Best dating apps 2026: the data, the prices, and what lists leave out

Updated October 6, 2026 · 17 min read

We found no study that ranks dating apps by results, and every best dating apps list we read carries affiliate links. What exists: Pew's count of who has used which app, the owners' payer figures and dated store prices. We score five apps on five things and name the apps we have not reviewed.

We did not use any of these apps for this page. We looked at Pew Research Center’s survey of US adults, the owners’ quarterly filings, the US and UK App Store listings and the two best-of lists we read in full. Anything that is our opinion is labeled as ours.

Is there a best dating app?

Not if best has to mean something measured. We found no study that compares dating apps by outcome: how many users found a partner, how fast, or how it went. What exists is narrower. Pew Research Center surveyed 6,034 US adults from July 5 to 17, 2022, found that 30% had ever used a dating site or app, and asked those online daters which apps they had used (Pew, 2023). The owners publish quarterly figures, and those count payers, not users. The app stores show prices on the day you look.

So on this page, best means best for a situation. Every app we have reviewed gets a score from 1 to 5 on the same five things: how serious it is, its real cost, the size of its pool, what women report, and how easy it is to ghost, meaning to go quiet on someone instead of ending things. On cost, 5 means cheapest. On ghosting, 5 means vanishing is easiest. Where data is missing, the score is a preliminary 3, and we say so. How we set each score is on our dating apps pages.

The five apps we scored

Five apps have full pages and scores on this site so far. They are listed alphabetically, with the US and UK store prices we read on October 4, 2026 (Feeld’s on October 5, Raya’s US list on October 6) and Pew’s count of who had ever used each.

The prices are the in-app purchase list prices on the US and UK App Store listings, read October 4, 2026 (Apple App Store, 2026a; 2026b). Most entries do not say which period they cover, so we do not convert any of them to a monthly price. The one item labeled as a month, Bumble’s £39.99 in the UK, costs more than every unlabeled Premium price next to it, which is why we do not guess.

The 3s are preliminary. All five apps sit at 3 on what women report because we found no independent data that separates them. Feeld’s prices are from its own US and UK listings, read October 5, 2026, and Pew did not ask about Feeld (Apple App Store, 2026c; 2026d). Raya’s prices are from its US listing only, read October 6, 2026; we did not check its UK listing, and Pew did not ask about Raya (Apple App Store, 2026e). Bumble’s scores were set after it ended its women-first rule on August 11, 2026. Until then, in a match between a man and a woman, only the woman could write first.

What sets them apart, in one line each:

• Bumble is not owned by Match Group, and its app had 2.08 million paying users in the second quarter of 2026, down 16.9%, according to Bumble Inc.’s results release (Bumble Inc., 2026). Payers are not users; accounts on a free tier are not in that count.
• Feeld is built for couples as well as singles, by its own description, and is the only one of the five whose store listings label every subscription period (Feeld, 2026; Apple App Store, 2026c; 2026d). Its audited UK accounts for 2025 give revenue but no user figures (Companies House, 2026; our news item).
• Hinge has you like or comment on one photo or prompt rather than a whole profile, and it stops new likes and matches once eight or more chats are waiting on your reply (Hinge, 2024b).
• Raya admits members by application and referral, and we found no free tier: its US listing sells Membership at $24.99 and $113.99 and Raya+ at $49.99, periods not labeled, and it publishes no user or payer figures (Apple App Store, 2026e; our Raya page).
• Tinder has the biggest pool by Pew’s count, at 46% of US online daters, and the lowest-priced subscription item in both stores (Pew, 2023; Apple App Store, 2026a; 2026b).

For two apps side by side, in more detail than fits here: Hinge vs Bumble, Hinge vs Tinder and Tinder vs Bumble.

Which dating app is best for …?

Evidence first, then the score. We found no outcome data for any of these situations, so every answer rests on how an app is built, who has used it or what it costs.

A serious relationship

We found no app that publishes what its users are looking for or what they end up with, so “serious” can only be read off the design. Hinge’s Your Turn Limits, global since September 18, 2024, blocks new likes and matches once eight or more chats are waiting on your reply (Hinge, 2024a; Hinge, 2024b), and that mechanism is why Hinge gets 4 on serious, the highest of the five. What the evidence on serious dating actually shows, which apps and sites say they are built for it, and why no success rate exists, is on our guide to the best dating apps for serious relationships.

