12 Best Gay Dating Apps (2024)

The best gay dating apps don’t make headlines or draw applause every time they create a new love connection. Because that happens pretty much every minute of every day.

The online dating apps of the world work overtime to connect singles with their most promising, most compatible, and most accessible dating options, and that has been great news for gay, bisexual, queer, and questioning guys.

A 2017 survey found that 65% of same-sex couples said they had met their partner online, while only 39% of straight couples said the same. Of course, not all gay singles are looking for a relationship; some just want to hook up. That’s why we’ve separated our list of the best gay dating apps into categories, so you can choose the platform that’s right for you.

Best Overall | Free | Senior | Black | Christian | Relationships | Hookup | FAQs

A man can waste a lot of hours in a fruitless pursuit of dates at gay bars in the real world. Sometimes it takes forever just to spot someone who’s attractive and approachable, and then that person could wind up being straight or already in a relationship, and you’re back to the drawing board.

Online dating makes things a lot simpler by featuring viable date prospects who are gay, single, and looking for someone like you. Read on to learn about the go-to dating apps for newcomers to the swiping scene.

Match is the most successful online dating site and app ever created, and it has worked for singles of all backgrounds and orientations, including gay guys seeking a real relationship.

Since its establishment in 1993, the Match Group has perfected its matchmaking process to ensure like-minded people can find one another. The algorithm identifies matches with common interests, shared values, and similar backgrounds, and it can help individuals form a meaningful connection online and offline.

Premium Match users can send messages to anyone they like, and they can also explore local Match events to get something going.

2. Grindr

In 2009, Grindr launched as one of the first apps to help gay singles meet. Today, it has over 27 million users and is widely recognized as one of the most popular gay dating apps of all time.

Grindr uses location-based data to guide users to gay date prospects that are nearby and accessible. Men can swipe right to initiate a mutual match, and they can chat on the app for free. Most Grindr users expect things to move fast and get steamy, so don’t be surprised if your online crush asks you on a first date after exchanging a few messages.

Some people say the Grindr app is mostly good for hookups, but we’ve seen evidence of Grindr couples going the distance and getting married. “I met my boyfriend on Grindr, and we’ve been happily together for five months now,” a gay man named Lorenzo wrote on Reddit. “You’ll get a million hookups, but you can find that one-in-a-million as well.”

3. Tinder

Tinder

is a force to be reckoned with in the modern dating scene. Since 2012, Tinder has made over 43 million matches in 190 countries. Every week, the dating app arranges more than 1.5 million dates.

When it launched, Tinder was the first app to use a swipe-based matching system that requires users to like one another’s profile before they can send messages. This may sound basic now, but it was revolutionary at the time, and it put Tinder on the map as a fast-paced flirting zone where young people could play the field.

Although Tinder started as an app for straight people, it has expanded its user base over the last decade and become a more gay-friendly dating app. Tinder has recently added more inclusive gender and sexual orientation options, which have led to over 80 million matches between gay, bisexual, and queer people.

Dating can be expensive, so it makes sense to save money where you can and look for dating apps that offer free matchmaking features. Most online dating platforms offer free registration and profile browsing, but only a select few provide completely free communication to all app users. We’ve picked out the most cost-effective dating apps for gay men on a budget.

Zoosk is a dating site and app with an abundance of matching, chatting, and networking tools, and it’s 100% free to dive into this diverse dating pool.

Over 30 million people have downloaded the Zoosk app in search of romance or love. The free membership package includes the ability to read and reply to messages from premium users. Zoosk users can also send free greetings and likes to other potential matches in the database. It’s also possible to earn free Zoosk Coins that can be used to send virtual gifts and access other premium features.

By identifying as “men seeking men,” gay people can leave the straight dating scene behind and enter an exclusive all-men space powered by Zoosk.

5. OkCupid

OkCupid

is a free dating site and app that draws a lot of praise for its data-driven matchmaking and unlimited communication policy. It’s totally free to send messages to anyone online; however, that person has to like your dating profile for the conversation to proceed past the first message.

In 2014, OkCupid became one of the first mainstream dating platforms to expand its gender and sexual orientation options to include fluid questioning, and non-binary people. OkCupid currently offers 22 gender options, 12 orientation options, and multiple pronoun options.

The OkCupid profile gives users a lot of room to express themselves and highlight their interests, habits, priorities, goals, and sense of humor. Users can choose to respond to different profile prompts, answer personal questions, and fill out their demographics and what they’re looking for to help the OkCupid algorithm calculate match percentages.

OkCupid operates under the principle dating deserves better, and this inclusive dating app gives singles of all stripes the freedom to explore, flirt, and fall in love. Every year, OkCupid makes over 91 million introductions — and it never charges users a penny for its matching and messaging features.

