8 Best LGBTQ+ Dating Sites & Apps (2024)

LGBTQ+ dating sites and apps have done wonders for the dating world by making a rainbow of romantic options available to anyone with an internet connection or smartphone.

A 2019 survey found that American singles who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual are more likely to online date than their straight counterparts (55% vs. 28%), and they are also more likely to meet a romantic partner online. A solid 21% of LGB singles said they had gotten into a relationship or gotten married because of a dating site or app.

Singles of all orientations and gender identities can try online dating to meet like-minded people all across the spectrum of sexuality. We’ve put together a list of the most inclusive and popular dating platforms to help individuals flirt and date in the LGBTQ+ community.

Best Overall LGBTQ+ Dating Sites & Apps

No matter what your sexual orientation is, online dating is a great way to broaden your romantic horizons and meet people who share similar interests, values, and backgrounds. But, unfortunately, not all dating sites and apps facilitate same-sex matching or support non-binary daters, so it’s best to get the facts before filling out a dating profile.

Here’s a breakdown of the top dating sites and apps for LGBTQ+ singles.

Match is an online dating site geared toward serious relationship seekers. Its Dallas-based team has spent the last 25 years fine-tuning a match algorithm that works for people of all ages, backgrounds, and orientations.

The Match profile is full of good information about who you are and what you’re looking for in a potential partner. The online dating site and app ask questions like “what’s your level of education” and “how many times per week do you exercise?” and then uses that data to recommend compatible matches.

In addition to serving straight adults, Match helps gay and lesbian singles can find app users who meets their standards, and they can even send messages for free if that person happens to be in their Top Pick list.

Elite Singles raises the bar in the online dating scene by giving single professionals a place where they can make a quality match. This premium dating site and app uses a five-factor personality test to introduce highly compatible couples.

The biggest selling point of Elite Singles is its elite dating pool. Over 90% of Elite Singles users are over 30 years old, and over 82% have graduated from college.

While it’s free to complete a dating profile and search for matches on Elite Singles, only premium members can view photos and send messages on this prestigious platform. That means LGBTQ+ singles don’t have to worry about spammers and creeps showing up in their inbox.

In 2007, Zoosk gave online dating an upgrade by integrating social media features into the experience. The dating platform’s newsfeed, virtual gifting, and token system offer an engaging change of pace for LGBTQ+ singles who are tired of traditional swiping apps and want a meaningful connection.

Zoosk is a popular place to mingle, chat, and fall in love. The dating site has over 40 million members worldwide, and it sees over 3 million messages exchanged per day.

Online daters can read our full review to learn more about the ins and outs of Zoosk, but the bottom line is it offers a streamlined system to take singles of every sexual identity from matching to chatting to IRL dating in no time at all.

BlackPeopleMeet is a niche dating site and app for Black singles seeking a diverse setting to pick up a date. This platform can facilitate Black relationships as well as interracial relationships and long-distance friendships.

As a People Media site, BlackPeopleMeet has an extensive reach in the American and Canadian dating scene, and it supports online daters who have particular dating preferences and relationship goals. BlackPeopleMeet is open to people of all racial backgrounds, but its primary focus is on helping singles date within the African American community.

Since its launch in 2004, OkCupid has become one of the most popular and inclusive dating networks in the world. OkCupid stands out because its open-ended profile setup embraces non-binary dating, polyamorous dating, and I’m-not-sure-what-I-want dating.

In 2014, OkCupid added 22 gender options and 12 sexual orientation options to its registration process. Online daters can also supply their pronouns, set their relationship style as non-monogamous, and answer thousands of match questions to let potential matches know where they stand.

OkCupid has taken a broad, make-it-your-own approach to online dating, and its lengthy profiles provide plenty of information to help with the swiping and matching process. Every year, OkCupid is responsible for creating over 91 million matches that lead to all types of friendships and relationships.

HER is one of the few lesbian dating apps that was created by a lesbian woman. Robyn Exton was tired of trying to find the proverbial lesbian needle in the haystack on mainstream dating apps, so she designed a space exclusively for women in the LGBTQ+ community.

The HER app has over 10 million members worldwide, and all of them identify as female. This is the best dating app for a lesbian, bisexual, or queer woman seeking LGBTQ users.

HER uses Facebook verification to make sure no man slips past its radar. Straight online daters seeking threesomes not welcome in this user base. A queer woman can rest easy knowing that all posts, events, and messages on the HER dating app have been made by women seeking meaningful connections.

HER has been remarkably successful at pairing up women who vibe with each other. You can look up #WeMetOnHER on social media to hear about some of its sweetest queer love stories.

MenNation is exactly what it sounds like — an adult dating site for men only. For over 20 years, it has carved out a safe space where men don’t have to be shy about coming out of the closet and soliciting sex.

