Best dating sites

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Mike Sorrentino/CNET

It’s never been easy to find a partner, and challenges from  has made dating even more complicated. Luckily, even if you’re not getting out as much as you used to, online dating sites and  can help you make connections that lead to a long-term relationship (or even a fun fling!). Yes,  is a wonderful thing.But where to start? There are lots of good dating websites and apps, whether you’re looking to meet new people, try casual dating, find others with similar interests or finally find your ideal match for a long term relationship. I took into consideration everything from each online dating service’s dating pool to whether it provides daily matches to whether it’s a free dating app or a paid service. A new person that fits your exact dating profile is sure to be out there!Here’s an overview of the  on the market. My recommendations are based primarily on my own experiences in the online dating platform arena as a woman, with some word-of-mouth impressions from friends thrown in for good measure. So what are you waiting for? Sign up for these top dating sites or apps, start chatting and maximize your chances of meeting your perfect match. We’ll update this list periodically.

The best dating sites

Best for confident women

Best for quick and easy hookups

Best free dating site

Best for serious relationship seekers

Best for breaking the silence

Best for missed connections

Best for people with high standards

Best for lesbian, bisexual and queer women

Best for confirming a date

Best for conversations

Best for someone with money to spend

Best for marriage seekers

is basically Tinder for women… and on a timer. Bumble is a free dating app that requires women to message first. If the guy doesn’t message back within 24 hours, he loses the potential dates. Because that’s the one thing my love life was really missing: Arbitrary time limits.The timer is designed to encourage contact and some people really do appreciate that feature. But if you’re someone who procrastinates, Bumble may not be for you. Because women must message first, Bumble tends to weed out the more insecure males from the dating pool. However, the rate of overly confident men tends to be higher than I’ve seen on other apps. Bumble also has a BFF feature to help you meet new people, but that’s really not our focus, so I’ll save it for another time. 

Whether you’re looking for a casual hookup, potential date, friendship or an LTR (long term relationship),  has you covered. It’s basically the first stop for those entering the dating world. If you want to play the odds when it comes to online dating, you need to be swiping where everyone’s swiping.On the upside, the profiles are brief, which helps you to make decisions quickly. The downside is that a short dating profile makes it harder to figure out what a lot of people are looking for. Knowing very little about a person can also make initial messaging a lot more challenging. You’ll need to wade through a sea of profiles, which makes it easy to pass over people you might have given a chance under different circumstances. 

, how you confuse me. I have friends who’ve met their ideal match and even spouses through OkCupid. My last serious relationship came from the OkCupid dating service. In fact, I’ve been on OkCupid on and off, for roughly the last 11 years. Profiles are a lot more in-depth than most online dating sites and if you answer a seemingly endless series of questions (much like a personality test), they will spit out a reasonable Match/Enemy percentage ratio on profiles to help you gauge compatibility based on interests.Changes in the last few years have made OkCupid a bit more like Tinder (both owned by the same company), focusing more on swiping and eliminating the ability to message a user without matching with them first. Online daters can still send a message — it just won’t show up in the recipient’s inbox unless you match. Because who doesn’t enjoy sending a thoughtful message to someone who might never see it? However, OkCupid has pointed out that these changes did help  and fake profiles people