6. SCRUFF

The gay dating app SCRUFF is free to download whenever you’re feeling flirty and want to make instant connections. The app works well as a local dating tool as well as a gay travel wingman — you can publish your travel itinerary to start matching with men in different parts of the world.

SCRUFF offers its swiping, search, and live chat features for free; however, singles can always upgrade their online dating experience by getting a premium membership. SCRUFF Pro unlocks 30 premium features, including more search filters, incognito browsing, private photo albums, and the ability to send and receive videos through the app.

The SCRUFF team also promotes gay-friendly events and an online quiz game to encourage singles to become more actively engaged in the gay community.

As you get older, meeting new people and finding love interests can get increasingly difficult — especially if you’re a gay guy seeking age-appropriate dates.

Dating apps like Tinder, SCRUFF, and Grindr have limited options for the over-50 crowd because the majority of their membership base is under 30. That’s great news for sugar daddies, but not ideal for senior singles hoping to meeting someone their own age. Fortunately, senior dating apps can raise the caliber of your date prospects by uniting singles with experience and wisdom.

SilverSingles is a sophisticated dating site and app designed to foster long-term friendships and relationships between single seniors. The platform promises to offer “matchmaking that works” and uses specific dating preferences by age, location, education, appearance, and lifestyle to power its daily match suggestions.

Some senior dating sites can become overrun with fake profiles and inactive accounts, but SilverSingles uses a proactive Fraud Detection System to remove any bad apples. Plus, members can block and report anyone causing trouble or making them feel uncomfortable.

A free SilverSingles account is a risk-free way to explore the local dating scene and see who’s out there; however, you’ll need a premium account to view photos and send messages to other members.

As a People Media platform, OurTime has an extensive singles database available to any senior person seeking a deep emotional connection.

OurTime offers a free membership that includes some matching and communication options; however, the best way to spread your wings and get to know people in this seniors-friendly forum is by subscribing to a monthly membership. That way, you can send an instant message to multiple men and see if the attraction is mutual.

“This is the best dating site for 55 plus,” said John L. in a review. “I have had a great time and much success. Thank you, OurTime!”

Black gay men are a minority within a minority, so sometimes they could use advanced search filters or niche dating communities to help them find viable date prospects. If you’re looking for a dark-skinned partner, the following diverse dating apps can suit your interests.

For nearly 20 years, BlackPeopleMeet has offered African American singles the chance to come together and seek dates that share a similar background and cultural awareness.

This Black dating site and app is open to singles of all races, but its main mission is to help Black people meet and find love. Gay men can mingle in the BPM community to increase their likelihood of wooing a person of color and building an interracial relationship.

It’s important to note that the BPM app offers a binary choice for gender and orientation, so a bisexual or queer man may find it a little restrictive.

10. Plenty of Fish

Plenty of Fish

can connect singles with a world of romance opportunities for the very reasonable price of $0. Gay daters don’t have to pay to view profiles, send messages, and engage in conversations on this dating website and app. Everything they need to meet someone special is available with a free POF membership.

Once you complete your POF profile, you can start reviewing your potential match list and sending messages to anyone who stands out to you. POF has search filters by age and race to make things easier. Plus, you don’t have to form a mutual match to send a first message, so anyone you see on the POF site or app is fair fame.

Plenty of Fish has over 150 million members in 20 countries, and its app users exchange over 3 million messages per day, making it one of the best apps for flirty conversations.

Even though Plenty of Fish markets itself as a dating platform for everyone, it only provides gender options for men and women, so gender-nonconforming singles will have to use the About Me section to explain who they are and where they’re coming from.

11. Hornet

Hornet

is a gay social network where single men can get to know each other and find common ground. The app has search filters, hashtags, and a regularly updated newsfeed to help individuals see the passion, flair, and diversity in the LGBT community.

The Hornet network currently includes over 25 million men who identify across the spectrum of sexuality.

Since its launch in 2011, Hornet has become popular among Android and iPhone users looking for an alternative to Grindr. “I like this app very much,” said Ahmed B. in a review. “It has more features than other gay apps. Keep it up!”

Another Hornet app user said, “It’s a great way to meet guys from different countries and cultures and to share lots of stuff with each other.”

People of faith tend to want a partner who shares similar beliefs and attitudes. It’s just easier to build a relationship when you have shared faith as the foundation.

Gay Christians can relate to each other’s life experiences and bond on a spiritual level, so it makes sense that they would seek each other out in the dating scene. The following dating apps are particularly popular among Christians looking for a serious relationship.

Over the last two decades, ChristianMingle has distinguished itself as a values-driven dating site and app for singles looking for dates in the Christian community. Its motto is “Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is here.”

ChristianMingle was originally a dating site for straight people, but in 2016 the team broadened its message and its user base to be inclusive of gay and lesbian singles. Now ChristianMingle has over 15 million followers of all races, orientations, and backgrounds.

