- #1 trusted dating app in the UK
- For serious, long-term relationships
- Free registration
- Perfect for: People looking to flirt and starts things off in a fun way
- Find someone in your neighbourhood
- Chat with like-minded singles straight away
- The place to find like-minded people who are looking for meaningful relationships
- Great search function
- Immediate support from professional team
- Ignite romance right in your vicinity
- Enjoy exact matching thanks to accurate filters;
- And explore many more benefits that will help you find love!
- Welcome Offer for new members
- Unique VIP Content for premium members
- Maximum payment security (Google Pay, Apple Pay etc.)
- Popular mature dating site for people who know what they want in a partner
- Singles 40s+ looking to date like-minded singles searching for the same thing
- Free & easy-to-use interface, optimized for all devices
- Experienced singles looking for good relationships
- Excellent atmosphere to get closer easily
- Online chatting with attractive people
- Large User Base: Connect with thousands of singles across the UK.
- Easy Navigation: User-friendly interface for hassle-free browsing.
- Quick Matches: Find compatible matches in no time.
- Localized Connections: connect with singles in the UK
- Tailored Matching Algorithm: increasing the likelihood of meaningful connections
- User-Friendly Interface: making the process of finding matches effortless
- Easy and convenient interface
- Perfect for casual dating & hookups
- Plenty of members for you to have fun with
- Over 13 million active users on the site
- Intelligent matchmaking based on background and interests
- 85% of members have a professional background
- Best for anonymous and discreet encounters
- Free registration and free membership
- Chat with thousands of attractive singles
- Large database of Asian and European singles in the UK
- Full control of your profile to set your desired privacy settings
- Attend virtual events to meet even more members
- Free, fast and easy registration
- Real girls from 180 countries
- Highly engaged and active community
- Best for open-minded looking for “no strings attached” fun
- Free membership
- 54 million users
- Meet attractive Asian, European, & Latino singles
- Quick and free signup
- Casual or serious online dating
Looking for different dating sites?
The best dating sites
When it comes to measuring online dating site success, it’s hard to argue with the huge number of couples that have met through it and have gone on to be in happy marriages.
We reviewed the best dating sites for you:
eHarmony
eHarmony offers a questionnaire and a personality test/ psychology test that follows scientific methods for registration, it reminds you of a quiz. The registration takes about 20 minutes.
There will be 100 icebreakers in the form of questions, of which you can choose 5 and send them to your matches on eHarmony.
Members with a free subscription will not be able to contact you any further. In order to send messages you need a paid subscription.
This not only gives you access to the news function, but also gives you insight into your visitors and their profile pictures. You can also see who has set you as a favourite.
eHarmony uses a sophisticated algorithm that asks 29 core questions and properties from an original 450 questions. Answering them is even quite amusing.
EliteSingles
EliteSingles has about 2 million interactions every month. This makes the service one of the biggest players in the dating game. Being one of the best serious dating sites has more than 65,000 new registrations and reaches many niche requests.
Here you will find various, mostly sophisticated users and you can start very special searches. EliteSingles filters by religion, by ethnicity, by many different factors to discover.
Even if the name might suggest otherwise, EliteSingles are not only frequented by academics, but also by people without a higher education level, and we think that’s a good thing.
Membership fees for all-inclusive features start at £24.95, for which you must commit to the dating portal for one year. For a higher price you get shorter terms.
With the free version you can already use some important functions, but to get in touch with other users directly, you need their subscription business model.
This is also a point we didn’t like so much, to be able to flirt and interact with others unlimitedly, you have to pay, this is the case with many others as well, but nevertheless, we always want the free encounters.
OkCupid
A site that you can tell is forward-looking and at home in the 21st century, just like its users. Hardly any other site is as liberal and progressive as OkCupid with its Gen-Z-look and the inclusive and integrative way it is presented.
OkCupid is the Tik Tok in the dating game, that’s for sure. It is of course LGBTQI+-friendly and offers many different genders to choose from.
The developers have also put a lot of thought into sexual orientation to capture all possible variations of human affection and views.
From pansexual, sapiosexual, gender fluid, nonbinary and many, many more, a variety of users can feel completely comfortable. Every gender identity and orientation is welcome here.
Another great feature is the privacy control. Here people can specify what users can view their profile and who can contact them.
It’s structure reminds more of a social network à la Facebook than a classic UK dating site.
Tinder
Technically an App, it lets you wipe through seemingly endless profiles and gives you the feeling of a speed dating contest.
The most important functions are free of charge with the Tinder App, no subscription is needed to flirt successfully with men and women.
A big advantage of the dating site is that sending messages is free, but only available to members who have matched.
