Mainstream dating apps and sites don’t always work for highly intelligent singles. Filtering your search results and trying to screen every potential match is a tiring process. The reasons for such dating troubles can go even deeper, according to this Huffington Post article. Fortunately, dating apps for smart people take the legwork out of finding an intelligent woman or man to connect with.
These niche dating platforms bring together educated, ambitious singles from around the world and do most of the vetting for you. Read on to find out more about our favorites!
EliteSingles.com maintains a sophisticated network of young professionals seeking a relationship. Over 80% of its members hold a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate degree, and over 90% are over the age of 30. Elite Singles uses an intelligent matchmaking system to introduce daters to someone on their level.
- Over 2 million monthly users
- Premium members receive 20 wildcard matches a day
- Search features include age, height, education, ethnicity, and lifestyle habits
- Browse Elite Singles profiles 100% free »
You don’t have to be highly educated to be a smart person, but Elite Singles makes the case that it definitely helps. The dating site boasts that more than 80% of its users have at minimum a bachelor’s degree, with many holding advanced degrees as well. Educated singles are in good company on the exclusive dating platform, where ambitious people can get to know each other and find potential partners based on shared interests and goals.
The registration process is fairly rigorous, although the biggest time constraint is waiting for your profile to be approved. Elite Singles asks new users to fill out a detailed personality questionnaire with questions ranging on topics like how affectionate you are and how self-aware you are, among others. Once you’ve submitted your details, the team behind Elite Singles goes over each and every one, to make sure a new prospective member is a good fit. This has the added benefit of cutting back on fake profiles and scammers and ensures an efficient, effective experience for members.
2. Match
Match.com has come a long way since it launched in April 1995. This well-reputed dating site has honed its match algorithm to identify long-term compatibility and facilitate countless first dates, serious relationships, and successful marriages. Match’s esteemed dating experts go to great lengths to guide singles to a seriously good match.
- Match is the world’s longest running dating site
- The Discover section has search filters by interests, looks, lifestyle, and more
- Match is available in 50 countries and 15 languages
- Browse Match profiles 100% free »
Match isn’t exclusively for highly intelligent people, but the dating website and app make it easy for smart singles to find another intelligent person to connect with and date. The online dating platform uses an in-depth personality test to help singles find their potential match based on compatibility, rather than the casual approach that swipe apps take. If you’re really invested in finding your match based on intelligence, you can look into the Mensa Match partnership, which only allows singles who have passed Mensa’s entry requirements.
Once you’ve signed up and provided the right details, Match will begin offering you suggestions for a potential partner based on what you’re looking for. As you go through your matches, the algorithm gets smarter about what you want from a partner, giving you better and better options over time. You can also browse the members in your area more generally, and paid members have the option to contact anyone they might find on the platform.
3. eharmony
Since its launch in 2000, eharmony has endeavored to find the formula for love. Its 32-dimension personality test uses psychological truths to identify areas of compatibility between two individuals. The dating site’s mission is to foster relationships that last, and every potential match has a reason behind it.
- Over 2 million people have found love here
- Users can filter their match recommendations by age or city
- Compatibility Quiz identifies common interests, lifestyles, and goals
- Browse eharmony profiles 100% free »
Even before the term “hookup culture” entered people’s vocabulary, eharmony founders Neil Clark Warren and Greg Forgatch believed that the trend toward casual relationships was leading to fewer marriages. The dating scene for people who want to find a potential mate, not just a one-night stand, can be tricky to navigate, but eharmony is all about finding The One. Intelligent singles seeking long-term love will find the key feature of eharmony is the compatibility test.
The eharmony compatibility quiz is exhaustive, examining 32 dimensions of compatibility. The test examines different characteristics including communication style, attachment, social patterns, lifestyle, empathy, and more for each person who takes it, which leads to better matches for each member. Matches on eharmony are pre-vetted, making it a lot easier to find the right person without having to do so much legwork or filter out people who you won’t get along with.
While it does cost money to make meaningful contact with your potential matches, you can browse, take Icebreaker quizzes, and make your interest known in a lot of other ways for free. The cost of premium membership is affordable for single professionals, and it can be a good investment in a future love story.