Guys tend to move pretty fast on MenNation. They can use the gay dating website’s search and chat tools to seek sexual relations with local men, and they can also stimulate their desire by watching strip tease videos and livestreams. This gay hookup site can help gay singles and couples spice up their sex life, and it doesn’t cost anything to join the fun.

For the last 25 years, LesbianPersonals has cemented its place as a casual dating site for lesbian women looking to get laid. It has millions of users in its database and inspires a lot of adult activity, if you know what I mean.

LesbianPersonals has registration options for single women, lesbian couples, straight couples, and polyamorous groups. Basically, anyone interested in a sexual encounter with a woman is welcome to create a personal ad and see what’s out there.

Hookup sites like LesbianPersonals can liberate women to follow their desires and fetishes. The lesbian dating app allows LGBTQ individuals to flirt in a private and sex-positive forum where they won’t be judged for seeking lesbian sex.

Grindr made waves in 2009 as the first gay dating app to use a smartphone’s location data to create instant matches. That technology has evolved over time into the hot-or-not swiping system gay men know and love today.

It’s hard to beat Grindr in terms of popularity and reputation among GBT men. More than 29 million men have joined the Grindr user base in the last decade, and the dating app sees nearly 4 million views per day.

Grindr is undoubtedly one of the most popular gay dating apps, particularly among casual daters, and it’s common to see men in a gay club whip out their phones to see who’s single and in their immediate vicinity.

Plenty of Fish is a free dating app that encourages singles to chat and flirt as much as they like. No mutual match or subscription required.

The POF community welcomes single people of every age, race, sexual orientation, and background. Whether you’re interested in queer dating or casual chatting, Plenty of Fish will recommend a potential match based on your set criteria.

The dating platform has over 150 million members total and reaches 20 countries in North America and Europe. Every week, the Plenty of Fish platform creates about 57 million matches,

Like it or not, Tinder has fundamentally changed the dating scene by giving singles the power to swipe on potential matches whenever they’re feeling flirty, horny, or bored. Since 2012, Tinder has created over 60 billion matches, and over 80 million of those matches were between queer and non-binary folks.

Tinder is the go-to hookup app for a new generation of online daters. About 50% of Tinder users are under 25 years old, and most of them aren’t in a big hurry to settle down. Tinder’s swiping tools allow modern singles to play the field, figure out what they want, and let romance build one message at a time.

Tinder has nine sexual orientation options and 37 gender identity options available on every dating profile. That means a queer person can live their best dating life and connect with a potential partner who embraces rainbow dating.

In 2014, Bumble became the first online dating app to literally put single women first. It gave women the power to send the first message to a man and thereby upend traditional gender roles in the dating world.

The Bumble app’s women-first feature has been revolutionary for heterosexual relationships, but it’s not just a straight person’s app. Singles seeking same-sex relationships can find dating opportunities here as well. Bumble maintains a respectful and progressive atmosphere that embraces members of the LGBTQ community.

Bumble traditionally celebrates Pride Month in June by raising money for the Trevor Project, a nonprofit that provides crisis intervention for LGBTQ youth. “Bumble wants to make sure everyone feels safe and supported,” the team said. “Both within our platform and in their real-life communities.”

Christian Mingle launched in 2001 as a dating website for straight Christian men and women, and then in 2016 it expanded to welcome LGBTQ+ singles as well. Now the dating network includes over 15 million people from all walks of life.

You do not have to choose a sexual orientation to flirt on Christian Mingle. Instead, you can identify as seeking men, seeking women, or seeking men and woman. And you can change from one to the other at any time with no questions asked. The Christian Mingle team judge not while maintaining a safe and faith-driven dating space.

Christian Mingle can guide gay, lesbian, and bisexual singles to a wholesome Christian date, and many Christian marriages have resulted from its matchmaking algorithm.

Best Senior LGBTQ+ Dating Sites & Apps

American attitudes regarding LGBT rights have radically changed in the last three decades, and that has been good news for many people who have waited a long time for their relationships and lifestyles to gain acceptance.

Many LGBTQ singles over 50 have only recently come out of the closet or entered the dating app scene, so it’s pretty common for them to seek advice to steer them in the right direction. We’ve ranked and reviewed some of the top senior dating sites for gay singles to show our support for older adults in the LGBTQ community.

SilverSingles is a premier dating site and app dedicated to serving the over-50 community. The platform’s gay dating and lesbian dating options make it easy to focus your attention on viable dates in your age range.

Signing up to SilverSingles is a simple matter of answering a few basic questions about yourself, providing a valid email address, and uploading a photo that clearly shows your face. That last step is optional, but dating profiles with photos tend to receive five times more likes and messages on SilverSingles.