Heterosexuals, gays and lesbians are welcome here, the site is LGBT-friendly.
The gender selection has been increased to over 30.
With an audience of 50 million users worldwide, it is no surprise that marketers want to use Tinder to promote their products and services.
However, the amount of advertising is limited and the user experience is not disturbed.
Match.com
Match is a big player, very well known, very popular. With its 20 years of experience in the dating business, Match.com is an old-established top dog. Over 8.6 million users worldwide speak for the UK dating site.
In the UK alone, Match has over 350,000 members, so there is a high probability of meeting the love of your life & your lifestyle, a night out or just to talk.
Match has no verification method, but since only paying members can send messages, you can rest assured. Scammers will certainly not log in with their credit card.
We especially like the extensive filters, with which you can search and filter for many details about who you would like to flirt with.
Match.com also invites you to its own events and members get reduced tickets. The site is also available as an app for iOS devices from Apple and for Android in Google’s Play Store.
Many of the other best dating sites like Zoosk, PlentyOfFish and Coffee meets Bagel let you register for a month’s website use, so you can get a feel for it before committing to a premium service.
The best dating sites concentrate on matchmaking singles that are compatible for a committed relationship.
Services such as eHarmony, which call themselves relationship sites, are set up slightly differently to other services and are created with the sole aim of helping like minded singles to fall in love.
Pros and cons of online dating sites?
Online dating offers certain benefits that are hard to come by with traditional methods. It’s accessible and easy for everyone to use, which is why millions of people in the UK have subscribed to an internet dating site.
Pros of online dating sites:
- Simple to get started
Many of the top ones have a simple sign-up process, and a clear, user-friendly design that makes finding a potential date straightforward.
On the best dating sites, once you’ve filled out your profile, all you have to do is filter the gender, location, age, and common interests of like minded singles to find the perfect match suggestions.
You’ll be able to pinpoint exactly the kind of person you’re looking for. - Expanding your dating pool
Before online dating, meeting people to date who were outside of your social circle or place of work was challenging.
It helps to widen the dating pool and connect with people you probably never would have met, so you have a greater chance of meeting someone who you’re compatible with. - Setting the pace
Whether you’ve been looking for the right person for a while or have recently divorced, it’s important to pick the pace that works best for you when it comes to dating.
It lets you initiate conversations with another single, even if you’re not ready to meet face-to-face yet. You can control who you’re contacted by, and when you reply. - It’s convenient
One of the main benefits of signing up to dating platforms is how convenient it is to find the possibility of love.
You’ll find many of them also have an app, which is often free to download and offers all of the same features as the desktop version.
You’ll be able to use innovative swipe features to look through profiles wherever you go. - Plenty of success stories
Online dating works. Whichever app or platform you decide to join, you’ll be able to read through all the success stories of people who have met their ideal match from browsing through profiles or from being sent a compatible match.
Once you’ve signed up, there’s always the potential to meet someone special.
Cons of online dating sites:
- It’s hard to tell if “the spark” is there
You don’t get to know your flirt partner until later. However, if you “only” want to flirt, it is ideal. - The disappointment can be great.
Especially if you were expecting another person who is actually standing in front of you. - Time-consuming & addictive.
Going into each of the many matches individually can take a lot of time and can really become addictive.
Sometimes many hours are spent writing emails and replying to the ads of other attractive partners or even fake accounts. - Flirting on the Internet involves some costs.
If you really look out to flirt day and night, a flat rate is worth it, i.e. you pay a fixed monthly amount and can surf for as long as you want.
What to consider on online dating sites
It’s important that you trust the dating platform you want to use, and that it gives you a safe and secure dating experience.
Look for platforms that are part of the Online Dating Association, which have measures in place to safeguard against scams and fake profiles. Read our UK dating site reviews.
You can also take steps to protect yourself against fraud and scams.
- Choosing the right profile photo – Make sure you don’t include any children in your photo, and only post pictures that you’d be happy with your work colleagues seeing.
- Getting to know someone – As scammers do sometimes get past a website’s safety measures, remember never to send anyone money or give anyone your bank details.
You should report anyone who mentions money so they can remove the profile immediately.
Staying within the site’s messaging and chat rooms is advised, and be wary of anyone who wants to take things away from the website too quickly. - Meeting up safely – Arrange to meet somewhere public, and let friends and family know where you’re meeting.
Click here for more Tips and guides on Serious Dating
There’s so much choice, that choosing the best one for you can be a little confusing. Decision-making is worth whether you want to pay for a site’s features, or if you prefer to find your significant other using a free one instead.
