Why Are Dating Apps So Expensive?
Dating App Price Comparisons (Hinge, Bumble, Free vs Paid), Are Dating Apps Worth Paying? Dating Site Costs, Dating App Prices 2025, Why Is Hinge, Bumble Expensive?
Reader Question: Why are dating apps so expensive? Are they even worth it anymore?
Related read: More reader questions answered
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Why Do Dating Apps Make You Pay?
Dating apps are not free. Dating apps make you pay because they can, but also because they require significant money to develop, market, optimize and attract more users. Some charge fees for all, some charge fees for certain features. If you had good options and time to meet people offline, you don’t have to use dating apps.
Dating app prices have skyrocketed over the past 5 years as folks options were limited do to isolation, WFH, pandemic and more. Costs of dating sites have historically increased as cost of acquisition for new customers has risen, more apps are competing for the same users and as more people become more desperate or at least have less time, energy and confidence to meet people offline in real life.
Below are some tips to assessing prices for apps, whether you should pay for them, if so which apps and which features.
Related reads:
How Much Do Dating Apps Cost? Do You Need To Pay?
You don’t need to pay for dating apps, if you think they do, you are not paying attention, have not used enough or are too jaded about dating in general.
Most dating apps have a component of free services (freemium model), and many have reduced free functionality over time, but apps like Hinge and Bumble have functioning free services.
That said, dating apps are not charities, they cost money to operate, need to cover acquisition costs for new users. If you don’t like paying for dating apps, don’t need to use them, just meet people IRL.
Most people who don’t go offline are usually too busy, don’t have many friends, are shy. Similarly, paying for dating apps won’t necessarily get you more dates, make you more interesting, help with your vague profiles, low-effort messages, or help you develop realistic expectations.
There is an old saying in technology: if you are not paying for a product, you are the product.
Are Dating Apps Getting More Expensive? Worse?
From a value proposition, dating apps are getting worse. They are VC funded and once they build up a user base, they reduce functionality, raise rates because they have people hooked.
Thanks to the pandemic, things got more expensive, people stopped going out as much, and dating apps took advantage of captive audiences. As companies go public (Bumble) or get acquired (Hinge), they need to improve margins and make money in the public sector.
Prices and services are usually subsidized by VC’s to build market share and the raise rates once people become addicted or once alternative solutions become eradicated (see Uber/taxis, Airbnb/hotels, Amazon/bookstores).
Dating App Price Comparison, Costs Of Dating Sites
Prices as of February 21st, 2025
Dating App Boosts
Bumble Spotlight Cost
$4.99/boost; $12.99/5 boosts $29.99/15 boosts; $49.99/30 boosts
Dating App Premium Subscriptions
Bumble Dating App Subscriptions
Bumble Premium: $14.99/week; $29.99/month; $59.99/quarter; $99.99/6 months
Bumble Premium+: $19.99/week; $39.99/month; $79.99/quarter;
Hinge Dating App Subscriptions
Hinge+: $14.99/week; $44.99/month; $89.99/quarter; $149.99/6 months
HingeX: $24.99/week; $49.99/month; $99.99/quarter; $179.99/6 months
Dating App Superswipes, Roses
Bumble: $4.99/2 swipes; $7.99/5 swipes; $19.99/15 swipes; $34.99/30 swipes
Hinge: $3.33 each/3 roses; $2.49 each/12 roses; $1.49 each/50 roses
Why Is Online Dating So Expensive? Why Is Bumble, Hinge So Expensive?
Their product is addictive and many people rely on apps way too much in life. I recommend folks use them sparingly at best (in addition to meeting people offline, organically).
You don’t need to pay for all the features (which can be costly if you use apps too much or lack realistic expectations or are swiping outside your league).
If you think of the cost to go out to a bar, cafe, or social event, apps are actually cheaper than these activities.
But I thought people don’t meet offline anymore?
Sure, trends show people are meeting offline less and less (as a percentage) but folks who have friends, hobbies, are social and work on themselves are still meeting people offline/IRL
If you are the type that continually makes excuses, assume the worst in people/society or lacks the ability to understand nuance, you may not be ready to date. A lot of dating has to deal with mindset, self-work, timing, ability to read people and the like.
People still meet at bars, cafes, restaurants, social events, galas, street fairs, festivals, dancing etc. You may be biased if you spend too much time on tik-tok, reddit etc. as those audiences tend to corral people who are bitter, jaded and down on themselves. They can often become cesspools of despair and hopeless if you hang out there too much.
Related read: Read about me in the news….
Cheapest Dating Apps
The cheapest dating apps are not usually comparable and often times can be super sketchy. Similarly, even the apps that charge money for certain features do not need payment to succeed on them if you know how to market yourself, have self-awareness, have realistic expectations etc.