Christian Mingle is a faith-based dating website for singles who want a relationship grounded in Christian values. People of all religions and backgrounds turn to this site in hopes of meeting a good Christian man or a good Christian woman. Christian Mingle’s claim to fame is that it has the highest percentage of Christian members of any dating site or app in the world.
- For singles interested in God-centered relationships
- Over 3.5 million monthly users around the world
- Available as an app on Google Play and the App Store
- Browse Christian Mingle profiles 100% free »
For intellectual Christians, faith-based dating can be a tricky minefield to navigate. Christian Mingle is a platform dedicated to helping people of faith meet and connect, and that includes intelligent Christians who take a deep interest in their religion and spirituality.
If you want to meet new people who love to take deep dives on scripture or Bible verses, Christian Mingle provides a safe space where faith is respected in all its diversity. You’re bound to find someone whose faith-based interests align with yours, especially since the platform has one of the largest pools of single Christians in the world, and it provides plenty of tools to filter your matches and find the right people. Find a partner to debate the Song of Solomon or someone who shares your passion for comparing King James vs the New International Version, and fall in love.
5. Bumble
Since its launch in 2014, Bumble has positioned itself as one of the queens of the online dating world. The dating app turns gender stereotype on its head by empowering women to make the first move in a conversation with a man. Once you’ve made that mutual match, you have up to 48 hours to respond and make a connection.
- A feminist dating app puts singles on equal footing
- 60% of Bumble matches turn into dates
- Bumble Bizz and Bumble BFF spark non-romantic connections
- Browse Bumble profiles 100% free »
One of the key features that separates Bumble from other platforms that play into hookup culture is the fact that the dating app puts women in the driver’s seat. The app’s founders believe that letting women make the first move doesn’t just make for a more selective process, but also helps the mental health of the women on the platform.
Bumble’s attention to quality connections over instant gratification made the expansion into Bumble Bizz and Bumble BFF (for making professional connections and finding new friends, respectively) a natural transition.
But the dating app doesn’t let the focus on quality slow down the pace. After you find a mutual match on the platform, women have just 24 hours to make first contact. After that, the match disappears.
6. Sapio
Many dating applications help singles find each other based on a shared interest, but Sapio takes things further. The dating app, available on Google Play and the App Store, urges members to take things deeper than swiping apps allow by answering and unlocking questions and answers. As you answer one of the hundreds of questions on the platform, you gain access to other member profiles that have answers to the same questions. From there, you can match up with other users and start a conversation.
The questions on Sapio cover a lot of ground, from personal habits to beliefs, achievements and controversial opinions, influences, and hypothetical situations. The team behind Sapio believes that these conversation-starter questions are a counterpoint to the shallow atmosphere that commonly arises on other apps, where a brief bio paragraph and a few photos are the sole basis of matching. And since you have to answer questions to gain access to other people’s answers, you can get to know people based on your priorities and interests.
7. The League
If friends and family have ever told you that you’re too picky when it comes to finding a romantic partner, The League is here to help. The dating app for discerning singles values high standards in dating, and respects the time and energy of the membership on the platform. Instead of filtering your matches and spending your time vetting a potential partner, The League does the work for you by offering up suggestions based on key criteria like career, education, lifestyle, and personality.
The exclusive dating app takes authenticity seriously, requiring social media verification through Facebook and LinkedIn. Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about one of your connections from those sites finding you; instead, The League blocks out anyone in your direct networks but uses those connections and friends of friends as one of the criteria for matching. The app is massively popular in San Francisco and other major tech centers, bringing together ambitious singles to form the perfect power couples.
8. Luxy
If you prefer your dating platforms to have high standards and to function like a social network as well as a dating service, Luxy is here to help. The millionaire dating app caters to high-earning singles, providing a community where they can connect and find romance. The exclusive app takes a while to let you get started, but that’s mostly because each application goes through an extensive review process.
Luxy also requires each member to be vouched for by another existing user and provides added features like income verification to increase the trust between members. Over 40% of Luxy users make over $1 million, while more than 60% of the site’s membership make at least $200,000. While intelligence and income aren’t mutually inclusive, smart singles who want to avoid arguments about money can find a safe haven in this niche community.
