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Hinge vs Bumble: Least Superficial Dating Apps Duel [2022 Showdown]

Hinge vs Bumble: Least Superficial Dating Apps Duel [2022 Showdown]

Bumble and Hinge are the second and third most used dating apps in the USA.

They both trail Tinder and probably always will, but if you ask their founders, that’s probably fine.

Because while Tinder targets 18-24-year-olds, Bumble and Hinge appeal to older crowds looking for more serious relationships.



It’s these two apps that have a similar amount of users, appeal to the same demographic, and in general have the most in common,

It’s for that reason that we’ll be detailing these two apps as they duke it out.

First, let’s talk about the background of each app.

hinge vs bumble

Hinge vs Bumble: Which Should You Download?

Spoiler: Both.

Just because one is better than the other (you’ll have to wait to find out which) doesn’t mean you should only use one.

Online dating is a numbers game. The best way to rack up matches is to get your swipe on, on as many dating apps as possible. Let’s also not forget that just because these apps are similar doesn’t mean their users are identical.

As this map shows us some apps are much more popular in certain areas than others.

Only downloading one means that you’re potentially missing out on a whole crop of women worth dating.

hinge vs bumble

Background

If you’re up on dating app culture, you probably already know how Bumble got its start.



Its founder Whitney Wolfe was a co-founder of Tinder.

She left the company during its formative years after experiencing sexual harassment and discrimination (which she later sued them for).

Her experience at Tinder led her to found Bumble in 2014. Use Bumble after swiping on Tinder and you’ll notice more than a couple of similarities. They’re so similar in fact that in 2018 Tinder sued Bumble claiming that Bumble had stolen Tinder technology.

While the two apps have a messy history, it’s this messy history that also gives Bumble its character. Wolfe’s creation is known as “feminist Tinder.” When Wolfe left Tinder she decided to devote her professional life to building a dating app with the female user in mind.

hinge vs bumble
Whitney Wolfe, founder of Bumble

It’s for this reason women must message first in order for a conversation to begin.

While Bumble was launched as a response to the toxic and macho online dating dynamic created by Tinder, Hinge was founded as a response to a lack of romantic options.

In 2011 Hinge founder Justin McLeod was heartbroken and couldn’t get over his recent breakup. Like all super nerds, if a solution to a personal problem doesn’t already exist, they’ll create it.

So that’s exactly what McLeod did.

The thing is, the first iteration of the app sucked.

It wasn’t until Hinge started matching people based on their Facebook connections did the app take off.

Initially, Hinge was trying to be just another Tinder. But as the app aged so did its founder’s thinking. Hinge was to become the “app designed to be deleted.

In 2018 Hinge ditched Facebook but still added a host of features geared towards helping singles find meaningful connections.



Hinge vs. Bumble By The Numbers

Who uses these apps?

For the most part, these two apps appeal to the same audience.

A more mature, urban, college-educated, and older audience than you might see on Tinder.

Let’s dive into specifics.

First off, the most important question of them all — which app is more male-dominated?

According to Statistic, 67.4% of all monthly Bumble users are male.

hinge vs bumble

This may strike you as surprising, seeing as how Bumble is geared towards women, but the truth of the matter is that when compared to its “evil sister” Tinder, this ratio of 7-3 isn’t that bad.

Tinder for example has a gender ratio of 9 males to every 1 female.

So what about Hinge?

Surely as the least superficial dating app out there Hinge must have a nearly 50-50 gender ratio no?



Not exactly.

hinge gender ratio

Hinge is just a couple percentage points more even than Bumble’s with 64.7% of its users being male.

If you’re looking for a dating app with a 1-1 gender ratio, you’re out of luck.

Yet while there are a fair more men than women on these apps you still have plenty of women to choose from.

As the second and third largest dating apps in the US, both of these 24/7 virtual singles bars are teeming with women.

Worldwide Bumble has 12 million active monthly users.

Hinge has 6 million.

How Old Are These Users?

When it comes to Bumble most users are on the younger side.hinge vs bumble

Hinge stats about age are a bit more difficult to come by but from what we can deduce the average age is older than that of the average Bumble user.

In 2016 a Hinge spokesperson reported that “90 percent of users are between 23 and 36, making the Hinge user base noticeably older than Tinder’s…  52 percent of Tinder users are between 18 and 24.”

This may still sound young, but not when compared to Tinder or Bumble.



What Type Of Person Uses These Apps?

What do they like to do, what are their political beliefs, etc.?

While this information is difficult to come by we do have some insight thanks to a couple of studies.

bumble vs hinge

Bumble may be more diverse and older than you had previously thought. It’s racially more diverse than other apps and has an average user that’s older than you might have expected.

From internal Bumble research, we all know that

  • 25% of users went on a date last month with a Bumble match
  • 1-4% are looking for hookups
  • 85% of users are looking for a committed relationship
  • 97% of users have messaged at least one match within the last month

Hinge released quite a bit of research about their users a few years ago and although we expect this information to have been diluted a bit in recent years, it still gives us a good idea of who the average Hinge user is.

In 2016 we learned the following about Hinge users:

As the “dating app designed to be deleted” Hinge does a pretty good job at backing up that claim with a user-base that years to find love.

Hinge vs Bumble: Key Features

There’s a reason these apps are so popular.

Both are on the cutting edge of new and unique features.

Let’s first look at Bumble’s most unique features.

Bumble’s Best Features

By far the most unique aspect of Bumble is that women must message first. 

After users swipe right on each other a match is made.



