
Tinder
Cost: From free
No. of users: 75 million (worldwide)
Available: Online, Apple's App Store and Google Play
The Big One: Tinder has reported over 60 billion matches and, despite its hype having faded in recent years, it purports to still have 75 million worldwide users. That's a lot of swiping to be had, and though many of those swipes may lead to hook-ups, plenty of them have the potential to lead to something more long-lasting.
Having bagged a fiancé from using Tinder back in 2017, Jessie Atkinson can testify to the occasional kismet of the app, and there are myriad other anecdotal instances of the same to be found in almost every friend group. While it’s no longer in its heyday, this is still a great app to try if you’re not actively searching for love but wouldn’t pass up on the opportunity should it present itself.
OKCupid
Cost: From free
No. of Users: 4 million (worldwide)
Available: Online, Apple's App Store and Google Play
No doubt you'll have heard of OKCupid, and that's because it's another longtime player in the online dating world. Not only that, but, like Tinder, OKCupid is also owned by Match Group. This string to the Match bow revolves around a neat personality quiz, which is not mandatory to complete but is certainly advisory. If you were a fan of that name-generating percentage website at school, this is the platform for you, because it does the same thing but — crucially — actually works.
At least, it did for Rob Leedham when he met his now-wife on the app more than ten years ago. Today OKCupid might not be at the forefront of online dating, but that personality quiz does at least provide a go-to icebreaker on awkward first encounters. What the frequency of your toothbrushing has to do with meeting your soulmate remains a mystery to us.
Lex
Cost: From free
No. of users: Unknown
Available: Online, Apple's App Store and Google Play
An LGBTQ+ dating app-cum-social network, Lex runs on the ethos of “text first, selfies second”. There is plenty of scope for in-depth profile-writing, here: you get a 34-character heading and a 300-character body. While you can link to your Instagram and even add your own pictures, the focus is on personality, so get thinking before you scribe yours.
Lex is a great space for all LGBTQ+ people, but particularly those who identify as trans, since the platform has a zero-tolerance policy on transphobia or the fetishisation of trans individuals.
Zoosk
Cost: From free
No. of users: 40 million (worldwide)
Available: Online, Apple's App Store and Google Play
As a Silicon Valley start-up from the late noughties, it’s not surprising that Zoosk is ahead of the game when it comes to dating app technology – it was one of the first to introduce integrated social media tools and personalised notifications.
Being available in over 80 countries in 25 languages, Zoosk prides itself on being a diverse app popular with singles from minority communities and also boasts settings for those seeking to date within their religion – a function that's especially popular with Christian daters.
Raya
Cost: From £5.99/month
No. of users: 10,000+
Available: Online, Apple's App Store and Google Play
An evolution of Elite Singles, Raya is the app that promises the upper echelon of the dating pool. Think of it as the Soho House of dating, where you’ll have to have a top-tier creative job and sizeable Insta following to capture the attention of a highly scrutinous membership acceptance committee. Make the grade and you could be opening romantic doors to Hollywood A-listers, with Demi Lovato, Channing Tatum, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Lizzo and Cara Delevingne having all enjoyed accounts at one time or another.
Once known as the celebrity dating app, this wondrous meat market of Hollywood’s biggest just an access code away. Maybe it was in the glory days when you could stumble across the likes of Channing Tatum and Ben Affleck, but now it’s more venture capitalists and Instapreneurs. Lucy Ford has been popping into Raya every so often over the last year, and while its basic package is still a hefty £15 a month, it’s clear they’re keeping the good stuff (read: the celebs) behind an even pricier £200 paywall. The basic functionality reads more like LinkedIn by way of Instagram, with little geo-locational honing and limited interactions per day. If you have the cash and feel nosy enough, it could be worth seeing what’s behind the elite gates (but come back with derivations, because screenshots are still banned on the app!).
Happn
Cost: From free
No. of users: 50 million (worldwide)
Available: Online, Apple's App Store and Google Play
Ever pass someone you fancy on the street and not mustered up the courage to ask them out there and then, only to regret it for the rest of the day? Happn is an app that does away with this feeling by helping cowardly singletons seize opportunities after the event. Helping you find the people you let escape out the meet-cute window, Happn connects you to those you’ve physically crossed paths with, a bit like the mobile version of Metro’s Rush Hour Crush. Is it a little stalkerish? Absolutely. And, of course, you’ll only be able to track down your daily crushes if they too have the app. But with 50 million users worldwide, we like those odds.
Which dating site is best for serious relationships?
