Getting back into the dating pool after a divorce can be scary, but divorced dating sites can make things a lot easier. Recently-divorced singles are a growing demographic on dating sites and dating apps, and fortunately, studies show that people do tend to find what they’re looking for when they get back into romance.
Whether you’re looking for a casual fling to take your mind off your ex, or someone to become a true partner in life, online dating platforms make things easier.
Best Divorced Dating Sites for New Relationships
Some divorced people look for long-term relationships fairly soon after the paperwork is all settled, while others wait for months or a year. No matter how long ago your divorce was finalized, these sites are great choices for getting back into the dating scene.
1. 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 may not seem like the ideal divorced dating site at first glance, but the dating website boasts demographics that are a good match for a divorced man or divorced woman looking for love. The membership on the platform isn’t as young as that of some other sites, with almost 50% of the members between the ages of 30 and 49. Roughly 44% of the members on the online dating site have kids, so a single parent won’t stick out like a sore thumb.
Match members are more likely to be looking for a long-term relationship than are members on some other sites, and building your dating profile on the dating service is simple. It’s free to sign up and browse profiles, and free members can also exchange messages with a potential match as long as they’re in each other’s Top Picks list. Match members need a premium membership to send unlimited messages on the site and app.
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 »
If you’re a divorcee with distinctive tastes, Elite Singles may be the best option for your reentry into the dating scene. The dating site is for discerning singles, with the majority of the membership boasting a Bachelor’s degree or higher. The signup process requires prospective members provide some personal information, and all profiles have to pass through verification and moderation steps behind the scenes.
The Elite Singles site saw a boom in 2020, as features like video dating took off across all dating services and singles increasingly looked online to find love. Elite Singles is a popular option for the divorce community because the dating pool on the site is full of high-caliber professionals, many of them already experienced in life. It’s a great choice for newly single people who have high expectations and don’t want to waste time on prospective matches who aren’t in the same life trajectory.
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 »
If you’re not ready to give up on the idea of wedded bliss, even after a divorce, eharmony is committed to helping you find the right man or woman. The dating website is devoted to long-term relationships based on personalities. The dating service uses personality quizzes and other details to help bring compatible singles together and put them on the path to marriage.
The eharmony leadership believe that the key to a strong marriage foundation is deep compatibility, and the online dating site and app promise to help users find that perfect match.
The basic features are available to all members, free and premium alike. Paid membership grants you access to different features depending on the level you select. Premium membership packages give you the ability to send private messages and have video chats, as well as other perks like expanded profile access and higher visibility. While eharmony is one of the more expensive paid membership sites out there, most paid members agree that the fee is well worth it for finding the right person to spend their lives with.
Best Divorced Dating Sites for Senior Singles
Divorce is growing more common among seniors, as dated social taboos around ending marriages fall away. But it can be tricky to be an older single person on mainstream dating sites. Senior dating sites make it easy to connect with other people your age who understand where you’re coming from, and how strange it can be to be single again at a certain age.
SilverSingles offers a secure dating experience for singles of a certain age. Anyone over 50 is welcome to join the network and browse for dates by using the simple search filters and match recommendations. Every month, over 800,000 senior singles join the dating site and start their journey toward love.
- Global membership base of exclusively single seniors
- Free members can browse matches, send smiles, and favorite profiles
- 24/7 online customer service
- Browse SilverSingles profiles 100% free »
One of the leading online dating sites for older singles, SilverSingles is another good option for a divorced person over the age of 50 to find new love. SilverSingles has a lot to offer a single mom or single dad interested in taking a second chance at love later in life.
SilverSingles makes it easy to set up your profile, whether you access the dating service through the website or an app on your phone. The process is so simple that you can get everything up and running in five minutes or less, and you choose how much or how little you want to reveal about yourself to potential matches. You can browse member profiles and make basic forms of contact with a free membership. But profile pictures, more advanced contact options, and more perks come with the premium membership payment.
5. OurTime
OurTime gives singles over 50 a confidence boost by introducing them to age-appropriate dates online. The dating site offers multiple ways to connect and discover commonality, and it has led to thousands of success stories in the last few years. Whether you’re looking for a pen pal, a friend, or a relationship, OurTime has got it covered.
- Thousands of success stories from all over the world
- Find senior dates using advanced search filters and match suggestions
- The Help Center offers quick tips and guidance
- Browse OurTime profiles 100% free »
OurTime is a senior dating site and app designed by People Media. This dating platform has developed a strong reputation for helping over-50 singles find their next new relationship. While the 50+ dating population is more likely to be widowed than divorced, divorced singles are not hard to find on OurTime.
