12 Best Dating Sites in New Zealand To Check Out in 2024
Meeting new people can be hard, especially in New Zealand, where we have more sheep than humans. At times like this, online dating can be the only solution. Besides, dating apps make it way easier to pick the right partner. With thousands of options on each dating site, it becomes effortless to choose someone who aligns with your interests and goals.
The best dating sites in New Zealand include:
- NZ Dating – best for local-based traditional dating and relationships
- Tinder – best for casual dating
- Bumble – best for women
- Match – best for lasting relationships
- OkCupid – best free dating
- Sugar Book – best for networking and elite dating
- eHarmony – best for meaningful connections
- EliteSingles – best for professionals
- Find Someone – best local site
- Academic Singles – best for highly educated
- Just Senior Singles – best for seniors
- Hinge – best for dating on the social networks
Since Kiwis aren’t the most outgoing people and can be shy at times, online dating has become popular a long ago. There are a ton of options for each goal and taste. You may hunt for a serious relationship, a friend-with-benefits type scene, or just an online fling, there is a dating site for your liking. This article will guide about the most popular dating apps and sites among both New Zealanders and foreigners.
Read my guide on dating in NZ!
Most popular dating sites in New Zealand
Here are the top dating sites in New Zealand to find the love of your life!
1. NZ Dating
NZ Dating is a very popular dating site for people with serious intentions. In New Zealand, it’s one of the best service providers in the market. It has all the features that one can ask for on an online dating site. NZ Dating hosts more than 50,000 profiles. The hint is that only members from New Zealand can use the site. It’s also the best for someone between 35 to 44-year-old.
One of the best features of this website is its clean, user-friendly, and safe environment which lets you have fun while meeting new people. Moreover, it has features like message boards and chat rooms to help members interact more efficiently with each other.
Many Kiwis have success while finding their perfect match and meeting new people. In addition to its cool features, this website uses advanced algorithms to help you getting in touch with like-minded people online.
NZ Dating is technically a free website, in contrast to other providers, you can message other members. For more features, they offer paid plans.
| Membership duration | Costs per month | Total cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 month | $14.95 | $14.95 |
| 3 months | $9.32 | $27.95 |
| 6 months | $6.66 | $39.95 |
| 12 months | $5.00 | $59.95 |
As with all memberships mentioned in this article, you pay the total cost upfront regardless if it’s one month or six months plan.
2. Bumble
Bumble is swiping app which is highly successful and very famous among New Zealanders. The app has over 50 million active users worldwide and 138,000 from New Zealand. It’s best for someone with serious intentions and in the younger age category, the mid-20s to the mid-30s.
Bumble is especially known for women taking a first step. If a female doesn’t message a match within 24 hours, the match goes away. Yet, men have 24 hours to reply too, otherwise, the match dissolves.
Compared to Tinder, for example, Bumble has a more serious audience.
Keep in mind that men can’t message first. Overall, Bumble has a pretty unique approach as compared to other traditional online dating apps, making it more popular among Kiwis. As it requires women to message first, it puts the control power in women’s hands (hint feminism), which ensures more security and a sense of safety for females. Females can accept or reject what is presented to them.
The biggest advantage of Bumble is that it’s free! If you ever want more, they have a few optional premium features such as Bumble Boost, Bumble Premium, SuperSwipe, and Spotlight.
Here is the pricing for a Bumble Boost subscription:
| Membership duration | Costs per month |
|---|---|
| 1 week | $11.99 per week |
| 1 month | $33.99 |
| 3 months | $22.33 |
| 6 months | $17.83 |
3. Match
Match is an old-school dating site that was launched in 1995. It’s a good option for finding long-term relationships. With over 20 million members worldwide, Match only got 50,000 users in New Zealand. The site is popular for its excellent matching algorithm (hence match). You will go through a personality quiz on the signing-up stage. Based on that, you are matched with the next best candidate.
The key to success on Match is to answer the questionnaire as precisely as possible and have a detailed profile.
Match offers a free trial, which you can upgrade to a paid membership later. Even with a free plan, you can message but only your top picks (profiles that match most of the preferences you entered on your profile). Here are paid options for a standard plan:
| Membership duration | Costs per month |
|---|---|
| 3 months | $57.59 |
| 6 months | $40.93 |
| 12 months | $36.51 |
They also have a more expensive premium plan.
4. Sugarbook
Sugarbook is one of the fastest-growing sugar dating sites in New Zealand. This site boasts more than 3 million members across 90 countries.
Sugarbook is most famous for connecting sugar babies, sugar daddies, and sugar mummies. This is basically a system that lets young and pretty individuals get financial perks in exchange for affection, companionship, and romance. People also use this website for networking and meeting influential people.
With its user-friendly interface and advanced features, it promotes a very modern idea of dating and is gaining popularity among users in many countries. In the end, Sugarbook helps people seeking mutually beneficial connections or relationships on their terms.
Users can register for free but need to pay to unlock messaging. As a perk, students can sign up for their free student membership with their student email. Otherwise, the website is a paid one with the following options:
| Membership duration | Costs per month |
|---|---|
| 1 month | $120 |
| 3 months | $94 |
| 6 months | $67 |
Also read about getting married in New Zealand.
5. eHarmony
eHarmony is a high-rated dating site with a good number of over 10 million active users, and 60,000 of them are from New Zealand. Along with finding you the perfect match, this website provides you with an in-depth compatibility test that will have you questioning your dating standards and expectations.
The most prominent feature of eHarmony’s success is the 29 dimensions of its compatibility quiz. All information that comes as a result of this quiz is also available on the profile of users. You will be matched with someone based on these 29 dimensions of compatibility and interests.
eHarmony users have the perk to get to know their match before even initiating contact with them. It saves time and energy for both members as they can filter profiles that are not likely to match their preference criterion.
