11 Best Free Dating Apps (Feb. 2024)

Free dating apps have transformed the way we online date. Singles are no longer limited to finding a mutual match on a laptop or desktop at home — we can now swipe on dating profiles and personal ads in a free dating app while standing in line at Starbucks, walking the dog, or dancing at the club (if that’s your vibe).

Besides the convenience dating apps have brought into our lives, some are also saving us money while we search for a hookup, date, relationship, or whatever else our heart desires. Here are our 13 Best Free Dating Apps, chosen not just for their lack of price but for their reputations, features, and success stories. //

Yes, Tinder is definitely one of the top dating apps for meeting single people, making new friends, and arranging casual hookups. The only reason that it didn’t quite make our top-10 list is that it generally only works for bored, horny, or otherwise sex-crazed singles in their 20s.

Over half of Tinder users are under 25 years old, and only 10% are over 30 years old. That’s a pretty significant factor to consider when pursuing dates here. The Tinder app attracts a decidedly young crowd, and that’s great if you’re 22 and exploring your sexuality, but it’s kind of a let-down if you’re a divorcee with more life experience under your belt.

Tinder is completely free for everyone to download, but younger singles definitely get the best deal and receive more matches and messages as a result. All in all, Tinder users should only join the #SwipeLife if they are on top of their online dating game and can compete with local 20-somethings and their half-naked profile pictures.

If your focus is on building a serious relationship, then you’re better off going beyond the Tinder-verse and seeking an online dating app that puts quality first. That’s where Coffee Meets Bagel comes in.

Coffee Meets Bagel is a free dating app designed to slow the online dating process down a bit and highlight only the most compatible dating profiles for your approval. CMB users will only be able to view a certain number of dating profiles a day, and these curated matches are only available once. As soon as you like or pass on the dating profile, it’s gone from the app as far as you’re concerned.

Coffee Meets Bagel does not recycle matches or inundate users with too many options. The dating service provides a highly tailored list of compatible profiles and encourages singles to put a lot of thought into each mutual match and conversation.

This online dating app works best if you’re genuinely looking for a soulmate and don’t mind investing some time into the search process. The CMB app is free, and it does feature quality profiles, so it should definitely be on your radar for providing an overall good online dating experience.

Yes, many top-notch dating apps have won people over in the dating scene, and OkCupid is by far one of our favorites. This dating site and app has stood out from the crowd because it offers 100% free, no-strings-attached, always-fast-and-trustworthy services for everyone with a verified account.

The only drawback is that it takes minute to complete your profile, which includes personalized in-your-own words sections, a questionnaire, and a photo gallery. Once you’ve got your dating profile set up, you can send messages to anyone you like online, and they can continue the conversation by liking your profile and sending a follow-up message. No in-app purchases, no premium features, and no monthly subscriptions required. It’s just free. For everyone. Period.

OkCupid has earned its spot as our top-rated free chat app because it not only offers 100% free communication but it also has personality-driven matching to help seal the deal. The compatibility ratings you’ll see on every profile aren’t just random — they’re carefully calculated based on your profile details, word choice, user activity, and responses to questions like “Do you like beer” and “Are you more interested in love or sex?”

Since 2004, OkCupid has taken a data-driven approach to pairing up highly compatible singles all over the world, and it currently creates over 91 million matches a year.

Singles don’t have to pay a single penny to benefit from OkCupid’s match formula and chat features, but they can always upgrade to the A-List subscription if they’d like to rank higher in searches, see who has liked and viewed their profile, and receive message read notifications in their private communications.

Facebook Dating is an interesting venture by Facebook to harness the power of social media in the online dating scene. The free application is available in the Facebook app only, and it’s totally free to try (for now).

Since its launch in 2019, Facebook Dating has slowly but surely taken over the dating scene everywhere from the United States to Peru. Members have been slow to hang up their Tinder accounts and bet on this free dating service, but its ability to use your Facebook friends as potential love matches makes it worth giving a try in our book.

Facebook Dating has used an established social network to help singles find romance in their Facebook friends list. How does it do that? By getting singles to admit to their secret crushes.

