My clients consistently ask me “Should I pay for dating apps premium memberships?” But before we can address the primary topic of this article let’s ask the prerequisite question. Should I use dating apps?

Yes. 

Barring those living in Amish communities, you should be using dating apps. If your goal is to find, court, and mate with a female, dating apps must be part of your strategy. 50 million Americans -about 15% of the adult population- have at one time used dating apps. 

With dating apps, attraction can happen anywhere. Trips to the bathroom can turn into a love at first sight moment as you super-like the woman that might become your next wife. So the question of whether you should use dating apps or not has an obvious answer. What’s less obvious is how they should be used.

If you’re MegaDating, 5 online dating apps should be used concurrently. 5 is the magic number because each app is different. Each app has a unique style and user demographic. 

Since not everyone uses the same dating app, it’s vital that you cast a wide net. Doing so only serves to increase the chances of meeting a woman you genuinely connect with. 

Now that we’ve established that you should all be callousing your swipe finger, it’s time to answer another question. Should I pay for dating apps?

Well, um, that depends. Let’s chat. 

Should I Pay for Dating Apps?

Well, Are You MegaDating?

The question at hand can’t be properly answered if MegaDating isn’t touched on. 

MegaDating is the act of prolifically dating. It means going out with women multiple times a week, stacking dates, meeting women on Hinge, Tinder, softball games, at work, at your friend’s son’s baby shower, etc.

MegaDating means terminating your Netflix account and chilling with ladies in the real world. 

Let’s clear something up. I don’t recommend MegaDating because I want you to channel your inner libertine. Be a Don Juan if that’s your goal, but MegaDating isn’t about pimping yourself out.

It’s about reducing the time it takes to find someone special. It’s about becoming comfortable and excelling in romantic situations. It’s about figuring out the type of woman you’re attracted to. That being said, MegaDating takes work. 

How are you to be expected to go on multiple dates a week if you’re not using dating apps (here’s a list of some free dating sites and apps)?

Mining for dates is difficult when you limit yourself to one social stream at a time. The same can be said about dating applications, which is why I recommend using 5 instead of just one. 

So what happens when your dating apps have been optimized, your calendar is booked with social events with the intended purpose of meeting people and you’re still no landing dates. At that point it may be worth considering upgrading. However, not all upgrades are equally effective.

Our Test User

To help my clients figure out if they should pay for dating apps, we recently created a test user account and put it through the online dating gauntlet. The same profile was created for various dating apps with each profile being upgraded.

We found that the most positive results were yielded via Hinge. It’s possible that the profile we created simply resonated with Hinge females more so than others. Despite conceding this, we still feel as Hinge’s paid membership gives you unique abilities that are guaranteed to garner more online connections. 

The chief boon is that you’re granted unlimited likes. Sure, many apps have this capability, the difference is that with the free version you’re only granted 10 likes every 24 hours. Compare that to the 60-80 likes (weird how there wasn’t an exact # of free likes every day) you get ever 12 hours for a free Tinder membership.

I’d also argue that unlimited likes on Hinge is better than unlimited likes on Tinder, Bumble, etc. due to the quality of users. For those of you who don’t know, Hinge is a dating app that only connects you with friends of your Facebook friends. In a way, each user is already pre-screened by a friend. Not only this, but Hinge isn’t known as a hookup app.

In fact, its slogan is, “designed to be deleted.” Its users are thoughtful, real, and active. This is why having unlimited likes is such a plus. But it’s not the only positive of upgrading. 

In addition to unlimited likes, users can view every person that has already liked them. Can you imagine being in a bar and knowing before approaching a woman if she was into you or not? With Hinge, you’ve conferred such a superpower. 

The last boon of upgrading is that you’ll have access to advanced preferences. This means you’ll be able to search and screen users via their family plans, education, politics, drug habits, number of children they have, etc. No more waiting until the third date for you to discover a deal-breaker. 

Hinge isn’t the only app that helps users make waves. 

Bumble’s upgraded membership is also a good one, but from our testing doesn’t measure up to Hinge’s. However, Bumble does have certain features that make the app highly appealing for users not looking to make the jump to a full upgrade.

Six months ago Bumble introduced their ‘Spotlight’ feature. Spotlight is akin to Tinder’s ‘Boost’ feature. For just a couple of bucks users are able to shoot their profile to the top of the user deck for 30 minutes.

For that time period every female user that logs on will see your profile before anyone else’s. Can you imagine cutting an 11 million dude long line? 

Should You Pay for Tinder’s Upgraded Account? 

Tinder takes up a 37% share of the online dating market with 50 million users in the US alone. Bumble and Match.com are tied for second with 22% of the market and approximately 22 million users each. 

How could I call myself a respected dating coach if I don’t talk about upgrading the most used dating app in the USA. 

Initially labeled a hookup app, Tinder has been able to partially scrub itself of its early stigma. Nowadays Tinder can be thanked for helping users find travel buddies, start relationships, and as the company has tweeted, it’s helped generate a “shit ton of marriages.” So what does Tinder’s online dating dominion mean for you?

Currently, Tinder gives basic users 100 free swipes every day. This is a solid amount. Can you imagine if just in a 24-hour period every girl you swiped right on swiped right back at you? 

A paid membership (either Tinder Gold or Tinder Plus) gives you unlimited swipes, but this necessarily a good thing. As you know, most men have a case of happy thumbs. 

Picture or not, a bio that explicitly states she cuddles with porcupines, an opening photo that shows her hugging a statue of Robert E. Lee, you’ll swipe right. 

Of course, had you known she’s a fan of eating her eggs with ketchup you would have have swiped left. But when you have happy thumb, you indiscriminately swipe right no matter her fetishes. 