It’s easy to sign up and to navigate the dating site and browse matches based on hobbies, lifestyle, proximity, and goals. OurTime also offers robust customer service to help with any technical or account-based issues you run into, and your personal information remains secure thanks to built-in systems. OurTime has a few options to contact your potential matches if you’re a basic, free member of the dating website, but you have more choices if you decide to go with a premium membership.
Best Divorced Dating Sites for Casual Hookups
Casual hookups can be one way of moving forward after a long-term relationship, and free divorced hookup sites and apps make it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for. These sites don’t exclusively cater to divorced singles, but offer opportunities to find people looking for something risqué and simple.
Registering for an account on Adult Friend Finder (AFF) is like speeding into the fast lane of the online dating world. This hookup site puts you in the center of action and encourages sexy singles and swingers to satisfy their secret fantasies. Anyone over 18 can join AFF and browse millions of profiles for free, but only full-fledged members have access to the revealing content in the community forums and chat rooms.
- One of the largest adults-only sex communities
- Free and fast registration process
- Dating forums and live chats foster live flirtation
- Browse Adult Friend Finder profiles 100% free »
Adult Friend Finder has been in the online hookup business since the 1990s, bringing together singles, swingers, and divorcees around the world for sexy fun. The site has one of the largest membership of any online dating platform, and has led the industry with the options it makes available.
There are some concerns with the adult dating site in regards to how little personal information it requires (you don’t even need a photo to join). Of course, the anonymity makes finding a no-strings hookup a lot easier, but the easy standards for registration also mean that an AFF user will have to be more careful about potential fake profiles and bots. You can interact with other members of the site in public spaces for free, but private messaging options (including video chat) require a premium membership payment.
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 »
Technically, Ashley Madison is for people who are still married, but the dating site also welcomes anyone who wants to be sexually or romantically involved with a married person, which can definitely include divorced singles. The site is a bastion of discretion, with specialized features and tools to keep things on the down-low.
It’s free to set up your account and browse profiles on Ashley Madison, and for women on the site it’s free to send messages. Men must invest in site credits to gain full access to features like messaging and sending virtual gifts, among others. But the real selling point of the site is its privacy features. The panic button will instantly navigate you to a generic site, in case you need to keep your browsing extra discreet. You can also control who gets to see your pictures.
And after a major scandal in 2015, Avid Life Media introduced security features like two-factor verification, PCI compliance, and encryption to keep information locked down.
8. Flirt.com
Flirt.com is a great hookup website for fun-loving and dirty-talking singles over the age of 18. The free registration and quick-and-easy searches appeal to online daters who know what they want and aren’t afraid to go after it. If you’re looking for sexting, virtual dating, or hot sex, then look no further than this flirtatious dating site.
- Over 70 million registered users
- Naked photos, videos, and private messaging available
- Send a Flirtcast to get in touch with all potential matches
- Browse Flirt.com profiles 100% free »
Free dating sites sometimes get a bad reputation, but for divorced singles who want to find a hookup with no stress, Flirt.com provides a lot of perks at no cost. The site boasts a membership base of more than 70 million people, and signing up is quick and easy: all you need is an email address and a profile picture.
Once you’re signed up, Flirt.com lets you browse and swipe matches, and even message your matches for free. The site does have a premium membership level, which gives you expanded communication options and advanced search abilities and filters. But you can find compatible singles and arrange your next hookup to celebrate your divorce, all without getting out your wallet.
Best Divorced Dating Sites for LGBTQ+ Singles
Considering how hard the LGBTQ+ community has worked to get the freedom to legally marry, divorce within the community can be especially difficult. But getting back into the dating pool can be easy, if you use one of the following dating platforms. These apps make it simple to connect with other members of the community and explore a new relationship.
9. HER
HER is a women-only (or “womxn” as the team says) dating app that helps cis, trans, and non-binary identified singles come into their own. This is a strict no-boys-allowed zone. HER encourages LGBTQ+ women to mingle by commenting on photos or events in the Feed, or they can like profiles to initiate a private conversation with a mutual match.
- A quirky and unapologetic womxn-only dating community
- Queer events get users connecting IRL
- The constantly updated Feed facilitates social networking
- Browse HER profiles 100% free »
Founded by a lesbian, for lesbians, HER is more than just a dating site for women-loving-women. The platform is as much about community and friendship as it is about romance, and brings together social media and dating service features and tools to provide a seamless experience that will help ease you back into dating.
The network has over 7 million women in its user base, which includes lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning women. Absolutely no men are allowed, and the platform is a safe space for women to explore their sexuality through discussions and events, as well as to find love. The team behind the site is deeply invested too, regularly updating HER’s Instagram account with success stories from women who have found the woman of their dreams on the platform.
