Single and Over 50? These Are the Best Dating Sites for You

As any episode of The Golden Bachelorette will reveal, dating later in life can be challenging, but can also open you up to a world of meaningful connections. The best dating sites for people over 50 give you a pool of potential new partners that you could not find on your own.

Dating sites also let you be selective—which is crucial since, at this age, your needs and wants almost certainly look different than they did in previous decades. “By your 50s, you generally know yourself better—your likes, dislikes, boundaries, and dealbreakers,” says Logan Ury, a Harvard-trained dating coach and an on-air expert for the Netflix series The Later Daters. “This clarity helps in selecting more compatible matches and reduces the uncertainty that often comes with dating in your 20s.”

The main hurdles of dating when you’re older are that you’re likely balancing commitments like family, a career, and your own established habits. There are less people to date and fewer opportunities to encounter them. Online dating apps, however, collect potential matches in one place, with settings that let you filter for location, age, religion, interests, goals, and more. Perhaps you’re more interested in emotional connection than ever before. Or maybe you’re seeking a spouse, a casual fling after a divorce, or a travel buddy who wants to buy an RV with you.

Whatever your desires, these platforms provide space (and creative prompts) to chat with people before deciding whether you want to meet in person for a first date. Many are designed to be easy to use, curate matches for you based on a tailored algorithm, and are age-specific for over 40 and 50. To help you figure out which service is right for you, we spoke to relationship experts and therapists for insight. Below, find answers to questions you may have when navigating this arena, and recommendations for the very best dating sites for folks over 50.

The best dating sites for people over 50, at a glance

Your dating site questions, answered

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Who it’s best for: Anyone looking for serious relationships and marriage
Special features: Ability to see who’s viewed you, email read receipt, dating expert webinars, in-person events
Free version available: Yes
Age range: 18+ (most users are between 30–49)
Cost: Prices vary depending on plan and package, with monthly subscriptions starting at $43 for Platinum, $28 for Silver, and $6.66 for Bronze
Availability: Match.com, App Store, Google Play

Match is one of the most established dating sites, reporting having around over 96 million users (and 14.8 million paid memberships)—26.5% of whom are over 50. “The more people, the better your odds,” says Trombetti. “Match is a very well-known site, so you’ll find a huge variety of people who fit your needs and criteria.” The site’s design caters more towards those with serious intentions to find long-term relationships and marriages. Its long-form profile allows members to share up to 4,000 characters and up to 26 pictures—far more than most other sites (Bumble’s character count is 300). This helps paint a more comprehensive portrait of your potential dates, especially with its variety of in-depth screening questions about lifestyle, faith, and education. There are icebreaker prompts that can take the pressure off of having to think of clever openers, and with the free version, you can like up to 50 profiles per day (a lot compared to competitors’). Pay for a subscription, and you’ll gain add-on features like the ability to see who’s opened and read your messages. Another stand-out feature of Match, says Trombetti, is the in-person events that the site organizes in larger cities.

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Who it’s best for: Anyone looking for serious relationships and marriage
Special features: Ability to save a list of profiles, members receive a free profile review with tips, compatibility scores
Free version available: Yes
Age range: 18+
Cost: Prices vary depending on plan, starting at $36/month
Availability: eHarmony.com, App Store, Google Play

“eHarmony is one of the best dating apps for serious relationship seekers who want to find a compatible partner based on a comprehensive personality test and a matching algorithm,” LeMeita Smith, PhD, director of clinical services at United Health Services, previously told Glamour. “It is ideal for people who are searching for long-term commitment and marriage.” Right off the bat, it weeds out people who don’t have the patience to invest at least 30 minutes filling out an intensive questionnaire and narrows the pool to those looking to put in the effort to find a more serious relationship. Its questions dive into the nuances of real-life partnership—with practical queries about how you communicate, make decisions, and react in various scenarios; as well as smaller explorations of everyday preferences (what temperature you like the house; when you go to bed). The site develops a compatibility score after comparing your quiz with others’, which you can see when viewing their individual profiles. The higher the score, the more you agree in various areas. The app’s thoughtfulness stands out in a sea of swipes, though it’s worth noting that its free version is more limited than others’. You can send unlimited likes, reply to prompts (up to five times per day), and send icebreakers. You cannot, however, see anyone’s photos until you pay for membership.

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