Single parents face unique challenges in the dating scene because they don’t just have to think about who’s right for them — they have to find a partner who is right for their kid(s) as well. That issue can be a dealbreaker on both sides of the equation.
When children are involved, it naturally raises the stakes of a serious relationship and makes single parents think a little more carefully before they agree to go out with a potential parter. If you want to find a date who will love you and your little ones, then a dating site for single parents is the place for you.
Thanks to these online dating sites, many couples have come together Brady-Bunch style and brought more love and laughter to their families.
Overall Best Dating Sites for Single Parents
In the last decade, many dating apps have sprung up to help adults connect with a great person without leaving home. Joining a virtual chat room is a convenient and affordable way to vet a dating partner and up your dating game.
A single mom or single dad can struggle to meet people in their everyday lives, but an online dating site can change everything and help them meet the right person to add to their family.
We recommend giving the following best dating sites for single parents a whirl the next time you want to start a romance with single parents like you.
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 »
Topping our list is Match, the longest-running dating site in existence. Since 1995, Match.com has been a pioneer in the online dating world, and it has been responsible for creating more relationships and marriages than any of its competitors.
“On the very day I was going to hide my profile, I receive a message that changed my life,” wrote a Match user in a success story.
Match.com uses a personality-driven matchmaking system to ensure people with similar backgrounds and lifestyles get together. The About Me section has drop-downs for religion, ethnicity, body type, and education, and it also has optional fields asking questions like “What is your relationship status?” and “Do you have children?” In a poll, nearly 45% of Match.com users said they have children.
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 »
EliteSingles is an upscale dating site where young professionals can mingle with one another and set up dates. Single parents can be selective and find high-quality partners here.
Available in 25 countries, the EliteSingles database takes pride in being a cut above the rest. Its members value getting in a relationship over hooking up. Approximately 85% of EliteSingles members have graduated from college, and over 90% are over 30 years old.
EliteSingles uses a smart algorithm to identify true compatibility while taking your dating dealbreakers into account. Every month, over 2,500 find love on EliteSingles, and you could be next if you play your cards right.
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 »
In 2000, a team of psychologists put their heads together to create a matchmaking system that would help singles find their perfect match. The team envisioned the eharmony dating site as a fast track to happy, healthy marriages, and they developed an extensive questionnaire that identifies compatibility in terms of family values, relationship goals, social habits, personality quirks, and other characteristics.
Today, eharmony continues to use a personality quiz to power its matches, and it has inspired over 2 million love connections and counting. Free members have a lot of communication options, including access to Icebreakers to kick off a private chat.
Over the last two decades, eharmony has helped many singles with children, including Pamela and Jim, who are now happily married. “Because the eharmony system encourages you to be open and honest about who you are and what you need in a relationship, I think it sets couples up for success,” Pamela said. “My children were so impressed with how this worked.”
4. Zoosk
Zoosk is a socially savvy dating site known for its diverse membership base and behavioral matchmaking system. Over 40 million singles in 80 countries have joined the network so far, and it's growing larger every day. The platform offers many different ways to communicate and express interest in members, so it's easy to form a fast connection here.
- Send messages to premium members for free
- Over 3 million messages sent a day
- Premium perks include photo verification and sending virtual gifts
- Browse Zoosk profiles 100% free »
As a social dating site, Zoosk has over 40 million users worldwide, and they’re quite a chatty bunch. The platform sees over 3 million messages exchanged on a daily basis, and many of these flirtatious online chats lead to real-life dates.
Zoosk highlights one dating profile at a time based on your match criteria and browsing habits, and you can choose to send a virtual flirt for free if you’re interested.
Whenever you like or view a dating profile, Zoosk records that information and starts recommending similar profiles to catch your eye. This behavioral matchmaking system is unique to Zoosk and has proven effective for singles who have a specific type. Single parents can use Zoosk to save themselves time and effort in the modern dating scene.
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 »
ChristianMingle is a popular Christian dating site where singles of all ages, orientations, and backgrounds are welcome. You don’t even have to be a baptized Christian to join the network. ChristianMingle is open to anyone interested in dating a Christian.