Something casual

Tinder’s pool score of 5 rests on Pew’s count: 46% of US online daters had ever used it, the most of the eight apps Pew asked about (Pew, 2023). That score measures reach, not intent. Tinder gets 2 on serious, based on how the app is built rather than on any data about what its users want. We found no outcome data on casual dating for Tinder or any other app.

Women, and for men

We found no app that publishes results by gender. The one figure we have covers dating apps as a whole: in Pew’s survey, 56% of US women under 50 who had used a dating site or app had been sent a sexually explicit message or image they did not ask for (Pew, 2023). The figure does not separate one app from another, so all five get a preliminary 3 on what women report. Bumble’s women-first rule ended on August 11, 2026, so the feature that set it apart for women is gone. For men the gap is the same: no app we looked at publishes how men fare on it.

Over 50

We found no age data published by Hinge, Tinder or Bumble. Our guide to the best dating app for over 50 covers what Pew’s survey shows by age and the services aimed at older daters.

The UK

The newest independent count we found is Ofcom’s. Its Online Nation 2025 report, published December 10, 2025, put Tinder marginally ahead of Hinge in May 2025, each reaching about 3.1% of UK online adults (Ofcom, 2025). We read those figures in a summary, not in the report itself, and they count visits in one month, not active daters or results. Our scores do not change by country. The UK prices from October 4, 2026 are in the table above.

A free app

Four of the five apps we scored are free to download and free to match; Raya has no free tier that we found, and its membership is sold before you see anyone. What each free tier allows, where the paywall sits and which companies publish their limits is on our best free dating apps page, with a shorter answer under the free question further down.

Introverts

Our view: formats that slow things down suit people who dislike volume, such as Hinge’s opening, a comment on one prompt or photo, and one-match-a-day apps like You& in Sweden. Both cut how many conversations run at once. We found no data on whether introverts do better on them. The design mechanics, cap by cap and timer by timer, and the research on who uses the apps are on our best dating apps for introverts page.

LGBTQ+

Grindr’s own shareholder letter reports 15 million average monthly active users and 1.4 million average paying users in the second quarter of 2026 (Grindr, 2026). Payers are not users: the 1.4 million is the paying part of the 15 million, and we found no split by country. HER is listed in Match Group’s “Everyone Everywhere” segment, alongside Match and OkCupid (Match Group, 2026). We have reviewed neither app. Pew’s numbers for both are small: 6% of US online daters had ever used Grindr and 3% HER (Pew, 2023). That is too small a base for conclusions about either app.

The apps we have not reviewed

These apps come up on other lists. We have not reviewed them, so they get no scores here, only what their owners publish. Where a year comes from an App Store listing, it is the year the app first appeared on Apple’s US store, which is not necessarily when the brand launched (Apple App Store, 2026a).

Two apps you may still see named online have closed. City AM reported on January 9, 2025 that Thursday was shutting its app (City AM, 2025). EliteSingles told users on April 28, 2026 that it would close on April 30 (Global Dating Insights, 2026a). By then, the German unit of its owner, Spark Networks, had entered preliminary insolvency on January 16, 2026 (Global Dating Insights, 2026b).

Not reviewed means exactly that. We do not borrow verdicts from other lists, and leaving an app out of our scores says nothing about whether it works for anyone. Payers are not users, and we found no company in the table that publishes users by country, so nothing here tells you how many people use any of these apps near you.

Which apps do people actually use?

Tinder first, then Match and Bumble, by the only independent US count we found. That count is Pew’s, its fieldwork dates from July 2022, and it measures who had ever used an app, not who uses one now.

Online daters here are the 30% of US adults who had ever used a dating site or app. As shares of all US adults, the top three come to 14% for Tinder, 9% for Match and 8% for Bumble (Pew, 2023, printed pages 4 and 21). Pew asked about those eight apps only, and 31% of online daters named another, so we found no Pew figure for Plenty of Fish, Feeld or any other app outside the eight. Ever used is also not current use. Someone who tried Tinder once years ago counts the same as someone who opened it this morning.

The owners’ numbers are newer and count something else. Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge, reported 13.25 million payers across all its brands in the second quarter of 2026, down 6%, and revenue per payer of $21.13, up 6% (Match Group, 2026). For Hinge, it reported monthly active users up 13% and revenue up 22% (Match Group, 2026). Bumble Inc. reported 2.08 million paying users on the Bumble app, down 16.9%, and 1.08 million for “Badoo app and other” (Bumble Inc., 2026). Grindr reported 15 million average monthly active users (Grindr, 2026). Payers are not users. A payer count leaves out everyone on a free tier, and each company defines its terms its own way.

