The Best Dating Apps in 2026, Rated and Compared

Ten dating apps, two questions: which deserves your evenings, and which deserves your money? We have compared free plans, UK prices, safety tools and privacy records, and the right app depends far more on what you are looking for than on what you spend.

Our top picks at a glance

• Best overall: Hinge, for prompt-led profiles and a culture that leans towards relationships
• Best value: Tinder, the biggest pool, with Tinder Plus from £3.99 on the UK App Store
• Best free option: Plenty of Fish, with free search filters and free messaging for mutual matches
• Best for safety tools: Bumble, with free photo and ID verification and AI scam detection
• Best for queer women and non-binary people: HER, dating and community in one free app
• Best for over-40s: Match, with fuller profiles, Zen Mode and UK singles nights

The 10 best dating apps, ranked

Dating apps compared: prices, verification and best uses

Rank	App	Rating	Free messaging	Premium from (UK App Store)	Verification	Best for
1	Hinge	4.0	Yes, daily like cap	£12.99 ($17.31 / €15.42)	Selfie Verification	Relationships
2	Bumble	3.8	Yes, plus video calls	£9.99 ($13.31 / €11.86), 7 days	Photo and ID	Control over contact
3	OkCupid	3.8	Yes	£5.99 ($7.98 / €7.11)	No badge; block, unmatch, report	Compatibility questions
4	HER	3.8	Yes, swipe cap	£13.99 ($18.64 / €16.60)	Social media link	Queer women, non-binary people
5	Feeld	3.8	Yes	£19.99 ($26.64 / €23.72), 30 days	Optional photo check	Open-minded singles, couples
6	Tinder	3.6	Yes, like cap	£3.99 ($5.32 / €4.73)	Face Check (mandatory, new UK users)	The biggest pool
7	Grindr	3.6	Yes, limited grid	£9.99 ($13.31 / €11.86)	No badge; video chat	Gay, bi, trans, queer people
8	Match	3.4	Once matched	£19.99 ($26.64 / €23.72), 1 week	Photo and profile moderation	Over-40s, events
9	Plenty of Fish	3.4	Mutual matches	£19.99 ($26.64 / €23.72), 1 week	Selfie video, Face Check	A big free pool
10	eharmony	3.4	Limited, no photos	£149.99 ($199.88 / €177.99)	Optional SMS	Long-term, quiz-led

Which dating app has the most users in the UK?

Tinder, by a distance. Ofcom’s most recent published figures, for May 2024, put Tinder at 1.9 million UK adult users, ahead of Hinge on 1.4 million, Bumble on 1.1 million and Grindr on 913,000. Around 4.9 million adults, roughly one in ten, used a dating service that month.

The big names are shrinking, though: Tinder lost about 600,000 UK users in a year. Most people use more than one app, and 56% of Hinge visitors also opened Tinder.

Worldwide, Grindr reports around 15 million monthly active users and HER says it has more than 15 million users, while Bumble and Hinge each have about two million paying members. A busy app in your postcode matters more than a global headline.

Free dating apps vs paid plans: what you get for nothing

Every app here lets you join, build a profile and match for nothing. The differences lie in what happens next.

The most generous are OkCupid, which lets free members message matches and answer Match Questions, and Plenty of Fish, which adds free search filters by age, location, gender and religion. Bumble includes voice and video calls, a sensible step before meeting a stranger for a drink in Ancoats.

Tinder and Hinge are complete apps with a speed limit: you can match, chat and meet, but likes are capped. HER caps swipes but keeps communities and events free, and Feeld includes chat, photos and partner linking.

The thinner free tiers belong to Grindr, whose grid shows only dozens of nearby profiles, and eharmony, where Basic lasts for ever but hides every photo. Match sits between, with free messaging once matched.

Is paying worth it? The most useful paid feature on almost every app is seeing who has already liked you. If matches are slow, a subscription rarely fixes that. If likes are arriving faster than you can find them, a short plan can save hours. Paying buys pace, not a different pool of people.

Premium prices in the UK: what each upgrade really costs

Very few dating apps publish a UK price list, and prices can vary by age, platform or account. These are UK App Store in-app prices from our reviews; where the store does not say how long a plan lasts, we give the lowest price only.

