Hinge tests a cheaper plan as users become more fed up paying for dating apps | TechCrunch
A lower-cost Hinge tier
Match Group said during its third-quarter 2026 earnings call that Hinge is testing a new subscription tier. It will offer features including additional filters and custom location boundaries, giving users more control over potential matches and where they meet.
Match Group Chief Financial Officer Steve Bailey said the plan is intended especially for women, as well as people sensitive to price. He said Hinge is among the company’s most expensive products, with revenue per payer of about $30—almost twice Tinder’s—and payer penetration just over half Tinder’s.
Hinge growth and Tinder comparison
Hinge delivered a stronger quarter than Tinder. Its global monthly active users increased 12% year over year, direct revenue rose 19%, and its paying users climbed 23% to 2.3 million.
Hinge generated $221 million in direct revenue during the quarter. The figure includes money from subscriptions and in-app purchases. Tinder reported $480 million in direct revenue, but that was down 2% from a year earlier. It had 8.9 million paid users, a 4% annual decline.
Subscription strategy shifts
A cheaper option could help Hinge turn more users into paying customers while asking them to spend less upfront. The test follows a different experiment in 2023, when Hinge tried a pricier tier for users seeking additional features.
The company is now testing whether a more affordable subscription can reach a wider group. The move comes as dating services face growing resistance to recurring charges, endless swiping and dissatisfaction with the dating experience.
Other efforts to address fatigue
Match Group says it sees some improvement in user sentiment, partly through efforts to make its services feel less like conventional dating apps. Group Hangouts and Events are among the options intended to help people connect beyond one-on-one matching, and the company plans to expand these efforts in the fourth quarter.
Match Group also plans to start testing real-time adaptive recommendations in the fourth quarter. Announced at its September CEO Connection presentation, the feature is intended to let Tinder react to user actions within seconds rather than hours and offer more relevant, personalized suggestions.
Key points
- Hinge is testing a subscription with extra filters and custom location boundaries; its price has not been announced.
- Hinge’s paying users rose 23% to 2.3 million in the third quarter.
- Tinder’s direct revenue was $480 million, while its paid-user count fell 4% year over year.
- Match Group plans fourth-quarter efforts including Group Hangouts, Events and adaptive Tinder recommendations.