More single people than ever are paying for dating apps – despite the ‘stigma’

More single people than ever are paying for dating apps amid an increasingly contentious dating climate.

The uptick in dating subscriptions comes on the heels of Match Group and Bumble — which make up the dating app industry by market share — having lost more than $40bn in market value since 2021, reports show.

By incentivizing users, these companies hope to turn the tide on their dwindling revenue and repair their reputations amid the current atmosphere of disillusionment in the dating space.

Paid versions of dating apps have long been offered to users seeking more refined matches, with dating apps Tinder and Hinge introducing premium subscriptions to their userbase in 2015 and 2016 respectively. However, since then, a recent class-action lawsuit has alleged that premium subscriptions from Match Group-owned apps – including Tinder and Hinge – are actively violating consumer protection laws and are “purposefully addictive.”

The latter of the two has established two subscriber tiers: Hinge+, an upgraded version of the app that costs $33 per month allowing advanced preferences and sending an unlimited number of likes per day, and HingeX, which costs $50 per month allowing for boosted profile visibility and access to enhanced match recommendations. The added benefits have incentivized more users to dole out their money.

Meanwhile, Tinder’s subscription tiers range from $24.99 per month to the more exclusive, Tinder Select which costs a reported $499 per month for access to the dating scene’s elite.

“We know that there is a subset of highly engaged and active users who prioritize more effective and efficient ways to find connections,” Tinder’s chief product officer, Mark Van Ryswyk, told Bloomberg in 2023 on the addition of Tinder Select. “So we engaged in extensive tests and feedback with this audience over the past several months to develop a completely new offering.”

The app reported that revenue from users with paid subscriptions increased in 2023, adding that subscriptions grew 33 percent in 2023, compared to 2022. However, with this rise in premium subscriptions, people are reluctant to share that they’ve been paying for the apps, with a stigma of shame revolving around it.

“The truth is that dating apps make dating more anxiety-producing and overwhelming for most, and for many singles, there’s an internalized stigma toward spending money on your dating life, as if you’re paying for something your friend found for free,” dating coach Lily Womble explained to Popsugar.

“Singles might have a fear that paying for dating apps signals that they’re broken or bad at dating in some way, though this couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Womble added that most people fear what their peers may think of them, especially those who may have found love more “quickly” or “easily.”

However, she noted that it’s not a bad thing to want to increase the quality of your dating experience, noting: “If you have the money to spend on an app upgrade, it can be a great high-quality experiment in your dating life to see if there’s a difference for you.”