We think it's great for people who want to meet up with their dates as soon as possible rather than continuously swiping or staying online. What sets Ourtime apart is that it allows members to meet through dedicated activities.

You'll have a fun, relaxing environment to meet new singles ready to mingle. If you're not sure about meeting in person, don't worry - their video chat feature means you can date virtually and connect with dates no matter where you are in the world.

Best for: Over 50s Membership cost : From £ More than 2 million couples have met through eHarmony since it launched in , and the site has claimed that it creates more than 15 million matches per day. So, we think eHarmony is the one to opt for if you're looking for long-term potential from your new love interests. It's popular for its Compatibility Matching System that gives you a compatibility score based on 32 separate criteria.

You can find your new date in London, Birmingham, Glasgow, or anywhere else in the UK. The dating site also offers users free dating advice. Join from £ Best for: Compatibility matching Membership cost : From £9.

One of the best-known dating sites, OkCupid, is a free, easy-to-use dating site that allows you to see all potential matches, interact with other members and send unlimited messages without paying a dime. It's definitely good for fussy daters or those fed-up of constantly swiping left on other apps. If you've got a dating checklist, this is the site for you. OkCupid lets you choose everything from the type of relationship you're looking for even if it's just a hookup!

to a wide range of specific lifestyle questions, and filters out potentials who don't align with what you're looking for. It also has paid options for anyone who wants a more powerful dating experience on their site, including profile boosts, read receipts and unlimited likes. Best for: Fussy daters Membership cost : From £ Rather than staying online, be it on a dating site or app, Original Dating is the UK's leader in speed dating and parties for singles which means you can meet your match in real-life.

The site is great for people who prefer getting to know someone face-to-face and it even offers a speed dating guarantee. Original Dating is so confident you'll meet someone you like the first time that, if you don't, your next event is free. What's not to like? There are a number of speed dating locations and venues across the UK with varying prices, but users can see the age range and what the atmosphere is like in each venue including how many daters will be in attendance before booking.

Best for: Speed dating Membership cost : Pay ticket prices for individual dating events. Zoosk is used by 27 million members in the UK, meaning there are potentially lots of matches for those looking for love or simply a new date on the weekend.

The site's algorithm is seriously clever in how it learns what and who you might like and its SmartPick function works to gather up the daters who you're most likely going to be attracted to.

That's why Zoosk has become global - it's available in 80 countries and translated into 25 languages. It costs £ Parship is a dating site designed for serious relationships that are "lasting, honest and sincere. Their user base is aged between 28 and 55 years old. The UK and Europe online dating site says it believes in facts, not coincidences, even when it comes to love.

It uses a scientific test to analyse your personality traits when you first sign up to help find a compatible match.

Another selling point of Parship is discretion and security. You can control who sees your profile and can secretly check other people's profiles. Best for: Discretion and security Membership cost : From £ With 55 billion matches to date and over 50 million users worldwide, Tinder is undoubtedly one of the busiest dating apps out there. It came up with the infamous 'Swipe Right' feature, now implemented in most dating apps as a "yes" or "no" answer to potential matches. It's free to create an account on Tinder.

The paid subscriptions including the Tinder Gold and Tinder Plus give you additional features such as Tinder passport, meaning you can swipe on anyone anywhere in the world, no ads, and unlimited likes. You can even see who likes you before swiping on them, meaning you get to be more selective and don't have to guess.

Tinder is often seen as an app for casual dating, but nothing stops you from using it to find a relationship. With a massive user base, it can give you plenty of options.

Who knows what might happen? Best for: Casual dating Membership cost : From £3. Known as the 'feminist' dating app, Bumble is the only dating app that requires women to make the first move. How does it work? After matching, the man can't contact the woman. The woman has to send the first message or else the match will expire. We think Bumble is great if you're looking for a relationship and want to try a new dating dynamics. When you want to take a break from dating, you can jump on Bumble BFF to find a new friend or Bumble Bizz to find a new business partner, using the same 'Swipe Right' feature.

Bumble is free with a few optional enhancement features including Bumble Boost, Bumble Premium, SuperSwipe, and Spotlight. Best for: New dating dynamics Membership cost : From £ Hinge stands out with features that tackle the superficiality of the dating app market. For example, users have to answer thoughtful prompts besides filling out their basic information.

