Deciding to get back into the dating game can be stressful at any age, but the stakes possibly seem a little higher if you’re in your forties.
You can assume that other people in your demographic are interested in dating or that they already have long-term relationships. However, according to recent Pew Research Center research on Census Bureau data, as of 2021, only about 25% of 40-year-olds in the United States have never married. In addition, only 22 percent of single adults between the ages of 40 and 44 lived with a partner.
So have people in their forties given up on finding love? By no means. In fact, according to Pew Research analysis, about one in four 40-year-olds who were not married in 2001 were married into their 60s. But unlike other people in their 20s and 30s, singles over 40 know what they want. and let’s not be afraid to wait a little longer to locate the right person.
Now, after this speech and those statistics, you’re wondering what our big plan is to get you out on the dance floor. The answer? Online dating. Before you mock us, hear us out.
Online dating is a great way to meet new people in a pressure-free environment. Dating sites for people over 40 make it easy to connect with potential partners. You can delete profiles and find matches who share your interests and values. Imagine if you could do this when scanning the room at a party – it would save you a lot of time and effort.
But before you download a bunch of apps, Kiana Reeves, a somatic sex educator, intimacy coach, and director of education at Foria, recommends taking a moment of introspection: “We sign up for dating sites because we’re looking for a hookup, whether it’s in the form of a serious relationship, a casual fling, or anything in between, it’s vital to identify the type of hookup you’re looking for before signing up for dating sites. matrix applications, etc.
Next, think about your online dating technique, says Reeves. “Are you in favor of a casual place to meet other people in a new city? Are you someone who likes to take the first step? Are you someone who is only interested in a serious relationship? Are you someone who shares your same faith? How much time do you plan to spend establishing a connection?
Once you’ve clarified your dating goals, Reeves recommends “signing up for a few [apps] to get started, so you can figure out what kind of user experience is most productive for you. ” And he adds: “Of course, if you feel overwhelmed, you can definitely sign up to get started. “
Ready to find love after 40? Or maybe you prefer a friend without pressure and who accepts benefits? We have you. As knowledge nerds, we did our research, got expert advice, and ran plenty of practical tests to locate the most productive roles for singles in their 40s. Our comprehensive advisor on the most productive dating apps for singles over 40 is here to help you.
Read our full EliteSingles review.
If you are ambitious and motivated and need a spouse who shares those values, EliteSingles (a sister site to SilverSingles) is worth checking out. This dating app is suitable for professionals who are serious about their careers and need to connect with someone on the same page. .
EliteSingles caters to a network of smart, sophisticated, and successful people who are not only looking for an affair but also understand their way of life and aspirations. More than 90% of users are 30 years old or older. and the maximum have complex degrees.
So, if you’re over 30 and looking for an equally ambitious partner, EliteSingles might be your most productive option.
We chose Elite Singles as the most productive overall dating app for this age organization because it emphasizes quality over quantity. The detailed personality control and clever matching formula go beyond the superficial to find other people who truly perceive you, your interests, your values, and what motivates you.
Elite Singles isn’t just for graduate snobs, it’s ideal for professionals who value education and ambition. It is for any adult over the age of 40 who is tired of gaming and needs to connect with other mature singles who are in a position to build genuine relationships.
“What I liked about EliteSingles was the fact that all members had to fill out a long questionnaire to assess their personality traits, which certainly takes some time, but it was evident that the information was accumulated through qualified psychologists, so I knew it would lead to greater matches. Mila Smith, a qualified dating and dating coach who met her current spouse on the app, told Mashable. “My current spouse played in the first five games,” Smith added. “It turns out that our compatibility rate, according to EliteSingles, is between 95 and 98 percent, which is remarkably accurate. While we don’t all share our interests, we do share key values in life, which form the foundation of any healthy, long-term relationship.
If the value of EliteSingles is holding you back, Coffee Meets Bagel is another wonderful budget option. And if you’re looking for a dating app with a more upscale vibe, The League could be an ideal choice.
Read our full eharmony review.
