Best Dating Sites
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The online dating app market grows every year. One estimated count of dating apps and sites added up to over 8,000. Mainstream dating platforms make it easy to find new connections and potential dates, but the huge dating pool can also make it harder for people who have highly specific passions or interests. That’s where a niche dating app or site can help!
When it comes to finding the right person for you, don’t restrict yourself to being a small fish in a big pond. Find the smaller pond of fish that are just like you, and try your luck with a niche dating platform.
Top 10 Best Niche Dating Sites
Our experts agree that the best niche dating platforms focus on a certain type and cater to a specific audience who have specific goals and needs in dating. While there are a lot of mainstream dating sites where you could find shared interests, these sites improve the odds of finding who you’re looking for.
1. Match
★★★★★
Relationships: Friends, Dates, and Relationships
Match System: Browse by zip, age, appearance, more
Our Experts Say: “Match has facilitated the most dates and relationships of any dating site, and its large audience and high success rate make it our top review…” Full Review »
Browse Free: View Photos Now
| User Base | Gender Ratio | Popularity (Visits/Mo.) |
Today’s Deal
|
| All Singles* |
49%*
51%*
|
39.7 Million* | Try Match FREE |
If you’re looking for a long-term relationship, Match is a dating platform that caters to your goals. The Match website and app use a smart algorithm to bring singles together based on comprehensive compatibility.
Yes, Match is technically a general everyone-is-welcome dating service, but it has niche search parameters and filters to help individuals find their niche rather easily. The Match personality profile includes information about a single person’s lifestyle, demographic, and similar interests, so a free member can identify compatible matches by browsing this dating pool for serious daters.
Match offers some free communication options for all users, and it has a premium membership for those who want to get all the perks and privileges to support the search for the right person.
2. JDate
Relationships: Casual Dates and Long-Term Relationships
Match System: Search and receive matches
Our Experts Say: “JDate is a go-to dating site for single Jewish men and women, and the site doesn’t charge for browsing and flirting…” Full Review »
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| User Base | Gender Ratio | Popularity (Visits/Mo.) |
Free Trial
|
| Jewish Singles* |
46%*
54%*
|
2 Million* | Start JDate FREE |
Most faith-based dating platforms tend to cater to Christians, but there are some dating services that specifically bring Jewish singles together. Out of all of them, JDate takes top honors.
A study indicated that JDate is responsible for 52% of Jewish marriages that started as online matches, which is an impressive figure by any count. While not all members are Jewish, everyone on the site and app is looking for a good Jewish partner.
You can sign up for free and browse the extensive dating pool of Jewish singles of all ages, races, sexual orientations, and religious preferences. Premium membership grants you some major privileges (including unlimited messages) for a monthly price. If you’re dedicated to digging deeper into your roots, whether in the community or a little more intimately, JDate will connect you with Jewish people who understand your needs.
★★★★★
Relationships: Hookups, Casual Dating, Chats
Match System: Search by location, age, and appearance.
Our Experts Say: “OneNightFriend is a dating website that provides a fast track to a one-night stand with a flirty partner. The network has chat rooms, search filters, and safety features to help spark real connections…” Full Review »
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| User Base | Gender Ratio | Popularity (Visits/Mo.) |
Today’s Deal
|
| All Singles* |
60%*
40%*
|
500,000* | Browse Profiles FREE |
If you’re not looking for someone to spend the rest of your life with, but instead just want the right person to hook up with, OneNightFriend could be your wingman. The site caters to singles seeking one-night stands and casual encounters, providing a user-friendly interface and easy features to make the process as easy as possible. The site is a relative newcomer to online dating, but you can set up your dating profile and even send some messages for free.
There are some downsides to the site if you define your gender identity as nonbinary. Bisexual and pansexual casual sex seekers can only seek matches of one gender at a time Still, OneNightFriend creates an open, honest atmosphere to seek out something that’s less serious and very sexy.
