Online dating has been around since the end of the 20th century. It has come a long way since then, with mobile apps now edging out clunky desktop websites. Fuelled by the rise of smartphones and social networks, dating apps have exploded in popularity, offering a convenient and accessible way to meet potential partners. Let's have a look at the dating scene in 2024:
- Over 300 million people use dating apps worldwide, with about 20 million paying for premium features.
- In the US, 28 dating apps generated over $1 million in consumer spending in January 2024 alone.
- In 2023, Americans completed more than 36 million downloads of dating apps, down 2% from the previous year.
- Three in 10 of all Americans used a dating app in 2023, with Gen Z being among the most active users.
- Love seekers spend around 700 million hours on dating apps annually.
With app revenue increasing due to a higher number of subscribers, the dating app business has become a profitable startup opportunity. But with so many dating apps in the market, newcomers may struggle to make an entry and differentiate from competitors. To help you gain a deeper understanding of the industry's established trends, we have prepared an overview of the best dating apps in 2024.
Tinder
Hailed as the best free dating app, Tinder has cemented itself as a fixture in American life. The app has surprised the industry with its simple yet highly appealing swiping functionality.
With a right swipe, a user likes another profile, and with a left swipe, they move on to the next profile. When two users like or “swipe right” on each other, they “match” and can start chatting. This easy-to-use “swipe” feature is likely why Tinder has gained popularity among dating app users.
Since its release in 2012, Tinder has experienced significant growth, garnering over 530 million downloads. In 2023, the app's dominance waned: after a record-breaking year of 2022, the app saw the number of paying users fall by 8% to just below 10 million. In 2024, Tinder continues to face headwinds, although its year-over-year revenue grew by 9% at the beginning of the year.
Main features:
- Geolocation
- Filterable search
- Swipe functionality
- Super Likes
- Rewinds — taking back last Like or Nope
- Matches
- Chat
- Incognito mode
- Profile boost and super boost
- Privacy features
- Photo verification
- Video calls
- Explore area — a section that features various events and ways to discover matches by interests and dive into quick chats before a match is made.
- Tinder Matchmaker – this feature lets friends and family asynchronously access Tinder to recommend profiles for a user.
- Share my date – a feature that allows users to share deets about their date with friends and family members through a link.
Pricing: Tinder is free to download and use, but you can pay to unlock premium features or subscribe to one of Tinder's premium plans. The prices are automatically adjusted according to the user's age.
Bumble
Bumble is also among the most popular dating apps and is the closest rival to Tinder. The app was built in 2014 by Tinder's co-founder Whitney Wolfe Herd and Badoo's founder Andrey Andreev to rock the dating market. Bumble implemented the same swipe system as Tinder to connect potential matches; however, it only allowed women to make the first move, which used to be its signature feature till 2024.
In 2024, the dating app announced updates to the "first move" concept and introduced a brand-new 'Opening Moves' feature that allows women to set conversation starters. This update adds more ways to spark a conversation while keeping women in the driver's seat. For non-binary and same-gender connections, either person can set and respond to an Opening Move.
Despite having quite a similar business model to the global market leader, Bumble shows outstanding performance as one of the best free dating apps. In 2023, Bumble has joined the ranks of the top-performing mobile apps and games that have reached the $2 billion milestone. The same year, the app revenue increased 21.7% to $844.8 million, compared to $694.3 million in 2022.
Main features:
- Geolocation
- Filterable search
- Swipe and SuperSwipe functionality
- Chat
- Matches
- Profile verification
- Video calls
- Profile boost
- Spotlight — an opportunity to advance the profile to the top of the stack for 30 minutes to be viewable by more people
- BFF mode – helps to search for friends (not solely romantic connections)
- Bumble Bizz – a separate section of the dating app that focuses on making professional connections
Pricing: Free to use, paid features can be tested via a free trial.