Our SilverSingles review goes into greater detail about the matchmaking process, subscription prices, and member statistics involved in this dating site, and you can also learn more about what it has to offer lesbian and gay members.

As an online dating site for seniors, OurTime has offered a ray of hope to singles who are divorced, widowed, or never married. These folks may not have had much luck in the love department in the past, but OurTime gives them the chance to have a fresh start and meet new people.

OurTime puts safety first and provides step-by-step instructions throughout the online dating process to ensure seniors have a good experience. Plus, OurTime recently released an Android dating app that allows seniors to mingle from their phones anytime they like.

With its free matching and messaging options, OurTime can help gay seniors and lesbian seniors build meaningful connections with singles their own age.

An LGBT person over 50 can rely on SeniorMatch to put their interests first and provide easy access to realistic date prospects. This senior dating site has over 1 million members and sees thousands of daily active users.

SeniorMatch uses a refined match algorithm to introduce like-minded folks online. If a senior single indicates that he or she is seeking a same-sex relationship, then the dating website will highlight the profiles of LGBT singles.

Since its launch in 2003, SeniorMatch has sparked many friendships and relationships in the senior community. The team has published 36,600 success stories so far, and a good chunk of those came from gay and lesbian daters.

Best LGBTQ+ Hookup Sites & Apps

Same-sex marriage is legal in 29 countries and counting, but that doesn’t mean all LGBT singles are ready to take that step. Some people are content to play the field and have sex without making a huge commitment. That’s what hookup sites and apps are for.

Ashley Madison is a married dating site that was designed to facilitate affairs and no-strings-attached sex. Its motto is “Life is short. Have an affair,” and that basically sets the tone for the anonymous flirtations that go on here.

Despite its controversial premise, Ashley Madison is undeniably popular among sexually active adults. Since 2001, Ashley Madison has attracted more than 60 million registered users, and it adds nearly 150,000 new users per week.

Ashley Madison users know what they want, and they’re typically not shy about expressing their desires. In a members-only survey, about 61% of users said they’re looking for sex and 76% said having an affair was the only way to meet their sexual needs.

BeNaughty supports a female-friendly hookup site where singles are down for just about anything. A free membership gives you access to a world of chat options and sexy profiles in your area.

It doesn’t cost anything to start sexting with a stranger on BeNaughty. A single woman can send unlimited texts for free through the site or app. However, single men are kept on a tighter leash and only have the ability to send five free messages per day.

If you’re in a hurry to make a match, you can swipe through photos in the Like Gallery and show queer folks that you’re interested in some low-key flirting.

Adult Friend Finder has a truly massive singles database that includes straight people, gay people, queer people, trans people, and everyone in between. This sex-positive dating website has been around since 1996 and has seen over 102 million online registrations.

When setting up an AFF account, a gay man can identify as looking for men, couples, or transgender folks, and he doesn’t have to provide a real name or picture of his face to complete his dating profile.

Members of Adult Friend Finder have access to instant messaging, erotic blogs, discussion groups, live webcams, and other adults-only spaces, so connecting with sexually active LGBTQ singles shouldn’t take very long at all.

All women chat for free on Flirt.com, so it’s a great place to pick up a lady date. Lesbian singles can flirt on this hookup site without paying any subscription fees.

Casual daters have flocked to Flirt.com to explore local date options and find willing sexual partners. The site’s open-ended communication allows them to proposition anyone they want — no mutual matching required — so they don’t have to hold anything back.

The only downside to using Flirt.com as a lesbian is that you don’t have filtering options to keep horny men from sending you messages. But you can block their dating profile after giving them a decided “No thanks, bro.”

FriendFinder-X can help LGBTQ people find local dates and arrange steamy encounters without exchanging names or phone numbers. This anonymous hookup site welcomes singles, couples, and groups of all sexual orientations. It even has profile options for transgender, transsexual, and transvestite daters.

The local sex site creates intimacy with its one-on-one chats, and it allows users to exchange photos and video chat to turn up the heat. It’s completely free to set up a gay personal ad on FriendFinder-X and use the location-based searches to meet sexy folks in your area.

What Does “LGBTQ+” Stand For?

LGBTQ+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and more. The plus sign acknowledges that not everyone fits neatly into one of five letters, but they still belong in the LGBTQ+ community. Whether you’re nonbinary or asexual, the term LGBTQ+ can apply to you.

LGBTQ+ is an inclusive term that refers to anyone who doesn’t fall into the straight and cisgender category. This community has changed its lettering over the years, going from LGBT to LGBTQIA, but it is now widely accepted that LGBTQ+ is the acronym that is going to stick.

How Do LGBTQ+ Dating Sites & Apps Work?

The first step to joining a dating site or app is to create a dating profile. Sometimes this requires you to link to Facebook, receive a verification code through text or email, or complete a personality test. At the bare minimum, it will require you to fill in your age, gender, sexual orientation, and location. You’ll probably also have to upload an approved profile picture.