4. Dine
Dine is a unique dating app launched in 2015 to inspire more dates, not swipes.” The free dating service facilitates in-person meetings by giving daily matches the opportunity to ask each other to Dine rather than chat.
Unlike many dating sites, Dine builds your first date into the match process. You don’t just match with a person, you set the date with them at a specified restaurant in your area. When you and the other person establish a desire to go on the dinner date, you both propose a few days you’ll be available and lock it in.
The app is relatively new and the innovative team behind it continues to look for new feature ideas and benefits for users to create an even better dating experience. Dine already has several success stories from couples who took the plunge to lock in a date. Multiple users say they wish that the app had been around before they tried more traditional dating platforms.
5. Matrimony.com
If you’re an Indian single person, and want to find a traditional marriage without relying on the traditional matchmaking system, a number of websites and apps have moved the process to the digital sphere. Matrimony.com caters to Indian singles who want to get married quickly, as well as to their family members who want to help them find love.
In fact, Matrimony.com is the headquarters for a whole network of sites focused on matchmaking and marriage, like the Match Group for Desi marriage-seekers. The Matrimony.com network can help find eligible matches for Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, or Sikh members, no matter what region you live in.. If you’re the relative of a single person, you can even set up a profile for them to help them find matrimonial bliss.
6. The League
For motivated single professionals, finding the right person is often about the best option to complete a power couple. The League makes it easy by screening potential matches in a network of highly desirable professionals and delivering them straight to your phone. Like Elite Singles, The League doesn’t just propose matches based on whether you like your pizza with extra cheese or all the meaty toppings, but on a combination of personal interests and professional focus.
The highly respected platform uses a combination of factors to verify each profile, including your LinkedIn account and Facebook information. This combination not only ensures a good match among professionals but also serves as a tight defense against fake profiles and scammers, since the process is so in-depth. The League serves up daily matches, called Prospects, and lets you take it from there. Our full review goes into more detail on how it works and what its core values are.
★★★★★
Relationships: Dates and Relationships
Match System: Search by profiles by zip and more
Our Experts Say: “OurTime is well-known in the over-50 dating crowd, particularly because it has a ton of helpful search features and an easy layout…” Full Review »
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| User Base | Gender Ratio | Popularity (Visits/Mo.) |
Today’s Deal
|
| Mature Singles (50+)* |
48%*
52%*
|
8.9 Million* | Over 50? Try It FREE |
Older women dating younger men (and vice versa) has become increasingly accepted, but there’s still the problem of finding an older partner in real life. OurTime is a senior dating site for mature singles, and anyone who finds experience attractive.
OurTime is a premium dating app that takes a judgment-free approach to senior matches and age-gap relationships. Its membership base includes seasoned women and men who are looking for meaningful connections for this new phase of life.
Standard members can reply to messages sent by premium members on OurTime, but only premium members get full access to contact options with anyone and everyone on the platform. Other benefits premium members receive include access to expanded search filters and a few other goodies to make finding a match even easier.
8. Interracial Dating
As the saying goes, “the heart wants what it wants,” and some singles want to blur color lines by dating exclusively partners of a different race. Interracial Dating frequently takes top marks as the best dating site for singles seeking partners of a different race from their own, and the site has the success stories to prove it.
One way that Interracial Dating sets itself apart from more mainstream online dating platforms is the fact that it lets everyone on the site contact each other for free. You can send and receive messages anonymously, get to know the other person before you take the plunge, and never have to take out your credit card.
9. DateFit
One of the biggest downsides that people find with online dating is the fact that it’s hard to get to know someone over text. You can’t see their face, can’t hear their voice, and that can make chemistry hard to determine. DateFit wants to remove that hurdle by hosting in-person events for its active users.
The fitness dating app focuses on bringing singles together based on common interests and lifestyles, and it hosts mixers so they can get to know each other in real life as soon as possible.
