We open paid accounts on AI girlfriend apps, check the refund terms, and work out who operates each service before we rate it.
Independent Dating Site Reviews and Relationship Research
MarriageScience is an independent dating and relationship research website. We open paid accounts on the platforms we review, and our statistics come from primary datasets such as US Census microdata rather than from other people's articles. No brand pays for a place in our rankings.
Our Coverage
What We Cover
Reviewed from paid accounts, with the real cost of a subscription and what the credit systems buy.
A category almost nobody tests independently. We check the refund terms and work out who operates each service.
Guides to the rules in all 50 states, plus reviews of the online services that draft them.
Original statistics reports drawn from Census, CDC and peer-reviewed sources, each figure cited to its dataset.
Tools built on American Community Survey data for questions about marriage, divorce and dating markets.
How We Review Dating Sites and Apps
Every dating site and app on MarriageScience goes through a structured, multi-step review process before we publish a single rating. We create real profiles, test matching algorithms, audit safety and privacy features, document every pricing tier and hidden upsell, and cross-reference our findings with thousands of real user reviews from app stores, Reddit, and Trustpilot.
This hands-on testing, combined with regular re-checks throughout the year, means our reviews are not just detailed – they reflect how each platform actually performs right now. When we recommend a dating site, it is because we have used it ourselves and would recommend it to a friend.
From Our Testing Desk
Our Highest-Rated Dating Sites
“I have personally tested more than fifty dating services, and no single site is best for everyone. What matters is matching the platform to what you actually want from it. We re-test our top picks through the year, so these scores reflect how each site performs right now.”
Sarah Whitemoore
Dating Expert, MarriageScience
Our Standards
Why Readers Trust MarriageScience
We rank platforms on what they did during testing. Affiliate commissions play no part in a score.
Coverage does not stop at dating apps. We also test AI companion apps, review online prenup services and couples therapy platforms, and publish original statistics reports. Every review carries the date we last checked it.
01
Paid Accounts
We buy every subscription we review. No press access, and no accounts set up for us by the operator.
02
Primary Data
Our statistics come from US Census microdata, CDC records and peer-reviewed research, cited to the dataset.
03
The Real Price
We rebuild what a platform costs per month, including the upsells that only appear once you have paid.
04
No Paid Placements
No brand can buy a ranking or a score. Some links earn us a commission, and that changes neither.
Latest Research
Our Latest Studies
Data-led reports on dating, marriage, and relationships, built from primary sources and updated as the numbers change.
