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Dating is difficult. And online dating can be brutal. Go ahead, ask any single person, and we bet you'll be hard-pressed to find many who enjoy creating a profile, putting themselves out there, and logging into apps to swipe through scores of strangers with no promise that any of them will be "the one."
Here are PCMag, we've reviewed dating apps for more than a decade, but this is our first survey asking our readers how they feel about the apps and services that put you out there on the market. The results were surprising, to say the least.
There’s no lack of controversy around dating apps, of course. One of the major issues these days is how much data they collect and share—which isn’t surprising, as they require info like location, photographs, and even your sexual orientation. New research into several dating apps by Incogni found they can collect a lot more, and may share data with third parties, usually for advertising purposes. That’s not something everyone considers when trying to find a companion online.
Our survey focuses on the apps and services our readers have used over the last five years. Most readers use dating apps with high hopes for long-term relationships, but quite a few also hope for something a little more casual.
More proof of the "dating is hard" theory: In our survey results, scores for even the top dating apps tend to be low. Egregiously so—the best scores for dating apps would be among the worst in most of our other surveys. It's an unusual set of circumstances we seldom see. Only two out of 12 of the app brands could manage an overall satisfaction or a likelihood-to-recommend score over 5.0 (out of 10); the many sub-categories we ask about could barely make it higher. <
Nevertheless, there are still winners to be had. These are the apps you should consider first as you enter the online dating scene.
The Top Dating Apps for 2025
If you're looking to find dates online, there are paid dating apps, free dating apps, and some that offer free access before you pay. Our first chart encompasses all the paid and free dating apps, including free-trial apps. The anchor at the top is our Readers’ Choice award winner, Hinge. The service is owned by Match Group, which also runs Match.com, Tinder, and OkCupid; Hinge has better overall satisfaction and recommendation scores than any of those, as well as against other competitors. Hinge has the highest scores for the quality of connections, ease of matching with new connections, finding connections nearby, and for its mobile app.
(Note: Click the down, left, and right arrows in our interactive charts to view the various elements of our survey results. Click the arrows below to cycle through other charts showing user goals and results for each app.)
As we note above, the overall satisfaction ratings on dating apps aren’t exactly stellar, so it’s good to see higher numbers in the subcategories at least. Hinge is tops with readers for easy profile setup and its mobile app, managing scores of 7.0 or higher (out of 10). It has the best rating for the quality of connections made on its app (Hinge doesn’t offer a desktop option). Our Hinge review also gives the service props for its robust profiles and excellent video chat and recording options.
Bumble is the top choice among readers who desire a long-term relationship. It’s evident in the results that long-term relationships are what most of our respondents seek when they sign up for these apps. Respondents cite it as the top goal with almost every service, except for AdultFriendFinder, where hookups and one-night stands are the main event. Bumble’s 71% of users seeking a long-term partner only narrowly edge out eharmony and Hinge (70% each) and Silver Singles (69%), a dating service catering to those over age 50.
For casual relationships and hookups, Tinder comes out on top with 23% of its users seeking something casual; AdultFriendFinder is close behind at 20%. Tinder, the app that changed dating, also has 23% of users looking for one-time hookups. Tinder users are definitely less focused on long-term prospects than the other services, but 35% of users still have that goal in mind.
Only two names make the list of paid-only dating apps. Two classics, eharmony (around since 2000) and Match.com (which hit the scene back in 1993), duke it out here. eharmony narrowly takes the win. Its best scores are for reliability, ease of use, quality of connections, and photo sharing.
Match delivers serious competition, with a higher recommendation score than eharmony. It’s also used more for both casual and long-term relationship searches.
Facebook Dating is the winner amid the crowd unwilling to pay to find love. (Hopefully, they'll still pay for dinner and a movie.) Interestingly, Meta’s answer to matchmaking earns few zero top scores in the sub-categories, but no other app or service comes close to Facebook Dating's satisfaction and recommendation ratings.
It’s interesting to note that many of the top subcategory scores go to competitors POF (Plenty of Fish) and Tinder. The latter, in particular, has some of the best numbers—for profile setup, photo uploading, text chat, and (unsurprisingly) swiping left/right—though none break above 7.0 out of 10.
The top picks among the free dating apps for long-term relationships are Hinge and Bumble again, with 67% of users aiming to find a life partner without paying for it; for casual relationships, Tinder is again on top with 24%.
For our in-depth reviews, read our guide to The Best Dating Apps. And no matter which service you choose—and you will likely try several of them—good luck, and stay safe out there.
The PCMag Readers’ Choice survey for Dating Apps was conducted from October 28, 2024, to January 20, 2025. For more information on how we conduct surveys, read the survey methodology.