7 Best HER Dating App Alternatives for Queer Women (2026)
Looking for an app like HER? Here are the best HER alternatives for lesbian, bi, and queer women in 2026, compared on who they're built for, safety, and price.
The best HER alternatives for queer women are Zoe, Lex, Fem, Wapa, Taimi, Hinge, and PinkCupid. HER is the biggest name in queer-women dating, but it was bought by Match Group in 2025 and it's built for a broader mix of identities than some people expect. Those two things are why a lot of users go looking for something else.
Here's what's actually worth switching to, and how each one differs from HER.
Why people look for a HER alternative
Four reasons come up again and again, and none of them mean HER is a bad app.
- The ownership changed. In May 2025, Match Group acquired HER, a deal reported by Bloomberg on May 20. Match Group also owns Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and Match.com. HER launched in 2013 as an independent, queer-founded app, so if that independence is why you picked it, that reason no longer applies. We cover this in full in our post on HER's Match Group acquisition.
- It's broader than "women only." HER's own App Store listing describes it as an app for "queer women, lesbian, bi, nonbinary, trans, and gender nonconforming folks." That's a deliberate, welcoming design choice, and for many people it's exactly right. But if you specifically want a women-only space, HER isn't built to be one.
- The paid tiers add up. As of July 2026, HER's App Store listing shows in-app purchases for HER Premium at $14.99, HER Gold at $14.99, and HER Platinum ranging from $19.99 up to $31.99.
- Big apps feel noisy. HER is one of the largest apps focused on queer women. Scale is genuinely useful in a big city and genuinely tiring if you'd rather have a smaller, more curated community.
Zoe vs. HER, head to head
If you're weighing these two specifically, here's the honest version.
Who it's for
- HER: queer women plus nonbinary, trans, and gender nonconforming people, in the app's own words.
- Zoe: lesbian, bisexual, and queer women specifically, with cis men and hetero couples banned outright.
Ownership
- HER: owned by Match Group since May 2025, alongside Tinder and Hinge. Published by Bloomer Inc.
- Zoe: independently run, not part of a larger dating conglomerate.
How matching works
- HER: you view a full profile and tap to like or pass; mutual likes create a match. It also has a community feed and events, so it works as a social app as well as a dating app.
- Zoe: photo-based profiles with swipe-style matching and chat, focused on dating rather than a social feed.
Safety
- HER: photo verification.
- Zoe: photo verification plus a private mode for browsing without being seen.
Price
- HER: free to join. Listed in-app purchases run $14.99 to $31.99 as of July 2026.
- Zoe: free to join, with an optional paid subscription.
Reputation
- HER: 4.4 out of 5 on the US App Store from about 63,400 ratings, checked July 24, 2026.
- Zoe: 4.5 out of 5 on the US App Store from about 33,000 ratings, checked the same day. HER has the larger community; Zoe has the narrower one, by design.
The 7 best HER alternatives
1. Zoe
Best for: queer women who want a genuinely women-only space.
Zoe is built for lesbian, bisexual, and queer women, and it enforces that: cis men and hetero couples are banned rather than discouraged. That's the single clearest difference from HER, which is designed to be open to a wider set of identities. Photo verification and a private mode cover the safety side, so you can browse without being seen and know the person you matched with is real. It's free to join, with an optional subscription.
The trade-off: a smaller community than HER, so it leans toward quality over raw swipe volume.
2. Lex
Best for: community first, dating second.
Lex is text-first. Instead of swiping photos, you read and post short personal ads to a local feed, in the tradition of vintage classified personals. If HER's community feed is the part you actually liked, Lex is the app built entirely around that. Worth knowing: like HER, it's open to the whole LGBTQ+ community rather than women only, and it's owned by 9count, a startup conglomerate, so it isn't independent either. See our full Zoe vs. Lex comparison.
The trade-off: the free tier limits how many posts you can make each month.
3. Fem
Best for: seeing personality before you commit to a conversation.
Fem's differentiator is video profiles. You get a sense of someone's actual energy before you match, which solves a problem photo-first apps don't. Photos still work if you're not ready to be on camera. It's a smaller app than HER, so results depend heavily on your city.
