Badoo vs Tinder: Which Is Better for Guys?

It depends on where you live more than on the app. Tinder is the safer main app for most men because so many people are on it. Badoo is worth a two week test if you live somewhere it is strong, and it costs nothing to try. Neither company publishes how many men get dates, so the answer for you is your own count of matches, messages and plans over two weeks.

Tinder shows you a stream of cards chosen by its recommendations. You Swipe Right to Like a woman, and if she Likes you back it is a Match. Its recommendations use location, age, distance and preferences, along with interests and your Likes and Nopes. It says being active on the app is the most important thing a user controls, because it favors people who are on at the same time.

Badoo works with two screens. Encounters shows one woman at a time, with her photo, name, age and a few details, and you tap the heart to like her or the cross to pass. Discover lets you browse people near you instead of deciding one at a time. When two people like each other, it is a match and you can chat.

The difference you will feel most is speed and choice. Tinder gives you a fast stream picked for you. Badoo gives you both a one-at-a-time view and a browse view.

a dating coach says the same app can be busy in one city and quiet in the next. He also says Tinder has a lot of fake profiles in major US cities, which is one reason he finds Hinge does better there. In many places in Europe, he points out, Tinder is almost the only app people are on.

Badoo has its own story. Bumble Inc.'s annual report calls Badoo the older of the company's two dating apps and a market leader in several countries in Europe and Latin America. If you live somewhere else, or in a small town, expect a smaller pool.

So the question to ask is not which app is better. Ask which one the women near you are on, and spend three days looking at each before you decide.

Both can be used for free. Tinder's help page says the free version lets you match, chat and connect. Badoo is free to start too.

Both also sell upgrades. Tinder's tiers are Plus, Gold and Platinum, and its FAQ puts messaging before a match in Platinum. Badoo sells Premium, a subscription, and Credits, which you buy separately for extras such as chatting with a woman before you match. We give no prices, because they change and they differ by country. Read the plan screen on the day you buy.

On Badoo, the free version has a daily limit on votes in Encounters, which refreshes 24 hours after you reach it, and the people who liked you are blurred. Premium removes the limit and shows you who liked you, plus a few extras such as undoing an accidental pass.

Every dating app has accounts that are not what they say. coach lists fake profiles and bots among the standing irritations of online dating, and both of these apps have them.

Badoo's blue checkmark comes from photo verification, and it tells you the person in the photos is the one on the page. Use it as a first filter. Do not send money, do not move to another app before you have met and be careful with anyone who sends a link in the first message.

Tinder suits a man whose photos are clear and different from each other, because the first decision happens on one card in a couple of seconds. A set that tells her something at a glance is worth more here than anywhere else.

Badoo suits a man who lives where it is busy and who is willing to use it in short daily sessions. Its colored dots show how recently a woman was online, so a quiet account is seen less than an active one. A man who uses it for ten minutes most days does better than one who binges once a week.

Put the same best photos on both apps so the app is the only thing that changes. Use each in short sessions most days. Give every card two honest seconds, and like only the women you would be glad to hear from. My warning for every app is that a site which sees you like almost everybody treats you as less attractive and shows you to fewer of the women you want.

Write down the same four numbers for each app: women you liked, likes you got back, conversations that started and dates you set. Judge by the dates, with matches only as an early warning.

Paid features multiply what you already have. If a free week gives you a few matches and a couple of conversations, a paid tier may give you more of both. If it gives you nothing, a subscription multiplies nothing, and the fix is your photos and your first line.

coach is equally clear that refusing to pay for anything holds men back, so test one paid feature for a short stretch, count the change and drop it if the numbers do not move.

Whichever app wins, the habit that matters is the same. Move from a match to a number within about four to seven messages, and suggest a specific plan while the conversation is warm.