Dating online is a big part of our daily social and private lives. The market has developed hundreds of different dating apps for any preference that you might have.
After society became more tolerant to the LGBTQ+ community, dating apps became openly diverse. If back in a day we had Craigslist Personals and Backpage alternatives where the gay community was able to express themselves, nowadays we have the majority of services that offer one-side gender preference.
Yet we all know that apps that are focused on one thing like gay, lesbians, hookup, or serious relationships tend to work better. Same reason why I went ahead and put together 10 dating apps for women seeking women. Those are focused on lesbians, bisexuals, queer, and transgender women. Some are focused on casual dates, others would better suit those who try to settle down, and there are also more social apps to get connected with like-minded people.
Girls like girls. Good-to-know tips for lesbian dating
There are no ground rules like “have sex only on the third date and not before” or “the one who asks you out has to pay”. It is more of a choice now and you can split the bill on the first date and go have sex right after.
Online dating might seem as easy as never before. Yet, there are a few rules that will help you a lot since you both are behind the screens and not face-to-face.
- Setup your profile. The entire online dating is based on your looks and your catchphrase that will get another person interested in you and highlight you among other users. Take some time and choose high-quality photos with your face and full body. 5 photos are usually enough to get the idea of what kind of person you are.
- Be honest. Not everyone likes drama and playing games with feelings. Make sure you are being straightforward about your preferences and search needs. If you are looking for a friend, a hookup, or a potential partner for serious relationships, you should be open about it. Usually, the best way to do it is to put it in your profile bio.
- Check your messages. I can’t deal with people who take days to answer your messages and I’m not the only one. The purpose of online dating is that you are available to talk throughout the day as most of us are always with our phones. If you are not replying for more than a day that often means that you are not interested.
- Start an interesting conversation. Despite the fact that you are behind your screen, you can still be shy and it might be difficult to make the first move. You can start the conversation with a simple “Hey” or approach with a question. The latter can be based on their profile photos or you can use a cute pickup line.
- Accept rejection. Not everyone will get along together and that is okay. The beauty of online dating: there is way more fish in the ocean than you can think of. Don’t get negative if the person didn’t like you. Just move on. The community has a lot of outside hate towards it, no need to get hatred inside.
- Stay safe. All dating sites can be considered the safest dating sites for women if you are keeping it smart. In order to do so, you should always keep your personal information to yourself. For instance, it can be safer to share your social media page than your home address. And obviously, keep your bank information protected.
- Be yourself. You can’t go wrong with this one. As long as you remain yourself you will be getting exactly what you want. Be open, keep true to your needs.
Best online dating sites for women
Of course, I will be talking about the existing most popular apps for lesbians, bisexual, queer, and transgender women. Some apps are more focused on hookups only, others on serious relationships, and some are mixed.
| Fraud risk | Odds of success | |
| Her | low | ★★★☆☆ |
| Fem | medium | ★★★☆☆ |
| Pure | low | ★★★★★ |
| Bumble | low | ★★★★☆ |
| Tinder | medium | ★★★★☆ |
| PinkCupid | low | ★★★☆☆ |
| BiCupid | low | ★★★★☆ |
| Hinge | low | ★★★☆☆ |
| Scissr | medium | ★★★☆☆ |
| Lesly | low | ★★★★☆ |
| 450,000 members | 15,000/daily |
| 3/5 hookup chance | Medium Sex Chance |
| low fraud risk | Verification Facebook, Instagram |
| $14.99 - $89.99 subscription price |
Premium
- 1-month subscription $14.99
- 6-months subscription $59.99
- 12-months subscription $89.99
Let’s start with Her as so far this appears to be the biggest and top dating app within other best dating sites for women. It has a fair amount of users. Not millions yet but they are growing towards that number.
In my opinion, the app is considered that good and popular because it was built more like a social networking website than a platform for dating. Her offers a bunch of different social events for you to attend offline. I find this form of communication very helpful if you have just begun your sexuality journey or seek to explore more.
Her app is focused on social networking more than on a dating side:
Pros
- Has a large community of like-minded people.
- The app is very easy to navigate.
- Clean interface.
- Events are free to join.
Cons
- All the main features are paid.
- You can see many empty profiles.
- Oftentimes you can experience troubles with logging in.
I got just a few messages from women within a couple of days. So I didn’t feel that my paid subscription for a month paid itself off. I would rather use Pure: it’s free for females. And I don’t have such problems getting myself a person to connect with. Within the first hour or two, I have at least 3 women who are thriving to get a drink later the same day face-to-face without any social events.