Match
Owned by the Match Group, the app is a 21st-century complement to an online dating site, Match.com, that was introduced back in 1995. The app focuses on users with a higher level of intent to enter into a serious relationship, and its services and marketing are designed to reinforce that purpose.
This mobile analog inherits the majority of the initial platform's features. However, just like most dating apps, the Match app follows contemporary industry trends by adopting Tinder's swiping functionality.
Main features:
- Geolocation
- Filterable search
- Matches based on location and photos
- Swipe functionality
- Chat
- Profile boost
- Incognito mode — lets browsing Match in secret
- Video calls
- Date check-ins
- Virtual events
- Access to dating experts who may review your profile or help nail the first date
Pricing: Free to use and also offers subscriptions starting from $19.99/month.
Hinge
“Designed to be deleted” is Hinge’s slogan, and it precisely captures the app’s intended purpose. To elaborate, the application aims to establish meaningful connections rather than casual meet-ups. However, this wasn’t always the case.
It wasn’t until 2017 that Hinge adopted their strategy to create long-term relationships, which was five years after the app’s launch. Hinge’s updated strategy stands out from the other brands in Match Group’s portfolio. Match Group is a tech company that owns apps, including Tinder, Match, and other dating apps.
Although it may seem that many are no longer interested in commitment, the app statistics suggest otherwise. Hinge's direct revenue rose 40% year over year to $396 million, and downloads reached 15 million, a nearly 40% year-over-year increase.
Main features:
- Filterable search
- Personalized matches based on user data
- Filterable matches
- Chat
- Video calls
- Profile boosts
- Likes
- Comments
- We Met feature – lets users give feedback on their Hinge dates
- Video Prompts, Voice Prompts, and Voice Notes – with these features, users can better showcase who they are through text, photos, video, and voice at different points in their dating journey.
- Your Turn Limits – this feature tackles the issue of unanswered messages by encouraging daters with eight or more people waiting for a response to either reply or end a conversation before initiating new ones.
Pricing: Hinge has a free version and also offers subscriptions starting from $14.99/month.
Badoo
Badoo is another top dating app that evolved from a website. Overall, the Badoo is quite standard and offers users the majority of the common features, including swiping to match with another user.
This app was launched in 2006 by Russian entrepreneur Andrey Andreev, who later created Bumble when Badoo failed to expand in the US. Outside of the US, Badoo has gained a decent market share, specifically in South America and Europe.
In 2022, Badoo became the second most downloaded dating app in the world. In 2023, however, its popularity slightly declined, with the app revenue dropping by 1.0% to $207.1 million, compared to $209.2 million in 2022.
Main features:
- Chat
- Filterable search
- Video calls
- Matches
- Geolocation
- Swipe functionality
- Automatic blurring of explicit photos
- Family-approved – a set of in-app features that will allow singles to show that they have called on their family and chosen members to help them land connections
- Verified profiles – a three-step verification process in which, once completed, users can choose to only interact with other verified profiles and find friends
- Deception detector – a feature that aims to block fake, scam, and spam accounts
Pricing: Free to use and also offers paid Super Powers, Badoo credits, and monthly subscriptions.
OkCupid
OkCupid is another sibling of Tinder, as it was acquired by Match Group in 2011. Like many dating apps on this list, the OkCupid app was initially a website that later found reincarnation as a mobile application.
The OkCupid team boasts outstanding expertise in the niche. Specifically, OkCupid welcomes all users, regardless of their gender and sexual identity.
Main features:
- Advanced personalization: matches are generated based on personal preferences
- Chat
- SuperLikes
- Conversation starters
- Profile boosts
- Geolocation
- Filterable search
- Comments
- Incognito mode to hide the user’s activity
- Cupid's pick – is a match that the OkCupid algorithm picked just for you
Pricing: Free to use and also offers subscriptions starting from $15.99/month.
Grindr
Grindr is the pioneer among dating apps for the LGBTQ community. This geosocial mobile platform revolutionized the market in 2009.
Even now, Grindr is considered to be the largest dating platform for the LGBTQ community globally. The application offers standard dating app features, and its most unique feature is its enhanced safety for LGBTQ users.
