""It is absolutely in our best interest to keep the free product experience very good, because if it's not, users will start leaving," McLeod said. "And the primary value for a dating app is the other people who are on the product. No one will continue to pay if there aren't lots of people on the app who are happy and satisfied using it.""
"In the second quarter of this year, Bumble's paying user base was down 8.7% year over year and revenue dropped 7.6%. Tinder, which is owned by Hinge parent company Match Group, has lost 1.2 million paid users since the beginning of 2024 and saw revenues drop 4.6% in Q2 2025. Meanwhile Hinge notched a 25% year-over-year increase in revenue and 18% growth in paying users for the quarter."
"Long before Cory Doctorow coined the term enshittification in 2022 to describe the process by which once-useful online platforms slowly get less user-friendly as they attempt to improve their bottom line, daters on apps had experienced it firsthand. Many apps have added monetization strategies that seem at odds with the goal of connecting singles: They push users to paid versions by degrading the free experience."
Hinge posted 25% year-over-year revenue growth and 18% growth in paying users while major competitors saw declines in paid users and revenue. The company keeps the free product experience strong to retain and satisfy users because the primary value of a dating app is its active, happy user base. Hinge offers optional premium tools—filters for attributes, Roses to signal extra interest, and Boosts for increased visibility—without degrading the free tier. A commitment to a robust free experience combined with complementary paid features and emerging AI-driven elements underpins Hinge's strategy.
Read at Fast Company
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