ChristianMingle has Discovery Preferences where singles can outline what their ideal partner looks like in terms of gender, age, distance from you, religion, and other advanced parameters. You can also disclose the type of relationship you want (a friend, an activity partner, a long-term relationship, marriage, marriage and kids), so your dates know what to expect before sending a first message.
ChristianMingle’s success stories are a testament to its life-changing services. “Today, I have a family, a husband, a friend, and a partner for life,” said Karla about her experience on ChristianMingle. “Kaleb took care of me with so much love and kindness. I felt safe and at home with him.”
Since its launch in 2002, BlackPeopleMeet has created an African American singles network that stretches across North America. This niche dating site has 1.5 million members who are attracted to Black and biracial people. It takes less than two minutes to create a full profile and start browsing through profiles sorted by age, location, and orientation.
- One of the largest Black singles networks in existence
- Straightforward search and matching features
- Use Tokens to appear higher in search results
- Browse BlackPeopleMeet profiles 100% free »
Since 2002, BlackPeopleMeet has become the #1 black dating site for singles in the U.S. and Canada. Its straightforward features and diverse community has appealed to black and biracial daters interested in making a match match.
BlackPeopleMeet may not be as large as a general dating site, but its niche membership has a lot to offer a single mom or single dad in the black community. Black singles can surround themselves with date prospects who look like them and connect based on shared perspectives and values.
“I really enjoy the fact that most of the people I have met are really nice,” said a user from Mobile, Alabama, in a testimonial. “They are mature-minded adults.”
7. OkCupid
In 2004, OkCupid's founders decided to create a fool-proof formula for love, and they launched a free dating site to delve into what personal attributes made relationships work. OkCupid members can send unlimited messages for free. It's easy to discover mutual interests and compatibility on the platform's information-rich dating profiles.
- Free, unlimited communication for everyone
- Singles can swipe or search for a compatible date
- Over 91 million connections every year
- Browse OkCupid profiles 100% free »
On a tight budget? Then OkCupid may be your best online dating option. Unlike many of its competitors, OkCupid offers unlimited free communication to everyone always, and it’s hard to get a better deal than that.
OkCupid requires users to establish a mutual match before engaging in a conversation, but anyone can send a first message along with a like to catch a single person’s eye.
OkCupid is a data-driven dating site and app, which means it collects a colossal amount of information about a user’s personality quirks, habits, ambitions, beliefs, and opinions, and it calculates compatibility based on who you are and what you want. Every year, OkCupid creates more than 91 million connections between singles of all backgrounds.
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 »
Plenty of Fish is a totally free dating site and app with over 150 million users in 20 countries, including the U.S. and the U.K. This major matchmaker is responsible for 57 million connections each week.
The biggest upside of Plenty of Fish is the fact that it’s completely free. You don’t have to pay a fee to send or receive messages here, and there’s no time limit on member-to-member communication.
The Plenty of Fish team closely monitors users to ensure everyone behaves with respect and authenticity. Single parents should note that any pictures of minors by themselves will be removed from the platform, and so will photos with graphic or sexually explicit content. POF does not allow members to put filters on photos either. To quote the POF Community Rules, “When you’re free to be yourself, the right people take notice. Let’s take a stand for genuineness.”
9. 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 »
Bumble made headlines in 2014 when it branded itself as the world’s first feminist dating app. A former Tinder executive named Whitney Wolfe Herd came up with the idea for Bumble, a dating app where women messaged men first, because she wanted to give single women the ability to control their online dating experiences.
Today, Bumble has taken a stand for a variety of progressive values — it banned photos of guns in 2018 after the Parkland shooting — and it has empowered singles to build relationships based on mutual respect.
According to a recent survey, 85% of Bumble users are looking for a serious commitment and only 1% of Bumble women in the survey said they want a hookup.
10. Tinder
In 2012, Tinder pioneered a swiping-based match system that empowered singles to connect with dates who liked them back. Tinder users can message their mutual matches for free on this fast-paced dating app. Since its launch, Tinder has created over 97 billion matches worldwide.