Since it's the best dating app for the LGBTQ community, its outstanding reach and engagement are hardly surprising. For instance, 13 million users open and navigate around the application every month. In 2023, the application grew its revenue from paying users by 38%, reaching a full-year revenue of $260 million. Just like many of its competitors, Grindr has set its sights on incorporating AI into the app to improve user experience, so we might see an influx of smart features in the near future.
Main features:
- Chat
- Group chatting
- Geolocation
- Discreet app icon
- Search with filters
- Ability to favorite a profile
- Expiring photos — sending an unlimited number of photos that can be seen only once for 10 seconds
- Incognito mode
- Roam – the feature makes it easier for users to connect with people in different cities, countries, and even continents.
Pricing: Free to use and also offers a premium experience starting from $19.99/month.
Happn
Happn is a French-based dating app that was launched in 2013. Its business model slightly differs from the majority of market players. Instead of traditional matching with random people, the app tracks the user’s geolocation to match the user with others who they have already met in the street.
According to the company's website, Happn now has 100 around million active users with 1.5 million new singles each month.
Main features:
- Geolocation
- Profile boost
- Matches
- Filtered search
- Chat
- Video calls
- Invisible mode
- Hobbies – the feature allows users to add their favorite activities to their profile to attract other like-minded daters
- Teasers – new creative prompts that help provide more insight into each user’s personality/
Pricing: Free to use and also offers subscriptions starting from $14.99/month.
Tantan
Founded in 2014, Tantan promotes casual dating, which isn't commonplace in the East. The application itself is a typical mobile dating platform that matches like-minded singles based on mutual likes.
Tantan's achievements are rather sizable on the global market, although the app experienced a few snags in 2024. The number of app's monthly active users fell to 13.7 million in March 2024, compared to 19.5 million in March 2023. The number of paying users also decreased: the app had 1.1 million paying users for the first quarter of 2024 compared to 1.6 million last year.
Main features:
- Chat
- Swipe functionality
- Matches
- Likes and Super Likes
- Filtered search
- Q&A game where matched users both answer ten questions to learn more about each other
- Geolocation
Tantan also offers some social media features, allowing users to share posts and like/comment on other users' profiles, potentially leading to more organic discovery.
Pricing: Free to use and also offers VIP subscriptions and Tantan coins.
Plenty of Fish
Plenty of Fish (POF) was released in 2003, and the app helps singles find their perfect match. POF also belongs to the Match Group. This app stands out from others since it offers more free features and doesn’t apply rigid limits for users on the free plan. Among its distinguishing features is the ability to both search profiles and receive algorithmic recommendations from the dating pool.
The Plenty of Fish dating app has over 150 million registered users and a weekly average of 542K users. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the app grew its revenue from $481 thousand to $522 thousand. Its downloads held steady at around 55K.
Over the years, Plenty of Fish has evolved from a website-only dating destination to feature-rich iOS and Android apps with features like in-app video calls and voice memos.
Other features include:
- Speed video dating
- Live streams
- Chat
- Matching
- Sortable matches
- Geolocation
- Search
- Likes
- Cue’d Up – an in-app dating game that brings up to six users together “in a little breakout room” for meaningful connections
Pricing: Free to use and also offers subscriptions starting from $29.99/month.
Azar
Azar is a dating app built and launched in Korea in 2014. The app is a combination of dating and social discovery. It is a one-to-one video chatting app powered by real-time language translations that allow users to meet and interact with people across the globe in their native language.
In 2022, after Azar's parent company Hyperconnect was acquired by Match Group, the app was rebuilt to bring more thrill, surprises, and connections. Now it has a new and improved livestreaming experience, Azar Live, that helps users find interesting communities and make new discoveries. Today, the app has over 500 million installs and over 100 billion video chat matches.
