The Data · Money
How much do dating apps cost in 2026?
Short answer: a paid tier on a mainstream dating app runs about $19.99 a month, the cheapest useful app is free, and the most expensive one we track asks $399 a month before it asks anything else. The longer answer is that several apps do not have a single price at all.
Last updated 19 August 2026
- $20/mo
- median paid tier across the apps we track
- 5 of 24
- apps that vary the price by who you are
- $14–33
- observed range for one identical Hinge tier
- 6
- apps that publish no price at all
There is no sticker price any more
The single most useful thing to know about dating-app pricing in 2026 is that the number you see may not be the number someone else sees. Hinge, Tinder, Bumble, Raya, Muzz all vary what they charge by some combination of age, location and platform.
Hinge is the clearest example. Hinge+ lists at $29.99 a month, but the identical tier — same features, same app — has been reported between $14 and $33 depending on the account looking at it. Nothing about the product changes. Only the price does.
This matters for a practical reason: any article that gives you one confident number per app, including the ones that rank higher than this page, is describing what one person saw once. Check the price in your own app store before you believe it, and check it again on the web where the app has a web checkout — the two often differ.
What each app charges
We checked every app in our scoreboard on 19 August 2026 against the company’s own help centre or pricing page where one exists, and against consistent independent reporting where it does not. The full table, with a source on every row, is the scoreboard.
The cheapest thing worth using is Lex at free. The most expensive is The League at $399–2,499/mo — membership tiers that cost more per month than most apps cost per decade.
Six apps publish nothing usable. Muzz, Archer, JSwipe, Boo, Hily, Inner Circle either hide the price until you are signed in or set it per territory. Muzz says so explicitly in its own help centre: prices are shown in-app and vary by country.
| App | Cheapest paid tier | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Lex | Free | Core features free. The paid tier reads as supporting the project, not unlocking it. |
| Plenty of Fish | $7.50–23/mo | Wide promo range; messaging is available without paying. |
| OkCupid | ~$7.95/mo | Promo-driven. The headline rate assumes the longest plan. |
| Badoo | ~$9.99/mo | Premium. A one-off lifetime tier is also sold. |
| Match | ~$12.99/mo | Effectively promo-driven; the advertised rate assumes a long commitment. |
| HER | From $14.99/mo | Premium. About $7.50/mo on an annual plan. |
| happn | $14.99–24.99 | App Store listing spans several purchase points; no single published price. |
| Thursday | ~$14.99/mo | Matching and messaging on Thursdays is free; events are priced separately. |
| eharmony | $19–37/mo | No monthly plan exists — 6 months is the minimum commitment. |
| Raya | $19.99–24.99/mo Personalised | Standard, application-gated. Raya+ around $49.99/mo. |
| Grindr | $22.99/mo | XTRA $19.99→$22.99 · Unlimited $39.99→$44.99. Increase rolling out through 2026. |
| Tinder | $24.99/mo Personalised | Plus $24.99 · Gold $39.99 · Platinum $49.99. Varies by age and location. |
| Hinge | $29.99/mo Personalised | Hinge+ $29.99 · HingeX $49.99. Observed $14–33 for the same tier. |
| Feeld | $29.99/mo | Majestic. Falls to about $11.99/mo on the 12-month plan. |
| Bumble | ~$32.99/mo Personalised | Premium. Reported between $29.99 and $40 depending on region and tier. |
| Coffee Meets Bagel | $34.99/mo | Premium. Down to about $15/mo on 12 months; a cheaper Mini tier exists. |
| Christian Mingle | $49.99/mo | One month. Falls to about $25/mo on six months, billed upfront. |
| The League | $399–2,499/mo | Membership tiers. The top tier costs more per month than most apps do per decade. |
| Muzz | Not published Personalised | Muzz Gold prices are shown only inside the app and set per territory. |
| Archer | Not established | Launched free; paid tiers introduced later with no public pricing page found. |
| JSwipe | Not established | No reliable public pricing found; needs checking in-app. |
| Boo | Not established | No reliable public pricing found; needs checking in-app. |
| Hily | Not established | Add-ons are published (boosts, unblurs); the base subscription price is not. |
| Inner Circle | Not established | No reliable public pricing found; needs checking in-app. |
Checked 19 August 2026 · US pricing, monthly tier unless noted · the full table, with a source on every row
The advertised price is almost always the annual one
Nearly every app quotes its lowest per-month figure, which is the 12-month plan billed upfront. Feeld is $29.99 month-to-month and about $11.99 a month on the year — a real saving, but you are handing over roughly $144 in one go to an app you may delete in five weeks.
eharmony goes further: there is no monthly plan at all. Six months is the minimum commitment. Any comparison that lists a monthly figure for it is dividing a longer contract and not telling you.
Given that nearly half of people delete their dating apps within a year, the annual discount is a bet the app is more confident about than you should be.
How to pay less, honestly
Buy on the web, not in the app, where the app offers it — app-store commission is often priced in. Never take the first upsell you see; the discounted offer usually appears after you decline once, or after a few days of inactivity. And check the app store on a different account or device before committing to a long plan, since personalised pricing means your quote is not the only quote.
What we will not do is hand you a discount code, because taking a commission on your sign-up is exactly how the rest of this category makes its money, and it is why almost every "best dating app" ranking looks the way it does.
Common questions
What is the average cost of a dating app in 2026?
Across the 24 apps we track, the median paid tier is about $19.99 a month when bought month-to-month. Annual plans typically cut that by 40–60%, but are billed upfront.
Do dating apps charge different people different prices?
Yes. 5 of the 24 apps we track vary price by some combination of age, location and platform. Hinge’s own tier has been observed between $14 and $33 a month for identical features.
Which dating app is cheapest?
Lex is free, and its paid tier functions more as a tip jar than a feature unlock. Among apps that charge for core features, Plenty of Fish and OkCupid sit at the bottom, though both quote heavily promotional rates.
Is paying for a dating app worth it?
We will not have an evidence-based answer until our 28-day tests finish, and we would rather say so than guess. What the pricing data already shows is that the features behind the paywall are mostly reach and visibility, not better matching.
Sources
- Hinge Help Centre — subscription pricing
- Grindr Help Centre — XTRA and Unlimited
- Feeld — Majestic membership
- Muzz Help Centre — Gold pricing by territory
We take no commission on any sign-up and have no commercial relationship with any app named on this page.