- Supports active daters in 190+ countries
- The swiping system creates over 12 million matches per day
- Tinder Plus members have unlimited likes and 5 Super Likes
- Browse Tinder profiles 100% free »
Tinder went viral in 2012 when it offered singles the power to control who showed up in their inboxes. By swiping on profiles, Tinder users can now ensure only people they’re interested in can get in touch.
Tinder has created over 30 billion matches so far, and it’s not slowing down. Tinder is a great place to flirt and see what happens. It’s a low-risk and low-pressure dating environment, and you don’t have to pay anything to communicate with your matches.
Single parents may think Tinder is just a superficial hookup app, but it’s actually inspired a good number of relationships as well. Every week, Tinder facilitates over 1 million dates worldwide, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to never run out of date prospects with this massively successful app in your pocket.
Best Senior Dating Sites for Single Parents
Single parents can sometimes feel nervous or insecure about dating, especially if they’re of a certain age. After being divorced or widowed, an older single person may feel their time for love has passed, but that’s not the case at all.
Many senior dating sites and apps can offer a parent a new beginning in the dating scene. Here are a few of our favorites:
11. SilverSingles
SilverSingles is serious about helping singles over 50 meet one another, and its network stretches across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The secure signup process includes profile verification and fraud detection, so new members must portray themselves accurately to gain access to the platform. By fostering a safe environment, SilverSingles helps men and women meet mature dates in their area.
- An exclusively senior membership base
- Over 800,000 monthly users worldwide
- App available for free on Google Play
- Browse SilverSingles profiles 100% free »
SilverSingles is a high-quality dating site designed to appeal to silver-haired seniors. The easy-to-understand features are perfect for a single mother or single father who has never joined a dating site before and wants to give it a try.
You can fill your SilverSingles profile with relevant information about your lifestyle, personality traits, hobbies, and values. The prompts include “What my partner should know about me,” “How I like to spend my free time,” and “How I describe myself.” You can talk about your children in these sections and let dates know how parenthood has impacted your life.
Another good feature for single parents is the fact that SilverSingles maintains a private atmosphere by blurring all profile pictures for anyone who’s a free member. You have to become a paid member if you want to view photos and send messages to a potential date or a potential partner.
SilverSingles can help a single parent meet a great person and pick up a potential date who doesn’t see having a child or being over 50 as a dating dealbreaker.
12. OurTime
OurTime is an over-50 dating site with a lot of helpful features to facilitate friendships and relationships. Senior singles can look for dates themselves using the search tools, or they can view a curated list of matches to find compatible folks. Singles can send likes, flirts, and faves for free, but they have to subscribe to send messages to their online crushes.
- Open to straight, gay, and lesbian singles over 50
- Free match recommendations and conversation starters
- Use Tokens to promote your profile and send virtual gifts
- Browse OurTime profiles 100% free »
Created by People Media, OurTime is a trustworthy dating platform geared toward the over-50 crowd. It’s free to join, and it’ll only take you a couple minutes to complete a dating profile.
OurTime profiles encourage single parents to disclose their marital status, how many children they have, and if those children live at home, but these fields are optional if you’d rather explain the situation in a private chat with a potential partner.
Each day, nearly 20,000 new members come on board and start matching with age-appropriate dates in their area. “I joined your site hoping I would meet that special man to become part of my life,” said an OurTime user, “and my dream came true.”
13. SeniorMatch
Since 2003, SeniorMatch has built its reputation as one of the world's leading senior dating sites. The site offers free communication and searches to help singles over 50 find companionship and love. If you're interested in a mature dating experience, this dating site can meet your needs.
- Doesn't allow members under 45
- Available as a dating app in Google Play
- Dating advice and safety tips shared by senior daters
- Browse SeniorMatch profiles 100% free »
Since 2003, SeniorMatch has given senior singles a place where they can find companionship and a sense of belonging. The dating website’s central message is “You don’t have to be alone,” and it is a reliable guide for single parents starting over.