Overall, Her is a good and safe dating site for women where you can find a lot of cool connections. Yet I would say that users there are more focused on social events rather than serious dating.
| 600,000 members | 70,000/monthly |
| 3/5 hookup chance | Medium Sex Chance |
| medium fraud risk | Verification email |
| $1.99 - $59.99 subscription price |
- Free
Fem is very similar to Her, even the interface is the same. Yet Fem is one of a few free dating sites for women seeking women. Instead of events that Her has, Fem encourages users to use so-called Rooms. That reminds me of old-school chat rooms that we had back in the day and in fact, still do have those, like Chatzy or Chat Avenue.
Basically, those rooms were created for the moments when you are feeling lonely and just want someone to chat with; no commitment. You also might feel quite bored because there are not that many users there, to be honest.
Pros
- Free.
- Has video profiles instead of photos.
- Has chat rooms.
Cons
- Not many users who are interested in actual dating.
- Users are not very active in private conversations.
- Not detailed profiles.
Fem is free of charge and I do like it as well as their anti-fake account protection that encourages users to upload their short videos, around 30 seconds, instead of photos. You still can upload photos if you feel shy about shooting a video.
In conclusion, I do find this video introduction fun and interesting feature to try out. But all that counts for me is how many actual people I eventually meet. The answer for Fem is zero. Not even a single message or anything. Rooms seemed way more fun than anything that could have happened in private.
My thought is because a lot of users are mostly focused on real-life social events rather than anything romantic or sexual. That’s a pity, after all, its a dating app.
| 11 millions members | 300k per months |
| 4/5 hookup chance | High Sex Chance |
| low fraud risk | Verification email, phone, photo |
| $0.95 – $45.95 subscription price |
- 100% free for females
Pure is an anonymous app that encourages and helps to explore sexuality online (as a sexting tool) or offline. It is not the same as the apps above. The entire app was created as a helping tool to meet people online but move to the offline world as soon as possible. Offline world of dates that could lead your night in any possible direction. I do use Pure, and like I’ve mentioned before, I nearly never end up alone.
First things first, the app is free to all the females. The app is artsy and you can be sure that users are open-minded who are looking for people to share their wildest fantasies. Total security and no social media links attached are just a few cherries on the top of the cake.
Pure is the app for free spirits who are looking for a hookup in the area for the night. Or the day:
Pros
- 100% free.
- Extra active members who want to meet in real life.
- Intelligent matching algorithm.
- Artsy interface.
- Great for hookups.
Cons
- Some areas may not have many users yet.
Pure has proven to me that it’s service is, in fact, leading you to meet new people, it is safe, and I always end up with a date in the minimum time-frame. Since the app is focusing on people who are looking for casual relationships or sexting, the percentage of fake users is minimum. Simply because all users are driven to meet up for drinks with a happy ending nearly the same day. Fake users won’t be able to have months into gaining trust or keeping things exclusively online.
| 11 million members | 11,000 active/weekly |
| 4/5 hookup chance | High Sex Chance |
| low fraud risk | Verification phone number, Faceboo |
| $8.99 - $79.98 subscription price |
- Basic for free
BumbleBoost Subscription
- 1-week subscription $10.49
- 1-month subscription $22.49
- 3-months subscription $49.99
- Lifetime subscription $139.99
Bumbles Credits
- 1 Coin $1.99
- 5 Coins $7.99
- 10 Coins $14.99
- 20 Coins $24.99
Bumble was created for women who were tired of all the possible creeps that have no understanding of personal space nor rejection. The platform was designed for heterosexual people but is also suitable for the LGBTQ+ community. My gay friends shared their Bumble experience with me, it turns out, they did not have much luck, so I would suggest trying BiggerCity instead.
So with Bumble you can either look for a BFF (best friend forever) or a date. Either way, you will have only 24 hours to reply to the message. Otherwise, the message will disappear and you will lose your match.
With Bumble you can choose to look for a date of BFF:
Pros
- You can choose to find a date or a BFF.
- You can use Facebook to create an account.
- You can send messages to everyone.
Cons
- All the special features require a paid membership. I managed to live without them, though.
- The website doesn’t have a search engine, it just shows you a list of potential matches like Tinder.