9. Coffee Meets Bagel
For an intelligent woman on a dating site or app, the flood of messages can be a major hassle. Even more daunting is the likelihood that those messages can go from interested to hostile in the blink of an eye. Coffee Meets Bagel, launched by three sisters, seeks to tackle this issue with a unique system of matching. The dating app works by limiting the matches men and women receive, while playing to the different approaches men and women tend to take on dating platforms.
Men receive a daily batch of 21 potential matches, while women on the app receive just six at the same time every day at noon. The focus on a set of curated matches instead of unlimited likes or swipes means users receive a more qualified set of potential partners. The difference in the number of matches men and women receive plays to the different levels of activity. Efficient and clever, CMB makes it easier for smart singles to focus on what matters the most.
FAQs: What’s the Best Dating App for Casual Hookups?
While people know about Ashley Madison as a platform for affair-seekers, the dating app and site is a strong option for smart singles who want to keep their sex lives discreet, too. The online dating platform is big on privacy and uses tools like photo blurring, password-protected photo galleries, browser clearing, and a built-in panic button to give members control over their visibility both on the platform and outside of it.
Ashley Madison is an extramarital dating site with over 80 million profiles in its private database, and it is full of temptation. The site and app offer a judgment-free zone where married people can consider their options and chat with singles who are willing to get together on the down-low.
- A uniquely open-minded dating network
- Privacy-conscious features
- Over 1.4 million matches per month
- Browse Ashley Madison profiles 100% free »
The Ashley Madison dating app maintains that discretion and doesn’t send notifications to your phone throughout the day the way some online dating platforms tend to do. You can access the dating application when you want to, where you want to, without having to worry about a mutual friend seeing something they shouldn’t.
Beyond the privacy and discretion tools that Ashley Madison includes, the online dating website and app both offer appealing ways to take the conversation further, including virtual dates, audio and video chat, and thought-provoking questions on user profiles meant to spark debates and interest.
Which Dating Apps Let Users Chat for Free?
While many dating apps and sites require premium membership to message whoever you want on the platform, there are still a few bastions of free communication in the online dating world. OkCupid launched almost 20 years ago with free, full membership as a cornerstone of the platform, and chatting up members on the site remains free for everyone and anyone. The changes to leadership have led to the free messaging option being trickier to find over the years, but it’s still available.
Plenty of Fish is another dating website and app that makes it easy to chat up anyone you want on the platform, at any time. Launched in 2003, POF keeps all of the core features free for all members. While this approach does tend to make the platform more attractive to fake profiles, scammers, and catfish, Plenty of Fish does have some tools to help keep these nuisances to a minimum, including account verification.
Facebook Dating doesn’t have the biggest dating pool of the online dating app options out there, but the platform makes up for it by offering free messaging courtesy of the built-in Facebook messenger program. It also offers matches based on personal information and your friends network. Don’t worry, though: Facebook Dating doesn’t post to your main Facebook profile, it just skims your information to help select potential matches.
Which Dating App Has The Best Reputation Among Users?
Even the best dating app isn’t going to work for every single person who uses it, but consistent positive reviews do tend to indicate when a dating site or app is doing everything right. There are a few platforms that consistently garner glowing comments from users, and our experts have some favorites in that category.
Match is one of the longest-running online dating platforms for a reason. The dating site was an early adopter of compatibility-based matching, using a personality test to help steer singles toward the right potential match based on common interests, personality quirks, and other factors.
Success stories abound across the whole network of Match Group sites, so the top rankings for the dating site are warranted.
Another site that consistently gets approval from users is eharmony. Considered the best dating site by several people looking for a happily ever after, the online dating service consistently gets positive reviews, and a 2022 survey of daters in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia ranked it as one of the most trustworthy apps in the world.
Make a Smart Choice & Download a Popular Dating App
Highly intelligent singles aren’t limited to Mensa Match to find love, romance, or sex. The explosion of niche dating sites means that smart people can find the right fit anywhere in the world. Instead of spending money and time on a mainstream premium dating app like Tinder Plus, you can find what you’re looking for without any pre-screening if you choose the right app.
Find the intelligent woman, man, or person of your dreams on one of these dating apps for smart people!
