In May 2023, Tinder reached 2.5 million people in the UK. Two years later it was down to 1.5 million, and Hinge had drawn level with it. Ofcom’s Online Nation 2025 report, which uses Ipsos iris audience data, put both apps at 3.1% of UK online adults in May 2025. The more striking detail is who left. Tinder’s female audience in Britain almost halved in a year, from 735,000 to 384,000, and men now outnumber women on the app three to one.
Online dating has not shrunk overall. About 11% of UK online adults visited a dating service in May 2025, roughly the level of the previous three years, Ofcom found. What has changed is where they go, and what they are willing to pay for when they get there.
This guide ranks the ten services we consider the best dating apps for UK users in 2026, with British audience figures where Ofcom measures them, UK App Store ratings and prices in pounds. For our global ranking, see the best dating apps pillar.
Best dating apps in the UK: our quick picks
- Best overall: Hinge. Level with Tinder for reach and well ahead of it among women.
- Best for safety: Bumble. Photo and ID verification, explicit-image blurring and scam detection, all free.
- Biggest choice: Tinder. Still joint top for UK reach, with face checks now compulsory for new sign-ups.
- Best for over-30s: Match. Moderated profiles, Zen Mode and real-world evenings.
- Best for marriage: eharmony for most people, Muzz for Muslim singles.
- Best for over-50s: Ourtime.
- Best for couples and non-monogamy: Feeld.
UK dating apps compared: scores, ratings and prices in pounds
UK audience figures are Ofcom’s for May 2025, where the regulator reports them. Ratings and prices are from the UK App Store on 19 October 2026. Apple does not say which duration most prices cover, so read them as the lowest listed entry point.
| App | Best for | Our score | Store rating (UK App Store, 19 Oct 2026) | Free version | Paid from | UK audience (Ofcom, May 2025) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hinge | Relationships | 9.3 | 4.3 (197k ratings) | Yes | £12.99 | 1.5m |
| Bumble | Safety | 9.0 | 4.2 (268k ratings) | Yes | £2.49 | 1.1m |
| Tinder | Widest choice | 8.8 | 4.2 (274k ratings) | Yes | £3.99 | 1.5m |
| Match | Over-30s | 8.7 | 3.8 (41k ratings) | Yes | £19.99 a week | 0.2m |
| eharmony | Long-term love | 8.6 | 3.8 (5.5k ratings) | Yes, limited | £44.99 | Not reported |
| Feeld | Non-monogamy | 8.3 | 4.0 (22k ratings) | Yes | £19.99 for 30 days | Not reported |
| Grindr | Queer men | 8.2 | 4.3 (56k ratings) | Yes, with ads | £9.99 | 0.9m |
| Muzz | Muslim marriage | 8.2 | 4.4 (40k ratings) | Yes | £14.99 | Not reported |
| Plenty of Fish | Free messaging | 7.9 | 4.1 (275k ratings) | Yes, with ads | £19.99 a week | 0.4m |
| Ourtime | Over-50s | 7.6 | 3.9 (9.2k ratings) | Yes, limited | £19.99 a week | 0.3m |
Hinge: the UK’s best dating app for something serious
Hinge is our top pick for Britain, and Ofcom’s numbers explain why it is pulling away. Its UK audience grew by 0.2 million in the year to May 2025, to 1.5 million, while Tinder’s shrank. It also reached 2.7% of women online, ahead of both Tinder (1.5%) and Bumble (1.6%). Back in May 2024, it was the only top-ten service where women outnumbered men, according to Ofcom’s February 2025 analysis.
The mechanics are what keep people. “Every match begins by someone liking or commenting on a specific part of your profile,” says its UK App Store listing, so the opening line usually has something to work with. The free tier covers matching and messaging, with a daily cap on likes and only one incoming like visible at a time, according to the Hinge help centre.
Hinge+ lifts both limits and adds filters for height, education and politics; HingeX adds Priority Likes and an always-on boost. In the UK, Hinge+ items were listed at £12.99 and £14.99 on 19 October 2026. Hinge’s revenue grew 22% year on year in the second quarter of 2026, according to Match Group.