Free dating sites
As anyone can join a free site, you may find that there are a high number of members that are looking for hook-ups instead of trying to find love. It can often be challenging to filter these singles out of your searches.
Free platforms are more limited in their functionality compared to paid websites, and suggested matches are usually based on location rather than personality or interests.
Paid dating sites
For those looking for a serious relationship, a paid one is the better option. Although you’ll need to pay monthly for a premium membership, it also has its advantages.
Users of paid memberships are often more serious about finding someone for a long-term relationship, rather than just looking for casual encounters.
Another benefit is that each member can be identified from their card details, so it reduces the number of scammers and encourages a much safer online experience.
Search results of paid websites are often of higher quality, and you can look for and filter users by more than just gender and location.
You’ll also be more likely to connect with active singles as they’ve paid a subscription, where free ones can have a high number of unused personas in search results.
Tips on using serious dating sites
It is not easy for singles to get to know someone new. Especially in this day and age, you can’t always meet in person. But dating is still possible!
To make sure that the matches on Tinder or other dating apps work, we have picked out the best tips for you:
- The profile is important in online dating:
Pose and embellishment are always present, and that’s perfectly fine. The important thing is to interpret relevant keywords quickly and correctly.
- Instead of sending the same standard message to many people, write to one person at a time and make a real effort. Quality over quantity here!
- Use the confidence trick
As a shy and introverted single you can trick your surroundings into thinking that you are confident, which is an attractive trait in a person and helps a lot in dating.
You can act confident and your flirt will think that you are confident.
- Emoticons and relevant net acronyms should be used sparingly, otherwise you could easily be mistaken for infantile and ineloquent. One smiley and lol per message are quite sufficient.
- When you read the profile, think about what you can refer to. Has he or she perhaps asked a question that you can answer? Is there an unusual hobby you would like to know more about?
- Pay attention to the timing of the message! Anyone who visits relevant sites in the morning could be considered an unemployed rascal. Behind nocturnal chat orgies, you might suspect a crazy freak with a sexual emergency.
- Your message should not consist of “Hello ;)” or long novels. 3-5 sentences or 1-2 short paragraphs are sufficient. You desire to arouse curiosity, be detailed and personal – and still keep it relatively short.
Why are serious dating sites winning?
Finding your soulmate in the real world that you like enough to start an intimate relationship with is often difficult and a bit ‘hit-and-miss’.
This is why more and more people are turning to online dating to meet their ideal match, find love at first sight or just for platonic love without needing a dating coach anymore.
Technology has radically changed romance, with as many as one in five new long term relationships now starting on an online dating service.
Top websites are a popular, non-intimidating way to meet like-minded singles for companionship, love or a long-term relation.
If you want to find something long-term, it’s probably worthwhile signing up to a paid service.
These kinds of dating sites provide happiness and security, they give people in our stressful world an anchor of hope to find passion, maybe a future husband or wife, raise a family, and much more.
You’ll need to look at the sign-up process of the site you join, as the best dating sites for serious relations require more detailed user profiles to help match you with compatible singles.
Rather than determine compatibilism based on photos or a short bio, some online dating platforms ask you to complete a comprehensive personality test to identify matches in your area.
It can take nearly an hour to complete questionnaires, which makes for a more commitment-oriented user base.
Mobile apps and platforms can then send you up to 10 matches each day based on questionnaire answers, with an emphasis on quality over quantity for the matches suggested.
On some online dating apps, you can also search using keywords such as ‘commitment’ or ‘looking for something serious’ so you can match with other members that are looking for something similar.
There’s no set-in-stone rule that some websites are better for relations, and others are simply for hook-ups.
There are people with different intentions on every online dating platform, so take some time to see what kind of people you meet on the site and how they communicate with you.
Are platforms worth paying for?
Both free and paid dating sites are popular, and it often depends on what you’re looking to get out of the site and what features are most important to you.
Some people may prioritise the ability to message for free over a site’s innovative algorithm, and others may prefer a paywall to help block out casual users and scammers.
It also depends on how much you’re willing to pay to use it. You might be happy to buy a subscription for a dating website, but you’ll want to make sure that subscribing to an expensive monthly membership is worth it.
Prices for paid ones also vary, so if you do decide a paid platform is for you, you’ll need to weigh up how much each one charges.
It’s worth remembering that online websites offer installment plans or discounts if you subscribe to the premium service for a longer length of time.
A three, six, and yearly membership can be heavily discounted in comparison to a monthly membership.
You shouldn’t write off an online service because it’s free, just as you shouldn’t join a paid site and assume it will deliver quality.
Before you decide on the best one for you, spend some time using the functions and browsing profiles to get a feel for what you like and don’t like.
