Top 8 Cougar Dating Sites & Apps to Meet Real Cougars and Cubs

Age-gap dating is becoming a less stigmatized and even more socially encouraged practice. Of course, usually, it's about older men and younger women, but even though cougar dating is not as common, the number of cougars and sugar mommas, as well as cubs, is constantly growing.

To be exact, according to statistics, 81% of women are open to dating a man 10 years younger, and around 90% of men are interested in dating a woman 10 years older.

The demand generates the supply, so the number of cougar dating sites is growing, too. In this guide, you’ll find the top 8 platforms as well as some tips for older women and younger men.

Find dating sites where cougars search for cubs

So which of the best cougar dating sites will work best for you? Below, we will explain how each niche dating site works—take a look, draw conclusions, and you’ll make the right choice.

1. CougarLife

Types of dating	Cougar dating, Sugar momma dating, casual dating, FWB, NSA
Features	Priority Mails, private albums, advanced search
Mobile app	Yes
Registration	Free

If you're looking for legitimate cougar dating sites created exclusively for mature women and younger men, Cougar Life may be a perfect option to choose.

This is a place where cougars (both older ladies and sugar mommas) from the US and some other countries are looking for younger guys and younger guys often find female partners or benefactors, enjoying a great online dating experience.

The site doesn't fall under the category of free cougar dating sites. Though there are many free features like registration, search, access to profiles, and support, plus, all new users can get 3 free messages just for adding a profile photo, but the best services are paid.

In particular, those who buy credits (the costs range from $0.15 to $0.30 per credit) can unlock conversations (there's a fixed price of 10 credits for unlocking a chat with every new member), send priority Mails, boost their profiles, and send virtual gifts.

2. SecretBenefits

Types of dating	Sugar only
Features	Messaging, profile boost, Secret photos
Mobile app	Mobile-friendly site
Registration	Free

Secret Benefits is one of the online dating sites with a lot of cougar dating opportunities that work internationally and still have most members in the United States. It's also the most popular platform for male and female benefactors, as well as sugar babies and sugar cubs who'd like to meet them. Now SB has over 10 million members and has some features that many other niche dating sites don't usually offer.

Just like many other dating websites, Secret Benefits has made part of its services completely free for all registered users. In particular, non-paying members can create and edit their own profiles, use search, browse other members' profiles, view all the public photos and also get match suggestions.

Premium users, in turn, can boost their profiles, get more matches due to higher positions in search results, contact others, and use priority support. Like many other cougar sites, Secret Benefits uses the credit system and offers members to buy virtual currency. As for the exact prices, 1,000 credits will cost you $289, and the cost of a 100-credit package is $59.

3. SugarDaddy.com

Types of dating	Sugar only
Features	Video verification, profile boost, advanced search
Mobile app	Mobile-friendly site
Registration	Free

If you're looking for good cougar dating sites where you'd have high chances of meeting legit older women or younger men, take a look at Sugar Daddy—one of the safest sugar dating platforms. Though the name of the site may sound confusing, it accepts all the users seeking mutually beneficial arrangements, including younger women looking for older men and older women looking for sugar cubs.

This, of course, isn't the only benefit of using this website. It's also one of the best sites in terms of safety for users. There are no special features protecting privacy or anything else, there's just a system that lets you check if a person you've met online is real and attractive to you just by watching a verification video.

There are other standard features like messages, Secret albums, and priority support, but only paid members can use them. The costs, however, aren't that high—you'll spend 10 credits on unlocking a conversation, and the cost of 1 credit starts at $0.15.

4. AshleyMadison

Types of dating	Casual dating, sugar momma dating, FWB, NSA, affairs
Features	Messaging, Priority Mails, private photos
Mobile app	Yes
Registration	Free

Ashley Madison is just the best for older women looking for a free cougar dating site. Though it wasn't initially created for cougars and younger men, it works perfectly for them for multiple reasons.

First of all, everyone who's looking for casual relationships can join the community and find a perfect match. Though Ashley Madison used to be an affair site, it has transformed into a platform that works for cougars, cubs, sugar daddies, people looking for hookups, etc.

Secondly, it's one of the real cougar dating sites where your privacy is protected. Some may argue that there was a data breach in 2015, but since then, members had no problem with safety on the site.