SeniorMatch has over 1 million users of all backgrounds and orientations, and the online dating site has received over 36,000 success stories over the years. You can read our full review to learn more about SeniorMatch’s mission and user base.
From the search filters to the chat rooms, SeniorMatch never stops working on behalf of singles over 50, and it shouldn’t take long for you to meet a great person on this award-winning site.
Best LGBT Dating Sites for Single Parents
Today’s LGBTQ+ singles aren’t always in a hurry to settle down and have children. In a Match.com survey, only 52% of lesbian women and 36% of gay men said they wanted children, so it may be difficult for single parents to find a family-friendly date.
Thankfully, you can always use the following gay dating sites and apps to find a rainbow of dates who share similar mentalities and romantic outlooks.
14. MenNation
Since 1996, MenNation has connected over 93 million men around the globe. This men-only dating site measures its success by the number of conversations and dates it facilitates with its intuitive matching system. Gay men love having a site to call their own, and its helpful features keep members engaged and entertained as they look for a hot date.
- One of the largest gay hookup sites in the world
- Search filters for age, location, physical attributes, and more
- Available in 12 languages and counting
- Browse MenNation profiles 100% free »
As you can probably tell from its name, MenNation is an all-male dating site with a global reach. Hookups are the top priority here, so you’re more likely to run into a silver daddy than a potential father for your children.
MenNation is perfect for gay and bisexual men who want to blow off a little steam in their spare time. A single dad can browse the dating website anonymously and pick up dates without disclosing too much personal information. A lot of singles enjoy being a man of mystery and arranging one-night stands where no one expects a serious commitment.
If you’re too busy with dad life to sustain a relationship but you still have sexual needs, then MenNation could be the right adult space and chat room for you to come into your own.
15. LesbianPersonals
LesbianPersonals.com is powered by Friend Finder Networks, so it encompasses a vast network of sexually active women. The female-friendly dating site allows women, couples, and groups to create a profile and find online and offline romance. With over 2 million women in its community, LesbianPersonals is fast becoming one of the most popular lesbian dating sites around.
- Free membership includes viewing profiles and sending likes
- Exchange revealing photos and videos privately online
- Simple search filters by interests and appearance
- Browse LesbianPersonals profiles 100% free »
LesbianPersonals is a casual dating site for women of all orientations. It’s a fun, low-pressure dating pool where you can stay in the background and watch the X-rated action online or dive into a private chat with a potential date you find attractive.
LesbianPersonals is open to straight couples and single men seeking a woman to take to bed, so don’t be too shocked if a single mum or a lonely dad invites you to a threesome or an orgy.
Single parents don’t have to take the connections they make on LesbianPersonals too seriously because most of its members are looking for a quick lay or an erotic experience, not anything long term.
16. 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 »
HER has won over many womxn in the LGBTQ+ community by always putting the user first. This dating app was designed by lesbians for lesbians (bi, trans, and queer womxn are welcome too), and it has over 4 million members worldwide.
It’s free to download HER and create a profile by linking it to a valid social media account. All new members are required to sign up through a social media account because that’s how the HER team verifies that its users are real and not creepy dudes seeking threesomes.
The HER app fosters a mom-friendly space where a woman can find a potential match who shares similar interests and values.
HER promotes an active newsfeed where womxn can comment on photos, like someone’s story, or easily RSVP to local events. The supportive and friendly dating community is a breath of fresh air for single womxn, and it has inspired thousands of adorable #WeMetOnHER stories.
17. 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 »
Since its launch in 2009, Grindr has become one of the most notorious and successful dating apps for men in the gay dating pool. Grindr had over 27 million users as of 2017, and its location-based matching has fundamentally changed how gay men meet and arrange a first date.
Grindr uses a smartphone’s built-in GPS data to match singles with a single person who is in their immediate vicinity. Maybe they’re in the same bar or maybe they live across the street. Every match is a new adventure and an opportunity to connect on a physical or emotional level.
Although Grindr has the reputation of a hookup app, some gay men say they met their boyfriends or husbands because they matched on Grindr. It’s possible to find a relationship on Grindr, especially if you’re clear in your dating profile that’s what you want.
