5 Best Free Dating Sites of 2020-21.

Using a free dating site to form romantic relationships and make new friends online is a hugely popular activity. However, finding the best dating site of 2020 can be difficult because of the sheer number of options there are out there.

This is the list of dating sites for you if you want to cast the widest net to meet the most people possible from various locations and backgrounds. The alternative would be to use a not-so-normal dating site to find really specific dates.

Below is a collection of the best free online dating websites that deliver a consistently balanced experience for anyone who's looking for connections with like-minded people.

1. OkCupid

One option you have for a free dating site is OkCupid. What sets this dating service apart from most others is that you're matched up with people via a mandatory personality test.

During the test, you're asked various questions such as whether you're carefree or intense, if politics is important to you, how you feel about dating someone with debt, etc. You're then asked to choose an answer for your ideal person. During these questions, you can mark them as important or irrelevant so that the matching algorithm favors people who answered in the way you're wanting them to.

Like most dating websites, you're taken through a setup wizard after signing up, which involves not only the personality test but also adding images, introducing yourself, deciding who and what you're looking for, and more. Once your account has been made, there are additional profile questions you can answer for viewers to get an in-depth look at what you stand for.

As you click through matches, you can see a simple percentage that indicates how well you might work together based on the personality test. You can even see which answers you agreed and disagreed on before matching.

Here are some other useful features you'll get with this free dating site:

Super advanced search tool

Sort matches by match percentage, online status, or distance from you

View the people you've liked, even if they haven't liked you back

Add your Instagram feed to your profile

Use the dating site from your phone with the OkCupid mobile app

2. Bumble

Bumble is an interesting free dating site because unlike some of these where you can message someone at any time, this one requires the woman to initiate the conversation before the man can say something (if you're matching with the opposite gender), else the match expires.

In your profile settings are a few parameters you can set such as the gender you're interested in, an age range, distance to look for matches from where you are, and filters. You can choose two filters so that your potential dates must match up with whatever you choose, such as that they exercise often, never smoke, are non-religious, are of a certain height, etc.

After matching with someone, you can exchange text, pictures, and GIFs.

Bumble also lets you:

Snooze your account to hide from Bumble without losing your matches or closing your account. You can un-snooze at any time

Find friends and business opportunities through the two other areas of the site: bumblebff and bumblebizz

Use the dating website from the Bumble app

3. Tinder

Tinder is a location-based dating site, and it's extremely popular. It popularized the "swipe right" idea where you match or ignore people with a swipe motion. If you're using Tinder from a computer, the right arrow is the same as swiping to the right.

Unlike some dating sites that seem to find a few matches and then force you to wait for days for new users, you'll likely find other people on this site no matter where you live.

Matches can be found anywhere from 1-100 miles from your location, and there's an app that lets you take Tinder with you wherever you go.

The Tinder dating site has some other features worth mentioning:

Set the age range anywhere from 18 to 55+

Message via text but also send songs, GIFs, and contact information

Hide yourself from Tinder if you're communicating with matches and don't want more right now

4. Plenty of Fish

Plenty of Fish is one of the world's largest dating sites. It advertises that tens of thousands of people sign up every single day, and there are consistently hundreds of thousands of users online at any given time.

Right after you register, you've asked lots of really specific questions about yourself, which is great for finding matches, but not so great if you just want to sign up and start meeting people right away.

The Plenty of Fish free dating site also lets you:

See a list of "Will Respond" matches for people who are more likely to respond

Define several parameters when searching for people

View everyone who's online

Find matches and interact with people from the mobile app

5. Meetup

If you're not a fan of the idea that you need to go out on a date right at the start of a relationship, consider using Meetup to find friends first.

This site isn't your typical dating service because it doesn't revolve around finding people to go out with like Tinder and these other websites do. However, it's a fantastic way to find people who are interested in the same things you are, from mountain climbing to book-of-the-month clubs, language learning, and everything in between.

There are groups gathering in your area for virtually any interest you can think of, and many friendships and relationships spring out of these casual gatherings. You can even search for singles and hope that there's a group just for that.

The search tool on Meetup lets you pick any city to find Meetup groups anywhere from 2 miles away to any distance.

The Meetup mobile app makes using this website even easier.

Source: Lifewire.com