Finally, the pricing policy is pretty reasonable. It's one of the cougar dating apps that are free for women, and men can buy credits to unlock conversations. Unlocking 1 chat costs only 10 credits, and the credits cost from $0.25 to $0.49 each.

5. OlderWomenDating

Types of dating	Cougar dating, Sugar momma dating, age-gap dating, FWB, NSA
Features	Priority Mails, private albums, advanced search
Mobile app	No
Registration	Free

OlderWomenDating is another niche website designed for age-gap dating or for older women and younger men, to be exact. It has more members in Europe, so it works for people seeking love in Great Britain, France, or Switzerland, as well as for Americans who are curious about international sugar momma dating.

It’s a mixed site with both free and premium services. Registration, access to profiles, and basic search are free, but it’s not enough to have that great experience on the site. Those who prefer to upgrade their membership plan get a lot more than that. In particular, they get the possibility to send unlimited messages, view all photos, extend the search, exchange photos and videos, and more.

There is only one plan that users can buy, but the durations are different. You can purchase a one-month Premium for $29.95 to test the website or buy a 3-month plan at a much lower cost of $0.59 a day for $59.95.

6. BeNaughty

Types of dating	Cougar dating, casual dating
Features	Messaging, bidding, search
Mobile app	Mobile-friendly site
Registration	Free

If you're looking for a dedicated cougar dating site, BeNaughty is the site for you. Out of all the cougar dating websites on this list, this one is the best for cubs and cougars. That's because BeNaughty was made specifically for milfs, cougars, and the younger men who love them.

If you're a younger man looking to meet cougars, you should have no trouble finding a match on BeNaughty. That said, not all of the women on this site are older women. You will find a mixture of older and younger women enjoying the site.

BeNaughty is perfect for young men seeking sugar mommas. This is one of the few dating websites that cater to sugar dating for the older woman-younger man dynamic. If you're strictly looking for a hot older woman or cougar, you may be disappointed to see younger women on this site. Because the site is made for milfs, you will see a larger age range in the women on this site.

Note that this is not an escort platform—it's about sugar dating and nothing but sugar dating. Just like on other younger men-older women dating sites, members here pay for upgrade membership.

7. CougarD

Types of dating	Sugar momma & cougar dating, casual dating
Features	Messaging, VIP support, exchanging media files
Mobile app	iOS and Android
Registration	Free

Those who are looking for niche cougar online dating sites like Cougar Life can also take a look at CougarD — an international platform created exclusively for older women and younger men. Just like other cougar dating websites on our list, it has free as well as paid features.

Non-paying users can join the platform (the registration takes just a few minutes), browse profiles (all the photos except a profile photo will be blurred, though), use basic and advanced search filters, and send likes.

However, only paying members can see all the pictures uploaded by members, initiate conversations and read the messages that others sent. Unlocking unlimited messaging and other premium services will cost users around $1 a day, and the price will depend on the terms and length of your premium subscription.

8. MilfFinder

Types of dating	Dating up, relationships on your terms
Features	Video chat, profile boost, extended search
Mobile app	Mobile-friendly site
Registration	Free

MilfFinder accepts tens of thousands of older women and younger men, too, which automatically makes it one of the top cougar dating sites on the web.

Both non-paying ladies and gentlemen can edit their profiles, see the lists of profile viewers, use a lot of advanced search filters, browse other users' profiles, and more. At the same time, younger men and mature women who prefer to upgrade their membership plans can do much more, for example, start conversations, have video dates, send gifts, enjoy an ad-free experience, and more.

Currently, there are two types of VIP membership, and the costs are much lower for women—they range from $15 to $19 for females and from $96.66 to $274.99 per month for males. By the way, MilfFinder isn't only mobile-optimized. It's considered one of the best cougar dating apps, too.

How cougar dating actually works

First and foremost, cougar dating is just dating. It works pretty much like regular relationships—people meet, learn more about each other, get closer to each other, build emotional connections and stay together as long as they find this relationship satisfying.

However, it would also be wrong to deny that this type of dating is less common and has its peculiarities, so we can talk about the benefits and drawbacks of cougar relationships, too.