Which Dating Site is Completely Free?
When it comes to free, OkCupid is the best in the dating world. It offers free communication, free compatibility scores, and free search filters to help singles find their perfect match.
OkCupid facilitates over 50,000 first dates in the average week, and you don’t have to pay anything to chat with single parents and go on a great first date of your own.
OkCupid inspires dates and relationships by identifying specific areas of compatibility. The dating site and app has an endless questionnaire that allows single men to express who they are and what matters to them. OkCupid uses this treasure trove of information to generate highly accurate match recommendations and compatibility ratings.
- Men can leave a message to anyone they fancy
- A sophisticated match algorithm developed by Harvard math majors
- The site and app facilitate over 50,000 dates every week
- Browse OkCupid profiles 100% free »
OkCupid’s free membership never expires and can give a single parent everything they need to land a hot first date. However, some singles may want to upgrade their experience with A-List features. An OkCupid A-List subscription can give you a head start in the dating game. For one thing, you’ll appear higher in search results and match suggestions, and you can also see who’s liked and viewed your profile.
What is the Best Dating Site for Serious Relationships?
From the beginning, eharmony set itself apart as a serious dating site on a mission to strengthen marriages by ensuring the right people found one another.
As a single parent, you shouldn’t have to settle for a less-than-ideal partner, and eharmony goes to great lengths to exceed expectations and deliver smart matches to your inbox.
It may take some time to fill out eharmony's personality test, but the results are well worth it. This dating site goes the extra mile to get to know its members and deliver quality matches to their inboxes. Every profile has a compatibility rating to let you know your essential similarities and differences. Plus eharmony has inspired more than 2 million love connections since 2000.
- Designed to satisfy marriage-minded single women
- In-depth compatibility quiz generates high-quality matches
- Personalized Match Preferences on gender, age, income, religion, education, and more
- Browse eharmony profiles 100% free »
Thanks to its psychologically sound matchmaking, eharmony boasts being the dating site where singles are most likely to find a serious relationship. The online dating site sparks a new love connection every 14 minutes, and you could be next.
If you want to find a good person to be a mom or dad to your child, then eharmony is one of the best places you could be because its personality test can identify true compatibility and quality in a potential match.
What Percentage of Single Parents are Female?
According to census data, approximately 80% of single-parent families are led by single mothers, and 40% of all babies born in the U.S. are born to single mothers.
That being said, single fatherhood is on the rise in the United States. In the 1960s, only 1% of American children lived with a single father. In 2017, that number jumped to 4.35%. However, it’s still more common for children of divorce and babies born out of wedlock to live with their mom rather than their dad.
If you’re a single mom in the dating pool, you’re not alone, and your child won’t hold you back from building a serious relationship.
Are Single Fathers Better Than Single Mothers?
No, of course not! I know some positively kick-ass single mothers who are great at running their households, raising their children, and bringing home the bacon. Some of them planned to have children on their own, while others had to adapt to challenges life threw at them. Still, they’re just as capable as single fathers.
Single parents have to be hands-on with their children, and that often comes naturally to women who were raised with a caretaker’s mentality.
Single mothers can be just as loving, attentive, and devoted to their children as single fathers.
The only thing we could find that a single father does better than a single mother is make money. A Pew Research Center survey found that single fathers are better off financially than single mothers — the average single father with two children brings in $40,000 annually, while the average single mother with two children brings in $26,000.
Single Parents Can Make a Fresh Start Online
For the single parent, dating isn’t just about finding a boyfriend or girlfriend, it’s about finding a new father figure or mother figure for children from a prior relationship. That is a big responsibility, but it’s not impossible thanks to today’s dating resources.
We’ve listed several dating sites and apps that can help boost your confidence and find a loving single parent who fits into your family seamlessly. It doesn’t cost anything to join the dating game on a site or app and create a fun dating profile that expresses everything you have to offer. As long as you are careful, considerate, and kind, you should have a great online dating experience. Good luck!