In addition, keep in mind that users are active and love to participate online. I did meet a few females offline but it was nothing more than a few drinks because most of them were looking for something more than casual fun. So if you are looking for more committed women who seek other women, Bumble will be a good choice.
| 40 million members | 2 millions per week |
| 4/5 hookup chance | High Sex Chance |
| medium fraud risk | Verification email, phone number, Facebook |
| $9.99 - $120 subscription price |
Tinder Plus
- 1-month subscription from $9.99
- 6-months subscription from $34.99
- 12-months subscription from $54.99
Tinder Gold
- 1-month subscription from $14.99
- 6-months subscription from $52.99
- 12-months subscription from $82.99
Tinder, Tinder, Tinder. I have a feeling that Tinder is a multifunctional app for any occasion. Its popularity worldwide seems to never stop and the app was always open for the LGBTQ+ community and the number of active users is millions and millions.
The app once seemed like a perfect app but nowadays more and more bots, fake accounts, and catfishing scammers began to occupy the territory instead of real users.
I know a lot of people, my friends, and even me back in the day, use it because it’s free and well-known. However, I would rather pay a small price and enjoy every connection than swiping left the same bot for ninety-ninth time for today.
Tinder has a big active users pool worldwide so you can enjoy it in every country you go to:
Pros
- Messaging is free.
- LGBTQ+ friendly and diverse.
- A lot of users.
- Easy swiping feature.
Cons
- A lot of fake profiles and catfishing accounts.
- The subscription cost will be based on your age.
- Limited information on the profiles.
- The free version has a lot of ads in between potential matches.
Tinder does have it’s bright sides but what’s with the ageism? Once you turn 28 years old, you have to pay more for the same Plus or Gold Premium plans.
I would prefer to pay for more additional features rather than have my subscription plan based on age or whatsoever.
| 1 million members | 350,000 logins monthly |
| 3/5 hookup chance | Medium Sex Chance |
| low fraud risk | Verification email, Facebook |
| $24.98 - $119.98 subscription price |
Platinum membership
- 1-month subscription $29.98
- 3-months subscription $59.99
- 12-months subscription $119.98
PinkCupid is one of many many Cupids that OkCupid has and this one was created especially for the ladies. Yet the search filter has two options in there: female and male. How male ended up there is an interesting question for me.
The app is available only for Android so I had to do everything through the browser on my iPhone. I have to admit that the website looked okay. Yet my whole impression was that it was put together in a day or two by not a very professional IT guy. The website seems to be very old school as if it was created somewhere at the beginning of the 2000s’ and has never been updated ever since. Especially when you can compare PinkCupid with OkCupid. Huge difference.
PinkCupid seems like a website from the past:
Pros
- All main features are free.
- All members can view full photos of each other.
- You can join chat rooms.
- Detailed profiles.
Cons
- The app is available only for Android.
- The old-school interface that is not flattering.
- Messages are limited for free users unless a premium user decides to send you a message first.
- Low quality of users aka fake users with empty profiles.
After 2 hours on the website and multiple likes and messages that I sent out, I got zero response from any of those women. At PinkCupid you can see who is online right now. That didn’t help me much either.
Overall, I got the impression that Pink Cupid is more of a free dating site for women seeking men and not women. And no replies just proved me right. Such a thing wouldn’t happen at Pure. All the users are open and free out there. It takes seconds between connecting with someone in your area to texting about the meetup point later the same day.
| 1.5 million members | 40,000/weekly |
| 4/5 hookup chance | High Sex Chance |
| low fraud risk | Verification email, Facebook |
| $29.95 - $143.95 subscription price |
- 1-month subscription $29.95
- 3-months subscription $59.95
- 6-months subscription $95.95
- 12-months subscription $143.95
BiCupid is another Cupid baby but in this case, focused on all kinds of bisexual people. Seems that all the Cupids website beside OkCupid itself are old-school and have minimum investments. Apps, on the other hand, have a bit more modern interface.
While I was trying to find bisexual women only, as I set my filter on, 90% of profiles were bi-curious couples. For that, I would also suggest trying Fuckbook. Even though I think it is beautiful that couples want to explore their horizons, I didn’t set my filter for couples at all. So why on earth I got them as 80% of my potential matches?
Couples who are looking for a threesome with a girl are mostly shown in the search:
Pros
- Detailed profiles.
- A safe place for the LGBTQ+ community.
- You can upload up to 26 photos to your profile.
Cons
- Messaging is for paid users only.
- Search filters don’t work precisely.
- Not attractive interface.
All the profiles are quite detailed and you can upload up to 26 photos to your profile. I usually don’t go further than 5-7 photos but that is a good way to get to know others and will definitely give you a conversation starter.