Gay singles who join ChristianMingle do so with serious and heartfelt intentions. They are tired of mindless swiping and short-term dating, so they turn to ChristianMingle to help them focus on the most promising and God-fearing date options in their area.

As a dating app for professionals, EliteSingles offers a sophisticated dating experience like no other. Its premium features appeal to highly educated and mature daters who are serious about settling down with the right person.

Over 82% of EliteSingles users have graduated from college, and over 90% are over 30 years old. Every month, EliteSingles helps 2,500 singles find a love connection, and its success stories include gay power couples in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and Canada.

If you want EliteSingles to work its magic for you, then you must complete the in-depth personality test and state your dating preferences so it has all the information it needs to devise the best potential match.

Online dating has changed the dating scene by allowing relationship-minded singles to find one another and start working their way to a happily-ever-after ending. Today, about 22% of newlyweds say they met their spouse online, and that number grows larger every year.

If you’re hoping to get in a same-sex relationship, you’ll find a lot of dating apps ready to help you meet your Mr. Right. Here are some of our favorites:

14. Hinge

Hinge

is a quality-driven dating app that is “designed to be deleted.” Its objective isn’t to keep singles swiping on profiles forever but to help them meet a compatible match with real relationship potential.

The Hinge team proudly boasts that it has the best second-date success rate. It inspires more than 50,000 dates every week, and Hinge users report high levels of satisfaction through the We Met feature. More than 72% of Hinge users who went on a first date said they’d be willing to go on a second date, and over 90% said the first date was a positive experience.

Hinge has successfully matched many gay couples throughout the U.S., and one of its most prestigious matches is between Mayor Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten. When Mayor Pete revealed that he found love on Hinge, the dating app’s gay population jumped 30% in one month.

“We’re happy to see that their love story has inspired even more members of the LGBTQ community to find their person on Hinge,” said Founder and CEO Justin McLeod.

15. Coffee Meets Bagel

Coffee Meets Bagel

began in 2012 as a woman-led project to civilize online dating, and it has expanded from a Silicon Valley startup to one of the most successful independently owned dating companies in the world.

The CMB app invites straight, gay, lesbian, and queer people to “rediscover dating” by meeting sincere and genuine singles who are willing to spend time having a conversation and getting to know someone new.

Coffee Meets Bagel uses a learning algorithm to find you the perfect match. Every day, it curates a short list of the most desirable and compatible profiles in your area. All members can chat for free once they’ve given each other the thumbs up.

The Coffee Meets Bagel team understands that romance is built on conversations, so it allows singles to chat for free through the app. However, the app will hide chat windows after a couple weeks of inactivity so CMB users have an extra incentive to keep the romance and chemistry going.

16. Bumble

Bumble

launched in 2014 as the world’s first feminist dating app, and its progressive message has resonated with over 80 million users from all walks of life.

The queer community has embraced Bumble because the app is serious about maintaining a friendly and respectful atmosphere. The moderators do not tolerate hate speech, bigotry, homophobia, or racism, and they remove dating profiles with harmful content, including photos of guns.

From the beginning, Bumble has endeavored to give singles a level playing field where they can create a meaningful connection with a person who shares similar outlooks and values. Over 85% of Bumble users say they’re interested in getting into a serious relationship, and fewer than 4% said they were on Bumble to find a hookup.

Happn

can be a great gay dating app for building a relationship because it uses location-based data to help you find common ground. The app highlights the dating profiles of people who cross paths with you in real life, and it provides a reference map so you can see the coffee shops, restaurants, and stores you both frequent.

The Happn app never reveals a person’s real-time location to other users, and it only allows communication between mutual matches, so it’s safe to use Happn to meet strangers.

Happn users exchange nearly 5 million messages per day, but the activity level you see will vary depending on where you live. A queer person in a big city will likely have a lot of match options, while a person in a more rural area may have to expand their match radius to find viable dates.

People enter dating apps with all sorts of intentions, expectations, and goals, but they enter hookup apps with one clear and simple goal: to get laid. There’s no need to play coy or guess what other people are thinking on a gay hookup app because singles are typically willing to bare it all in these X-rated spaces.

BeNaughty is a sex-positive dating site where singles can find a casual hookup anywhere and anytime they like. The free communication policy ensures that nothing stands between frisky singles and their love interests.

Gay singles can search the BeNaughty database using advanced search filters by age, orientation, appearance, and lifestyle, and they can also use the mass texting tool to send a flirtatious greeting to every user who meets their standards.

BeNaughty also supports private conversations between users, and they can also share private photos to show that they have nothing to hide and want to take things to the next level.

The FriendFinder-X hookup site provides a citywide search for date prospects and sexual partners, so singles don’t have to wander gay bars and clubs to pick up a hottie.

