The best dating sites for geeks and nerds

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According to its site, Elite Singles helps an average of 2,000 couples find love each month, with the company claiming that a single finds love using the service every eight minutes. That sounds good to us. A majority of its members are said to be educated, relatively affluent, and between the ages of 30 and 55.

The site's personality test is ground zero of the matchmaking process. Based on the “Five Factor Model” of personality traits, you'll use a questionnaire to tell what makes you unique. Elite Singles compares your results with those of other members to identify users who complement your personality.

If your geekiness extends all the way to a full-time career, Elite Singles is where you could find someone in a similar field, or simply someone who understands the 9-5 or going to school for what seems like a million years.

The site suggests 3 to 7 highly suitable matches for you every day, so it's basically like having your own personal fairy godmother matchmaker — and extra handy if you're not really sure what your type is.The company bases its suggestions on a matching process that takes into account your relationship preferences, education, location, and personality profile. For the geeks out there who are more straightforward in their approach to love and who are looking to settle down without settling, this could be the service for you. 

Match is kind of like baby's first big dating site. The OG player has the most users of any dating site (yep, more than eharmony), totalling about 35 million users in 25 countries. 32% of Match members are millennials, 39% are Gen Xers, and 27% are Boomers.

Just what you'd expect: Complete an extensive questionnaire about your personality, what values matter to you, and what you're looking for in a partner. This section will allow you to be really choosy, which is nice if you tend to be pretty picky. If not, general settings work too. 

Afterwards, Match has a 24-hour waiting period for verification before you can start using the service. This is so the dating site isn’t bombarded with fake profiles. But once you’re in you can message, favourite, wink, and talk with other users until you match and start going on dates in the real world. Since membership prices are steep compared to swiping apps, you can pretty much assume that most users are taking it seriously.

Match offers some of the most sophisticated features, search tools, profile matching, and relationship help of all the ones on this list. If you're looking for someone who's obsessive about basically anything, just type it into the search bar and see who pops up. The page will automatically populate results using the search parameters you identified in your profile settings.  

At just over 20,000 monthly visitors, it's probably not the site where you'll have new inbox notifications every time you log in. But hear us out — that small number of people is a group of really passionate gamers, and you can skip having to put "gamer" in your bio all together. There is nearly a 50/50 split between male and female users (and you know how hard it is to find a geek site with girls).

The sign-up process is pretty rigorous for a site so niche, but it's likely one of the ways Gamer Dating has managed to weed out almost all of the fake profiles. Aside from the expected profile picture and physical attributes, you'll be asked to list your favourite games right out of the gate. The wide variety of choices include DOTA 2, PUBG, Zelda, and Uncharted, and you have to choose at least three (that's how they confirm that you're a real gamer, I guess). Other fields include social hobbies like smoking habits and if you like to party.

Standard members only get six matches per day, but upgrading to a Silver or Gold Quest to get more matches and customisation. All memberships come with access to the Gaming Centre, where you can read news and blog posts about dating as a gamer.

Stating the obvious, it's really nice to have a dating site geared specifically toward people who think of gaming as a lifestyle instead of the casual Mario Kart at a party. Instead of having to put that you're a gamer or comb through profiles on traditional apps for a mention of gaming, Gamer Dating skips the normie stuff and essentially acts as a virtual Comic-Con. Automatically being able to see their favourite genres and specific games is an immediate talking point, too. Just make sure they didn't buy that girl's bath water first.

Gamer Dating also offers 17 gender options, which outdoes nearly every traditional dating site except for maybe OkCupid. It's truly a place for singles to be themselves, and we stan Gamer Dating for this reason alone. 

A self-proclaimed "BDSM, fetish, and kink site," ALT.com is one of the rare sites that's dedicated to bondage, erotic role play, and a whole lot of leather. Geeks are technically people who obsess over something very specific or give great attention to something in technical detail — no one said that couldn't be bedroom stuff.

Quick sign-up questions about gender, sexual orientation, and whether you're dominant or submissive come first, but the actual questionnaire is pretty lengthy for a site that's only fostering quick connections. However, those with very specific predilections will appreciate this attention to detail. 

It gives you the chance to find a quick hookup or just meet new people who are into the same stuff you are — without having to worry that you'll be judged. With the ability to interact in private chat networks or create your own blog (aside from the expected live video broadcasts and fetish videos), you're guaranteed to at least come away with some advice or a list of new handcuffs to try.

It's true that most people care more about the hookups they get out of a site than the site's aesthetic itself — but it turns into a problem when the site's design is so messy that it becomes difficult to navigate. ALT is a landfill of profiles, blogs, videos, and the occasional animated porn ad. It really has an impressive wealth of content, but a lack of user-friendliness could be a turnoff for some.  

eharmony has more than 20 million members and claims responsibility for some 600,000 marriages. Most users understand that the site is specifically for finding someone to settle down with, so you can be confident that you won't get played.

The service uses your personality profile to pair you with potential matches (after a deathly long series of questions and rated responses, including some heavily religious ones). Then, Guided Communication helps you get to know someone on the site at your own pace. If it's natural for you to take control of the conversation, you can go with Quick Questions or skip this step entirely and send a custom direct message. However, sending pre-written Quick Questions can be a pretty easy ice breaker. 

If you're into science, you'll be happy to know that eharmony uses a scientific approach to matching highly compatible people. eharmony has figured out that by asking you a bunch of questions up front, they can then match you with people whose answers are compatible with yours. Their matching algorithm uses what the website calls a 29 Dimensions Model, which seeks to measure compatibility along with things like emotional energy, kindness, character, intellect, humour, spirituality, and more.