If you are 40 or older and in a position to commit, truly, harmony is where you should be. It is known for matching people for life and has a great reputation for its thorough matchmaking process.
Most eharmony users are between the ages of 30 and 44 and looking for a serious date or marriage, which is why we’ve ranked it as the No. 1 dating app for marriage-conscious people over 40 (it’s also our most sensible app). choose to locate dates, period).
Founded in 2000, eharmony has a solid reputation, mainly for its deep compatibility comparison system. (It was the first dating app to introduce the concept of compatibility testing. )
Rather than relying on algorithms that think the love shared by cat memes is the key to compatibility, eharmony takes a more clinical approach. You will take a complete compatibility questionnaire about your values, interests and personality peculiarities; think of it as a Myers-Briggs check for your love life. It may take you 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire, but accept it as true with us; It’s worth filtering out potential dating mistakes and finding someone who truly understands you. Keep an eye out for promotions as well, as eharmony offers discounts of up to 50%.
Although eharmony is traditionally known for catering to heterosexual couples, the company has made headlines for its efforts to be more inclusive and welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community. However, not everyone is happy with this change.
Some teams have attacked eharmony for its resolve to allow same-sex matches and have criticized the platform for deviating from its classic values. A petition is circulating online for eharmony to remove its LGBTQ ads.
Christian Mingle would possibly be a better solution if you are looking for a more devout or Christian dating site. Other devout dating sites include JDate for Jewish singles and Muslima for Muslim singles.
Read our full AdultFriendFinder review.
Read our full review of the match.
Match is a reliable (receipt-based) dating site for singles of all ages, with a giant user base that includes a significant number of people in their forties and fifties. According to the Match website, 48. 6% of Match members are between the ages of 48 and 50. 30 and 49 years old, and 26. 5 percent are 50 years old or older. So, for 40-year-olds tired of casual dating, a paid Match club can help you connect with other people who are also interested in serious relationships.
Accommodation is also a smart choice for other divorced or widowed people who need to re-enter the dating pool.
Fitting is rarely just about taking a selfie and hoping for the best. It’s about creating a profile that highlights your unique personality, interests and passions. You can share up to 26 images (including your profile photo), create a bio that gives potential candidates information about who you are, and answer questions to help the ruleset understand what you’re looking for in a spousal relationship.
Another thing we love about Match is its commitment to a more intentional dating experience. In June 2024, Match partnered with Jay Shetty, celebrity and life coach (and now Match dating advisor), to launch new features focused on core values and deeper connections. Members can now highlight their most sensible values on their profile (family, communication, faith, etc. ), explore the content hub in the Shetty app for dating tips, and cheer each other up through its unique first-date concepts and verbal exchange prompts.
Match also provides a safer environment for online dating. Fake profiles are quickly flagged and removed, and the site has a team committed to reviewing and approving new profiles to make sure other people are who they say they are. Once the phone number is reported, it is banned on the site, protecting users from scams or harassment imaginable.
Hinge is a popular dating app known for focusing on meaningful connections. While the app is popular with Gen Z and young professionals, it is also suitable for older singles who are looking for a compatible spouse and prefer to avoid the casual hookup culture of other apps.
Hinge’s detailed profiles and verbal exchange initiation activations make it possible to meet potential matches before meeting in person. And with its loose club option, you can start exploring without obligation.
Hinge’s “designed to be deleted” philosophy means that the app aims for users to find love and eventually get rid of the app for good. (But you can also use it for casual dating. )
Unlike Tinder (which is seeing a decline in the number of paying users, according to TechCrunch) and other swipe-based dating apps, Hinge incorporates laugh and personal information activations to help users get to know each other better. Hinge also frequently learns your private tastes and tracks your dating reports to provide further recommendations in the future.
Hinge started out as an app popular with young people, but it’s ideal for anyone over 40 who’s tired of mindlessly scrolling through profiles and wants to find something real. Hinge is about meaningful connections, not just connections. Plus, they’re making an effort to be more inclusive, which is very refreshing. Their recent LGBTQIA+ report shows that they understand that other people want other things outside of dating, like taking things slow and making a genuine connection.