Singles who use Facebook Dating can name up to nine friends that they have a crush on, and the app will only notify that person if he or she shares the same feeling. You must both name each other as crushes, or the love connection won’t go anywhere.

However, while you’re waiting on your crush to join Facebook Dating, you can always swipe on new people and make a potential match that leads to a conversation and a first date. This free feature is available 24/7, and all you need is a Facebook account to join.

Getting dating apps free of charge is the dream for budget conscious singles seeking sex and romance, and that is actually more achievable than ever in today’s dating scene. Men and women can go online, download an app, and get instant access to local date prospects. Pro tip: look for an adult dating site or app if you’re more interested in getting laid than settling down.

We’ve already sung BeNaughty’s praises in this article, but it’s worth repeating that this casual dating platform has a lot to offer sex-minded singles in the dating pool. Here’s a summary of the BeNaughty dating service:

As you can see, BeNaughty has a massive following and great features to help sexy singles come together and build chemistry based on the things they have in common. Maybe they grew up in the same neighborhood but never met. Or maybe they both enjoy craft beer and can set up a date at a brewery.

The romantic possibilities are virtually endless when you’re swiping in BeNaughty’s Like Gallery, and all swiping, matching, and messaging is completely free as long as you have a valid profile picture.

Not everyone browsing on a free dating app is going to be legit and authentic, and you may even run into some suspicious or unsavory characters now and then. That’s the price of mingling in a totally free environment. A dating app can use social media or email verification to try to rid the database of scammers, but some could still slip through the cracks — and that’s why singles should always be a little skeptical of new matches.

Some of the warning signs that a profile is fake include using broken English, not completing every section of the profile, or only have one blurry or unclear photo. We’ve even seen instances where users uploaded a fake photo of a model to get matches and looked nothing like the photo bait (this is called catfishing). Be a little wary if someone seems too good to be true or tries to push for an in-person meeting too soon.

It never hurts to look someone up on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or another social network to make sure that person is telling the truth and doesn’t have any skeletons in the closet.

The eharmony dating service has been around since 2000 when the dating site first launched, and it has learned from experience to develop a personality-driven match formula that works. The eharmony app now offers everything the dating website does — but neither are completely free to use.

While it’s free to join the eharmony platform and browse the membership base, it’ll cost extra to send emails to anyone and everyone here. This premium dating platform caters to a more mature and sophisticated crowd of online daters, and the membership fee is its way of ensuring only serious and quality-driven daters can show up in your inbox.

The eharmony dating process starts with an in-depth profile and is informed by a comprehensive compatibility quiz that asks over 80 personal questions. These multiple-choice questions range from “why are you single” to “what do you value in a potential partner,” and it can take up to 25 minutes to complete the relationship questionnaire to your satisfaction.

Once that’s done, free members can view a compatibility breakdown that clearly shows how they stack up to other people’s profiles in terms of temperament, family values, relationship goals, and other important factors. All this information is great for determining who to like and message, and eharmony allows limited free communication and icebreakers to be exchanged between highly compatible individuals.

It’s possible for an online dater to set up a free eharmony profile and use it to have good conversations and maybe even land a great date, but only paid members have unlimited chat tools on the site and app, so they’ve got the edge in this high-class dating scene.

Success is in the eye of the beholder. Some singles enter the online dating scene looking for love and others are more willing to play the field, have casual chats, and see what happens. At the end of the day, though, the successful online dater has to choose the right dating terrain, put together a dynamic profile, and be proactive about creating matches and sending messages to desirable people online.

You can’t just sit back and hope that the match algorithm will deliver your dream date to your inbox. The burden is on you to complete your profile, set specific dating preferences, and actively browse for compatible singles. Many apps learn what you like by studying who you’ve liked in the past, so the more you use the app, the more accurate your match suggestions and top picks will become.

