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The Swipe
Signal

The apps, the prices, the data, and the culture around them — one issue a week.

Launching soon Every Wednesday morning Independent · no affiliate links
This week

This week’s signals

Dating is an industry now.We cover the apps like one.

Somebody is monetising your love life, and most “best dating app” lists are ads in a trench coat. Once a week we publish the reporting instead: what the apps really charge, what the data says about how people meet now, where the scams actually start, and which of it deserves your money. Written for daters, not for app companies.

Get the free issue How we test
This week Kept 0
HINGE
The Data · Pricing
$14–33

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
Read the reporting
Money · 3 sources
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
Read the reporting
Money · 3 sources
CHURN
The Data · Behaviour
−21%

Nearly four in five daters report burnout — and the payers are walking

Burnout is not a Gen Z story: 79% of Gen Z, 80% of millennials and 70% of boomers say the apps burn them out. Bumble’s paying users fell 21% year on year, Tinder’s about 5%. Usage holds at 380m+ worldwide — the apps have lost the goodwill, not the audience.

  • Evidence
  • Forbes Health fatigue survey
  • Bumble Q1 2026 results
  • Business of Apps market data
Read the reporting
Trend · 3 sources
VERIFY
Safety
$1.48bn

Romance scams took $1.48bn in 2025 — and most of it did not start on a dating app

Reported romance-scam losses rose 22% to about $1.48bn in 2025, at roughly $2,020 per person reporting a loss. The number the safety advice keeps missing: of the people who lost money and told the FTC how contact began, nearly 60% said it started on social media, not on a dating app.

  • Evidence
  • FTC consumer-fraud data · 2025
  • FBI IC3 annual report · 2025
Read the reporting
Safety · 2 sources
Deck cleared

That is the whole issue.
Back Wednesday morning.

1/5
24 apps tracked 18 prices verified
0 affiliate links, ever

The reporting, not the rankings

Start here

The Data · Money How much do dating apps cost in 2026? Every price checked against the company’s own help centre — including the five apps that quietly change the number based on your age and location. Read the reporting → The Data · Behaviour Dating app burnout: what the numbers show Nearly four in five people report it, paying users are falling at both listed companies, and Gen Z feels it inside six months. Read the reporting → Safety Romance scams: where they actually start $1.48bn reported lost in 2025, a source on every number, and what to do in the first hour if it is happening to you. Read the reporting →

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 sit pricing sweeps and public filings today, and a reply-rate panel of readers who opt in once it is running.

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 will be scored out of 100 on the four things daters ask us about: matching, safety, cost, and how hard it is to delete. Scores arrive as each 28-day test finishes, and never before.

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 pricing sweep

What 24 apps actually charge, checked against each company’s own help centre where one exists, with a source on every row — including the five apps that change the price by who is asking.

Burnout and scams, with the sources

The data on dating app burnout from the surveys and the filings, and FTC and FBI romance-scam figures with the agency, the year and the denominator attached to every number.

Reviews with nothing to sell

Hinge, Bumble and Badoo, researched from the public evidence and rated out of 5, with no free access, no commission, and a changelog on every piece. Tested reviews follow as the 28-day runs finish.

The scoreboard

Every app in one table with what it costs, our rating where we have one, and the date we last checked, because a review from 2023 is a rumour.

The scoreboard

Every app we track, one table

Reviews age; the scoreboard doesn’t. Every app we cover sits in one table with what its paid tier costs, our rating where we have reviewed it, and the date we last checked. Signal Scores join it as the 28-day tests finish.

Open the full scoreboard

theswipesignal.com/scoreboard
24 Apps tracked
18 Prices verified
5 Personalise price
0 Affiliate links
Our ratings so far
App One line Checked Status Rating
Hinge The easiest of the big three to recommend — for free 20 August 2026 Researched 3.8/5
Badoo Try it free; the paid side is three products pretending to be one 21 August 2026 Researched 3.6/5
Bumble Worth trying free, hard to recommend paying for 20 August 2026 Researched 3.5/5
Tinder Next in the testing queue — In queue —
OkCupid In the testing queue — In queue —

The numbers we publish

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

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: public sources — quarterly filings, store pricing, and regulator data — which is what the site runs on today; our own test diaries, at least 28 days per app, as each test finishes; and, once it is running, a reply-rate panel of readers who explicitly opt in to share anonymised messaging stats. 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. The gap between two profiles on the same app is usually far bigger than the gap between two 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.

Disclosure: we have no commercial relationship with WouldSwipe and earn nothing if you use it.

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