Hinge also unofficially has one of the most productive self-discovery apps. This helped other people realize that they were on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. This can be a big problem, especially for other people in their 40s and older who might explore those things later in life.
Read our full review of Bumble Premium.
With its philosophy of putting women first, Bumble empowers women and non-binary Americans to take the lead and engage in conversations. This philosophy of putting women first creates an area that is less complex and less difficult to navigate than Tinder.
If you are a woman or non-binary user over 40 years old and are tired of receiving unsolicited messages, Bumble is the app for you. This reduces unwanted advances, allows other extroverted people to take advantage of your dating experience, and is also a very smart way for shy men to meet women.
Bumble’s laid-back vibe is a big plus. You can show off your personality with witty, personalized bios (check out these tips to make your profile stand out), so you don’t want to jump into endless compatibility tests to get started.
The app uses a Tinder-style swiping system, but with a twist: in heterosexual couples, women and other non-binary people can make the first move. This unique feature has made Bumble stand out since 2014, but they recently beefed it up with “Opening Moves. ” Now, women and non-binary users can answer a query about their matches, or they can simply start the verbal exchange themselves.
In addition, Bumble has expanded its “Dating Intentions” badges. You’ll see features like “fun and casual dating,” “no-strings-attached intimacy,” “life partner,” “ethical non-monogamy,” and even “marriage,” to know who’s looking for something serious and who’s not.
And if you’re worried about fake profiles, they just added a feature to report profiles with AI-generated photos, making it less difficult to spot catfish and keep things real.
Read our full OkCupid review.
OkCupid is a dating platform that embraces diversity and inclusion, making it a wonderful choice for singles over 40 who have an open mind and thoughtful conversations. It has a more liberal user base and emphasizes thought-provoking conversations rather than endless swiping.
OkCupid’s set of rules helps you find your right match by examining basic topics (like your perspectives on feminism and other vital social issues) and offering you singles who share those key values.
Owned by Match Group, OkCupid is a popular dating agency known for making 91 million connections a year. It is also very inclusive and provides profile characteristics for 22 other gender identities and 12 other sexual orientations.
Although swiping is still a component of the OkCupid experience, it is not the main event. OkCupid prioritizes true matchmaking with in-app matchmaking questions that address vital things, like how you balance your desires with your partner’s and where you stand on vital social and political issues.
According to Michael Kaye, OkCupid’s director of logo marketing and communications, the company also began employing generative AI in early 2023 in its matching algorithm. OkCupid used ChatGPT to write his corresponding questions, and so far, those questions have garnered nearly four million answers. .
Although you can use OKC for free, you’ll have to pay for some features, adding the ability to see all your likes at once.
SilverSingles is an adult dating site for singles over 50. With its minimum age requirement, SilverSingles is the best position to connect with older singles looking for love and companionship.
If you’re fifty, sixty or older and in a position to find love, SilverSingles may be the dating site for you.
Mashable recently identified SilverSingles as the most productive senior dating site, and for good reason. SilverSingles (a sister site to EliteSingles) is one of the most productive dating sites for people over 50 due to its emphasis on compatibility and smart fortune rate. But don’t just take our word for it: one of our reviewers surprised her mom with a SilverSingles membership and now, thankfully, she’s partnered with someone he met on the platform.
Unlike shallow swiping, SilverSingles takes the time to identify you through a comprehensive personality test. It may take a little longer, but it’s worth it for other people who are really compatible and are also looking for a meaningful relationship. Then you will get 3 to 7 matches each day.
Note on inclusion: While you can specify your preference for same-sex matches, lately the app does not offer the option to get matches of either gender.
If you’ve tried other dating apps and haven’t been able to catch it, you may need to consider Plenty of Fish (POF). The site has over 150 million members worldwide, so you will most likely find a compatible partner. .
That said, POF also hosts its percentage of shady accounts, adding bots and catfish. It is imperative to cast a wide net and watch out for impostors. If you come across a suspicious company, be sure to report it.
