Dating apps, decoded. We use them so you don’t have to use all of them.
Issue 118Every Wednesday morningIndependent · no affiliate links
This week
Tinder · payers −21% since 2022Hinge · subscribers +17%Deletes · 69% within a monthPaywalls · dearer than Netflix + SpotifyScams · $672M lost in 2025Hinge · $14–33 for one tierThe League · $399+/moReply rate · down a 4th monthTinder · payers −21% since 2022Hinge · subscribers +17%Deletes · 69% within a monthPaywalls · dearer than Netflix + SpotifyScams · $672M lost in 2025Hinge · $14–33 for one tierThe League · $399+/moReply rate · down a 4th month
This week’s signals · Issue 118
The apps make noise.You keep the signal.
Swipe fatigue is real, the features that matter moved behind paywalls, and most “best dating app” lists are ads in a trench coat. Once a week we publish what living inside the apps actually shows — what each one really costs, what it hides, and what deserves your money — written for daters, not for app companies.
Hinge charges different people different prices for the same subscription
Hinge+ lists at $29.99 a month, but the identical tier has been observed between $14 and $33 depending on your age and where you live. Tinder, Bumble, Raya and Muzz all personalise price too. There is no sticker price in dating apps any more — there is a price for you.
Evidence
Hinge Help Centre · Aug 19
Observed range · multiple reports
Our pricing sweep · 24 apps
Money · 3 sources
KeepSkip
PAYWALL
The Data · Pricing
+$9/mo
Top dating tiers now cost more than Netflix, Spotify and Disney+ combined
The features that make the apps pleasant — seeing who liked you, unlimited likes, incognito — sit almost entirely behind the subscription. Grindr moved its US baseline up twice this year; Tinder now ladders Plus, Gold and Platinum from $24.99 to $49.99 a month.
Evidence
Our pricing sweep · 24 apps · Aug 19
Grindr Q4 shareholder letter
Tinder tier pricing · Aug 19
Money · 3 sources
KeepSkip
CHURN
The Data · Behaviour
−5.2%
69% of dating-app downloads are deleted within a month
Swipe fatigue is no longer a mood, it is a churn number. Nearly four in five Gen Z daters report burnout, paying users at the two biggest apps keep falling, and the only meaningful growth is at apps that limit how much you can swipe.
Evidence
Match Group quarterly filings
Store-ranking tracker · 2024–26
Published fatigue surveys · 2024–26
Trend · 3 sources
KeepSkip
VERIFY
Safety
+37%
Romance-scam losses passed $672M — photo verification is now table stakes
Reported losses to romance scams keep climbing, and selfie verification is the one defence the platforms control. Which apps require it, rather than burying it as optional, is the next thing we are checking — app by app, not from press releases.
Evidence
FTC consumer-fraud data · 2025
Platform safety documentation
Safety · 2 sources
KeepSkip
LEAGUE
The Data · Pricing
$399+
The most expensive dating app costs more per month than most cost per decade
The League sells membership tiers reported from $399 up to $2,499 a month. At the other end, Lex charges nothing and treats its paid tier as a tip jar. The gap between the cheapest and dearest app we track is roughly three hundred fold.
Evidence
Membership tiers · reported Aug 26
Our pricing sweep · 24 apps
Money · 2 sources
Deck cleared
That is the whole issue. Back Wednesday morning.
1/5
24apps tracked
18prices verified
0affiliate links, ever
Four weeks in every app, on our own money
How we test
01
We live in the apps
Every review means at least 28 days of real use on real profiles. We pay for our own subscriptions, and we accept no free access, press accounts, or early features from any company we cover — so nobody gets a lever to pull.
02
We score what we can measure
Every app gets a Signal Score out of 100 across matching quality, safety and verification, honest pricing, and how easy it is to leave. Behind it sits a reply-rate panel of readers who opt in, pricing sweeps, and public filings.
03
We publish on Wednesdays
One issue a week: the news that matters, one full review, and the data. If a week is quiet the issue is shorter — we do not pad, and we do not publish a verdict before the 28 days are done.
Built for people who actually use the apps
What you get
Signal Scores
Every app scored out of 100 on the four things daters ask us about: matching, safety, cost, and how hard it is to delete. Re-tested quarterly, because apps change under you.
No affiliate links, ever
Most “best dating app” rankings are paid placements. Ours cannot be: we take no commissions, no ads from dating companies, and no free subscriptions. If we say pay for it, that is the whole transaction.
The Data
Reply rates from a panel of readers who opt in, subscription prices tracked across every tier, and churn from public filings — trends the apps themselves would rather not chart.
Safety audits
Which apps verify photos, how blocking and reporting actually behave, and what happens to your data when you leave. Checked by us, not copied from a press release.
Guides that respect you
Profile, prompts, first messages, and when to leave an app entirely — written from the test diaries, not from engagement folklore.
The scoreboard
Every score in one table with the date we last used the app, because a review from 2023 is a rumour. Watch an app climb or slide across quarters.
The scoreboard
Every app we’ve tested, one table
Reviews age; the scoreboard doesn’t. Every app we cover sits in one ranked table with its Signal Score, our one-line verdict, and the date we last lived in it — re-tested every quarter, demoted when they slip.
What we can show our working for today. Signal Scores join this list as the 28-day tests finish, not before.
24
apps tracked in the scoreboard
the full testing queue
18
paid-tier prices verified
checked 19 Aug 2026
5
apps that price by who you are
age, location or platform
0
affiliate links published
and none coming
What readers say
From readers
“I cancelled two subscriptions after one issue. Not because they said cancel — because the pricing table made it obvious.”
Beta reader
London
“The reply-rate data ended a three-year argument in our group chat about whether it was the app or the profile.”
Beta reader
Chicago
“Every other review site links you straight to a sign-up page and takes a cut. This one tells you the app got worse.”
Beta reader
Lisbon
Questions
Before you ask
Is this another affiliate “best dating apps” list?
No, and that is the whole point. Most ranking sites are paid by the apps they rank, through affiliate commissions on your sign-up. We take no commissions, no advertising from dating companies, and no free subscriptions. Our only reader relationship is the newsletter, and it is free.
Do the apps get any say in the reviews?
None. We pay for our own accounts, companies do not see reviews before you do, and we do not accept embargoed access in exchange for coverage. When we contact an app it is for comment, after testing, and the piece says so.
Where does the data come from?
Three places: our own test diaries (at least 28 days per app), a reply-rate panel of readers who explicitly opt in to share anonymised messaging stats, and public sources — quarterly filings, store pricing, and regulator data. Every chart names its source.
How is the Signal Score built?
Out of 100, weighted across matching quality, safety and verification, honest pricing, and how easy the app makes it to leave. The weights are published, the score is re-tested quarterly, and an app that changes under you gets re-scored, not grandfathered.
Which apps do you cover?
The big ones everyone is on, plus the smaller intentional apps where most of the interesting movement is happening. If the app you use is missing, reply to any issue and tell us — reader requests set the testing queue.
Is it the app, or is it my profile?
More often than anyone wants to hear: the photos. In our reply-rate panel the gap between profiles on the same app dwarfs the gap between apps, and the first photo does most of the work. Before you pay for a single boost, get strangers to tell you which photo to lead with — test your photos on WouldSwipe.
What do you do with my email address?
We send you the weekly issue and nothing else. No selling, no sharing, no ad networks. One click unsubscribes and deletes the record.
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