Dating apps have become a massive part of our daily lives now. From swiping to eventually matching and leading up a conversation, they’ve changed how we perceive dating in this modern era.
Tinder, for instance, defined what swiping right or left means creating a whole new experience for its users where they could sign up and swipe. Even if you don’t use any dating apps, you still know what swiped left means.
Bumble and Hinge have since followed in Tinder’s wake with their unique takes on the whole situation, with Bumble letting women make the first move and Hinge being quite thorough in how you reach out to a potential match.
In this article, we’re going over all three of these apps, Hinge, Bumble and Tinder, to see which one works best for you.
Also read: How to change location on Hinge?
User Experience
Both Tinder and Bumble want to get their users out there swiping as soon as possible. Hinge, however, takes its time in curating your profile. With Tinder and Bumble, all you have to do is add a photo, type your name, age, location a search radius your dating preferences, and you’re good to go. Other information can be added over time.
It’s important to point out here that Tinder was the first to its addictive card stack like interface. While yes, the idea of just looking at someone’s picture and swiping left or right is a bit superficial, it’s also perhaps the most accessible way an app like Tinder could’ve been designed.
The interface since then has been adopted by many of its rivals, including Bumble. The thing with Bumble, however, is that it puts the choice entirely in women’s hands. After a match (that is, both of you swipe right on each other), women have to make the first move in the next 24 hours. If not, the match will expire. On Tinder, anyone can start a conversation after a match and matches aren’t deleted until their profile themselves get deleted.
The difference here is that Bumble profiles are a bit more diverse than Tinder’s, adding question prompts and other things such as height, interests, religious/political beliefs, among other things. Bumble chats are also feature-rich allowing matches to video call, send voice notes and media in the chat. At the same time, Tinder limits the conversations to just text messages and video calls.
Bumble also has a friend finder and another section where you can focus on business networking. Both these sections function a lot like the dating one but aren’t as good at the moment.
Hinge launched at around the same time as Tinder back in 2012, and at first, both the apps were quite similar in their approach. However, Hinge took a different turn and focussed more on meaningful, long-term relationships rather than hookups.
Hinge slows the pace down, making users add pictures, prompts and fill out quite a lengthy profile, including things such as your religious beliefs, political leanings, height, ethnicity, whether you have kids and if you drink or smoke among other things.
Potential matches are also shown based on your preferences and interests. Hinge also shows you who liked your profile and what they liked about it, making starting a conversation if you want incredibly easy.
Also read: How does Bumble work?
Extras and paid benefits
Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge all offer paid upgrades that you can buy and get more matches or be more visible. Once a user gets hooked on a dating app, nothing opens wallets faster than the promise of love.
Tinder offers three different premium options, Tinder+, Tinder Gold and Tinder Platinum. These subscriptions add things like unlimited swipes, rewinds (the ability to reverse a swipe), no ads, five super likes every day as opposed to the one you get in the free account and boost that puts your profile in front of more people. You can read more about the differences in Tinder subscriptions in our guide here.
Bumble has two premium offerings — Boost and Premium. Bumble boost gives you access to features such as accessing your Beeline (people who have liked you), extend matches, rematch with expired matches, unlimited swipes, backtrack (similar to Tinder’s rewind), one spotlight and five super swipes per week. The premium tier adds all features from boost and a few more such as travel mode and more advanced filters.
| Bumble Membership type | Subscription length | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Boost | 1 week | $5.99 |
| Boost | 1 month | $9.99 |
| Boost ` | 3 months | $19.99 |
| Boost | 6 months | $33.99 |
| Premium | 1 week | $12.99 |
| Premium | 1 month | $22.99 |
| Premium | 3 months | $46.99 |
| Premium | 6 months | $139.99 |
Subscriptions for both Bumble and Tinder keep getting progressively cheaper the longer you commit to them.
Hinge also has a premium offering called Preferred Members. Pricing starts from $19.99 for one month, $39.99 for three months and $59.99 for six months. A lot of the features offered here are similar to what Tinder and Bumble offers, such as unlimited likes, being able to see everyone who liked you at once and advanced parameters or preferences to match with the right people.
Adapting to times and trends
Tinder once again is the most active app here. The app constantly features competitions and events both on the app and offline to keep its audience hooked and attract new members all at once. Bumble is a close second, and while they aren’t exactly as active as Tinder, they have more passive ways of engaging with their audience, such as their mental health blog. Hinge, on the other hand, is lacking in this regard.
Tinder and Bumble have also adapted well to the pandemic, adding in more features to mark people who are vaccinated. Bumble even has an entire COVID dating section where you can set your preferences about heading out on a date, staying in or whether or not you’re okay with masks.
The good and the bad
Here’s a quick rundown of the pros and cons you get with each of these apps.
| App | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Tinder | >> More active/engaged audience. >> Subscriptions get progressively cheaper. >> Easy to use interface. >> Easy to set up profiles. >> Video calls with matches. | >> A high number of fake profiles. >> It can sometimes stall your profile’s growth. |
| Bumble | >> Great privacy features. >> Numerous chat features, including voice notes and video calls. >> Easy to use interface. >> More detailed profiles. >> The free version is pretty robust. | >> The friend finder and networking section is a bit of a dud. >> Subscriptions are generally more expensive. |
| Hinge | >> Meant for more meaningful relationships. >> The profiles are pretty detailed. >> Users can like specific sections of a profile. | >> Slow-paced. >> Not as many chat features. >> No web app. |
Hinge, Bumble or Tinder: Which dating app is for you?
The answer to this question boils down to your preferences and lifestyle. Tinder is a cult classic in the dating app world, which means more members and a faster flow to the app’s purpose by design.
Bumble has been made to be a safe space for women, giving them all the control, adding a little more depth to the profiles while still maintaining the fun and pace. Lastly, Hinge focuses more on relationships and long-lasting matches that might end up being something meaningful. Which one of these you pick depends mainly on what you want from life when you decide to install any of these apps.