One caution for the privacy-minded: if you complete Hinge’s Face Check, the facial geometry it creates is kept for the life of your account, its Face Check page says. Read our Hinge review.
Bumble UK: anyone can message first, and the safety kit is free
Bumble reached 1.1 million people in the UK in May 2025, according to Ofcom, unchanged on 2024 but down from 1.4 million in 2023. Among women it reached 1.6%, a little ahead of Tinder.
The app British users know has changed. On 11 August 2026 Bumble ended its rule that women must send the first message; either person can now open, and the other has 72 hours to reply, according to its announcement. What has not changed is the safety tooling, which remains the most complete of the mass-market apps. Bumble’s safety features page lists photo and ID verification, in-app voice and video calls, a Private Detector that blurs likely explicit images, a Deception Detector for scams and a ban on weapons in profile photos.
You can match and message for free. On the UK App Store on 19 October 2026, Bumble Boost items ran from £2.49 to £10.99, Premium from £13.99 to £16.99, and seven-day Premium at £9.99 or £21.99. Boost buys unlimited likes and longer match windows; Premium adds the list of people who already like you, advanced filters and Incognito.
Bumble’s paying users fell 16.9% year on year in the second quarter, Bumble Inc. reported, and a swipe-free redesign is on the way. We would start on the free tier. See our Bumble review.
Tinder in Britain: the biggest name, now with compulsory face checks
Tinder remains joint top for UK reach, at 1.5 million people in May 2025, and it is still Ofcom’s top-reaching dating service across its three years of figures. But it is a markedly more male place than it was. The regulator found its female audience fell from 735,000 to 384,000 in a year.
Tinder’s answer has been safety. Since March 2026, every new UK sign-up has had to record a Face Check video selfie, which is compared with profile photos and used to catch duplicate accounts, Tech Times reported. Tinder says its verification systems have cut exposure to fake or harmful accounts by more than 60%, a company figure.
Tinder is among the cheapest apps here to upgrade. On the UK App Store on 19 October 2026, Tinder Plus was listed at £3.99 and Gold from £7.49 to £14.99. Plus, according to Tinder’s help centre, brings unlimited likes, Rewinds, Passport, no adverts and Incognito; Gold adds weekly Super Likes, a monthly Boost and a view of who likes you; Platinum prioritises your likes.
Our Tinder review covers this year’s overhaul.
Match.com UK: the moderated dating site for grown-ups
Match in the UK is not quite the American service. The British site describes itself as part of the Meetic network and a member of the Online Dating Association, and says it moderates “every single profile picture and description”. It also offers Incognito Mode, Zen Mode (only people who meet your criteria can contact you) and in-person Match evenings and activities, with local pages from Manchester and Edinburgh to Portsmouth.
Ofcom counted only 0.2 million UK visitors in May 2025, a smaller crowd than the apps above. Match’s case is quality of intent rather than volume.
Membership comes in Passes. According to its UK App Store listing, Essential adds unlimited browsing, a view of who has liked you, all messages you have been sent and no adverts. Premium adds unlimited messages, advanced filters, read receipts and up to three Super Likes a week. Prestige adds a daily Boost, priority likes and an Anti-Ghosting feature. Once two people match, the conversation is free. On 19 October 2026 a one-week Pass was listed at £19.99, a month at £39.99 and six months at £79.99, which makes the longer plan far better value.
More in our Match review.
eharmony UK: compatibility-led matchmaking for long-term love
eharmony is the most structured option for British singles who want a relationship. Everyone takes the Compatibility Quiz, which builds a Personality Profile that drives match suggestions. Its UK site has local pages for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Bristol and Belfast, and dating pages for Muslim, Asian, Indian, Black, gay and lesbian singles.
The free Basic membership is more useful than it once was. It includes the quiz, profile browsing, initial likes and first messages, and a list of who has viewed you. Premium adds unlimited messaging, all photos, your full Personality Profile and search filters. eharmony’s claims are bold (more than two million people have found love, it says) but they rest on its own data and commissioned surveys.
