The best dating sites and apps for over 40s

Match is one of the most popular dating sites out there — and for good reason. With 25 years to perfect the process, Match is responsible for successful relationships in 24 countries all over the world.

You can expect that people on the site are going to be pretty serious about finding a partner considering Match subscriptions aren't cheap. Generally, people aren't going to be paying big to just mess around and not take it seriously.

Your profile can have up to 26 photos and you're able to select preferences for the type of person you're looking for. Write a bio, answer some questions about yourself, and select qualities you want (or don't want) in a partner and specify how important they are. Setting up your profile takes a little bit of time, but it's not some horribly lengthy process.

Match shows you one profile at a time and you decide if you want to match with them or skip. You are presented with actual information about the person, so matching is less based on looks and involves more thought about personality. Match recognises your matching patterns and uses them to give you even better potential partners the more you use the site. Communication takes place over Match's privacy-centric messaging system until you decide you want to give out personal information.

If you don't find someone within six months, Match will give you six months for free. That's how much the service believes in its match-making abilities. 

With more than 20 years in the game, eharmony is a solid starting place for people over 40 who are looking for a committed relationship. If marriage is in your plan, this is the site for you.

When you sign up for the site you'll have to take a compatibility quiz that is honestly quite a big deal. It consists of 80 questions and takes about 20 minutes to complete. It will hopefully lead to really personalised and compatible matches, though.

eharmony does have a more conservative background and used to only allow heterosexual couples. Now you can select same-sex matching and you won't be bombarded with questions about your spirituality, though there is a chance for you to select your religious alignment. Unfortunately, you can only choose one gender you're interested in, so there's still some room for improvement on the inclusivity front.

The free version of eharmony lets you receive and view matches, see compatibility details, send smiles and icebreakers, and favourite your matches. If you want to send custom messages and see everyone who's viewed your profile, you'll have to purchase a membership. 

Hinge is super popular with millennials because it's a nice sweet spot where you can swipe on people you find attractive, but there isn't pressure of it being a hookup app like Tinder. If you're on the younger side of the over 40 crowd, Hinge will probably work for you. That is not to say that someone on the older side can't have luck too, though.

Hinge profiles utilise prompts and personal information so you can get a holistic feel for who people are. Matches begin with someone liking or commenting on a specific part of your profile, so conversation is easier to get started.

The app learns who you like and follows up to see how dates went in order to provide better recommendations in the future. Hinge prides itself on being a dating app that's "designed to be deleted." That means the creators want to get you off the app and into a happy, healthy relationship.

With the free version you can send 10 likes per day. Because the number is limited, you have to be more thoughtful about who you like if you're not paying, which will hopefully lead to more compatible matches. You will see when someone has liked you, so you aren't left guessing or wondering. 

Read our full review of AdultFriendFinder.

There's a mutual understanding that if you're on EliteSingles, you're a working or retired professional looking to meet other professionals with similar interests. The site caters to a more mature audience, with more than 90% of users being 30 or older with higher education.

To begin, you'll take a personality test and then you'll start receiving three to seven daily matches based on your test and preferences you set yourself. You even have the option to filter by profession if that's important to you. EliteSingles has a few different ways to find potential matches to make sure you're truly able to find someone you'll click with.

This is one of the pricier dating sites out there, but on the bright side, you can bet that the people who are paying for the service are pretty damn serious about finding a relationship. Fake and scam accounts are super minimal as EliteSingles manually verifies every profile with a fraud detection system.

EliteSingles does have a slight air of arrogance about it with such a heavy focus of the number of users with a Bachelor's Degree or higher — or as EliteSingles puts it "above average education." If finding someone educated with a good career is a top priority for you, though, this is where you'll find the most concentrated population of that demographic. 

SilverSingles is a dating site exclusively for people aged 50 or older, but don't get turned off by it's name. You are still young and hip, we promise. 

This site is great because of its age requirements. You'll be in a community of people your age who will hopefully be at your maturity level. After signing up, you'll take a personality test that will be used to match you with compatible singles. The app shows you three to seven new matches every day.

The personality test is a bit lengthy and will take some time to fill out, but that gives SilverSingles more ammo to find you someone who is truly compatible. You're able to select that you're looking for a same-sex match, but if you're interested in both men and women, you can't choose to get matches from both genders.

Tinder might seem like the last place to find a date if you're over 40. It's known for being a hookup app for younger people, but lots of older daters have had success with Tinder. So, it is not hopeless.

Tinder boasts that it sparks more than 26 million matches per day. It's the original swiping app, showing you profiles that you can either swipe right to like or left to pass. If you and another user both swipe right on each other, it's a match and you're free to message each other.

Profiles are pretty basic with just some photos and a bio, so it's easy to see why Tinder isn't immediately recognised as a serious relationship matchmaker. That said, it's definitely still possible to find people who aren't just looking to hook up. It's also pretty easy to find someone who is looking to hook up if that's what you're looking for. Do what you want and live your life.

The app has two paid tiers: Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold. Plus gives you unlimited likes, five super likes a day, one boost a month, removes ads, and lets you backtrack on your last swipe if you accidentally swiped left on someone you were interested in. Tinder Gold has all of these features plus you can see who likes you before you have to swipe on them and you get top picks every day from your most swipe-worthy potential matches. 

The disappointing thing about Tinder is that these premium features cost more for users over 30.

On Bumble, women make the first move, which is great if you're a shy man or an outgoing woman.

Bumble has a pretty laid back environment and profiles feature a quippy bio that you write. You won't have to take a super long compatibility quiz to get started.

Both people will have to swipe right on each other for it to be a match, and from there, the woman (in straight pairings) will have to initiate things. Matches expire after 24 hours, which is supposed to encourage people to actually start conversations instead of just sitting on a queue full of people waiting.

Other than the fact the women have to make the first move, Bumble is a pretty close mock of Tinder. You upload photos and write a bio, see profiles of potential matches in your area, and swipe right if you're interested and left if you're not.

Bumble also has services for finding friends and professional connections in addition to its dating function. You can build all sorts of relationships with Bumble. You came here for dating, though, so we won't get too into these parts of the app.