OkCupid
The most recommended of 5 dating apps
People recommend its early data-driven matching and the many couples it produced. Most common caveat: critics say the Match Group era made matching worse.
People recommend its early data-driven matching and the many couples it produced. Most common caveat: critics say the Match Group era made matching worse.
54 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 29
- criticize it
- 25
- approval share
- 54%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 12 years
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 29 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Led to marriages and long relationships
“My wife and I met on OkCupid. I wouldn’t have my kids without it.”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “I Bought Friendster for $30k – Here's What I'm Doing with It” “I met my wife on the zombified corpse of cupid.”
Comment from 6 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: Why don't we bring back old school OkCupid?” “I met my wife there, been married 15 years now.”
Comment from 7 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: Why don't we bring back old school OkCupid?” - Comment from 1 Oct 2026 in “Singapore govt dating app uses Gale-Shapley stable marriage algorithm”
- Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “FTC Action Against Match and OkCupid for Deceiving Users, Sharing Personal Data”
- Comment from 2 Nov 2025 on Hacker News
Good matching algorithm, especially early
“OkC was the best at finding people I'd at the very least be friends with”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “What dating apps are optimizing. Hint: It isn't love” “The only platform having a useful approach here was OKC years ago.”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 on Hacker News “I can confirm that their algorithm was amazing back in the day.”
Comment from 1 Oct 2026 in “Singapore govt dating app uses Gale-Shapley stable marriage algorithm” - Comment from 3 Nov 2025 on Hacker News
- Comment from 15 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: How can we solve the loneliness epidemic?”
Best dating site overall
“The original OKCupid was the best dating site and the only one that I enjoyed using.”
Comment from 2 Oct 2026 in “How Singapore's government-run dating service works” “I met many wonderful people via that site, and I never went on a bad date with OKC”
Comment from 2 Oct 2026 in “How Singapore's government-run dating service works” “OkC was the best at finding people I'd at the very least be friends with”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “What dating apps are optimizing. Hint: It isn't love” - Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “What dating apps are optimizing. Hint: It isn't love”
Shared data and insightful analysis
“I did like that they shared a lot of hard data with insightful analysis.”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “FTC Action Against Match and OkCupid for Deceiving Users, Sharing Personal Data” “it was nonetheless nice to have objective, data-based, non-pua advice”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “FTC Action Against Match and OkCupid for Deceiving Users, Sharing Personal Data”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Worse after Match Group acquisition
“OkCupid’s algorithms used to be really good, then they deliberately made them worse when acquired by Match Group.”
Comment from 22 Nov 2025 in “Make product worse, get money” “once they were acquired by Match Group they deleted their old blog and stopped talking about things like that”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 on Hacker News “Do you realize how much work that OkCupid has put into their product to make matching intentionally worse”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “FTC Action Against Match and OkCupid for Deceiving Users, Sharing Personal Data” - Comment from 2 Nov 2025 on Hacker News
- Comment from 2 Nov 2025 on Hacker News
- Comment from 7 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: Why don't we bring back old school OkCupid?”
- Comment from 14 May 2026 in “The Dating App Swipe Is Dying. What Comes Next May Be Worse”
Matching poorly predictive or gamed
“It was good until they tried to game it like it was the SAT”
Comment from 8 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: Why don't we bring back old school OkCupid?” “One of the problems with OKCupid was that they never got the tests to be very predictive in matchmaking”
Comment from 7 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: Why don't we bring back old school OkCupid?” “those stats were flawed in numerous ways. this is expected, they were never subject to peer review.”
Comment from 7 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: Why don't we bring back old school OkCupid?” - Comment from 8 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: Why don't we bring back old school OkCupid?”
Deceived users and shared data
“You realize that you're responding in a thread about OkCupid deceiving users and sharing data with 3rd parties right?”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “FTC Action Against Match and OkCupid for Deceiving Users, Sharing Personal Data” “OkCupid gave users different prices based on whether they selected male or female for their profile.”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “FTC Action Against Match and OkCupid for Deceiving Users, Sharing Personal Data”
Other dating apps people recommend
The four most recommended other dating apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OkCupidThis page | 29 | 25 | 54% | 7 | 12 yrs3 owners | — |
| Tinder | 7 | 25 | 22% | 5 | — | — |
| Bumble | 6 | 11 | 35% | 4 | — | — |
| Singapore government dating service | 6 | 2 | 75% | 1 | — | — |
| Facebook Dating | 5 | 2 | 71% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 62 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“used to be a really interesting exercise in self reflection”
“I met many wonderful people via that site, and I never went on a bad date with OKC”
“The original OKCupid was the best dating site and the only one that I enjoyed using.”
“One detail I particularly liked about early OKCupid was the ability to rank how much someone's answer mattered.”
“I can confirm that their algorithm was amazing back in the day.”
“they did actually match a lot of happy couples”
“It was good until they tried to game it like it was the SAT”
“The algorithm was either bad or very gamed in ways that can't really be fixed”
“I have long been furious about what Match did to the site after they bought it in 2011”
“One of the problems with OKCupid was that they never got the tests to be very predictive in matchmaking”
“those stats were flawed in numerous ways. this is expected, they were never subject to peer review.”
“which was something OKC encouraged”
“I met my wife there, been married 15 years now.”
“OKC's only failing was you might find out you have someone you're a big match with who does NOT return that sentiment.”
“I met my wife on the zombified corpse of cupid.”
“Now they've ripped out everything that ever made it good, it's just another Tinderlike”
“My wife and I met on OkCupid. I wouldn’t have my kids without it.”
“It wasn't aggressively seeking hyper growth and barely marketed outside of existing SparkNotes and SparkMatch users.”
“Do you realize how much work that OkCupid has put into their product to make matching intentionally worse”
“Since they were reasonably upfront about what they did, and since that functionality worked even for free users”
“it was actually a useful and pro-user measure”
“You realize that you're responding in a thread about OkCupid deceiving users and sharing data with 3rd parties right?”
“I did like that they shared a lot of hard data with insightful analysis.”
“it was nonetheless nice to have objective, data-based, non-pua advice”
“I met my current wife on OKC in 2010”
“OkCupid gave users different prices based on whether they selected male or female for their profile.”
“OkC was the best at finding people I'd at the very least be friends with”
“a match on paper says next to nothing about chemistry”
“OkCupid was the best dating site ever”
“I used to have excellent results finding people”
“OkCupid was great for me until it got bought out”
“OkCupid’s algorithms used to be really good, then they deliberately made them worse when acquired by Match Group.”
“The only platform having a useful approach here was OKC years ago.”
“OkCupid basically solved dating, at least for people like me.”
“once they were acquired by Match Group they deleted their old blog and stopped talking about things like that”
“This wasn't profitable enough though so they changed to the Tinder-style swiping which doesn't work.”
“Removing those features and turning it into another swiping app was a terrible anticompetitive move.”
“Max and Chris because they really got it with OKC in the beginning”
“met my wife through OkCupid”
“there were very few users of it near the city where I lived”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.