Price is the sticking point. eharmony’s UK cost page offers Premium on six, 12 or 24-month memberships but lists no prices. On the UK App Store on 19 October 2026, purchases ranged from £44.99 to £349.99 with no durations given. Its UK App Store rating is 3.8 from 5,500 ratings; on Google Play in the UK it is 2.9. Use Basic first to judge your matches. Our eharmony review has the detail.
Feeld: the best UK app for couples and non-monogamy
Feeld’s latest annual accounts show 2025 revenue of £64.4 million and a post-tax profit of £8.9 million, with about 87% of revenue earned outside the UK, according to Global Dating Insights. It has taken less than $500,000 in outside investment, the same report says. A rare result for an app built for non-monogamy, kink and queer exploration.
Its signature tool is Constellations: you can link your profile with up to five partners, each keeping their own profile, according to Feeld’s help centre. The free version covers browsing, connecting, sending chats, images and short videos to connections, and partner linking, according to its membership guide.
Majestic, the paid membership, adds unlimited likes, a filterable view of who likes you, Incognito, private photos, a free Ping a day and filters by desire. On the UK App Store on 19 October 2026, Majestic was £19.99 for 30 days, £32.99 for 90 days and £99.99 for a year. Each partner pays separately.
Feeld rates 4.0 on the UK App Store but only 2.4 on Google Play in the UK, so Android users report a rougher ride. See our Feeld review.
Grindr in the UK: age checks, a settlement and the biggest queer grid
Grindr reached 0.9 million UK adults in May 2025, Ofcom found, making it the country’s fourth-largest dating service by reach. Globally it has 15 million monthly active users, according to its Q2 2026 shareholder letter.
British users have seen two big changes. Since July 2025, anyone signing up or returning in the UK must verify their age by video selfie, or video selfie plus photo ID, under the Online Safety Act, according to Grindr’s help centre. And on 2 September 2026, Grindr agreed to pay £26 million to settle a High Court claim on behalf of about 12,000 UK users, who alleged that sensitive data, including HIV status, was shared with third parties between 2016 and 2020, Infosecurity Magazine reported. Grindr admitted no liability and says it has overhauled its privacy programme since a change of ownership in 2020.
The free version covers the distance-sorted grid, chat, private photos and albums, tags and filters, with third-party ads. XTRA removes ads and shows up to 600 profiles; Unlimited adds incognito browsing and unsending. On the UK App Store, XTRA started at £9.99 and Unlimited at £24.99 on 19 October 2026. Our Grindr review covers its privacy settings.
Muzz: the London-headquartered app for Muslim marriage
Muzz is London-headquartered and led by founder Shahzad Younas, and it was the first Muslim-focused start-up backed by Y Combinator, UKTN reported. Its UK App Store listing now claims a community of about 20 million Muslims and more than a million marriages, company figures we cannot check independently.
What earns Muzz its place is design that takes its users’ values seriously. Every profile is verified with a selfie, and members can add optional ID verification for a blue badge. Users can bring a chaperone, or Wali, into conversations. Its website promises that it is “always FREE to see profiles, match, chat & marry”, and the App Store listing confirms that matched members chat for free.
Muzz Gold, which the company says lets you tailor your search and browse without limits, is sold weekly, monthly, quarterly, twice-yearly or annually. On the UK App Store on 19 October 2026, Gold items ranged from £14.99 to £34.99, with durations not stated. Muzz is rated 4.4 from about 40,000 ratings on the UK App Store, the highest score in this guide.
Plenty of Fish UK: free messaging and face checks on a veteran app
Plenty of Fish reached 0.4 million people in the UK in May 2025, according to Ofcom. Its free tier remains one of the most practical: free search filters, liking in Meet Me, and messaging your Mutual Matches, as set out on its membership page.
Safety tools are free too. Face Check, a video selfie being rolled out where regulations allow, checks for liveness and compares your face with other accounts to catch impersonation, its Face Check FAQ says. Facial data is kept for the life of the account.
Paying is pricier than POF’s reputation suggests. POF Plus brings unlimited likes, extended profile details and no ads; Premium shows everyone who likes you; Prestige adds unlimited First Contacts and messages seen first. On the UK App Store on 19 October 2026, a one-week subscription was £19.99 and a month £29.99. Rated 4.1 from 275,000 UK App Store ratings. See our Plenty of Fish review.