DateFit is building a unique singles community for gym lovers, hikers, athletes, and outdoor enthusiasts, and it’s a great option for getting out there.
10. QuackQuack
Based in India, QuackQuack has built a thriving community for dating, deeper relationships, and friendships. The majority of QuackQuack users are under 35 and live in smaller cities and towns in India. These single people find common ground through their shared values, cultural background, and life goals.
While QuackQuack began in 2010 as a dating site for romantic attraction between young Indian singles, the team has since expanded its niche to include friendship as well as romance.
“Dating apps are evolving and becoming an equally safe space to make new friends, said QuackQuack CEO Ravi Mittal. “We see budding friendships overtaking romances among our 18 million users.”
FAQs: Which Dating App is Best For Christian Singles or Spiritual Dating?
If one of your dealbreakers in a potential partner is shared spirituality, there are dating apps and sites out there specifically to help you meet the right person. The right dating service depends on your spiritual needs, but many dating apps and online dating sites cater to specific beliefs and faiths as well as to more general spiritual alignments.
Relationships: Dates and Serious Relationships
Match System: Search by gender, age, education, more
Our Experts Say: “ChristianMingle is strictly for Christian singles, and it has a large user base that you can browse through by your individual preferences…” Full Review »
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| User Base | Gender Ratio | Popularity (Visits/Mo.) |
Today’s Deal
|
| Christian Singles* |
44%*
56%*
|
3.5 Million* | Try Now for $19.99/Month |
ChristianMingle is the most popular Christian dating website in the world, with a large number of success stories to go with it. While not everyone on the site is a Christian, every ChristianMingle member is interested in finding a Christian partner.
If you want to transcend your single life with a good Christian man or woman of a similar religious background, ChristianMingle can light the way and provide niche dating options in the Christian community.
Spiritual Singles is for single people who have broadly spiritual interests but who don’t necessarily subscribe to any one particular tradition or doctrine. Singles who live holistic lifestyles, who follow various paths to spiritual enlightenment, who meditate and make healing crystals part of their everyday lives can find each other on the dating website. The website is part of a bigger network of niche dating sites, so if you’re looking for shared interests in a more eco-friendly lifestyle, you can find them in the shared network.
NUiT brings singles together through the power of astrology. The online dating app uses astrological charts to pair people up, comparing strengths and weaknesses and personality traits to find the best fit among the different members. Having access to the other person’s chart information also provides great opportunities for icebreakers.
How Effective Are Niche Dating Apps?
The effectiveness of any given dating app or site depends on a lot of factors. Niche dating sites have a few key drawbacks to keep in mind, but if you’re really dedicated to finding someone based on a shared interest, they can also be your best bet.
One drawback of niche dating sites is that they tend to have much smaller user bases. A site or app catering to fitness singles, for example, will have a more targeted user pool than one for all singles. Fewer members can mean fewer local date options, but it can also mean more compatible choices if you’re willing to travel.
Then too, not every niche dating platform works out in the long term. Some interests are just too niche to have a sustained community to support a dating site. The Kanye West themed dating site, Yeezy.Dating, fell into that category. The initial support for a dating site for Kanye West fans died down fairly quickly, and the platform fell into obscurity.
Cat lovers were sad to see the end of Tabby aka the cat person’s dating app. It spent its nine lives matching up people who own cats with like-minded singles. The dating app and site was the purrfect companion to Dig, owned by the same network, which operated as wingman for any dog lover who wanted to meet and get involved with other dog lovers. Both niche apps are not currently active.
If you live in a rural area or far away from major population centers, or you don’t want to have to travel to meet your match, it’s a better idea to stick with mainstream dating apps. If you’re unsure of whether a niche dating platform is for you, this guide will help steer you in the right direction.
Do Niche Dating Sites Share Profiles in a Larger Database?
Some niche dating sites expand their memberships by participating in a larger network of sites, sharing member information across digital borders. The Passions Network is one example of this, with over 200 dating sites catering to different niche groups while sharing membership across the whole network.