Every app will have led to a serious relationship, just as the most random of real-world meets has resulted in marriage. That being said, there are some that are statistically more likely to end in permanent partnership, and others that are anecdotally positioned to do so. Science fans will prefer the former, and should look to eHarmony, which boasts that it matches the most people in the shortest period of time — 70 per cent of users within the year is its claim. Anecdotally though, Hinge seems to have hooked up a great amount of serious couples in the past half-decade.
What is the most trusted dating site?
Trust is almost as important in the dating app you find your partner on as the partner themself: no one wants to be matched with a catfish, after all. Most dating apps are fighting the good fight as far as that goes, letting you unmatch, block and report users. Most also demand photo verification in order to make sure that the person you're trading pick-up lines with didn't just find a stock headshot of a model on Google and set up a profile.
eHarmony, which employs an entire Trust & Safety Team, argues it's the most-trusted as far as safety goes, but other apps have reassuring features that could soon dispute that claim. Bumble, for example, has a ‘Private Detector’ feature that blurs nudes automatically, giving you the opportunity to un-blur if you so choose. Bumble, along with its parent site Badoo, tamps down on scams by allowing for in-app video chats so that you can verify the person you're chatting to is who they say they are, before you give out your number, too.
What are the best dating sites for the LGBTQ+ community?
The LGBTQ+ experience is an important part of most dating apps now, whether they began with that intention or not. Apps that started as LGBTQ+ ventures include: Grindr (for hook-ups, primarily between men), HER (for queer women), Jack'd (for QPOC) and Scruff (for all of the above). Scruff also lets you notify your matches when you're visiting a new city, allowing you to collect advice and recommendations for your trip.
No need to pigeonhole yourself to these if you don't want to, though. Most so-called ‘straight’ apps do now cater to everyone, and they can be a great way of casting a wider net for LGBTQ+ people seeking a serious relationship.
Two examples of non-LGBTQ+ specific apps that have become particularly friendly to this community include Tinder, which notifies its LGBTQ+ users when they've travelled to a country with intolerant views towards gay people and offers to make their account private, and eHarmony, which offers the possibility to select ‘nonbinary’ looking for ‘nonbinary people’ as part of its core functionality.
Do dating apps actually work?
Dating apps do actually work, whether ‘work’ for you means ‘lead to hook-ups’ or, as is more likely for those of you reading this article, ‘lead to relationships’. It's natural to be sceptical about their efficacy, particularly if you're a veteran of the online dating scene, but you shouldn't give up hope. Bumble's sex and relationships expert, Dr. Caroline West, argues for their worth: “Dating apps are a great tool for meeting new partners, especially for those who find meeting people IRL a bit daunting. Sparking a conversation on an app reduces the pressure slightly, meaning you can get to know someone at your own pace.”
“In a world that is becoming much more digitally savvy, dating apps are perfectly placed to help busy singles find a connection, whereas perhaps before they’d have found meeting people out and about challenging with a fast-paced lifestyle. Dating apps are the first stage of a connection, with the romance expected to come later down the line, most likely when you've built chemistry face-to-face.”
What makes a good dating app profile?
If you want to actually meet someone for the long-term on a dating app or site then getting your profile right is crucial. According to Bumble's sex and relationships expert, "Your dating profile should clearly reflect who you are as a person, and most importantly, what makes you unique. Reflecting what makes you happy on your profile is key to finding an authentic connection, and by highlighting your unique interests and passions, you give people an easy conversation starter."
Red flags (which conveys something troubling about you) are obviously best avoided, but a beige flag — which communicates unoriginality and dullness — is also a no-go. Try to avoid rote platitudes like ‘I enjoy long walks on the beach’ in your biography or in answer to the kind of prompts you find on apps like Hinge.
Dr. West has some further tips: “Update your bio, don't just use one photo, don't use a photo that is more than a year old, and don't approach your profile with a minimalist point of view.”
Once those matches start rolling in, it's also extremely important to monitor your chat. Be yourself, but try to avoid any crass jokes at first. Remember: sarcasm can translate badly in digital form.
How can you use dating apps safely?
Safety is one of the key concerns a lot of people have with dating apps but, according to Bumble's Dr. West, “there are a few steps that you can take to ensure you're keeping safety front of mind when using dating apps.
“First and foremost, keep personal details on your profile light touch. Avoid posting profile photos that show you in an easily identifiable location that you visit often, such as your local bar or gym. When you eventually meet in person, make sure you meet in a public space for the first time.” Lastly, if you feel uncomfortable, Dr. West recommends making use of the ‘block and report’ features that are available on most apps.