Benefits of cougar relationships:

• They are satisfying for both parties. Both older women and younger men usually see such an age-gap relationship as a great experience. There's no room for prejudice, and in such a relationship, partners just enjoy them as they are.
• Opportunity to learn from their partners. It may seem like this is rather a benefit for a young man rather than a mature woman, but in fact, it's equally good for both. Two people from different generations share thoughts, experiences, and interests, and usually, it helps both of them grow.

Drawbacks of cougar dating:

• Social stigma. It's still strong enough, and the thing is, cougar relationships are still less stigmatized than sugar daddy-sugar baby relationships and age-gap relationships between older men and younger women. On top of that, women are usually less accepting of them, while over 65% of men find them completely acceptable.
• Different interests and sometimes values. That's a common problem in older men-younger women relationships, too. Some couples note that their differences help them focus on their similarities, but some couples can't cope with this difficulty.

It's always about personal choice and priorities. If advantages seem way more important to you, maybe you have a good chance to find the right partner on a cougar dating app or a niche dating site.

How much does it cost to use a cougar dating site?

The costs vary from platform to platform. Note that a cougar dating app or a sugar dating site is more likely to be free for women.

For example, sites like Ashley Madison and SecretBenefits are either completely free for ladies or have discounts for them. That can be explained by different reasons.

Often, there's a gender imbalance on such platforms, and the sites try to attract more members. Sugar platforms, in turn, focus on their concepts—a lady or gentleman looking for a benefactor shouldn't pay for using the site where millionaires and wealthy men and women are looking for partners to pay for dating.

Still, the total cost of online dating services depends on a policy of a particular site, dating strategy, and well, your luck.

How to find a cougar, a sugar momma, or a cub easily?

Now you know where to find a cougar or a cub, but another important question is how to do it sooner and at a lower price. Here are some tips that can help you find cougars or cubs without any difficulty:

• Tip 1. Find a dating site that will work great personally for you. As you can see, there are different types of websites and apps with different features, prices, and dating pools. On some sites, you can narrow the search to cougars/cubs only, on some, there will be more sugar daddies and sugar babies but some really useful tools, and on some, dating is free for ladies. Just set your priorities and you'll make the right choice.
• Tip 2: Make your own profile work. No matter if you're going to join the best cougar dating platform as a cougar or a cub—you still need a good profile. Also, singles should view it as a tool that helps them save time they could spend on the wrong people. The more details you provide, the bigger the chances of only your best matches approaching you online.
• Tip 3. Follow the safety rules. Here's the golden rule of online dating and in particular, sugar dating. Never agree to send money or accept it before you meet a person in real life. Do the research and learn more about common scam schemes, and you'll be able to protect yourself.
• Tip 4. Use the search and pay enough attention to profiles. Some users just focus on photos, but this is the wrong approach because, in the end, you'll spend much more time and money on dating.
• Tip 5. Don't delay meetings in real life. That's the only way to find out if there's chemistry between you, so just go on a date!

Basically, younger men-older women dating doesn't differ much from other types of online dating. So if you follow these basic rules, you'll succeed.

Final thoughts about cougar dating

Recent surveys confirm that couples where the woman is significantly older than her male partner currently have a high prominence in national and international media as well as in popular culture.

Simply put, the number of older women and younger men looking for an age-gap relationship is growing, and nowadays, they have a great chance of meeting each other on one of the best cougar dating sites.

So, if this is what you're looking for, just choose the right site, and give it a try.

FAQ

Is there a legit cougar dating site?

If you want to date a cougar or a cub, you can really join one of the legit cougar dating apps or cougar sites. However, we recommend choosing them carefully, paying special attention to profiles, features, and prices. If you'd like to choose one of the top cougar dating apps, you can find 7 decent options in our guide.

What's the best cougar dating site?

Cougar Life is considered one of the best apps for cougars that works for the vast majority of mature ladies and younger men who'd like to meet cougars online. Still, if for some reason, it doesn't work for you, you can find 6 more great alternatives in our guide.

What site has the most female cougars?

It's hard to say which site has the most female cougars because mixed sites like Secret Benefits or Ashley Madison don't provide this kind of statistics. If you're looking for a site with the best concentration of cougars, you can choose Cougar Life or join the above-mentioned sites—though we don't know the exact numbers, they still have many female members looking for younger partners.