The trade-off: a much smaller user base outside major metros.
4. Wapa
Best for: a straightforward, no-frills lesbian dating app.
Wapa is a long-running app for queer women with simple swipe-based discovery and nearby matching. There's no social feed or events layer, which is the point: if HER felt like too much app, Wapa is the stripped-back version of the same idea.
The trade-off: the interface feels dated next to newer apps.
5. Taimi
Best for: anyone who wants the whole LGBTQ+ community in one place.
Taimi is a large, general LGBTQ+ platform covering dating and social networking across the full spectrum, not just queer women. If you'd rather have the broadest possible pool and don't need a women-focused space, it's the biggest option here.
The trade-off: it's the opposite of a curated women-only community, so you'll be sharing the space with the whole spectrum.
6. Hinge
Best for: serious relationships, if you don't mind a mainstream app.
Hinge is built around prompts and conversation starters rather than pure swiping, and it has a large queer user base in most cities. One caveat that matters on this particular list: Hinge is also owned by Match Group. If you're leaving HER because of the acquisition, switching to Hinge doesn't solve that.
The trade-off: it's a general dating app, so you're filtering a much larger straight population.
7. PinkCupid
Best for: serious, international dating.
PinkCupid has been running since 2006 and works more like a traditional dating site than a swipe app, with detailed profiles and search. It skews older and more relationship-focused, and it has real reach outside the US and UK, which is where a lot of queer-women apps thin out.
The trade-off: the site-style experience feels slower than an app-native one.
Which HER alternative should you pick?
- Choose Zoe if the thing you want is a women-only community with cis men actually banned, plus photo verification and a private mode.
- Choose Lex if you liked HER's community side more than its dating side, and you prefer words to photos.
- Choose Fem if you want to see someone on video before you invest in a conversation.
- Choose Wapa if you want a simple lesbian dating app with nothing extra bolted on.
- Choose Taimi if you want the widest LGBTQ+ pool rather than a women-focused one.
- Choose PinkCupid if you're dating internationally or want long-form profiles over swiping.
- Stay on HER if community size is what matters most to you, or if you value that it's explicitly built to include nonbinary, trans, and gender nonconforming people. It's still one of the largest apps in this category, and the acquisition didn't change how the app works day to day.
For the wider field, including mainstream apps with a queer user base, see our complete guide to the best lesbian dating apps and sites. If you're still working out the language around all this, our glossary explains what sapphic and WLW actually mean.
Frequently asked questions
Is HER dating app free?
Yes, HER is free to download and join. It also sells optional paid upgrades. As of July 2026, its App Store listing shows in-app purchases for HER Premium and HER Gold at $14.99, and HER Platinum from $19.99 to $31.99. You can match and message without paying.
How much does HER Premium cost?
HER's US App Store listing shows HER Premium as a $14.99 in-app purchase as of July 2026, with HER Gold at the same price and HER Platinum running from $19.99 to $31.99. Prices vary by country and can change, so check the listing in your own App Store before subscribing.
Who owns HER dating app?
Match Group has owned HER since May 2025, when it acquired the app. Match Group also owns Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and Match.com. HER was founded by Robyn Exton in 2013, originally launching as Dattch before rebranding to HER in 2015.
Is HER only for women?
No. HER's own App Store listing describes it as an app for queer women, lesbian, bi, nonbinary, trans, and gender nonconforming people. It's built to be broader than women-only. If you specifically want a women-only app, Zoe bans cis men and hetero couples outright.
What is the best alternative to HER?
Zoe is the best alternative for anyone who wants a women-only community, because it enforces that rule rather than just encouraging it. Lex is the best alternative if you preferred HER's community feed, and Taimi is the best if you want the largest general LGBTQ+ pool instead.
Is Zoe a good alternative to HER?
Yes, particularly if you want an independently run app built only for lesbian, bisexual, and queer women. Zoe bans cis men and hetero couples, offers photo verification and a private mode, and is free to join. It rates 4.5 out of 5 on the US App Store, compared with HER's 4.4, though HER has a larger community.
