The best dating apps for everyone

Match is the best opton for people who trust experience over gimmicks and people who want *a lot* of options.

While many dating apps go overboard with obnoxious advertising (leading to an unfortunate desperation stigma), Match offers a sliver of hope: They guarantee that you'll find someone in six months, and if you don't, they'll give you six months for free. Match has gained the trust of over 35 million unique monthly visitors, giving it the largest user base of any online dating site. Match loves to brag about their success stories on social media, providing you endless inspiration when your dating life looks grim. 

As one of the first online dating sites launched in 1995, Match has decades of data to back up their their algorithms — so no, it's not just another one of those sites that you'll forget about after a month. Match even uses your swipes to get a better idea of what you like to give you better matches in the future.

And guess what? These tried and true algorithms don't require some long, tedious questionnaire. Aside from asking about your personal values and interests, Match allows you to specify what you want (or don't want) in a partner and how important that is: If you'd prefer someone who doesn't smoke cigarettes but it's not a deal breaker, Match lets you specify that, and if you choose "This is a deal breaker," they won't give you potential matches that had that in their answers. It's a super simple way to make sure you two at least somewhat on the same page with surface-level things, and can avoid those awkward conversations two months into the relationship. Finding someone who has the same values as you is just as important as finding an honest person and the rest of that mushy stuff.

EliteSingles is for picky people looking for something super specific in a partner. And guys, this is not the place for the younger millennials: EliteSingles loves to brag that 82% of their members are university grads, and with most of its members being 33-50 years old, we can pretty surely say that the main target is mature, working professionals rather than the the Tinder-using generation. Sorry uni kids.

Rather than being thrown into an endless pool of profiles, EliteSingles lets you pick out exactly what you're looking for. You'll be given a limited number of matches curated for you using 29 extremely detailed, professional-level algorithms based on the popular Five Factor Personality Test. They'll even show you your own results in comparison to those of potential matches to see how you stack up. Like eHarmony, the stuff to fill out is pretty lengthy — but that's what you want if you're looking for a lasting relationship, and this helps ensure that you aren't swiping through loads of people that aren't your type. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Another unique thing is that there are separate pools based on location, religion, ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation. You can even break it down by profession if — for example, you are or were a teacher, you might only want to date someone who was also a teacher. All profiles are also verified manually with an upscale Fraud Detection System.

As you could have expected from the fancy-sounding name, EliteSingles is the most expensive of the bunch (but we say worth it). 

Hinge is for young people who want something a little more serious and less swipe-y than Tinder.

Hinge wants you to delete its app — but only because its algorithm found you someone who makes you want to stop playing the field. There's a common understanding that this app super hookup-oriented, but there's no pressure to rush into a relationship either. 

Instead of swiping through a sea of every single in a 50-mile radius, Hinge shows you profiles that you scroll through like Instagram. They're not random, either — rather, Hinge offers more detailed profiles with sections about religion, political views, stance on weed, and more. (Most of these can be filtered just like distance or age, but you'll have to pay.) Photos, voice prompts, and standard prompts alike allow you to show off your personality sans the stress of figuring out how to fill out a completely blank bio. One's funny or serious answers to fun ice breakers are showcased just as heavily as profile photos. 

Each day, you can send eight likes with the free version — but there's no limit to how many likes you can receive in a day. If you and a match go on a date, you can report how it went with the "We Met" feature, which helps the app send you matches more curated to your liking. 

Hinge collects cookies for the website/app's functionality as well for third-party providers that work with the company. You have the option to opt out of nonessential cookies.

Read our full review of AdultFriendFinder.

Marriage-minded people should give eharmony a try. With an opening questionnaire as time-consuming and mushy as this one, we don't expect that many people looking for a hookup would put themselves through that. Their explicit goal is to "create more meaningful connections that lead to fulfilling marriages," so if that's your goal as well this is the site for you. 

The fact that it accounts for 4 percent of marriages in the US speaks for itself — that's an insane stat to come from a single dating site and proves that people are not messing around here. You'll only get a handful of potential matches per day and there's no search feature, so being patient is key. You can't rush things like this.

eharmony uses a comprehensive questionnaire with a whopping 29 dimensions to match you with people based on your long-term compatibility. You'll give yourself a rating on prompts like "I'm an honest partner," with sliding scale responses. On paper, asking deep questions like these right off the bat makes total sense when pairing two people together — but they're so basic and annoying. As much as you'd like to lie to feel better about yourself, you know deep down that's not the way to a healthy relationship. Admitting that you're not as mature in a certain area is key to eharmony matching you with someone who complements you. eharmony promises to pay for three months if you're not satisfied after three months, so they're clearly pretty confident that all of those questions work.

Warning: It does get pricey, but less so the longer your subscription is — and it'll be worth it when you have your boo. Sign up here.

Let's just get this one out of the way. If you're thinking of dating apps, you're thinking of Tinder. If you tell someone you're on dating apps, they'll assume it's Tinder. They pioneered the now-ubiquitous swiping function, revolutionising the world of online dating and boasting 1.6 billion swipes per day. What started out as strictly a hookup app has turned into one of the biggest matchmakers in the world. 

Even if you're brand new to online dating, you likely know that as you're served a series of photos, you swipe right if you like what you see and left if you don't. When you both indicate interest in each other, you'll get a notification that it's a match. It's a basic formula that's been copied a lot, and has made "swiping" a part of the dating vernacular. 

Tinder may not want to advertise as such, but we all know what it's mostly used for. The threshold for making a profile is low, so you're quite literally deciding if you want to interact with someone based on nothing but profile pictures and a quote from The Office, so yeah, you can see how getting laid would be the main goal of most users — but hey, we all know those couples who met on Tinder and have been together for years. It's fast, easy, and if there's one app that even the shyest, most skeptical people will be on, it's Tinder. 

It's free for general use, but Tinder does offer upgrades in the form of Tinder Plus, Tinder Gold, and Tinder Platinum. These include extras like undoing a left swipe (bless), sending "Super Likes" to people you're really into, seeing which users have liked your profile, and even messaging someone before you match.

Tinder has teams dedicated to keeping data secure and aims to be transparent in how your information is shared. Your information may be shared with third parties for data hosting, customer care, analytics, marketing, advertising, payment processing, and security operations.