What's the Difference Between Duet Premium and Supreme?

Supreme is Premium plus three extras. The App Store listing says Supreme includes "all 9 Duet Premium privileges" and adds Message Before Matching, Advanced Filters and Daily Picks. Those extras cost a little over double what Premium does.

The listing names three Premium perks:

• See Who Likes You: you can match and chat with the women who already liked you.
• Unlimited Likes: no cap on the likes you send.
• Unlimited Rewind: a second chance when you swipe left by accident.

The listing says Premium has nine privileges but names only those three. A review page from Dating Scout lists more, including who viewed your profile, 2 free Crushes a day, Read Receipts, 1 Turbo a month and Restore Match.

Of these, seeing who likes you is the one with real value. A like is the cheapest attention you can get on any dating app, because she has already said yes. Unlimited likes and rewind are conveniences. They don't change how many women find you attractive.

• Message Before Matching: you can send 3 Praises directly to people you like.
• Advanced Filters: you can filter by height, education, purpose and popularity.
• Daily Picks: Duet picks the most popular users and recommends them to you every day.

Message Before Matching is the one that can change your results. It lets you write to a woman before she has liked you back, and there what you write does the work a photo normally does. The listing doesn't say how often the allowance of 3 resets, so check that in the app.

Filters and Daily Picks help you find people. They don't help a woman choose you.

These are the prices on the App Store listing and a Dating Scout review. Prices change, so confirm them in the app before you pay.

Supreme runs about 2.3 to 2.4 times the Premium price at every term, or about 3 times if you use the $19.99 monthly figure. On a three-month term that's about $40 a month for Supreme against about $17 for Premium.

Duet also sells items on their own: 5 Crushes for $9.99, 1 Turbo for $4.99 and 5 Praises for $12.99. If Message Before Matching is the only thing you want, compare the Praise pack with the Supreme price first.

Start with nothing. The app is free to install. On the free version you can create a profile, browse recommended profiles, use a limited number of likes, match, chat with matches, and take the quizzes. Dating Scout also says all members can send messages free. See how many women near you are active before you spend anything.

Buy Premium if the main thing you want is to see who liked you. That's the cheapest way to turn a pile of likes into conversations.

Buy Supreme only if you plan to write to women before they like you, or you really need a height or education filter. Do not buy it to make up for a weak profile. Advanced filters and Praises can't fix a picture that doesn't show your face, or a few lines that sound like every other man.

Review pages don't always agree on this. One lists Praises, filters and Daily Picks under Premium in one place and Supreme in another, while the App Store listing puts them under Supreme. Look at the paywall in the app before you pay.

The listing says Premium and Supreme purchases are charged to your iTunes account and auto-renew unless renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the period ends. A one-week term is the one to watch, because the renewal date arrives quickly.

Duet's terms add three things. Deleting your account or the app doesn't cancel your subscription. Duet isn't responsible for refunding the fee for the rest of a period if you stop using the app. Crushes and Turbos have no cash value and are non-refundable once purchased. For App Store and Google Play purchases, the store handles refunds, and Duet's refund page points to Apple's report-a-problem page or the Play Store's subscriptions screen.

Set a reminder for the day before renewal. That one habit saves more money than any feature does.

a dating coach's approach to paid features is a good one to borrow. He rejects the idea that you should never pay for anything, and says it is a bias that costs men results. He also rejects paying blindly. His method is to try an individual feature, particularly an inexpensive one, and see whether your results improve. If they do not, drop it.

Run that test on Duet in concrete numbers. Count how many women write back to you over a week on the free version, then buy the shortest Premium term and count again. If the count rises, and some of those chats become plans, keep it. If nothing changes, you have your answer for $12.99.

Whatever tier you pick, fix the free things first: your photos and the first few lines of your profile.