Store chart ranks are left out of this section on purpose. A rank shows where an app stood against other apps at one moment, it moves by the hour, and it is not a user count.

In the UK, Ofcom’s figures for May 2025, which we read in a summary, put Tinder and Hinge at about 3.1% of UK online adults each, with Tinder marginally ahead (Ofcom, 2025). In Sweden, 12% of respondents in the SOM Institute’s survey, published in 2025, had met their current or most recent partner through a dating app or site (SOM-institutet, 2025). The survey did not ask which app, and we found no Swedish statistic that ranks apps.

Our reading: ever-used measures history and payers measure wallets. We found no public number that measures who is active in your town.

Is there a free dating app that works?

Yes for four of the five apps we scored: Hinge, Tinder, Bumble and Feeld are free to download and free to match, and Raya is not. The limits are the problem, and only one of the four companies with a free tier publishes its own. The tier-by-tier detail is on best free dating apps.

Hinge’s mission page says free accounts get eight likes a day (Hinge, 2026). A separate rule, Your Turn Limits, means no new likes or matches while eight or more chats are waiting on your reply (Hinge, 2024b). Hinge announced a test on May 14, 2024 and made the rule global that September (Hinge, 2024b; 2024a). We found no published like limit for free Tinder or Bumble accounts, and no source we trust for a number.

According to Forbes Health, Facebook Dating is free with no paid tier. Forbes ranks it first on a list where cost carries 30% of the weight (Forbes Health, 2026). We have not reviewed it, so it has no scores here.

Most people who have dated online have not paid. In Pew’s survey, 35% of US online daters had ever paid to use a dating site or app (Pew, 2023). We found no outcome data comparing free and paid use on any app, so nothing we found shows that paying gets results the free tier does not.

What paying costs is in the table above, dated October 4, 2026. Most store entries in it do not name a period.

Our rule of thumb: pay only when the free limit actually stops you, and only once you know which feature you are paying for. On Hinge you can tell when that happens: the eight likes are gone, or eight chats are waiting. On Tinder and Bumble the cap is not published, so the only way to find it is to reach it.

How to read a best dating apps list

Ask it four questions, and ask them of this page too. First, how the two lists we read in full answer them.

Mashable’s “The 11 best dating apps of 2026: Avoid app fatigue”, by Tabitha Britt and dated July 17, 2026, names Hinge best overall. Its method is hands-on: “I personally create profiles and spend weeks getting a feel for the user base on each platform.” The page carries an affiliate commission line. One slot inside the list, for AdultFriendFinder, is marked “PROMOTED”. The page says that slot is chosen by the Ziff Davis merchandising team without input from the authors (Mashable, 2026).

Forbes Health’s “10 Best Dating Sites And Apps Of 2026” says it weighed “more than 40 data points on 36 dating websites.” It publishes the weights: cost 30%, a consumer survey of net promoter score (NPS) 25%, app features 20%, a hands-on tester 15%, same-sex preferences 5% and safety 5%. Facebook Dating comes out as “Best Dating Platform Overall.” The disclosure says Forbes earns commissions and that “commissions do not affect our editors’ opinions” (Forbes Health, 2026).

Between these two lists alone, first place goes to two different apps. Forbes publishes its weights and Mashable does not, so we cannot say why they differ. Neither gives a test date for each app.

The four questions:

1. Is the method stated? Who tested which apps, how and when. A line saying the writer tried them, with no dates, is a start, not a method.
2. Are prices given, with dates? Prices change with plan length and promotions. Without a date, you cannot tell whether a price was right last spring or is right today.
3. Do user figures have a source and a country? A global total says nothing about the pool where you live.
4. Does the page say whether it is paid when you click? If it says nothing either way, you do not know.

Our rule of thumb: two noes and the list is an opinion. That is fine, as long as it does not call itself a test. This page has no affiliate links.

How to use this

1. One app for two weeks. Our guess, not research. Two weeks is long enough to see whether there are people near you and whether anyone answers. With one app at a time, you know which one produced something.
2. Payment only when the free limit stops you. By then you know which feature you are buying. If the store does not name the period, the price may not be monthly.
3. Prices and dates before trusting a list. Without them, there is no telling whether a list still holds. That goes for our figures too, which is why each one carries a date.
4. Our app pages for the scores. Hinge, Tinder, Bumble, Feeld and Raya each have a page with the five scores and the reasoning behind every one, linked from the table above.
5. The over-50 guide, if that is you. It is linked under “Over 50” above and covers the age data this page leaves out.