In the end, I went out on a date with one girl but it ended up dull as her profile was way more interesting than she herself in real life. I won’t put it as a low-quality user after just one try but will suggest that the app is good only if you are curious or prefer playing both teams.
| 5 million members | 150,000/daily |
| 3/5 hookup chance | Medium Sex Chance |
| low fraud risk | Verification Facebook, phone numbe |
| $9.99 - $29.94 subscription price |
- 1-month subscription $9.99
- 3-months subscription $20.97
- 6-months subscription $29.94
Hinge is a good dating site for women that was designed to be deleted. This app is focused only on those who are ready to settle down for serious relationships. I like this idea and it also has quite a big pool of users who are looking for commitment.
As much as I would like Hinge to be one of those free online dating sites for women, there is no way to communicate with others without a paid membership. But a few of my friends who are using it say it’s worth it. The same way I speak to them about Pure.
Hinge was created for you to find your better half:
Pros
- Free to view profiles.
- Users seek serious relationships.
- Phone verification is a must.
Cons
- Doesn’t have a desktop version, only mobile apps for iOS and Android.
- All the main features require a paid membership.
- You can only send messages to the connected matches.
Hinge app will be good for you when you are ready to settle down and find someone special. Users here are very straightforward with their expectations and level of serious commitment. And as my friends say, it is going smoothly. Search, connecting, communication. They are still looking for that soulmate person but they are definitely going in the right direction.
Scissr
- Free
Scissr is a new free dating site for women only. I downloaded it for my iOS at the Apple store, and it is also available for Android. The interface reminded me of a more smooth version of the MocoSpace but way more modern. Everybody talks about this app now, but my personal experience was not that positive.
It took me forever to register despite the fact that there is only Facebook registration possible. I tried 6 times before it let me through. To point it out, the problem with an account creation was not because of my Facebook page but it was at the end of a Scissr app. Millennials always get frustrated when the app is taking forever to load or start. The most hideous fact, that after the 6th try or registration and finally getting into the app I was offered only 32 profiles to match with. No more!
Scissr is a fairly new app and might not meet your expectations:
Pros
- All features are free.
- Facebook registration to prevent fake users.
Cons
- Very little amount of real active users.
- App has a lot of bugs and tends to work slowly.
- Empty profiles.
The app is very young, but 32 matches didn’t make me happy. Plus it allows you to upload only 3 photos. Just for experiment’s sake, I messaged all 32 potential matches and got no reply at all within 36 hours. I ended up deleting the account and deleting the app itself. Won’t recommend.
Lesly
- 1-month subscription $9.99
- 3-months subscription $24.99
- 6-months subscription $39.99
Lesly is often compared to Grindr for lesbians and it is also an international dating site for women same as Grindr to men. Yet the app doesn’t define itself as the platform for hookups only or serious relationships. It is open for anything so as its users.
The app is fairly new on the market but has an impressive number of users that are active and responsive. It was launched in 2016 and it has 500,000 users and growing.
Lesly is a good app to use in big cities. Less popular areas might not bring any success:
Pros
Cons
- Limited free features.
- In some areas, there will be zero potential matches.
Overall, the app is very easy to use and matches are responsive and it seems that subscription fee is worth it. However, the app is new so I wouldn’t get a membership till I see that it is working in real-time. I’m talking to one girl so far but it’s moving very slowly.
If you are open to any kind of relationship, Lesly might be a good fresh air to breathe in and experiment a little. If the girl I’m talking to at the moment will get boring (or bored) I might still switch back to Pure. That one never disappointed me. Give it a try if you haven’t yet, it is free for us and you feel totally protected and secure there, and can sext, exchange nudes or just talk about your sexual fantasies — and maybe take it offline with your match, too.
Bottom Line
At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is for the app help you to get what you want. All the apps from above have their own advantages and disadvantages. Yet each customer always will find the most suitable app for specific needs. Her app for social events, Pure for a guaranteed hookup, and Hinge for serious relationships. Pick wisely 😉
FAQ
What are the best free dating sites for women?
There are not that many apps that are completely free to use. The top ones are Tinder, Pure, and Her.
Is it safe to use online dating sites for women?
Yes, it is safe to use it. Just make sure you are not sharing your personal information with strangers and try to arrange the very first meetup in a public place.
What are the most popular free dating sites for women in USA?
The most popular apps are Her, Hinge, Pure, and Tinder.
What app to use if I’m looking for a hookup and no strings attached?
For simple hookups, you can try Tinder, Pure, and Lesly.
I want to find someone special. What app is more suitable for that?
Not that many dating apps are focused on serious relationships, so Hinge would be a great choice if you are ready to settle down.