Yet only women are allowed to message first.

Why does Bumble do this you ask?

Here’s their answer:

“Bumble was designed to counter problematic and antiquated hetero dating norms, so the above rules do not apply to same-gender matches or to connections made in Bumble BFF. In these cases, either person has 24 hours to make the first move before the connection expires.”

Bumble is female-first. It created this feature in part because it wanted to give women the power. Too often men are bombarding women with unwanted messages. But with Bumble, women are given another moment to assess new matches and decide whether they’re really worth interacting with.

The thing is, females only have 24 hours to send a message before the match expires.

bumble vs hinge

Luckily free users are given the ability to extend one match by 24 hours every day. Paying users can also resurrect matches after they’ve expired.

Another cool feature that Bumble has that Hinge (and many other apps) doesn’t, is it’s Bumble Travel feature.

Bumble is used widely enough in the US and abroad that it offers paying users the chance to change their location and get their swipe on in nearly every city in the world.

It was this feature that users took full advantage of during the COVID lockdowns but it’s not the only feature that users have taken advantage of during the pandemic.

As a response to the pandemic, Bumble added a couple of new features.

It enabled video calls, the Night In feature that allows users to play games with their matches via the app, and audio prompts.



Each feature is unique and was created to address the social isolation created by the pandemic.

Some other cool features include:

Now it’s time to take a look at Hinge’s most impressive features.

Hinge’s Noteworthy Features

The coolest Hinge feature used to be that you could only meet other Hinge users that were friends of your FB friends. In this way, you could screen them with the help of FB friends.

Hinge did away with this fundamental feature in 2018 but has made up for it in other ways.

Hinge’s defining feature is that free users are only granted 8 swipes a day.

Crazy right?

Hinge’s rationale is:

“Research has shown us that eight is the magic number. When our members had more free likes per day, their matches were worse. When they had fewer, they were paying to send more. So now everyone gets eight for free.”

As a dating coach for men that is always reminding her clients to have a social life apart from dating, I love this feature.

Too many men blindly swipe right to every profile that comes their way.

This isn’t how you make meaningful connections.

Hinge is also known for allowing users to message and like either prompts or photos. 

No more swiping right on profiles.



Hinge gives you the opportunity make an immediate connection by liking and writing a message to users. They’ll be able to read these messages even if they haven’t liked your profile.

bumble vs hinge

Some other notable features include:

Hinge Hack!

Unlike Bumble, Hinge gives users a chance to start over.

To hit the reset button on their accounts and make it so their Hinge history is completely erased (except the good parts).

Go to Settings>Delete Hinge. 

You’ll then be asked why you want to delete the app. Click the, “I’m not happy with my Hinge experience” option. You’ll then be asked if you want a Fresh Start.

You my friend most certainly do.

A Fresh Start means…

hinge hack



Here’s the thing.

You want to make your second crack at a first impression worthwhile. Make sure she swoons by optimizing your profile. That means adding new high-quality pictures, penning a bio, adding an audio file, and providing thoughtful Hinge Prompt responses.

UX

The UX for both these apps is pretty similar.

What sets both apart and really gives them both a claim as the least superficial dating app out there is the fact that users MUST scroll past bios and prompt responses in order to see more photos.

Many other apps don’t require users to interact with written content. Forcing users to read (or at least skim) over revealing text-answers humanizes users.

This is in direct contract to Tinder.

Cost: Hinge vs Bumble

When it comes to Hinge vs Bumble there are plenty of things that separate these two apps.

But when it comes to the wealth of features and usability of the free versions of these apps, they’re identical.

Both offer amazing free features that make you question if it’s even worth upgrading.

That being said, if you do, there are a few differences both in price and features.

Let’s dive in.

Hinge

bumble vs hinge

Users can also choose to buy and send a rose.

Roses boost your profile to the top of the queue.

Here’s the breakdown:

  • 3 roses: $3.33/each
  • 12 roses: $2.49/each
  • 50 roses: $1/49/each

When you’re a preferred member you receive the following benefits:



  • See everyone who likes you
  • Advanced preferences
  • Unlimited likes

Bumble

hinge vs bumble

Bumble also offers a lifetime membership of $229.99. 

Here are all the benefits you get when you choose the Premium membership.

hinge vs bumble

When you opt for a boost membership which costs just: $8.99/w, $16.99/m, $33.99/m, $54.99/m you get the following:

hinge vs bumble

Who’s The Winner?

And in the Hinge vs Bumble duel the winner is…

best dating app

Look this is a tough one.

Both apps appeal to the same demographic, are anti-superficial apps, have similar features, etc.

There are a few reasons why Bumble takes the cake.

Whitney Wolfe’s baby has many millions more users than Hinge. Its market share is substantially greater than Hinge’s.

But it isn’t just this.

Hinge is missing some key features.

Bumble offers a travel mode, super swipe, video, and photo features.  

Not only that but Bumble is growing faster than potentially any other dating app. That’s in part because Bumble isn’t just a dating app anymore.

Wolfe’s app has taken the dating scene by storm.

When it comes to the Hinge vs Bumble debate there really is none.

Bumble’s a winner.

Now What?

Well, download Bumble obviously (and Hinge).

But look, knowing which app is best isn’t enough to score you matches.

To take advantage of this knowledge you have to learn how to get the most out of Bumble.

That’s exactly what you’ll learn when you enroll in my Dating Decoded program.

Let’s have a quick 1-on-1 chat so that I can learn about your dating goals and we can determine if our program is the right fit for you.

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