10. Grindr
Grindr became the world’s first gay geosocial app in 2009, and it continues growing its all-male user base more than a decade later. The app uses real-time GPS data to locate nearby date prospects and give gay and bisexual singles a chance to connect while they’re out on the town.
- Social networking for gay, bi, trans, and queer men
- Location-based matches spark instant chemistry
- Grindr Equality advocates for LGBTQ+ interests on the global stage
- Browse Grindr profiles 100% free »
Whether you’ve been out of the closet for years, or are just dipping your toe in the gay dating pool, Grindr is a mainstay of dating and hookups in the gay community. The app launched in 2009 and welcomes queer men of all types to find community, hookups, and long-term relationships.
The app was one of the first to offer swipe-match features. And the long life of the platform means that Grindr has had a lot of time to refine its tools and get feedback from the LGBTQ+ male community on what its members want and look for. While you can find and even make contact with anyone locally on Grindr with a free account, business travelers and other men who move around a lot may want to invest in Grindr XTRA for added tools and features.
FAQs: Is There a Niche Dating Site for Divorced People?
If you want to connect specifically with divorced singles instead of mingling with singles of all ages and levels of relationship experience, there are sites dedicated to just that. Divorced dating sites cater specifically to people who are in the process of divorcing or who have recently divorced, so there are a few drawbacks.
Two of the best options for divorced singles are JustDivorcedSingles and DivorcedDads.com. Both sites offer dating pools of divorced people who want to connect with someone who understands what they’re going through. But while these sites can be great for connecting with the divorce community and forging new relationships, the sites tend to have lower membership compared with more mainstream dating platforms. That means your potential date options will be lower.
Most divorced single people tend to prefer to go through more mainstream channels when seeking out a new person to love, and for good reason: a bigger dating pool means a greater chance of success and more compatible matches.
What’s the Best Dating App for Divorced Dating?
If you’re looking for an app-based solution for your dating needs, Tinder and Bumble can seem like the obvious choice: After all, they’re free and welcome everyone. But the membership on these apps tend to be on the younger side, with people in their early 20s looking for easy, baggage-free relationships and flings.
Among the mainstream dating sites and the dating apps that go with them, eharmony and Match make for the best options, especially if you’re looking for a long-term relationship. The two dating apps have users whose average age is closer to 30, so you can more easily weed out younger people who are less likely to understand your experiences.
If you’re recently out of a marriage and ready to date, you may want to try downloading the free divorced dating app DivorceeMatch. The app makes privacy a priority by using selfie verified profiles as part of its manual verification process. The platform also takes care to set divorced singles up for success by asking members to provide relevant information. That includes how long their marriage lasted, relationship expectations, custody status of children, marriage preferences, and financial commitments from previous marriages, among other details. Of course, profiles include the standard member data like hobbies, interests, occupation, and education as well.
Match Group, the company that owns Match.com, recently launched an app for single parents and divorced parents called Stir. The app offers features a divorced mom or dad just can’t get on more mainstream apps. Stir Time allows you to set up times when you’re available for dates to streamline the process of scheduling dates between conflicting schedules.
Which Free Dating Platforms Allow Unlimited Free Messaging?
A lot of free dating platforms make it easy to message whoever you like, but some come with conditions. OkCupid makes a commitment to free, unlimited messaging, but it can be a little tricky to get a message to someone unless you’ve already interacted with their profile. Plenty of Fish still offers free, unlimited messaging to its users, staying competitive with other free sites.
Plenty of Fish prides itself on being one of the best dating sites for conversations. It supports 100% free and unlimited messaging for over 120 million monthly users in 20 countries. Since its launch in 2003, Plenty of Fish has developed a science-based matching system that has proven successful.
- Free registration, searches, and messaging
- The Chemistry Test creates a compatibility framework
- Over 1 billion messages sent per month
- Browse Plenty of Fish profiles 100% free »
On the app side, Hinge and Bumble both offer multiple free messaging options. On Bumble, the woman has to send the first message, and it does have to be within a certain time frame, but that’s an easy obstacle to overcome, especially if you decide to pay for premium benefits.
The Match app also has free messaging options, letting Top Picks communicate with no hurdles.
Find New Love & Romance After Divorce by Going Online
The best dating site for divorced singles seeking a second chance at love depends a lot on factors. Some elite singles have high expectations for a potential partner, while others would be content to meet a down-to-earth person their own age. Fortunately, the online dating market is big enough to all types of dating preferences, and it’s growing every day.
Whether you’re looking for casual sex, a meaningful relationship, or something in between, divorced dating sites and apps make it easier to connect and move into your new life as a single woman or man.
