The 8 Best Dating Apps For Finding Serious Relationships, From Dating Experts

Known for serious relationships

Recommended by relationship experts

For those with their sights set on getting hitched, eharmony is the surest port of call. The dating site claims to be responsible for 4% of marriages in the U.S., says couples' therapist Kyle Zrenchik, Ph.D., LMFT, ACS.

eharmony uses an in-depth and comprehensive questionnaire to thoroughly map out your likes, dislikes, and values before matching you with those it thinks will be best suited to you. With eharmony, you can be sure that no one is there simply looking to hook up. It's the most goal-oriented dating site, with a long and reputable history behind it. (Here’s our full eharmony review if you’d like to know more.)

Monthly subscriptions range between $12/month to $60/month.

“If you’re looking for a partner who is sure they want to be in a long-term relationship, Match.com is an opportunity for them to put their money where their mouth is,” says counselor Rebecca Hartman, LMHC.

Match has been around since 1995 (that’s a long time!) and is regarded as one of the best sites for finding authentic matches and love, not least because it's used by a whopping 39 million people—meaning, the odds are on your side. Unlike eharmony and its ilk, Match isn’t based on a long, in-depth questionnaire, but a quicker version which it then incorporates into its algorithm to help it understand who and what you’re into as you swipe yes or no on people. (Here’s our full Match review for more details.)

Price-wise, subscriptions start at $19/month.

OkCupid is a great option for those who want some of the in-depthness of eharmony without having to pay for it. On OkCupid, you answer hundreds of questions about your values and opinions on everything including food, communication, sex, religion, and much more. The answers are then used to give you a compatibility score with other users. These scores are usually pretty accurate and allow you to only message people who you actually have a good chance of falling in love with.

That in-depth questionnaire is what makes this dating app a favorite of sex therapist Aliyah Moore, Ph.D. “OkCupid's full, detailed profiles let you show who you are and what matters to you. Its compatibility ratings are really helpful in helping to understand a potential date before you even meet them,” she tells mbg.

OkCupid is totally free to use, though there are upgrade options that you can purchase to get even more features and filters. Subscriptions cost $35 on a month-to-month basis or $17/month if you sign up for six months.

OurTime is a dating site that specifically caters to people over age 50, and it comes highly recommended by certified sex therapist Heather Shannon, LCPC, CST, for older daters looking for love. The reason that OurTime is so well-suited to finding a serious relationship is because it shies away from the shallow, swipe-happy culture of Tinder and instead focuses on nurturing real connections. For example, they host events and mixers for singles to attend, so that you can feel the sparks fly in person and foster a true sense of intimacy.

You can't message people with just a free version of OurTime, so to actually start connecting with people, you’ll need to pay for a plan, which costs $12/month if you sign up for six months. 

Bumble’s unique selling point is that it requires women to send the first message, the thought being that it cuts out that thing where women have to wade through one hundred messages that just say “hey sexy.” Shannon actually recommends Bumble as a great place for guys looking for serious relationships, since they don’t need to sweat about crafting clever opening lines that never get a response. 

Because women take the lead on Bumble, and because matches are deleted if no message has been sent within 24 hours, the environment is super conducive to actually finding true and deep connections that can lead to long-term love. According to Shannon, “you get a pretty relationship-oriented crowd on Bumble.” 

Bumble profiles are also pretty in-depth for a free dating app, and you can get a lot of important info from the jump (i.e. do they want kids, do they smoke, are they religious, etc.), so you won’t waste time on matches that weren’t meant to be. The free version of Bumble does the trick, but you can pay to unlock more features if you wish. Bumble currently boasts a 4.2/5 rating on the App Store, which is based on over a million reviews.

“I like Hinge for its variety in prompts and short-answer responses, and the ability to send messages to someone about a particular picture or respond to a point they’ve made,” says Hartman. Hinge also offers you the opportunity to leave little voice notes on your profile, which is honestly so important for trying to figure out if you’ll have long-lasting chemistry with someone or not. Voices can be a make or break factor.

“Hinge also checks in after you’ve been matched with someone for a while to see if you’ve met and whether that person is the type of person you’d like to see more of,” Hartman points out, which means that the algorithm gets smarter and is therefore more likely to get better at showing you matches over time who you will genuinely click with.

To upgrade and access premium features, you will have to part with approximately $30/month, though they’re not necessary to enjoy the app.

HER is the place for LGBTQ+ women and non-binary people to find love. The app boasts 10 million users and a 4.4 rating on the app store. One reviewer thanks the app for enabling her to find her soulmate despite living in a small town, and another notes that the vibrant community features of the app enhances the experience–for example special events and dedicated channels for different interests.

HER is good for those looking for love because it offers more than surface-level swipes as you can add a lot of different information according to the prompts the app provides. The premium version isn't necessary to match and message, but if you want unlimited swipes and to see who’s liked you, then you’ll have to shell out $10/month for a six-month subscription.

Jdate is the number one U.S. dating site for Jewish people and has been going since 1997. The site focuses on helping Jewish singles make real, long-lasting connections with each other, including marriage. In fact the site features a whole weddings section where it showcases some of the thousands of couples that the site has led towards matrimony. Jdate claims to be responsible for more Jewish weddings than all other dating sites put together. The dating site is also easy to navigate and uncluttered, with a focus on showcasing your personality rather than just your pictures.

Jdate is pretty costly: One month will set you back a whopping $60, but this comes down to $30/month if you choose to subscribe for six months. You need to subscribe to send the first message to the people you’re interested in, so it's not particularly viable to stick to the free version. However, if you’re Jewish and looking for intrafaith love, this dating site is probably worth the money.

Not Jewish? Don’t worry–there’s comparable dating apps for religious people of various faiths, like Christian Mingle and Salams, that also have an excellent track record and great features for serious relationships.