And recently, the dating app has rolled out the voice recording function that makes your interactions with your matches more intimate. Like most dating apps, Hinge is free, but you can pay for extra features as part of their 'Preferred Membership. Best for: Finding a serious relationship Membership cost : From £ CoffeeMeetsBagels leans more on the side of serious relationships than casual dating.

It was created by three founders in the States but it has since expanded worldwide. What sets this dating app apart is the proprietary algorithm that takes into account different personal factors of a user to send them one single match a day.

That means you have to take a closer look at your potential partner and decide whether you want to move forward with them within 24 hours. The app is free, but you can pay to access premium features that let you see read receipts and your match's activity stats.

Best for: Busy singles Membership cost : From £ Badoo has over million users worldwide and around 7 million users in the UK, so you'll never run out of profiles to browse through. It markets itself as a social media network instead of a dating app but its focus is mainly on dating.

When you sign up for the site, you can state what you're looking for and dive into its rather young and hip user base. You can choose to swipe or look for people nearby based on gender, what they're looking for, age, location, or distance away from you. You don't need to pay to send messages to other members. However, if you haven't matched with someone, you can only send them up to two messages. Best for: Younger singles Membership cost : From £ If you're a single Muslim looking to find your person and get married, Muzmatch is the app for you.

Launched in in the UK, it has grown quickly to over 4 million verified members. According to the Muzmatch website, app has made , marriages happen, so it must be doing something right. They suggest ice-breakers for first messages and the profiles are more in-depth than Tinder. For people who like a little extra hand-holding, CMB isn't the worst option. However, I found the app confusing to use, with too many features and a lot of gimmicks.

I shouldn't have to look up online tutorials to figure out how to use a dating app. Plus why call matches Bagels? I was also disappointed in the notifications, which I found too pushy. CMB was constantly "gently" reminding me to message people I'd matched with. I eventually disabled the app after receiving the following notification: "Show [match name] who's boss and break the ice today! At the end of the day, I have friends who've had the perfect match on CMB, but it isn't one of my favorite online dating apps.

The League is an "elite dating app" that requires you to apply -- and supply your job title, college and LinkedIn profile. Big cities tend to have long waiting lists, so you might find yourself twiddling your thumbs as your application to be one of the elite singles on the app is reviewed.

Of course, you can pay to expedite the process. The exclusivity can be a draw for some and a turnoff for others, but I'll let you in on a secret: I've seen most of the profiles I come across on The League on other dating apps, too. So at the end of the day, you'll probably see the same faces for potential dates on Tinder, if you aren't deemed elite enough for The League.

Whether you're looking for a casual hookup, potential date, friendship or an LTR long term relationship , Tinder has you covered. It's basically the first stop for those entering the dating world. If you want to play the odds when it comes to online dating, you need to be swiping where everyone's swiping.

On the upside, the profiles are brief, which helps you to make decisions quickly. The downside is that a short dating profile makes it harder to figure out what a lot of people are looking for. Knowing very little about a person can also make initial messaging a lot more challenging. You'll need to wade through a sea of profiles, which makes it easy to pass over people you might have given a chance under different circumstances.

Plenty of Fish launched in -- and it shows. The problem I come across over and over again is that POF is filled with bots and scams, even though it may have the most users of any dating app. POF's issues don't mean you won't be able to find love on it, but the odds might be stacked against you.

Unless you're into dating bots. com has a free version, but the general consensus is that you'll need a paid subscription to have any luck. That's a hangover from the early days of online dating sites, when a paid basic membership to a site meant you were serious about settling down. But my friends and I have long since come to the conclusion that you might be a little too eager to find a significant other or the perfect partner if you pay to get dates, particularly given the abundance of free dating apps.

There are definitely paid features on some dating apps that are worth the price, but I've yet to be able to justify shelling out cash for love. Have you had a good or bad experience with one of these services? Do you have any other online dating sites you'd recommend? Share your experiences in the comments or on social media. Should You Upgrade to iPhone 14? Your guide to a better future. Want CNET to notify you of price drops and the latest stories?

No, thank you Accept. Why You Can Trust CNET. Rebecca Fleenor. See at eHarmony. See at Bumble. See at Hinge. See at OkCupid. See at Happn. CNET Shopping Extension Get the lowest price on everything. Add CNET Shopping. See at Her. See at Clover. Coffee Meets Bagel. See at Coffee Meets Bagel. The League. See at The League. See at Tinder. Plenty of Fish.

