CougarLife, a free cougar dating site that caters to women in their 40s and older, is one of the best free cougar dating sites on the internet. It has more than 1 million members, and it’s a great way to meet older women who are looking for younger men.
CougarLife offers a wide variety of features that make it easy to find other members who are interested in meeting up and getting to know each other. You can search through profiles and browse through photos of people near you who share your interests and hobbies. You can also send messages directly to other members without having to worry about paying for any premium features or subscriptions.
If you’re looking for a way to meet an older woman online without having to pay money upfront every month, then CougarLife is an excellent option!
Best free cougar dating site
When it comes to finding a sexy, exciting woman who is confident in herself and knows what she wants, any man would be smart to pursue an older woman. Likewise, any experienced single woman can tell you how appealing it is to spend her time with a young man whose energy and enthusiasm matches her own. “Youth keeps you young,” after all! Thus, we have the excitement behind cougar dating!
But how do you go about finding a cougar to date, or if you’re an older woman—how do you go about finding a cub? The secret are cougar dating apps. By using these online tools, you can cut through the awkwardness and get right into the mix with other singles looking for cougar dating.
In this awesome guide, our team breaks down the best cougar dating apps, the basics of cougar dating, and tips and resources to help you succeed!
Best Cougar Dating Apps
| Rank | Site | Free Trial Link | Best For | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Elite Singles | Free Trial | Educated Women and Men | |
| #2 | Cougar Life | Free Trial | Cougar Dating Only | |
| #3 | Elite Meets Beauty | Free Trial | Sugar Mommas | |
| #4 | Zoosk | Free Trial | Most Single Women | |
| #5 | eHarmony | Free Trial | Serious Relationships | |
| #6 | SugarBook | Free Trial | Sugar Dating |
1. Elite Singles – Best for Educated Men and Women
Elite Singles is a mainstream dating app known for having incredible educated men and women. While not a traditional cougar dating app, it’s a place where you will find quite a few people willing to date outside of their age bracket. If you’re looking for traditional dating but outside of your age bracket (and you like smart and successful people), this is definitely a mature women dating site to check out.
2. Cougar Life – Best for Cougar Dating Only
Cougar Life was a single breath away from being number one on our list for two reasons. First, it’s a high quality online dating site with some seriously great members. Two, it’s a dating app 100% dedicated to cougar dating. Instead of having to sift through and guess who might be open to dating outside their age bracket, you know that everyone on Cougar Life is there for cougar dating. Hands down, this is a cougar dating app you have to try.
3. EliteMeetsBeauty – Best for Sugar Mommas
Sugar dating apps tend to be very closely related to cougar dating apps because there is generally an age difference. If you’re someone looking for an older woman to date and you want to be spoiled too, you might want to check out this site. Additionally, if you’re an older mature woman looking to spoil a younger man, you should probably give EliteMeetsBeauty a try. And yes, there are some people on sugar dating apps who are also interested in a more traditional relationship with a few added perks.
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4. Zoosk – Best for the Most Single Women
Sometimes all you need to find the right person is a lot of options. And when it comes to options, the winner is Zoosk with over 40 million members! While this site isn’t dedicated to cougar dating, you can imagine that there are thousands, if not millions, of older women on the site open to dating younger guys. You’ll need to use your search filters and be open about your intentions, but you can 100% find what you’re looking for at Zoosk.
5. eHarmony – Best for Serious Relationships
This might seem like an odd one to be on the list if you’re familiar with eHarmony. No, eHarmony is not a company that typically falls into the cougar dating app conversation. However, many of the singles on the site are just looking for a serious relationship with the right person. And sometimes, that means an older woman dating a younger man. If you’re looking for very traditional dating and a serious relationship, go ahead and checkout what eHarmony has to offer as a mature women dating site. If you set your matching parameters correctly, you could see some great and meaningful results.
6. SugarBook – Best for Sugar Dating
Because a lot of people are interested in sugar dating (and sugar mommas), we wanted to include a second option on our list that fits that bill. SugarBook is a growing dating app where you’ll be able to find plenty of cougars looking to dote on younger men. Additionally, if you’re a mature woman looking to get into the spoiling spirit, you’ll have even more options to choose from. Again, this is sugar dating, which is a little different than cougar dating, so be aware of that.
More Information on Cougar Dating Apps
Table of Contents:
- Why We Love These Cougar Dating Apps
- How to Choose the Best Cougar Dating App
- Are Cougar Dating Apps Legal?
- Cougar Dating App FAQ
Why We Love These Cougar Dating Apps
Cougar dating is an interesting niche within the online dating community. While there is a ton of search volume and interest in it, the sites servicing the niche well are few and far in between. This makes picking out the cream of the crop a bit harder—but not impossible. Here are some (not all) of the factors that our expert team weigh when making their selections.
