The 11 best dating apps of 2026: Avoid app fatigue

Read our recent reviews of Grindr and Grindr XTRA.

Grindr is the dating app for gay men. If you’ve had enough of the mainstream apps, Grindr is the perfect place to be yourself. It’s also a great option for those who want to experiment, as Grindr allows users to filter by sexual preferences, including bisexual men. Keep in mind that Grindr is a very NSFW environment where many guys go to hook up. You might meet your soulmate, but that’s generally not why people use it. And fair warning: modern-day Grindr is plastered with ads, and many beloved features are now behind a paywall, so you may want to consider upgrading to Grindr XTRA.

I picked Grindr because it’s been the top gay dating app since 2009 for one simple reason: it’s damn near-instantaneous. Instead of swiping, the app uses geolocation to show you a grid of nearby guys, which is especially useful if you’re in a small town with a limited queer population. While the sheer number of users can be overwhelming, it also means there’s a huge pool of men ready to chat. Most users who are just looking to hook up will tell you that they’re not trying to make small talk — and that warning may come in the form of a dick pic.

That’s not to say it’s impossible to find a relationship (plenty of men meet their forever person on Grindr), but on the surface, it’s a tool for quick, casual encounters. To make those meetups even faster, the app recently added a live “Map View” for its “Right Now” feature, which (if you opt in) shows who’s available on a real-time map of your area. Don’t worry, it only shows an approximate location, not your exact address. You can adjust your filter to look for “dates,” but don’t be surprised when your options shrink dramatically.

If you have a lot of cash to burn, the app is also piloting a new ultra-premium tier called “EDGE” in select cities. It uses an AI stack called “gAI” to give you daily “A-List” recaps of missed connections and meaningful chats, but the pricing is currently randomized in testing, ranging from $80 a week to $500 a month.

Grindr’s safety model is built on privacy and user discretion. You can hide your distance from the grid (though you’ll still be sorted by location) and even change your phone’s app icon to something discreet. The app also offers a PIN feature to lock the app. Grindr’s moderation team, which includes members of the LGBTQ+ community, uses a mix of AI and human review to ban users for harassment, hate speech, or promoting illegal activity. However, unlike apps like Hinge, Grindr’s guidelines are more relaxed on content: pornographic content is only banned from public profiles, and you can send expiring photos in chats. You must be 18+ to use the app, and they will block profiles suspected of being underage until they can provide ID verification.