See at Plenty of Fish. See at Match. Best dating sites Bumble Best for confident women Tinder Best for quick and easy hookups OKCupid Best free dating site Hinge Best for serious relationship seekers Coffee Meets Bagel Best for breaking the silence Happn Best for missed connections The League Best for people with high standards Her Best for lesbian, bisexual and queer women Clover Best for confirming a date Plenty of Fish Best for conversations Match Best for someone with money to spend eHarmony Best for marriage seekers.

Get the best price on everything. Designed to make shopping easier. Best for confident women. Best for quick and easy hookups. Best free dating site. Best for serious relationship seekers. Best for breaking the silence. Best for missed connections. Best for people with high standards. Best for lesbian, bisexual and queer women.

Online dating can seriously improve your love life - but to really boost your odds, you need to start with the best dating site. With more than 1, online dating services in the UK alone, choosing the best site for you can feel as intimidating as finding the right person. Should you join a specialist site where you're guaranteed to meet like-minded singles? Or should you throw the net as wide as possible? To make it even harder, most dating sites hide their subscription prices until you've created a profile.

To help you choose, we created temporary profiles on more than a dozen dating sites. Here we expose the prices they'd rather keep secret and reveal which sites are best for user experience, clever features and chances of finding love. There are pros and cons to narrowing down your search from the get-go. Niche dating sites tend to be cheaper than mainstream sites, for starters, but the biggest advantage of a specialist site is the feeling of being among friends.

If you're new to the online dating jungle, a niche site can help you feel more at ease than a huge mainstream site, where you can easily feel overwhelmed. You may be surprised by the number of specialist dating sites out there. More than half the UK's 1, dating sites cater for a specific group such as over 50s , gay daters and disabled daters.

There are matchmaking sites for wine connoisseurs , people who share your music taste , and — yes — dating for dog lovers. On the downside, a niche site limits your choices. You may assume you'll want to date someone who shares a specific interest, but attraction doesn't work like that in real life. Your ideal match may not fit the formula.

And remember, mainstream sites do let you narrow your search, then expand it gradually to widen the net. The other big advantage of mainstream sites is that they tend to offer more innovative features, such as live chat, rich profile tools and incognito modes. We'll mention the best tools in our reviews below. READ NEXT: Spice up your sex life with the best sex toys. Free dating apps such as Tinder , Badoo and Facebook Dating are great for finding hook-ups, but they're not designed to find you a match for life.

In this review we're focusing on services that aim to find you a compatible partner. They charge subscription fees and make you wade through epic questionnaires because they want to filter out casual browsers. So be prepared to spend an afternoon spilling your heart out as part of the sign-up process before you can get anywhere near other members' profiles. READ NEXT: The best flower delivery service to use.

Guard your personal information carefully. The thrill of connecting with someone online can easily make you drop your guard. You want to tell them everything. Well, don't. Information like your mum's maiden name, your street and even your pets' names are gold dust for scammers.

Don't swap numbers until you've met. Many sites, including eHarmony and EnableDating , have secure online calling features that let you chat without having to give away your phone number. Be cautious of file downloads. If a stranger emails you a ZIP file of songs or photos, it may be perfectly innocent — but it could also be dodgy malware. Don't open files until you know the person better.

Meet up quickly. Chemistry is almost impossible to assess through emails alone. Meet up soon, so you can be sure there really is a spark. If the person you're chatting to keeps putting off the chance to meet, ask yourself why. Report suspicious behaviour.

If someone makes you feel uncomfortable or gets abusive, don't hesitate to report them to the website. Check the site has signed up to the ODA. If you're in the UK, make sure your chosen dating site follows the Online Dating Association code of practice. Enter the site's name into the ODA's free ' Check a site ' tool to find out if it's registered. Don't pay for the same service twice! For instance, Classic FM Romance , The Telegraph Dating and Smooth Radio Singles all use the same database as each other.

READ NEXT: Best antivirus software. Price: Free to join, then from £8. eHarmony is a right old pain to join. Before posting a profile, you have to wade through dozens of soul-searching multi-choice questions about yourself and your approach to life.

After that, you can't see people's photos until you're a paid-up member, and even then you can only see pics of people you've been 'matched' with. It's hard work, but that's the point. eHarmony is committed to filtering out time-wasters and matching you with genuine potential partners.