- Access to older women – Cougar dating is all about meeting older women. In order to make the list, a site needs to have plenty of older women who are actually accessible. You may hear some people recommending senior-type dating sites for cougar dating, but the women here are not that accessible (they have minimum age limits) and they also might be significantly older than you’re looking for.
- Access to women who are open to cougar dating – Not only should you be getting access to older women, but they should be women who may be open to the idea of dating a younger man. If it’s a cougar-only dating app, this is easy. If it’s a mainstream app, though, this requires a deeper dive into the intentions of the people on the site to gauge if they’d be open to this. Generally, the more long-term relationship focused websites and apps tend to be where you find women more open to dating younger men if they’re a good fit.
- A good ratio of cougars to cubs – Competition is healthy, but you’re not here to pump up your ego; you’re here to find a special mature lady. For that reason, we look for sites that have a good ratio of men to women so that there are enough options to choose from and you’re not tripping over the competition just to get your foot in the door to start a conversation.
- Methods of account verification – For some reason, cougar dating apps have a tendency to attract a few people who don’t have the best of intentions. This is more rampant when you’re talking sugar dating, but still a factor to consider here. For that reason, we look for options that have ways for you and for your potential suitors to verify their accounts and verify they are who they say they are. This helps you to get more messages, and it also help you to know that you’re actually talking to who you think you are.
- The right profile and search filters – As you may have noticed, a lot of the cougar dating apps we’ve recommended aren’t 100% cougar-only dating. This is on purpose, of course, because there are very few sites dedicated solely to this and many of the ones that are dedicated aren’t worth your time. For that reason, you need the ability to turn the site into what you need it to be. This means areas of your profile where you can talk about the type of dating you’re looking for. It also means the ability to set your matching preferences or search parameters to look for older women or to look for younger men. With these features on point, any quality site or app can work as a cougar dating platform.
How to Choose the Best Cougar Dating App
Want a little more guidance on selecting the best cougar dating app for you? Here are some great tips to help you do just that.
- Know what you want. – Are you looking for cougar dating, traditional dating, or sugar dating? Take some time to understand the differences and know what you want first.
- Pick out the appropriate site. – The next step is to start trying out different cougar dating apps that fit the goal of what you’re looking for. What’s great is that we’ve included free trial links to all of our recommended options so that you can test things out for yourself. We highly recommend creating free accounts and doing some searches at several sites before you decide to upgrade. That way, you know you’re spending your money where it serves you best.
- Get active. – Once you’ve chosen a cougar dating app, start getting active! Send messages, send flirts, read profiles, and start trying to get to know people. Competition can be high for the more attractive cougars and cubs, so you’ll want to make sure you’re doing your part and putting in the effort needed.
- Reevaluate. – After a few weeks or months, take a step back and see how things are going. If they aren’t going as well as you want, start by making sure you’re doing things right and putting in the effort. If you honestly are, then head back this way and give another option a try. Finding a cougar or a mature woman is a bit more challenging than dating within your age bracket because the pool of options is naturally smaller. Be patient, but be prepared to make changes if you’re not getting the results you want.
Are Cougar Dating Apps Legal?
Something we often hear people asking when it comes to cougar dating sites is whether or not they are legal. And while your best bet to answer that question is always to check your local legislation or consult a lawyer, we see absolutely no reason to ever think these sites are illegal in the United States. Online dating as a whole is not illegal, so why would wanting to date older women online suddenly be illegal?
As long as you aren’t engaging in illegal activity like prostitution, you are 100% in the clear. And as most people looking into cougar dating just want to have some fun and get to know older women, there is nothing to be worried about.
Cougar Dating App FAQ
What is the best cougar dating app?
For cougar-only dating apps, the best and only real option is Cougar Life. However, if you’re open to trying out mainstream apps that are conducive to meeting mature women, we recommend checking out Elite Singles and Zoosk.
What is a cougar in dating?
A cougar is a woman who is interested in dating younger men. She can be any age, but is usually in her 30’s, 40’s, 50’s or older.
What is a cub in dating?
Younger men who are looking to date older women are known as cubs. They can also be any age, provided they are younger than the women they are looking to date.
Are all older women dating considered cougars?
Not all older women are looking specifically for younger men. Plenty of women who date younger men date a wide range of ages, which is another reason mainstream sites are a great way to meet them. Sometimes finding a cougar is as simple as finding an older woman who is open to meeting and dating younger men.
Is the term cougar offensive?
While some people use the term “cougar” to refer to all older women who date younger men, the term may be a turnoff to those who feel it is used to judge them, or who feel it sounds like they are predators taking advantage of the younger men they date. Nonetheless, there are plenty of women who date younger men who love the term cougar. Think about the animal world: cougars are sexy, powerful creatures who go after what they want!