A free FriendFinder-X account allows gay singles to get the lay of the land and explore online dating personals full of raunchy content. If you see a guy you want to get to know better, you can upgrade your account to unlock the private messaging features in this forum. FriendFinder-X keeps scammers and spammers at bay by requiring users to pay a fee to send messages to each other.

MenNation is a hookup site with a name that says it all. This men-only flirting zone can give gay, bisexual, queer, and questioning singles and couples the chance to explore their sexuality in privacy.

A gay man doesn’t have to reveal his real name to become part of the MenNation network, and he can choose to post photos that crop out or blur his face, so his identity is a mystery to any online matches.

MenNation has over 102 million dating personals in its database, making it the largest gay personals site of its kind.

21. Surge

Last of all, Surge is a fast-growing dating app where hot local men can chat for free. The gay app has about 3.5 million users total, and it sees over 10 million chat messages sent per month.

The Surge team encourages men to be themselves and date without labels or judgment. Free members can send messages, photos, and videos to their matches, and the chat window automatically deletes photos and videos after they’ve been viewed.

Even though it’s completely free to chat on Surge, some members choose to upgrade to a paid membership so they can see who has liked their dating profile, get access to a rewind button when swiping, and be able to send a greeting to members without forming a mutual match.

As one Surge user said, “I do like the interface of Surge. It’s easy to use, friendly to trans and non-binary genders, and it’s basically an all-gay app — like how can you not love that?”

When you download a gay dating app on your smartphone, you have direct access to an active singles network, and you can use swiping and searching tools to narrow your prospects to the most promising candidates.

Most swiping apps will provide a list of potential matches and invite you to swipe right on any that you like. If that person also swipes right on you, then you’ll receive a notification or a chat invite that means you can start chatting and building on your mutual attraction.

Dating apps typically rely on your dating profile information (age, location, education, interests, etc.) to determine which profiles to show you first, so make sure you’re honest about who you are and what you want so you can find the perfect match more quickly.

Gay people and straight people tend to approach love and relationships in similar ways, so dating apps don’t need to come up with a separate playbook for each market audience. Many straight dating apps have added gay-friendly features to encourage gay, bisexual, trans, and queer singles to sign up, and many gay dating apps have modeled their interface or matchmaking on successful straight dating apps.

The main difference between gay dating apps and straight dating apps is that gay dating apps offer a more exclusive dating community. Gay dating apps typically won’t have options for men seeking women or women seeking men. They don’t try to market to a mainstream crowd. And they tend to be more successful with the LGBT community because of that specialization.

Every app is going to offer different search options and filtering preferences, but many of them stick to the basics of age, location, gender, and some physical characteristics. Some apps will let you put in a height range, while others allow users to search by race, education, or lifestyle.

A Grindr Xtra subscription unlocks search filters by tribe (bear, jock, queen), relationship status (single, divorced, widowed), and what you’re looking for (serious relationship, hookups, new friends), among other categories. In 2020, Grindr removed all search filters by race and ethnicity in solidarity with the Black Lives Movement.

Gay dating apps can take some steps to safeguard users and keep unsavory characters at bay. One of the most important safety features is the registration process. Most apps require users to verify their identity through an email address, a phone number, and/or a social media account. Some even go the extra step of verifying photos by asking users to take a selfie.

Gay singles can also protect themselves from harassment by blocking and reporting any user making threats, causing trouble, or behaving inappropriately.

Safety is an essential component to the gay dating scene because gay, trans, bisexual, and queer people are particularly vulnerable to online harassment and oppression.

In 2020, Grindr launched the Discreet App Icon to allow users to camouflage the Grindr icon on their smartphone so that family members, friends, coworkers, bosses, and law enforcement agents won’t be able to see it. This is particularly important in countries were a gay man can lose his job or go to jail because of his sexual orientation.

You can get a feel for a gay dating app by reading expert reviews and finding couples testimonials, but you never really know if the app will work for you until you join. Once you have a free membership, you can look at the dating profiles in your area and see how popular it is where you are. You may get lucky and pick the dating app that’s right for you on the first go, but you’ll have better results if you set up multiple accounts at once and see which one yields the most matches.

Finding a date on a gay app was once a revolutionary idea, but now it’s old LGBTQ news. Gay-friendly dating apps have made same-sex matches a daily occurance and helped prove that love is love.

Gay, bisexual, and queer singles have particularly embraced online dating in the last decade and used its matchmaking power to create new friendships, relationships, and romances. It doesn’t matter if you’re old or young, short or tall, closeted or out and proud, you can find your tribe on the gay dating apps featured on this list.

Our reviews have covered the most popular, the most effective, and the most fabulous dating apps on the market, and every single one of them is inclusive and welcoming to singles in the LGBTQ community. Have fun!