App	Lowest UK price	Longer plans and add-ons
Tinder	Plus from £3.99 ($5.32 / €4.73)	Gold listed from £7.49 to £14.99
OkCupid	Premium from £5.99 ($7.98 / €7.11)	Price points up to £44.99; one, three and six-month packages
Bumble	Premium £9.99 ($13.31 / €11.86) for 7 days	Boost from £2.49; other Premium price points £13.99 to £24.99
Grindr	XTRA from £9.99 ($13.31 / €11.86)	Unlimited from £24.99 ($33.30 / €29.66)
Hinge	Hinge+ from £12.99 ($17.31 / €15.42)	Weekly to six-month plans; no 12-month option
HER	Premium from £13.99 ($18.64 / €16.60)	Platinum from £15.99 to £24.99
Feeld	Majestic £19.99 ($26.64 / €23.72) for 30 days	£32.99 for 90 days; £99.99 ($133.25 / €118.66) a year
Match	£19.99 ($26.64 / €23.72) for 1 week	£39.99 a month; £79.99 ($106.59 / €94.92) for 6 months
Plenty of Fish	£19.99 ($26.64 / €23.72) for 1 week	£29.99 ($39.96 / €35.59) a month
eharmony	Premium from £149.99 ($199.88 / €177.99)	6, 12 and 24-month terms only

Longer plans are almost always cheaper per month. Feeld’s year costs about the same as five monthly payments, so anyone staying past five months saves, and Match’s six-month Pass works out at £13.33 a month, a third of its monthly rate. In the US, Tinder Gold falls from $39.99 (£30.01 / €35.62) a month to $23.33 (£17.51 / €20.78) on a six-month plan.

Weekly plans are poor value: a week of POF costs two thirds of a month. The exception is Bumble’s 7-day Premium, which covers a specific job, such as using Travel Mode a week before a move to Glasgow.

Age matters too. In California, Tinder agreed a $60.5 million settlement over charging older users more, preliminarily approved in January 2026; Tinder denies wrongdoing.

None of the ten issues promo codes or offers a UK student discount, and “free premium” codes on voucher sites are best ignored. The real savings are longer plans, occasional in-app offers and comparing the app price with the website. OkCupid bills web subscriptions in US dollars, so your card may add a foreign transaction fee.

Online dating safety: the verification checks that actually help

Verification is now standard kit, but the checks are not equal.

Tinder has gone furthest. Since March 2026, every new UK user must pass Face Check, a video selfie compared with their photos, and Tinder says verification has cut exposure to fake or harmful accounts by more than 60%. Plenty of Fish runs a similar selfie video and Face Check, and Hinge offers optional Selfie Verification.

Bumble adds ID checks, Private Detector to blur explicit images and Deception Detector, an AI tool backed by human moderators that flags scams. Feeld offers optional photo verification and blurs unsolicited explicit images.

Others rely on moderation. Match moderates every photo and description and belongs to the Online Dating Association. eharmony has a Trust & Safety team but only an SMS badge. HER verifies through a linked social account. Grindr has no badge, but in higher-risk countries it hides distance automatically, sends security alerts and makes safety features free.

The rules that matter most cost nothing. Keep chat in the app until you trust someone, video call before meeting, meet in public, tell a friend where you are going and never send money to a match. POF’s help centre lists UK support lines including the National Domestic Abuse Helpline and Rape Crisis.

Romance scams: the warning signs to know

Reported losses to romance fraud reached £99.4 million in 2024, across 9,096 reports to Action Fraud, according to figures published by Which?. Be wary of anyone who:

• pushes to move the chat to WhatsApp, text or email early on
• avoids video calls or meeting, often claiming to work abroad
• builds intimacy fast, then shares a sudden crisis
• asks for money, gift cards or help with an “investment”
• asks to move money through your bank account

A reverse image search can expose stolen photos, though not every AI-made one. If you have sent money, call your bank first. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, report it to Report Fraud, which replaced Action Fraud in December 2025, at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101.

Privacy on matchmaking apps: fines, flaws and the data you hand over

Dating apps hold some of the most sensitive data anyone shares, and several have been tested on it.

Grindr was fined NOK 65 million (about US$6 million) by Norway’s data protection authority in December 2021 for sharing data, including location and app use, with advertisers without valid consent. The Borgarting Court of Appeal upheld the fine in October 2025, and a group claim for UK users was filed in the High Court in London in April 2024.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission opened an inquiry into Tinder‘s data handling in 2020. Bumble and Badoo agreed a $40 million US settlement in 2024 over facial data from Illinois users. Match Group paid $14 million in 2025 to settle a US Federal Trade Commission case over Match.com’s guarantee and cancellations, without admitting wrongdoing.

In 2024, a UK security firm reported flaws in Feeld that could have exposed private messages and photos; Feeld said it fixed them. In 2018, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled an eharmony advert claiming “scientifically proven” matching was misleading.

