Our 2024 Vibe Check on What’s Happening Across All of the Different Dating Apps

The moment apps were invented, we were destined for them to be used to hook up with people. There’s hardly a corner of the internet free from weird little hornies trying to meet hot singles in their area. One person I spoke to used Reddit to find hookups, which frankly should not have surprised me.

Match.com launched the first dating site way back in 1995— their company now owns Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and more. Grindr was among the first apps to use geolocation, a feature that changed the game for daters, so much so that for years after Tinder came out, people often misspelled it Tindr, assuming it was a direct rip-off for straights.

Each year, a new crop of apps emerges, claiming to have solved one or more problems with the previous apps—how people operate on them, who is on them, and what is shared.

There’s an app called Thursday, which is only operable for 24 hours (on Thursdays); Coffee Meets Bagel curates a few matches for you and gives you seven days to respond; Snack combines TikTok with a dating app, horrifically asking users to share videos of themselves; Happn (possibly creepily) matches you with people you cross paths with. Multiple apps—Tame, Skip, and Elate—claim to address ghosting with their rules and algorithms. The premises are fine but don’t necessarily seem enduring or fruitful.

But some apps have stood the test of time and popularity, even as they’ve annoyingly hidden basic features behind paywalls. Remember the good old days when you could swipe an unlimited amount for free? Ahhh, 2014.

Until something better comes along—is it possible?—here are the best apps out there and what type of person is one each.

Hinge

Hinge’s premise is said to be for more serious daters—its slogan is “the dating app designed to be deleted,” although I think we all know enough about capitalism to understand that they’re invested in keeping you on their product. Hinge started as an app that connected you to friends of (Facebook) friends, hence the name. The idea of Hinge as a more “serious” dating app holds some water. The prompts on it like “Dating me is like…,” “I’m weirdly attracted to…,” and “This year I’d like to…” are better than other apps, although I’m not sold on the voice clips that the app allows. Mostly, I see women on TikTok mocking men for their soulless and weird voice memos.

My two closest single female friends prefer Hinge above the other apps; one said, “People are way more willing to have an actual conversation on Hinge.” Plus, they both like the amount and types of information people include in their Hinge bios.

Hinge+ is $32.99 per month, while their higher-level premium subscription HingeX is $49.99. Hinge+ has no daily like limit, allows you to see who liked you, and lets you sort by advanced features like children, drinking, and height. (Free users can already make those things a “dealbreaker,” however). HingeX includes all of that but also puts your profile near the top of people’s matches and prioritizes it across the app.

Bumble

Bumble is one of the larger apps that is not owned by Match.com. In 2019, it was the second-largest app by users in the US, behind only Tinder. Bumble was (a smidge heteronormatively) designed to have women message men first in an attempt to cut down on creepy and icky male dating app behavior. Men then had 24 hours to respond; otherwise, the match would disappear.

According to Bumble, “​​in same-gender matches, matches with two non-binary people, or matches between non-binary people and men, either person has the power to make the first move. Then, the other person has 24 hours to respond, or the connection expires.”

Bumble has two tiers of premium features. Bumble Boost ($16.99/month) allows you to do things like re-match with people, backtrack on accidental left swipes, and extend your matches for another 24 hours. Bumble Premium ($39.99/month, with options to also pay weekly and for a lifetime subscription) allows that plus features like extra “spotlights” each week where the app boosts your profile for 30 minutes, TravelMode to let you swipe in other locations, and Incognito Mode where you can only be seen by people you’ve swiped yes on. Both also allow unlimited swipes.

Bumble also has Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz to help people connect with people for friendship or networking rather than being solely fuck-focused. A few people I know have met friends via Bumble BFF, so maybe there’s something there!

Feeld

Feeld was conceived as a threesome app—whether you were a couple looking for a third or a person looking to find a couple. (Or perhaps just three individuals looking for a quorum). It evolved from its 2014 beginnings when it was named the unpronounceable “3nder,” to be an inclusive app that caters to those interested in non-monogamy, polyamory, kink, swinging, and more.

Partners on Feeld can pair their profiles, and anyone can decide if they’re interested in couples or singles. You can also choose from a much wider range of gender and sexuality options than most other dating apps provide. One person I spoke to said, “it’s much, much easier to find casual sex on Feeld without feeling skeeved out or super objectified, generally speaking.”

Premium features available under the unfortunately named “Majestic Membership” include unlimited matches, filtering by desires, filtering by who has been recently online, Incognito Mode, and one free “Ping” a day, which allows you to “Notify a member you like immediately and increase your chances of connecting.”

Tinder

Tinder is…Tinder. It’s ubiquitous. The inventor of swipes! The punchline to every joke in 2015!

The biggest downside to Tinder is also its biggest upside—the sheer number of users. Everyone is on Tinder, which means everyone is on Tinder. It’s like going to a massive flea market; yes, you might find a vintage Rolex, but first, you’re going to have to sort through piles of weird-smelling jean jackets.

Tinder is lovely for when you are looking for someone who wants to hook up or hang out tonight or when you’re willing to sort through profiles and are immune to discouragement.

Tinder has three Premium tiers—Tinder+, Tinder Gold, and Tinder Platinum. Premium features include things like Passport, where you can swipe in other locations (going to Dallas for a wedding next week? Start swiping now!), and Incognito Mode. The Gold and Platinum tiers focus on boosting your profile with things like prioritized likes, seeing who has matched with you, giving you 5 Super Likes a week, and being able to message people before matching.

Grindr

In the past decade, there has been a surge of good dating apps that are made for and by LGBTQIA+ people like Scruff, Her, and Lex. Although the gold standard remains: Grindr. Grindr is, above all, a hookup app. A gay friend of mine called it “dick on demand.” Although Grindr welcomes anyone who is queer, trans, bi, or curious, mostly the app is populated by gay men.

Premium tier GrindrXTRA includes things like removing third-party ads, allowing you to view 600 profiles a day, saving chat phrases, allowing NSFW photos, and letting you sort matches by criteria like face photos only or body type. Grindr Unlimited is their highest tier and allows for everything GrindrXTRA does but also allows Incognito mode.

Raya, The League

The appeal of certain apps is who isn’t on them. The kinder way to phrase this is “exclusivity.” The bigger ones are The League, which calls itself a “selective and high-quality dating and social networking community,” and Raya, which was created for people in the entertainment industry and which has hosted celebrities like Demi Lovato, Channing Tatum, and Ben Affleck. Screenshots on Raya are grounds for blocking and the app doesn’t advertise, relying instead on word of mouth, invites, vetting, and approval.

One of my friends who paid for Raya said, “I like it and continue to use it because most people on it are driven, established in their careers, and know what they want, which is a huge turn on.”

While exclusivity is alluring, eventually people want more choices. There are only so many times you can swipe on the same set of people. The apps have both had to allow more people in, which means that you eventually come back to a dating pool somewhat similar to a non-exclusive app. Although my friend insists “the people are hotter,” on Raya, she does say that the app feels somewhat “transactional.”

Ultimately, the algorithms on every app are similar and equally frustrating. And of course you’ll have the most success if you look like Jacob Elordi or Zendaya. There isn’t a cheat code or a premium feature that will guarantee a good time or no ghosting. The reality is that whatever app makes you feel the least like tearing out your hair is the best one for you.