Social Media > Online Dating 5 Best Free Dating Sites of 2024 Dating is easy; finding someone is hard. Let these sites help you tackle the hard part By Stacy Fisher Stacy Fisher Technology Educator Emporia State University Stacy is a professional technology educator with over 25 years' experience. She has published hundreds of articles, co-authored a book, and has appeared on national and local TV. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on January 23, 2024 Reviewed by Michael Barton Heine Jr Reviewed by Michael Barton Heine Jr Michael Heine is a CompTIA-certified writer, editor, and Network Engineer with 25+ years' experience working in the television, defense, ISP, telecommunications, and education industries. lifewire's editorial guidelines Online Dating Facebook Pinterest Twitter Snapchat Instagram YouTube Online Dating Trending Videos Close this video player Using a website to form romantic relationships and make new friends online is hugely popular. We've found the best free dating site for 2024 so you can save your money to have a good time. These websites forgo membership fees and are supported by ads, but some features are locked behind a paywall. Please know that not all the ads are considered family-friendly. Use caution when visiting. 01 of 05 Tinder What We Like Simple and straightforward. The experience feels more immediate. Premium options if you want more features. What We Don't Like Has a reputation as a hookup site rather than a dating site. Based mainly on appearance, which has sparked controversy. Must pay to see who has liked you if you haven't liked them. Tinder is a location-based dating site, and it's extremely popular. It popularized the "swipe right" idea, where you match or ignore people with a swipe motion. If you're using Tinder from a computer, the right arrow is the same as swiping to the right. Unlike some dating sites that seem to find a few matches and then force you to wait for days for new users, you'll likely find other people on this site no matter where you live. This is due to its size — over 70 million members—and its ability to locate users worldwide. Here are some other features worth mentioning: Set the age range anywhere from 18 to 100+, turn off read receipts with matches, turn off recently active status, switch to Work Mode to hide that you're on Tinder, use Smart Photos to have Tinder automatically pick the best image to show people first, hide if you're communicating with someone and don't want to be matched with anyone else, message via text but also easily send GIFs and contact information, and pay for things like Super Likes for a supposed better chance at matching. Beyond photos and a description, your Tinder profile can include relationship goals, and there are questions you can answer to explain things like your education level, family plans, love style, and lifestyle habits. Best Ways to Optimize Your Tinder Profile Visit Tinder 02 of 05 Bumble What We Like Clean, ad-free design. Controls spam through auto-expiring messages. Fast signup process. Includes a payment option to stand out. Separates the friend-finder from the date-finder. What We Don't Like Doesn't feel as interactive as some dating sites. No personality matching options; mainly location-based. How to Use Bumble Bumble is an interesting service because unlike most of the competition where you can message a match at any time, this one requires the woman to initiate the conversation before the man can say something (if you're matching with the opposite gender), else the match expires. You can set a few parameters in your profile settings, such as the gender you're interested in, an age range, distance to look for matches from where you are and filters. Unlike OKCupid, which takes you through a lengthy questionnaire, making a Bumble profile is quick and easy. Once you're ready to find matches, you can choose two filters so that your potential dates match up with whatever you choose—for example, that they take exercise seriously, never smoke, are non-religious, are of a certain height, etc. After matching with someone, you can exchange text, pictures, and GIFs. You can also snooze your account to hide from Bumble without losing your matches or closing your account, boost your profile with Spotlight to be seen by more people, and find friends and business opportunities through the two other areas of the site: Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz. You can get started quickly by signing in with your Facebook or Apple account or using your phone number. Visit Bumble 03 of 05 OkCupid What We Like Find matches that fit your personality and desires. Shows a match percentage for easy swiping. Send messages to anyone you "like." What We Don't Like Long signup process. Chat only accepts text. Payment required to see who likes you and to send unlimited 'likes.' Safety Tips for OkCupid Users One option you have for a free dating site is OkCupid. What sets this service apart is that you're matched with people via a mandatory personality test. You can answer various questions so potential matches can gauge your similarity to them. For example, whether you're carefree or intense, if politics are essential to you, if you like to dance, if you're anti-war, how you feel about dating someone with debt, etc. Depending on the question, you might be asked to choose an answer for your ideal person. You can mark them as essential or irrelevant so the matching algorithm favors people who answered how you want them to. As you click through matches, you can see a simple percentage that indicates how well you might work together based on the personality test. You can even see which answers you agreed and disagreed on before matching. We appreciate the advanced search tool, in which you can sort matches by match percentage or online status. It lets you view the people you've liked even if they haven't liked you back. Your Instagram feed can be attached to your profile, and you can spend a few bucks for boosts that crank up your profile's visibility. Visit OkCupid 04 of 05 Plenty of Fish What We Like Always fresh with new users. Digs deep into understanding what you're like to help find valuable matches. Lets you send messages to anyone. Super-detailed search options. What We Don't Like Not ideal for quick signups; there are lots of initial questions. Some really useful features are available only after you pay. Stale website design. With millions of members logged in every single day, Plenty of Fish is definitely one of the world's largest dating sites. Its matching algorithm finds compatible users in your area and the best matches just for you. Right after you register, you've asked lots of really specific questions about yourself, which is great for finding matches, but not so great if you just want to sign up and start meeting people right away. Some things we like: You can get a list of everyone who's currently online, pick "maybe" instead of "no" for someone you're unsure about, join live streams, view members that are only in your city, and message anyone (unless they've disabled DMs). Visit Plenty of Fish 05 of 05 Meetup What We Like Easy joining process. Fosters matches based on mutual interests. Hundreds of thousands of groups available worldwide. What We Don't Like Group organizers must pay a nominal monthly fee. Not geared specifically to online dating. If you're not a fan of the idea that you need to go out on a date right at the start of a relationship, consider using Meetup to find friends first. This isn't your typical dating service because it doesn't revolve around finding people to go out with like Tinder and these other websites do. However, it's a fantastic way to find people who are interested in the same things you are, from mountain climbing to book-of-the-month clubs, language learning, and everything in between. There are groups gathering in your area for virtually any interest you can think of, and many friendships and relationships spring out of these casual gatherings. You can even search for singles and hope that there's a group just for that. The search tool lets you pick any city to find Meetup groups anywhere from 2 miles away from any distance. You can also filter by online or in-person events, as well as by date and event category. Visit Meetup There are also online dating apps if you prefer to match with people from your phone or tablet. All the sites in this list are also available via an app. The 5 Best Apps To Meet People And Make Friends in 2024 Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit