Best Dating Sites for Teenagers in 2021

The challenge of putting together a “best dating sites for teenagers” list is that teenagers aren’t all the same. Not only are they diverse in spirit, style, and background, but their ages vary from 13 to 19 — and a ton of growth and change happens during those years.

We’ve decided to focus on the older part of the teenager spectrum — the about-to-graduate crowd and the college freshies — because, seriously, if you’re still in middle school or high school, you have plenty of time and opportunities to meet people in class or at after-school activities, and online dating doesn’t need to be on your radar just yet. Besides, 90% of mainstream dating platforms are strictly 18 and older for personal safety reasons.

The online dating scene has a variety of less mature and more mature dating spaces, and we’ve highlighted the top dating sites that cater to today’s young generation.

Overall Best Dating Sites for Teenagers

Between school, friends, and work, teenagers have a lot on their plates, and they may not have the energy or inclination to hunt for dates IRL. Luckily, a lot of flirtatious action happens online these days. About 65% of Generation Z singles say they use an online dating site or app to diversify their dating options and meet interesting people in their free time.

Many dating sites appeal to young people and offer a lot of search, chat, and matching tools to get the ball rolling and help you find a new friend or a hot date faster than ever before.

Match is one of the top-rated dating sites for singles of all ages, and it excels at facilitating real relationships between serious daters.

Match has been around for quite awhile — it originally launched in 1995 — so it brings a wealth of knowledge and authority in the online dating world. Millions of people have benefited from this time-tested dating service over the last two decades, and we expect it to continue adding success stories for many years to come.

According to the site, about 25% of Match users are under 30, so you can expect a more mature and slow-paced dating atmosphere here. This isn’t an overcrowded and overwhelming app with endless swipe options. Match.com delivers a curated list of compatible profiles, and it has search tools to help you identify the perfect match.

Joining Elite Singles is similar to taking an advanced or upper-division class because it pushes you to be your best and keep up with folks who are the best of the best. Over 80% of Elite Singles members have graduated from college, and over 90% say they’re looking for a genuine and fulfilling relationship.

If that sounds like your crowd, then you can create an EliteSingles profile for free and start setting your dating preferences and reviewing your matches. This sophisticated dating platform appeals to singles who know their worth and aren’t willing to settle for second-rate dates.

Thanks to its top-tier user base, Elite Singles can offer an instant online dating upgrade for anyone feeling burnt out by swiping, chatting, and ghosting.

Zoosk got started in 2007 right around the time Facebook, aka the biggest social media platform of all time, was just taking off. Zoosk’s founders wanted to capitalize on the power of social media in the dating space, so they took its most popular features (liking, live chatting, and detailed profiles) and made them the centerpiece of the dating site.

Today, Zoosk is among one of the most popular dating platforms of all time with over 40 million users in 80 countries. The typical Zoosk users is a young, socially savvy single person who isn’t looking to settle down or find anything serious any time soon.

Zoosk is a great place to meet compatible dates, have a quick conversation, and see where things go. Zoosk members send over 3 million messages a day via the dating website and app, so you should have tons of people to talk to you.

The founding mission of eharmony is to strengthen relationships by ensuring that the right people get together. This online dating site doesn’t throw singles into the dating pool and hope they figure it out — its matching system offers clear-cut personality assessments, compatibility ratings, and potential match recommendations to light the way.

You can think of eharmony as a study guide for picking quality dates and building solid relationships. The psychology-driven site offers a rubric for how to spot the ideal date candidates based on your stated preferences, quirks, and life goals.

Most singles who use eharmony are looking for a soul mate, so don’t join up if all you want to do is mess around and date casually. The eharmony dating site and app has inspired over 2 million relationships in the U.S., and it creates a new perfect match every 14 minutes.

Christian Mingle supports a community of over 15 million singles who range in age from 18 to 80, but they all want to date and marry someone within the Christian faith.

You don’t have to be baptized, confirmed, or converted to create a free profile on Christian Mingle, but you should expect to meet a lot of faith-oriented daters here. According to the site, about 71% of Christian Mingle members say they attend church on a regular basis, and 84% say they’d recommend Christian Mingle to the Christian singles they know.

We go into more detail about Christian Mingle in this full review, but the TL;DR is that ChristianMingle is a reputable and effective dating tool for single men and women who value faith, family, and love.

BlackPeopleMeet has been a leading dating site for black and biracial singles since its launch in 2002. Don’t let its advanced age fool you — plenty of teenage singles come here every day hoping to chat up interesting people.

The vibe on BlackPeopleMeet is definitely laid-back, and it’s easy to use the search tools or connections tab to meet singles who share similar backgrounds and perspectives. You can focus on dates within a certain mile radius or age range, and it’s also possible to sort profiles by online activity.

It’s fun to play around with these matching features, but eventually you’ll want to get down to business and send messages to your perfect match. That’s where BlackPeopleMeet’s monthly subscription packages come in handy. The online dating site ensures that only verified members can get in touch with each other, making it that much more likely that online conversations will translate to real-life dates and love stories.

OkCupid operates under the motto “Dating deserves better,” and it provides a range of free features to provide better matches that lead to better relationships. The free online dating site and app has offered free and unlimited messaging since before it was cool (founded in 2004), and singles also get a lot of value out of its quirky match system.

Basically, a group of Harvard math nerds founded OkCupid because they were curious if love could be condensed into an algorithm, and they started collecting massive amounts of information about people’s likes, hobbies, opinions, sexual history, and dating dealbreakers.

According to OkCupid, the free dating site now has over 4,000 personal questions that get to the heart of who you are and what you want, and users can answer as many or as few as they want.

OkCupid uses a combination of profile information and match questions to calculate compatibility between two users. The more information it has, the more accurate its romantic prediction will be, so don’t be shy about spilling your guts in this open-ended space. You can always mark your answers as private or hide your profile if you’re not ready for Okcupid members to know that much about you.

If you want to get some action without paying anything, then Plenty of Fish has got your back. Plenty of Fish is a free dating site and app with over 150 million members in 20 countries, and it sees more than 4 million views per day.

Plenty of Fish fosters a friendly and respectful community with no boundaries or restrictions. All POF members can send messages and replies for as long as they like — no mutual matching, free trials, or payment required.

By banning photo filters and selfies, Plenty of Fish has made an effort to civilize the online dating scene and make its members feel comfortable building authentic relationships. After all, 84% of singles responding to a POF survey said they’d prefer that their dates be honest than paint a positive but false picture of themselves.

Plenty of Fish is a great teen dating resource because it’s free to chat and make a friend on the spot.

Tinder is the go-to dating app for millions of teenagers looking for a date. About 50% of Tinder members are Gen Z.

Since its launch in 2012, Tinder has been downloaded over 340 million times and created more than 43 billion matches worldwide. Yeah, that’s billion with B. This app is one of the most popular of all time, and that can be either a blessing or a curse depending on what you’re looking for.

If you want to procrastinate on your homework, check out some hot photos, and maybe pick up a date, then by all means, swipe away and live your best life. Tinder has turned online dating into a game, and many users find it quite addictive. The biggest issue is that there are so many people trolling, creeping, and ghosting that it can be hard to develop real feelings, focus on one person, and actually go out on a date.

In the average week, Tinder users swipe on over 7 billion profiles, send over 4.2 million GIFs to each other, and yet only go on 1.5 million dates collectively. That’s a pretty poor batting average if you sincerely want to grab a cup of coffee, but it’s fine for teen singles who’re more interested in #SwipeLife.

Rounding out our list is Bumble, aka the world’s first feminist dating app. Bumble burst onto the dating scene in 2014 with an empowering message for women: Make the first move. Only women can send the first message when they match with men on the app, and they have 24 hours to initiate contact or the conversation disappears.

Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd was one of the founding members of Tinder, and she became fed up with the sexism running rampant in the tech industry. So she took action. She sued Tinder for sexual harassment, won $1 million in a settlement, and used her experience and money to become Tinder’s biggest rival. Talk about clapping back.

Today, Bumble is known as the female-friendly alternative to Tinder, and its high-integrity approach to dating has encouraged over 22 million users to give it a try.

Best LGBT Dating Sites for Teenagers

Everyone discovers their sexuality at their own pace and in their own way. It’s a journey of self-discovery that every adolescent, teenager, and young adult deals with, and it may take some time to figure it out completely. In a Pew Research survey, most gay and lesbian respondents said they were around 13 when they first thought they may not be straight, and over 92% said they knew they were LGBTQ+ by age 17.

Whether you’re out, questioning, or just curious, you can use gay-friendly dating sites as a testing ground for your feelings. These four platforms can offer a safe space to explore your attractions and pursue your desires, and it doesn’t cost anything to sign up.

MenNation is a casual dating site geared toward men seeking men. This is a strict adult-only zone, so a new user must be at least 18 years old to join.

Most singles and couples stumble upon MenNation because they’re looking for no-strings attached sex, and the dating service’s erotic search tools and local profiles offer tons of attractive options. You don’t have to give your real name, phone number, or location to become a part of MenNation, and the anonymous flirting is pretty exciting — especially if you like a man of mystery.

LesbianPersonals is a sex-positive and female-friendly dating platform where women can find love and lust on their terms. Again, you must be at least 18 to join, and the moderators will remove anyone underage because this X-rated chat room isn’t for children.

Teenagers can have fun exchanging messages, photos, and videos online, and it’s easy to get wrapped up in the fast-paced and sexually charged atmosphere. Just make sure to vet your dates carefully before meeting in person because LesbianPersonals doesn’t run any background checks or have many verification tools.

Since 2013, HER has established a heartfelt community of womxn of all ages, races, sexual identities, and backgrounds. Over 4 million lesbian, bisexual, and queer womxn have created profiles and been verified by the moderators, and the dating app continues to grow by word of mouth.

You won’t find any creepy dudes or straight couples here because HER is serious about removing anyone who isn’t an LGBTQ+ womxn. The app also doesn’t allow nude photos, bullying, fake news, spamming, or cross posting. HER wants to promote love and foster relationships, so it goes to great lengths to describe in its community guidelines what is cool and what is absolutely unacceptable.

“We are all different shapes, sizes, colors, identities, and that’s pretty badass that we can share this space together,” the HER team says. “Treat people the way you want to be treated (as cheesy as it sounds, you know it’s true) and report those who aren’t following these guidelines in any way, shape or form.”

Grindr is the OG of the gay dating scene. This out-and-proud dating app launched in 2009 when gay marriage was still illegal in 45 U.S. states, and it was a pretty ballsy move if we’re honest. Grindr revolutionized the way gay singles meet one another (not to mention bisexual and trans men) by offering a private men-only chat room where you don’t have to rely on your gaydar to pick up dates.

Grindr currently has over 27 million members, and it sees over 3.8 million views per day.

From the beginning, Grindr focused on fostering friendship, romance, and love by using a person’s GPS location to generate a list of nearby profiles. A couple minutes of swiping is all it takes to match with someone special — or just someone local. If you’re on the prowl for a date, Grindr can put you in the center of the action and get you chatting with new friends in no time.

Are There Dating Apps for Teenagers?

Yes, the best dating platforms for teenagers are mobile-friendly and have companion apps to make the journey a little easier and more fun. We’ve already mentioned a few quality dating apps for young adult singles out there.

For example, Zoosk has created a lot of valuable connections by using behavioral matchmaking to identify true compatibility. You could meet a potential match in your age range by downloading this app on your mobile phone.

Zoosk isn’t the only dating app that caters to teenagers. If you’ve just moved to a big city and want to make new friends, then Happn could be your wingman. This dating app has over 80 million members and focuses on arranging matches between urban singles who cross paths frequently.

MyLOL is a free and teen-friendly dating website and app with over 300,000 members mixing and mingling. Phonies need not apply.

And, of course, there’s always Tinder for those lonely nights at home. This app invented swiping back in the day, and its endless profile list is oh-so tempting.

Is There a Dating App for Young Adults Under 18?

Yes, there’s a dating site for just about every type of person, so it shouldn’t take much searching to find a good one. If you’re looking for a mobile phone app that’s exclusively for teenagers, then Spotafriend could work for you.

This app is more about making new friends than arranging dates, but it basically copy-pasted Tinder’s setup, so you can definitely use this teen chat room to mingle with young adults like you.

Spotafriend has created over 112,000 matches in total, and it has over 1 million users in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, France, and Canada.

Can a Teen Under 18 Join Tinder?

No, Tinder does not allow users to swipe, chat, or mingle on the app if they are under 18. The dating app blocks all underage users until their 18th birthday has passed. Sorry, kid, but maybe a Tinder profile could be a fun birthday present to yourself when the time comes.

How Old is Bumble?

The Bumble dating service was founded in 2014, so it’s going into its sixth year now. It’s relatively young in the online dating scene and is still growing its reputation; however, it’s impressive that Bumble has managed to keep pace with more established dating sites, like Match.com and eharmony, which have been around for decades longer.

Bumble is a new-school dating app with a lot of heart and valuable matching tools — you just have to be over 18 to check it out. The age restriction may be a bummer for a high school kid, but there are plenty of alternative options in the teen dating scene.

Up Your Game on a Teen Dating Site

Look, there are good reasons and bad reasons to join a free online dating site for teenagers. If you’re having trouble meeting age-appropriate dates in your area, that’s a good reason to give online dating a try. If you’re just bored or want an ego boost, that’s a bad reason.

Online dating is only as good as your intentions. Local dating sites and apps can give young adults the opportunity to explore the dating scene in a safe and proactive way, but they can also lead to ghosting, catfishing, and awkward kissing, so be sure to vet a new person in the chat room before agreeing to meet up.

As a teenager, you may be eager to meet interesting people, make deep connections, and have a romantic adventure, and these teen chat and dating sites can be your wingman throughout it all. Have fun!