In fact, swiping less actually boosts your desirability rating. The more selective you are, the likelier you are to pop up at the top of the profile queue.  

So we’ve established that unlimited swipes are superfluous. So what other benefits are you granted when you pay for Tinder Gold or Tinder Plus?

One Free Boost A Month

With a paid Tinder membership you’re allowed to boost your profile once a month. This means that for 30 minutes you’ll leapfrog the competition and be the first profile she views after logging on. 

According to Tinder, a boost results in 10x more matches. Tinder also says that boosts are best used at 9 p.m. on Sunday or Monday (we’re currently running a study on this). 

See People That Have Already Liked You

Like the Hinge capability, Tinder too allows you to take a sneak peek at women that already like you. Being able to both see and swipe on women that like you will save a massive amount of swipe-time. 

5 Super Likes A Day

There’s your average run of the mill swipe right that you make every morning during your bowel movement, and then there’s a super like. When you super like someone, your profile will pop up blue and encircled by stars when a female user views your profile. 

This indicates that you don’t just dig them, but that you have serious hots for them. And research shows, we’re more likely to have feelings for someone if we know that they like us. 

Unlimited Rewinds

The average male Tinder user swipes at a rate of 27 profiles per minute (I totally made that up but it’ll help illustrate my point so let’s go with it). 

With forefingers and thumbs on fire, it’s likely that you accidentally swipe the wrong way on a profile every once and a while. Tinder gives you the unique option to express your regret by pressing the rewind button. 

Location Change

This is the granddaddy. Are you planning a trip to Cancun and want to meet a woman while down there? Get a head start when you change your location so that you’re swiping on women already in Cancun. 

This is a huge boon for frequent travelers. The superpower of being able to teleport for the purposes of romantic connection is a tool that no MegaDater should overlook. 

The Tinder Plus membership breakdown looks like this:

• 1 month/$19.99

• 6 months/$74.99

• 1 year/$99.99

The Tinder Gold membership breakdown looks like this: 

• 1 month/$29.99
• 6 months/$112.99
• 12 months/$149.99

Should You Pay for Bumble’s Upgraded Account?

Bumble is Tinder’s feminist sister. Tinder co-founder and Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe left Tinder after being sexually harassed and discriminated against. She decided to make Bumble a female-first app that empowered women through their obligation to start matches by sending the first message.

Bumble is quickly growing and is now over a 100 million dollar company. That being said the app is still millions of users behind Tinder. 

Bumble’s most notable paid features are Bumble Spotlight and Boost. The prior feature has already been discussed and can be purchased on the app without paying a monthly fee.

The Spotlight features bumps you to the front of the profile roster for 30 minutes. To do so costs two coins which can come out to anywhere from $1.16-1.99 per coin, depending on the size of the bundle you purchase. 

Through the app’s premium membership users are allowed to use the Bumble Boost feature. Boost allows you to view users that have already liked you. The premium membership also resurrects matches that have previously expired. Remember that once a match is made the female is only granted 24 hours to reach out to her match. If she doesn’t contact you within this time frame the match goes to the graveyard of unrequited connections. 

The price breakdown is as follows:

• 1 week/$9.99

• 1 month/$22.49

• 3 months/$49.99

• Lifetime/$139.99

For those MegaDating, consider upgrading to Bumble for three months. If you’re unsure about upgrading, get a taste of what’s to come by trying out the Spotlight feature first.

Upgrading Hinge

Hinge is without a doubt the preferred app of my clients (of course my clients are looking for love and a real, lasting relationship). As we’ve discussed, it’s an app designed to be deleted.

While many dating apps are designed to keep you around, Hinge prides itself on how many users find a relationship through the app, thus ultimately deleting the app. If you’re wondering if it’s right for you just ask the happily married Mayor Pete Buttigieg. 

I’m not sure of the Democratic presidential nominee was using the Preferred Member program when he met his now-husband on the app, but you should. 

Clients have voiced their feelings for Hinge’s 6-month program ($29.99). The capabilities you receive for the price are unparalleled. With a premium membership, you’ll be able to see everyone that has the hots for you, use advanced filters, and send unlimited likes. 

Other Dating Apps

I not going to discuss in-depth the pros and cons of upgrading on every app, so let’s slap a brief yes or no on the following dating apps.

Elite Singles: No

Premium Light: 1 month/$77.95

Premium Comfort: 3 months/$113.85

Premium Classic: 6 months/$131.70

Plenty of Fish: No

There are too many scammers and not enough quality users on the app, plain and simple. 

OkCupid: Meh

Like POF, OkCupid is home to plenty of bots, inactive accounts, and scammers. You may want to consider upgrading if you’re looking for a mate that identifies outside of the gender binary. 

Coffee Meets Bagel: Yes

Odd that we’d give the thumbs up to an app that sounds more like a food review site than a dating app, but CMB meets the cut. CMB is all about the beans. Paying for beans gives you a better chance to like users on Discover, provides you with an activity report, grants access to see other people’s chat activity, enables you to skip the line, and notifies you when your messages have been read.

If you see that few of your messages have been read you might want to consider hiring a dating coach. 

So, Should I Pay for Dating Apps Premium Memberships? 

There’s little sense in signing up for a paid dating app membership if your results have been poor on the 5 free dating apps you’re already using. Doing so would be like a novice tennis player blaming his lack of winners on a perfectly good racket and then buying a new one. There’s no need for a new racket.

However, there is a need for a professional coach to teach you how to ace opening Tinder messages. That coach is me.

Through my 3-month private or group Signature Program, you’ll learn the ins and outs on online dating, messaging, following up, in person date strategies, how to meet and flirt with women in the real world, mine for dates, ask a woman out with a TDL and much more.

Book a 1-on-1 Zoom session today if you want to start landing dates by as soon as next week.