If you're a woman who's fed up with the torrent of "winks" you get on other sites, eHarmony will come as a big relief.

And if you're a man on eHarmony, women will know you're serious. All adults are welcome here, but you may prefer one of its sister sites for a more focused search. eHarmony Gay Dating focuses on same-sex relationships; eHarmony Lifestyle Dating focuses on cultural background; and eHarmony Single Parents matches lone mums and dads. Premium plans, which let you send unlimited messages and see who's viewed your profile, are priced roughly in line with eHarmony's rivals.

As with most of these sites, the pricing isn't an exact science - there are generous discounts if you return after months away, even if you didn't pay for premium membership before. Join eHarmony. Price: Free to join, then from £9. You can do more for free on Match than on eHarmony. You can search profiles using powerful filters, check for people nearby using the Around Me tool, publish your profile, receive "winks" from interested suitors, and see everyone's photos — all gratis.

That makes Match a winner if you want to dive straight in, but it does mean there's less quality control. The moment your profile is published, which you have to do before seeing prices, you're battered with attention.

So if you want a ton of options and a date tonight, Match is the place to come. If, on the other hand, you want to ease your way into online dating, you'll find Match a bit "too much".

You'll have to subscribe to send and receive messages. This will cost different amounts depending on how long you want to commit to Match for, with the longer contracts being cheaper. Match's sister site, Affinity , uses the same database but adds eHarmony-style compatibility testing.

Match also hosts events where you can meet singles face-to-face in a secure environment. Join Match. Price: Free with premium extras Join OkCupid. OkCupid is like a vivacious younger version of eHarmony, although they are separate entities and don't share a database. Like eHarmony, OkCupid makes you sit through numerous compatibility questions and has a focus on getting to know you, heart and soul.

However, it's much more open to non-traditional matches and casual relationships than eHarmony is. You're invited to specify a preference for hook-ups, one-night stands, platonic friendship, non-monogamy, non-specific gender, LGBT relationships or marriage and a tidy house, if you prefer.

You can post a profile with numerous photos, see other members' profiles and photos, send and receive messages, and use the companion app for Android and iOS without paying a penny. There are a couple of 'A-List' plans too, if you want advanced features such as incognito mode, message-read receipts A-List basic and the chance to see everyone's questionnaire answers A-List premium.

Join OkCupid. Price: Free to join, then from £ GayParship is the sister site of a mainstream dating site Parship , and uses a lengthy questionnaire to match you to compatible potential partners, with a focus on long-term relationships. GayParship clearly understands the challenges of LGBT dating. It's careful to filter out time-wasters and protect your privacy.

The questionnaire is even longer than eHarmony's, with soul-searching multi-choice questions such as 'How would you feel attending a wedding with your new partner? You get to see your full results for free, with a breakdown of your personality and relationship type.

You can see photos of your matches and they can see you before you subscribe. However, you must subscribe to send and receive messages. Join Gay Parship. Price: Free to join, then from £7. Muddy Matches offers the best user experience of all the niche dating sites we tested, with a fast and fuss-free joining process that fills you with confidence.

And you don't have to be muddy to use it: country-curious townies are welcome, too. The site is less conservative than you might assume. The 'seeking It's free to search profiles and receive messages, and to read the impressive choice of articles such as 'Online dating after divorce' and profile tips. You have to subscribe to send messages, though. A Premium upgrade lets all your recipients reply, even if they're not subscribers.

The main site has sub-sections including Gay Farmers Dating and Lonely Farmers, and Muddy Matches' sister site Maverick Matches is aimed at adrenaline junkies.

The exclusivity can be a draw for some and a turnoff for others, but I'll let you in on a secret: I've seen most of the profiles I come across on The League on other dating apps, too. My Single Friend was co-founded by TV presenter Sarah Beeny back in , when the idea of roping in a mate to write your profile was a brilliant wheeze to get around the stigma of online dating. If a stranger emails you a ZIP file of songs or photos, it may be perfectly innocent — but it could also be dodgy malware. You can choose to swipe or look for people nearby based on gender, what they're looking for, age, location, or distance away from you. Bumble is basically Tinder for women They charge subscription fees and make you wade through epic questionnaires because they want to filter out casual browsers. First dates are all about gauging if you have chemistry so don't feel pressure to be out for hours.

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