Although you can use this site for free, you must unlock premium features to move forward. eHarmony has several premium memberships:
| Membership duration | Costs per month |
|---|---|
| 6 months | $35,90 |
| 12 months | $25,90 |
| 24 months | $16,90 |
Apparently, there is a sale of 40% for the next 17 hours:
6. EliteSingles
Not everyone has good luck finding the right partner in their first relationship. EliteSingles is a dating site for people who are tired of poor relationships. It’s meant for people who are in search of a long-term relationship that is rarely found on other traditional online dating sites.
With over 300,000 members in New Zealand, it’s a medium-sized dating site with a good chance of meeting the right person.
The best thing about EliteSingles is its members, which are mostly educated and affluent. The median population of its members is between 30-55 years who are seeking healthy, long-term fulfilling relationships. The site is designed to connect people who are like-minded.
A free version of EliteSingles provides only limited options, such as seeing how many matches and messages you have (you can’t message). For full functionality, you would need to sign up for a paid membership:
| Membership duration | Costs per month |
|---|---|
| 3 months | $26,95 |
| 6 months | $14,95 |
| 12 months | $12,95 |
7. FindSomeone
FindSomeone is the most suitable app for people who are clear about their preferences and are here to find a good match. This online dating site is free to sign up and browse the profiles, so you can give it a go to see if you like it.
Also, it’s perfect for first-time users of online dating. It has over 800,000 members and has been around for 14 years. This site is trusted by a lot of Kiwis for finding like-minded people for lasting relationships.
FindSomeone is free with basic features only. Members can’t message with a free plan. For more features, you can buy a Gold Membership for $29.95/month.
8. Academic Singles
Academic Singles is an online dating site great for educated professionals who are mainly occupied with their careers and hardly get time for themselves. Also, they may find it hard to approach a person with similar goals or standards. The majority of users are between 35 – 54 years old. In New Zealand, Academic Singles has about 350,000 members.
On this dating site, you will be matched with people according to your taste, which is compatible with your personality, type, and goals in life.
It lets users see a comprehensive profile, which helps you discover your common interests and values. Academic Singles has video call, and live chat features as well. So, if your academic schedule means you can’t set up a physical date to see your match, you can just set a time for a video chat that suits you best.
Overall, customers’ feedback about Academic Singles wasn’t the best as they charge high prices and don’t deliver.
Registering with Academic Singles is free, but they offer a premium membership.
| Membership duration | Costs per month |
|---|---|
| 3 months | $89,90 |
| 6 months | $49,90 |
| 12 months | $39,90 |
9. Just Senior Singles
Just Senior Singles, as the name says, is an online dating site for a circle of more senior singles. Member’s age starts at around 40. The user interface itself is kind of old-fashioned (outdated), which is probably OK with older people.
Registering on the site is free, but you need to pay to be able to:
- Read and reply to messages
- Add Bolt-on features
- Chat online with members
- See who’s viewed your profile
- Write your own dating diary
Here are membership options and current prices:
| Membership duration | Costs per month |
|---|---|
| 1 month | $94,95 |
| 3 months | $50 |
| 6 months | $36,67 |
Free online dating sites
OkCupid
OkCupid was created in 2017 as a dating platform for millennials. Since then, it has become popular in many countries around the world. You can even see singles from all these countries on one page or only filter singles from New Zealand.
It tries to focus more on the character of singles. For instance, you can shortlist people for their personality traits, like the ones who shy away from other people, or you can choose people just for their looks. However, don’t waste time with OkCupid if you are very serious about finding a partner for life.
The best thing about this online dating site is that it’s totally free. So no matter if you are low on budget, you can still find the date, love, or a good friend.
Best dating apps in New Zealand
1. Tinder
Tinder is by far the most popular dating app not only in New Zealand but globally. Probably because it’s free and straightforward to use, over 75 million members open this app every month. It’s completely free of cost to chat with other members of the site and share your thoughts.
Keep in mind that Tinder attracts a young crowd; 60% of its users are under 35 years old.
With plenty of options to filter the profiles, you can try your luck with a good range of registered members. Users can swipe right or left to show if they are interested in a profile or not.
You can upgrade to paid membership plans for upgraded features using Tinder Plus, Tinder Gold, or Tinder Platinum.
Below are Tinder features for different tiers:
Here is the breakdown of Tinder’s paid plans:
| Membership | Costs per month |
|---|---|
| Tinder Plus | $9.99 |
| Tinder Gold | $24.99 |
| Tinder Platinum | $54.99 |
2. Hinge
Hinge is a preferred dating app among many people, especially in the US but less so in New Zealand. It’s a fun app to spend time on, which matches you based on mutual connections via social media platforms. Its marketing tagline is ‘designed to be deleted,’ which definitely sounds appealing for most singles.
So, the Hinge app only connects you with people who are your friends of friends or known by your community. And as you might know, the community is everything in New Zealand. Besides, it’s comparatively a lot more safe than other apps, and this makes it more convenient to date.
However, it could take some time to set up your Hinge profile. With the app, you can load up to six photos, which should be enough.
Many users of this app report that it feels like they have met a person introduced by a friend – this used to be the most common and reliable way of dating in the history of dating, so no wonder Hinge is quite popular.
Hinge also provides users with information about other matches like their social network, work history, age, education, religion, and health for a more reliable connection. It has a unique algorithm that helps in making suitable matches of people with similar interests. The app connects you with a person that suits you best according to your preferences.
While you can start using Hinge for free, it will be limited (e.g., a limited number of likes). To expand, you need one of their pricey memberships:
| Membership | Costs per month |
|---|---|
| 1 month | $100 |
| 3 months | $36 |
| 6 months | $28 |
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