Verification creates data too. Plenty of Fish deletes the selfie video but keeps the face data for the life of the account. If you are private or not out, use incognito modes, keep identifying details out of photos and think twice before linking social accounts.

How matching works, and how to build a profile that gets replies

Most apps run on the same loop: you like someone, they like you back, and that match opens a chat. The difference is how people reach your screen. Hinge learns from who you like and asks how dates went. OkCupid turns your answers into a match percentage, eharmony scores matches from 60 to 140, and Grindr simply sorts people by distance. Choosing comes down to what you want, who is nearby and how much sifting you will tolerate.

The profile does most of the work. “I love travel and good food” gives nobody anything to say. “Still searching for a curry that beats my nan’s in Rusholme” invites a reply and possibly a date. Lead with one clear, recent face shot, add one full length and one doing something you enjoy, and never open with a group picture. Then verify, say what you are looking for and, on OkCupid, answer at least 30 to 50 questions.

Serious relationship or casual dating: picking the right app

Start with what you want, not with what your friends use.

For something lasting, Hinge is the strongest of the big apps; it calls itself “designed to be deleted”. eharmony does the filtering through its Compatibility Quiz, Match suits people who want a full profile before a drink, and OkCupid appeals to anyone who wants to know what someone thinks before what they look like.

Without a fixed plan, Tinder offers the widest choice, casual to serious, and Double Date lets you bring a friend. Bumble has a calmer inbox and BFF for friendships. Grindr has an opt-in Right Now space for meeting soon, and Feeld caters to open-minded singles and couples.

Tired of swiping? Plenty of Fish lets free members search with filters, eharmony sends matches to you, and on Hinge you react to a particular answer rather than a whole face. Match’s singles nights skip the screen entirely. All make good alternatives to Tinder for slower dating.

Say what you are looking for on your profile; it saves everyone time.

Hinge vs Bumble vs Tinder: the big three head to head

Hinge suits people who want to start with a conversation, Bumble those who want tighter safety tools and a free video call before meeting, and Tinder anyone after the most choice.

The gap has narrowed. Since August 2026, either person can send the first message on Bumble, with 72 hours to start talking. Hinge is the one growing, with paying users up 17% in a year, and Ofcom found it was the only top-ten UK dating service with more women than men, at 53%. Tinder still reaches the most people. On the UK App Store, Tinder Plus starts at £3.99, Bumble Premium at £9.99 for a week and Hinge+ at £12.99.

Here is how a first date in Leeds might come together on Hinge for nothing. You add six photos and three prompts, then spend your free likes carefully, since reviewers put the allowance at around eight a day. You comment on someone’s answer about the best stall in Kirkgate Market. They reply, you chat for a few evenings, swap numbers and meet for a drink somewhere central and busy. Total cost: £0. Afterwards, Hinge asks how it went and uses your answer to sharpen its suggestions.

The best dating apps for women: more control, fewer unwanted messages

Men outnumber women on UK dating services, 65% to 35% by Ofcom’s count, so the tools that control who reaches you matter.

Bumble leads on protection: free photo and ID verification, Private Detector to blur explicit images, Deception Detector to catch scam accounts and video calls before you meet. Hinge has the most balanced audience of the big apps, and Tinder‘s mandatory Face Check cuts down on fakes. For women over 40, Match‘s Zen Mode filters who can contact you at all, and Feeld blurs unsolicited explicit images. For queer women, non-binary and trans people, HER is built around you from the first screen.

None of these tools is only for women; anyone tired of unwanted messages can switch them on.

Dating over 40 and over 50: which apps suit later-life dating

The swipe apps skew young. Tinder’s recent features target 18 to 24 year olds, and its pricing has historically charged older users more. Ofcom found 73% of Hinge’s UK users were aged 18 to 34.

Match is our pick for over-40s. Profiles are fuller, Zen Mode lets only people who meet your criteria contact you, and singles nights offer a way to meet in person. Members can also appear on Meetic’s over-50s and single-parent services. Try a one-week Pass at £19.99 before committing.

eharmony suits relationship-minded singles who want the sorting done for them. OkCupid is worth a look too: third-party data puts around half its users aged 30 to 49, and messaging is free. Plenty of Fish is busier with this age group than its reputation suggests: Ofcom found more than half its UK users were aged 35 to 54, and that Grindr was the most popular dating service of all among over-55s.

Where LGBTQ+ singles are matching: Grindr, HER, Feeld and inclusive mainstream apps

For gay, bi, trans and queer men, Grindr remains the default, with around 15 million monthly active users. Its distance-sorted grid is hard to beat whether you live in Leeds or have just landed in Lisbon. XTRA covers most needs; Unlimited adds every profile and Incognito.