Main features:
- Geolocation
- Video chat
- Gender and regional features
- Chat
- Text and voice translator
- Livestreams
- Built-in background options
- Lounge to meet interesting people
- Personalized avatars
Pricing: Free with in-app purchases.
Tagged
Tagged was first created in 2004 as a web platform for connecting people for the purpose of friendship and dating. Seven years later, the mobile version of the platform was launched, and now Tagged has over 300 million users.
Though Tagged is mostly used within the US, the app supports 24 languages. So if users don’t know English, they can still use the app and make connections.
Main features:
- Geolocation
- Live stream
- Chat
- Search
- Likes and comments on posts
- Meet me for matches
- User footprints
Pricing: Free and also offers subscriptions starting from $9.99/month.
MeetMe
MeetMe can be traced back to 2005, when it was launched as a social media platform. It's a fun, friendly, and free dating app that locates new people nearby who share the same interests and want to have a small-talk chat. It's more like a mobile bar or coffeehouse where users can make connections.
The app has more than 100 million active users. It comes with standard dating features like chat, search, and livestreaming. In 2020, MeetMe introduced the Blind Date game that can randomly pair users based on their preferences.
Main features:
- Geolocation
- Profile browse
- Match and chat
- Profile boosts
- Search filters
- Livestream service
- Games
- User footprints
Pricing: Free to use and also offers subscriptions starting from $5.99/month.
Wizz
A rising star in the social discovery landscape, Wizz allows users to meet new friends by swiping through profiles and a live feed of other users. Its real-time communication feature enables users to connect instantly with people.
In 2023, the app doubled its quarterly revenue, surging from $399 thousand to $742 thousand. The app's weekly active users also grew — from 1.5 million to 1.8 million.
The functionality is a nod to Instagram, where users can comment on someone’s live stories. To reply, users must accept message requests.
The main features include:
- Group chat function
- Voice chats
- Instagram-like profiles
- Swipes
- Personalized friend suggestions
- Profiles with up to 3 pictures (that cycle like Snapchat stories)
Pricing: Free to use with paid WiCoins and Wizz Gold subscription.
Yubo
Yubo is a French social networking app built by TWELVE APP in 2015. Since then, the app took off and was ranked among the most downloaded social discovery apps in the US in 2022. The app has 60 million users as of 2024.
Targeted at youngsters, Yubo puts a great emphasis on its security features and has become the first social platform to employ a new age verification technique powered with live image capture technology.
As for the feature set, Yubo brings social discovery to a truly new level with the following gems:
- Swipe page
- Real-time audio/video moderation
- Personalized moderation
- Tags to indicate the interests
- Snap’s Camera Kit tool (Snapchat Lenses for live streams)
- YouTube integration
- Gaming feature (To Be Honest, Would You Rather, Draw Quiz and Let Them Guess)
- Mood, a recommendation engine
Pricing: Free to use; premium subscriptions start from $13.99/month.
BLK
Billed as the #1 app for the black community, BLK is one of the top niche apps in the category, exclusive for Black singles living in the United States and Canada. The app allows users to create a profile, view, and message other members, and build serious relationships and deep commitments.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, the app generated a quarterly revenue of $1 million. The app's quarterly downloads remained relatively stable around 35 thousand, while weekly active users fluctuated throughout the quarter, reaching 562 thousand at the end.
BLK has an intuitive functionality with a diverse set of features, including:
- Social sign-up
- A personalized list of profiles
- Roulette-type matching
- “Look Who’s New” (new users who just joined the app)
- In-app chatting
- Super Likes, and more.
Pricing: Free to use; subscriptions start at $9.99/month.
Related: How to create a dating app: Trends, features, and costs
Keeping online dating up to date
These applications are amazing examples of what is currently trending in the dating app niche. With the right marketing plan, unique ideas, and top-notch development, any application can undermine the market and become a competitor to these already-established brands.
If you are eager to try making a dating app, let’s pool our efforts. On our end, we guarantee a team of experienced professionals with a passion for app development. Contact us, and we'll make your app idea a reality.