Gay dating sites and lesbian dating apps often provide an open-ended section where singles can explain who they are and what they’re looking for in the dating scene.

Once your profile is complete, you can start your search for local dates by either reviewing suggested matches or using search tools. It’s standard to see search filters based on age, distance radius, and appearance, but some platforms go further with options for education, religion, race, smoking habits, and other characteristics.

Is It Safe to Use an LGBTQ+ Dating Site or App?

Yes, it’s perfectly safe to meet gay, lesbian, and queer folks on a dating site or app. You just have to take precautions such as always arranging a first date in a public place to make sure you’re not putting yourself in a vulnerable position.

Online daters can look out for their safety by vetting date prospects. Before agreeing to a first date, it’s a good idea to set up a video call or do a quick search on Facebook, LinkedIn, or another social media site. That way, you can avoid being catfished or scammed.

Dating platforms have blocking tools to help you rid your inbox of creeps, jerks, and phonies. Plus, you can report suspicious activity and fake profiles directly on the dating platform to get unsavory characters removed from the database.

How Do I Choose the Best LGBTQ+ Dating Site or App?

Today’s LGBTQ singles have a ton of options in the online dating world. They can choose a serious dating site like Match.com to make their relationship dreams come true, or they can join a hookup site like Adult Friend Finder to live out their sexual fantasies. There is a dating site for just about every type of single person, and choosing the right one for you is simple as long as you know who you are and what you want.

We’ve listed some of the top choices for gay singles, lesbian singles, senior singles, and casual daters, and left it up to you to pick the best of the best.

Are There Any Free LGBTQ+ Dating Sites or Apps?

Yes, plenty of dating sites and apps offer a free membership deal that includes LGBTQ matching and chatting. It’s not necessary to pay for your online dating experience if you know where to go.

Lesbians on a budget can download HER for free and start messaging with their matches as soon as their profile is approved. The HER app has a Premium Membership option that adds more search filters and matching tools, but women don’t have to upgrade to get the basic swiping and chatting features.

Grindr is a great free dating app for gay men, bisexual men, and other male-identifying singles seeking a romantic partner. It’s completely free to download the app and chat with other members in your area. The only reason for a gay man to upgrade to a paid subscription is to get premium features and an ad-free browsing experience.

Much like HER, Grindr has a premium option available for a monthly fee. Grindr Xtra gives users the freedom to view more profiles, join more tribes, add a PIN to lock the app, send saved chat phrases, and generally get a more premium experience on the app. However, free members can still pick up dates without joining Grindr Xtra — they’ll just see more ads along the way.

Can You Search for Dates By Sexual Orientation & Gender?

Not all dating sites offer search filters by sexual orientation and gender identity, and if they do, you may have limited options available. A lot of mainstream dating sites and apps stick to binary gender options (male or female) and that can be tricky for nonbinary and transgender singles to navigate.

If you want to break out of the binary box and search for queer folks, then OkCupid is your best bet. This dating platform has a ton of search filters, swiping lists, and sorting options available to help singles find someone who is exactly their type.

Is eharmony Open to Gay & Lesbian Singles?

Yes, eharmony has matchmaking options for men seeking men and women seeking women. That is a relatively recent development, though, and it’s important for LGBTQ+ singles to know the company’s history with homophobia.

When eharmony launched in 2000, it catered exclusively to straight singles interested in marriage. And it received a lot of criticism (and lawsuits) from LGBT activists who slowly but surely pushed it to becoming more inclusive.

An evangelical Christian named Dr. Neil Clark Warren created the eharmony dating website to strengthen marriage in the U.S., and he justified the straight-only policy by saying that gay relationships are different from straight relationships and therefore couldn’t be matched using the same algorithm.

In 2016, Dr. Neil Clark Warren left eharmony and retired at age 81. Under its new leadership, eharmony has made significant changes to its match system and messaging.

Over the last few years, eharmony has evolved to champion love in all its forms. The online dating site is now open to same-sex matching as well as opposite-sex matching, but — surprise, surprise — not many gay and lesbian singles have signed up.

Today’s LGBTQ+ Singles Have More Options Than Ever Before

LGBTQ+ singles have embraced online dating because it allows them to be themselves and pick up dates in total privacy. They don’t have to come out of the closet or use their gaydar to find compatible matches on an app or site.

Whether you’re gay, lesbian, trans, queer, or nonbinary, online dating can make your local date options abundantly clear and give you the space you need to explore your sexuality. All it takes is a free membership to dip your toe in a diverse and inclusive dating pool. If all goes well, you could end up falling in love thanks to one of the LGBTQ+ dating sites or apps on this list. Best of luck!