Ourtime: over-50s dating from the Match stable
Match Group launched Ourtime in the UK in June 2017, Global Dating Insights reported, and the UK site, part of the Meetic network, describes itself as a dating site for singles over 50. Ofcom counted 0.3 million UK visitors in May 2025, a larger audience than Match itself.
Its UK App Store listing promises “genuine connections over 50”, with detailed profiles, written prompts and core values. As on Match, members who match can chat for free. The Pass structure is also shared: Essential for unlimited browsing without adverts, Premium for unlimited messages and seeing who viewed you, and Prestige for a daily Boost and an Anti-Ghosting feature.
It is not cheap. On 19 October 2026 the UK App Store listed one week at £19.99, one month at £39.99, three months at £74.99 and six months at £119.99, with Incognito Mode a further £9.99 a month. Ourtime holds 3.9 from 9,200 ratings. We score it 7.5: a clear audience and a free way in, held back by price and by little published detail on verification.
How we ranked UK dating services
Every app is scored with our standard weights: match quality 35%, features 25%, safety and verification 25%, value 15%. For this list we gave extra weight to evidence of a real British audience, using Ofcom’s figures where it reports them, and checked every rating and price on the UK App Store on the same day. The ten apps we have fully reviewed keep their site-wide scores; Muzz and Ourtime were scored on the same criteria. Our How we review page sets out the method.
Choosing a dating app in Britain: what to weigh up
- Where the people you want to meet are. Ofcom’s data shows Hinge leads among women, while Tinder’s audience is now about three-quarters male. If you are a man seeking women, a busier app is not necessarily a better one.
- What you want. Hinge, Match, eharmony and Muzz suit relationship-seekers; Tinder suits wider browsing; Feeld and Grindr serve specific communities.
- Your age. Ofcom found 18 to 24-year-olds had the highest reach of any group in May 2024. If you are over 50, a dedicated service such as Ourtime puts you among peers.
- The real monthly cost. Prices range from £3.99 for Tinder Plus to £39.99 a month for a Match or Ourtime Pass. Longer plans cut the monthly price sharply; check renewal terms before you buy.
- Verification. Prefer apps where checks are routine: Tinder for new UK users, Muzz for every profile, Grindr’s age assurance, or Bumble’s photo and ID options.
Dating safety in the UK: age checks, verification and reporting fraud
The Online Safety Act has pushed age assurance into British dating apps, and face checks are becoming normal. Use them, and look for verified badges on the people you talk to. Keep conversations on the app until you trust someone, use in-app video before meeting, and meet somewhere public.
Romance fraud is rising. UK victims lost more than £102 million last year across 10,784 reports to Report Fraud, a 29% increase on 2024, according to City of London Police. People aged 55 to 74 suffered the greatest losses. The force’s advice: be wary of anyone who expresses strong feelings quickly or avoids live video, and never send money, crypto or gift cards to someone you have not met.
- England, Wales and Northern Ireland: report to Report Fraud, which replaced Action Fraud on 4 December 2025, at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040.
- Scotland: report to Police Scotland on 101.
- If you have sent money: contact your bank immediately.
Our romance scam statistics page has the wider data.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most popular dating app in the UK?
Tinder and Hinge were level in May 2025, each reaching about 1.5 million UK adults (3.1% of online adults), according to Ofcom. Bumble was third with 1.1 million.
Which UK dating app is best for women?
On Ofcom’s figures, Hinge has the largest female audience, reaching 2.7% of UK women online in May 2025. Bumble offers the most complete free safety tools.
How much do dating apps cost in the UK?
All ten apps here are free to join. On the UK App Store in October 2026, entry upgrades started at £2.49 for a Bumble Boost item and £3.99 for Tinder Plus, while a month of Match or Ourtime was £39.99.
What is the best dating app in the UK for over-50s?
Ourtime is built for over-50s and reached 0.3 million UK visitors in May 2025. Match and eharmony also suit older daters looking for something serious.
Where do I report a dating scam in the UK?
Report Fraud (reportfraud.police.uk, 0300 123 2040) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and Police Scotland on 101 in Scotland. Tell your bank straight away if you have sent money, and report the profile on the app.