HER is the most focused option for queer women, non-binary and trans people. Founded by British entrepreneur Robyn Exton and bought by Match Group in May 2025, it puts identity first, and a new arrival in London can join a queer book club before going on a single date.

Feeld suits lives that do not fit a template, with Desires tags and Constellations for linking partners. A 2019 New York Times report found 45% of its users identified as something other than heterosexual.

Among mainstream apps, OkCupid has broad identity options and room for non-monogamy. eharmony lets you look for women, men, nonbinary people or everyone, and has worked with GLAAD on matchmaking. Tinder offers a wide range of gender identities, though it has faced criticism over trans users being wrongly banned, and Bumble expanded its nonbinary options in 2022.

Cancelling Hinge, Tinder and the rest without paying twice

Every app here renews automatically. Cancel where you paid; deleting the app cancels nothing.

1. iPhone: Settings, your name, Subscriptions, choose the app, Cancel Subscription.
2. Android: Google Play, profile icon, Payments and subscriptions, Subscriptions, choose the app, cancel.
3. Paid on the website: cancel in your account. OkCupid must be cancelled at okcupid.com/settings in a browser; POF under Manage Account on desktop; eharmony under Data & Settings, Manage profile, Amend subscription.
4. Leave a margin: Hinge, Match and POF ask for at least 24 hours before renewal.

Refunds vary. Plenty of Fish gives UK subscribers a full refund within 14 days of starting. eharmony offers 14 days on website purchases only, less a reasonable amount for use. Hinge generally considers refunds within 14 days. Grindr says all purchases are final, Feeld leaves refunds to Apple and Google, and most Tinder purchases are non-refundable. Diarise the renewal date the day you buy.

How we test and score the apps

Each app is scored out of five against six weighted criteria:

• Free plan (25%): what you can do without paying, especially messaging
• Price and value (20%): UK prices, plan lengths and how clearly they are shown
• Safety and verification (20%): photo, video and ID checks, moderation and reporting
• Privacy (15%): App Store privacy labels, regulator action and data incidents
• Features and matching (10%): prompts, filters, incognito, travel modes and identity options
• User feedback (10%): UK App Store and Trustpilot ratings, and the themes in real reviews

We check UK App Store in-app prices and convert them to dollars and euros at fixed rates, read each app’s help centre and cancellation terms, and follow the company results, regulator decisions and Ofcom usage data that affect members.

AI girlfriend and AI boyfriend apps

Not every app in this section is about meeting someone. AI companion apps let adults chat, flirt and even call a character who remembers them, and they have become a category of their own. Our best AI girlfriend apps and best AI boyfriend apps guides rank them on memory, free limits, the real cost of tokens and credits, privacy and age checks.

For a long-running companion with detailed memory and calls, start with our Kindroid review or Nomi AI review. Replika has the most usable free plan, and EVA AI suits anyone who wants flirting without explicit content. All are for over-18s only.

Dating app FAQs

What is the best dating app for a serious relationship?

Hinge, for most people. eharmony and Match are the alternatives if you prefer compatibility matching or fuller profiles.

Which dating app is most popular in the UK?

Tinder. Ofcom counted 1.9 million UK adult users in May 2024, ahead of Hinge on 1.4 million and Bumble on 1.1 million.

Is Hinge better than Bumble?

For relationships, usually. Hinge’s prompts lead to better conversations, while Bumble has stronger free safety tools and free video calls.

Are there any completely free dating apps?

Every app here has a free plan. OkCupid and Plenty of Fish come closest to completely free, since both let you message matches without paying.

Is it worth paying for a dating app subscription?

Only if you are getting more likes than you can find, or need a feature such as Travel Mode. Try the free version first.

Do dating apps have promo codes or student discounts?

None of the ten apps we rate issues promo codes or offers a UK student discount. A longer plan is the real saving.

What is the best dating app for women?

Bumble for safety tools, Hinge for the most balanced audience, and HER for queer women and non-binary people.

Are there dating apps without swiping?

Yes. Plenty of Fish lets you search with filters, eharmony sends you matches, and Hinge has you respond to a particular answer or photo.

Are dating apps safe to use?

As safe as you make them. Choose apps with verification, video call first, meet in public and never send money to a match.

How do I spot a scammer on a dating app?

Watch for anyone who rushes you off the app, avoids video calls, or asks for money or investments. Report it to your bank and to Report Fraud, or Police Scotland on 101.

What is the best dating app for over-40s?

Matc