Another important part of the online dating process is the actual conversation you have with your matches. You need to say more than just “hi” or “how are you” to compete with the onslaught of daily messages the average user receives. Assume that you’re competing with a roomful of strangers, and put on your A-game from the moment you press send on a first message. Here are some good online dating questions to help get the ball rolling and spark a conversation based on shared values and interests.

Most importantly, a good online dater is polite, persistent, and understanding when things don’t work out as they planned. It’s never a good idea to call, text, or harass someone who ghosts you, stands you up, or outright rejects you. That’s only going to get you banned from a dating app or site. Not all romantic connections are going to work out, so you’d better have a thick skin and a determined spirit if you want to survive and thrive in the online dating scene.

Women typically enter the dating scene with higher standards and greater safety concerns than their male counterparts, and now every casual dating app is up to meeting their romantic expectations and requirements.

Some dating apps are notorious for using female profiles as bait for single men and failing to keep scammers, creeps, and dicks at bay. That’s why Bumble has made such a positive impression on single women in the online dating world. Since 2014, this app has endeavored to look out for the rights and interests of straight, bisexual, lesbian, trans, and queer women seeking meaningful connections, and we think it’s done a bang-up job.

Bumble began as the passion project of Whitney Wolfe Herd, an entrepreneur who helped found Tinder in her early 20s and decided to break away from the male-dominated casual dating app in her late 20s. This young CEO has promised to provide a pleasant and respectful community for online daters of all backgrounds and orientations, and the app takes particular care to ensure that women have a say in who can slide into their DMs.

Bumble gives women First Move privileges, meaning they have the sole discretion to send the first message after matching with a man. Women have 24 hours to decide if they want to send the first message to a potential match, and if they don’t say anything the conversation will disappear.

Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold are two premium add-ons that Tinder users can pay for to make the online dating experience more fun and fruitful. These premium plans include access to a Tinder passport feature, which means users can swipe anywhere they travel, not just in their hometown or city of origin. That opens the door to whirlwind romances in foreign countries, and you also have unlimited likes and extra Super Likes at your disposal to keep things interesting.

Tinder Gold costs a little more per month than Tinder Plus because it includes the ability to see who likes you before you swipe yes or no on the dating profile.

Our experts don’t recommend upgrading to Tinder Plus or Tinder Gold unless you have been a free member for a good few weeks and find the local swiping isn’t enough and really need to expand your search radius. Most users stay free forever on Tinder and are able to meet people and mix things up through the mobile app.

No, joining a dating app is definitely not a waste of time if you have the charm and patience to turn matches into conversations and dates. That’s no easy task, for sure, but you can hone your flirtation skills with every new chat window, and dating apps give you plenty of room to experiment, play around, and build romantic connections.

Some singles use dating apps as a fun distraction on the weekend, while others are looking for something more serious, and they both can find satisfaction in the right dating environment.

A dating app like Tinder could be popular enough and open-ended enough to help you pursue dates and up your flirting game in an instant. Meanwhile, a more relationship-driven app like Hinge could be useful for facilitating meaningful conversations and sparking relationships that go the distance.

We’ve heard plenty of success stories from singles who say online dating helped them build self-esteem, lose their virginity, find new friends, or meet the love of their life, and it’s become one of the most popular ways for singles to meet their future spouse. That’s hardly a waste of time!

We get that online dating takes a lot of time, energy, and effort, and it can be draining if you’re meeting more flaky dates and dull chatters than real potential matches. However, you can always change up your routine and meet a different sort of people by downloading a new dating app for free.

We’ve listed several successful dating apps that are well worth exploring, and any of them could help you escape online dating burnout and find that satisfying romantic connection you’ve been looking for.

Apps have become the go-to way to date, and we don’t see that changing anytime soon. It’s also nice to see that so many of them offer free, comprehensive memberships, so you can focus more on finding the right person for you and less on breaking the bank.

The right free dating app could be your gateway to a more exciting and fulfilling love life, and it doesn’t take much time, effort, or cash to swipe on potential matches as you go about your day. If you’re ready to dive into the local dating pool with both feet, then all you have to do is download a dating app, set up your dating profile, and and start liking people’s profiles until you find your perfect match. Good luck!