Whether you’re on Trek Passions to find another Trekkie for romance, or looking for an animal lover, you can find them across the network. Pets Passions has forums for dog lovers and cat lovers that can be purr-fect to explore if you’re looking for a person to be a partner to you and a parent for your fur baby.
Many niche dating sites are passion projects for the people or companies that run them, and these sites are less likely to share profiles across a network. The sites focus on offering a quality experience to niche daters, letting them encounter specifically and only those members who share the key interest or belief the site is based on, like Clown Dating, which caters specifically to clowns and the people who love them.
What Are the Best Niche Dating Apps for Fetishes?
Fetish dating sites continue to gain popularity, due to increasing acceptance of people who let their freak flag fly high. Of course, while mainstream dating sites don’t discriminate, it’s one thing to find a partner who’s willing to indulge your kink and quite another to find one who is into the same thing. Our experts recommend a few sites for fetishists and kinksters looking to find like-minded partners.
★★★★★
Relationships: Hookups, Chats
Match System: Search by encounter, location, and more
Our Experts Say: “BeNaughty is a premier hookup app where you can feel comfortable expressing your desires. Plus, it’s free to join, browse, and flirt…” Full Review »
Browse Free: View Photos Now
| User Base | Gender Ratio | Popularity (Visits/Mo.) |
Today’s Deal
|
| All Singles* |
48%*
52%*
|
13.3 Million* | Browse Profiles Free |
BeNaughty welcomes open-minded people to be upfront and honest about their desires, whether that’s to indulge in a little swinging, or to set up elaborate fantasies based on specific kinks and fetishes. The large user base and fun and casual atmosphere help make it easy to be direct about what you want.
★★★★★
Relationships: Hookups, Casual Dates, Affairs
Match System: Search by age, location, appearance, and more
Our Experts Say: “With its massive user base and advanced privacy features, Ashley Madison is the #1 site for discreet hookups, dates, or relationships…” Full Review »
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| User Base | Gender Ratio | Popularity (Visits/Mo.) |
Today’s Deal
|
| All Singles & Attached* |
71%*
29%*
|
65 Million* | Start Now for FREE |
Ashley Madison brings together married people, and those who want to date them, for action outside of marriage. While for many, extramarital affairs are their own kink, Ashley Madison has also cultivated a reputation as a judgment-free zone. If your existing partnership doesn’t provide you with what you need, maybe someone on Ashley Madison can help you scratch that itch.
Pure is a casual dating app aimed at encouraging sex positivity by hosting an online ad board where users can get as detailed and specific about their fantasies as they want in the hopes of finding the right like-minded person in their area. Whether you’re looking for someone to wrap you up like a mummy in Saran wrap, or someone to hook up with in hobbit costumes, you can probably find it on the app.
KinkD is a fetish matchmaking platform that provides a virtual private garden where kinksters of all stripes can find other people with similar interests and intrigues. Rigid safety standards and privacy measures mean that users don’t have to fear the stigma of their desires getting out, so they can let loose with their sexual needs.
Launched by Bulgarian entrepreneur Dimo Trifonov in 2014, Feeld started as a love letter to a girlfriend who admitted she didn’t think she could be satisfied with monogamy, and has grown since to become a trusted platform for polyamorous couples and singles alike. The secure, private space provides plenty of safety to be open and direct about what you want, and encourages clear communication.
Seeking a Specific Type? Search Online!
There are too many niche dating sites out there to cover them all, and even this list doesn’t cover all of the top choices our dating experts think are worth trying. If you have needs in a relationship that a mainstream dating website or dating app doesn’t satisfy, then consider giving a niche dating platform a chance.
Whether you want to date within your faith, find someone ready to get married in the next six months, explore new sexual territory with an open-minded partner, or fall in love with someone of a different race, there’s a dating site out there for you. Get out there and find it!
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