POF offers a vast sea of potential matches of over 40, ensuring that you have plenty of features to explore. It also provides a variety of communication functions to keep the verbal exchange flowing.
In March, Busch Light and POF teamed up for singles who love fishing and beer to find their best match. The campaign, called “Reel Love,” gives users the opportunity to upload a Fish Pic badge to their profile (in Los Angeles, OkCupid). to show off their fishing skills and hook up other singles who prefer to cast their lines outdoors.
Whether you prefer video chat, personal messaging, chat rooms, or even voice calls, POF has you covered. The app’s commitment to providing attachment tactics makes it less difficult to be informed about potential matches, if you can avoid fake bot accounts.
Read our full Zoosk review.
Zoosk hasn’t kept pace with the trendy dating apps, but if you’re scratching the back of the dating barrel on other platforms, this is your last stop.
Zoosk looks like a time capsule from the early days of online dating. Their concept of “matching” is throwing winks and hearts like it’s still 2007. And if you need a genuine verbal exchange and meaningful connection, then get ready to open your wallet. The loose edition of Zoosk is like walking into a party and not being able to communicate with anyone. Perhaps it would have been the situation at the time, but there are many more features now that understand how modern dating works.
Are you tired of swiping left on mediocre dating delights?You deserve better. Mashable’s team of genuine testers has done the work to help daters over 40 find their match. We don’t just create profiles – we actively collaborate with the app to provide you with authentic, in-depth analysis. We compare the features, costs, user experience, and success rates of the best dating sites and apps to make your search for love easier.
Our dating and dating experts focused on those key factors:
User Experience: Is it easy to navigate the app, create a profile and potential matches?
Quality of the match: Does the app prioritize connections over surface scanning?
Profile authenticity: Are you connecting with genuine people, or is the app full of profiles?
Safety and security: We review privacy policies, knowledge coverage practices, and reporting mechanisms to evaluate the defense of dating platforms.
Accessibility: We look for dating sites and apps that have user-friendly interfaces and are available on Google Play and the App Store.
Inclusivity: Does the app create a welcoming and respectful environment for everyone, regardless of their background or identity? We prioritize platforms that celebrate diversity.
The most productive dating site depends on what you’re looking for, but after doing some research and chatting with other people who’ve been there, we think EliteSingles is a smart choice for most people in their forties, especially if you’re hoping to find something. seriously with another professional.
If getting married is a priority, eharmony has a proven track record of helping others find their best match. Match is a selection built with many eligible singles over 40, but it will make a bigger dent in your wallet.
Although Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble are popular among young people, good luck is still imaginable for singles over 40. OkCupid has a higher percentage of users over 40 (compared to its competitors) and is a wonderful choice for liberal and LGBTQ communities. offering an area to be your original ultimate self without judgment.
Wondering where people over 40 find love online?Match is a popular (albeit expensive) option with a giant user base, while harmony is known to lead to marriages. Hinge is possibly worth checking out if you’re a millennial at heart. Bumble is very best for women and non-binary Americans who need to take the lead, and OkCupid welcomes a varied community, especially those who lean left or identify as LGBTQ.
Although Hinge is popular among millennials, it’s not necessarily a forbidden option for people in their 50s. Many users in their 40s and 50s have discovered good luck with Hinge, thanks to its emphasis on deeper connections and detailed profiles (after all, it’s “designed to be deleted”). However, the age diversity on Hinge is younger, so you might find more users in their 20s and 30s than on apps like OkCupid or eharmony.
Tabitha Britt is a freelance writer, editor, search engine optimizer, and content strategist. In addition to writing for Mashable, Tabitha is also the founding editor of DO YOU ENDO, a virtual magazine written by other people with endometriosis, for other people with endometriosis. She has a master’s degree in artistic editing and critical journalism from the New School of Social Research and is a graduate of the Sextech School. She can find more of her paintings in online publications, including National Geographic, Insider, Kinkly and others.