Is Coffee Meets Bagel Worth It for Men?

Yes, as a second app. Coffee Meets Bagel is free to join, and liking, passing and chatting with the people it suggests, which is how matches happen here, all work without paying. Its daily batch is small, so it suits a man who prefers a handful of deliberate choices to an endless stack. Paying is worth considering only after the free version has given you conversations, and the company publishes no figure for how many men get dates, so test it yourself.

Each day around noon, a personalized batch of people called Bagels arrives in the Suggested section. They are picked from your preferences, your past likes and passes, and how likely each person is to like you back. You like the ones you would want to meet and pass on the rest. When a like is mutual, you can chat. If she had already liked you, your like makes an instant match.

A separate Discover tab shows more people nearby, including some who do not fully fit your preferences. Think of Suggested as the shortlist and Discover as the wider search.

That covers the whole path from a first like to a first date. You do not need to pay to reach a woman.

On a swipe app, a man can burn an hour liking faces. A batch that arrives once a day ends that habit. You look at a few women, decide on each, and close the app.

a dating coach warns men off liking nearly everyone. In his experience, an app that sees a man like everyone tends to treat him as less attractive and has less reason to show him its best women. A small, daily batch makes selectiveness the default. It also means each conversation matters more, so there is less room for a lazy opener.

The batch also gives you a built-in habit. Look around noon, answer anyone who liked you, and spend your effort on the women you chose.

The app's currency is Beans. Beans pay for extras such as Flowers, which put you at the top of a woman's Likes You page, Boosts bought one at a time, and reopening a chat after it has expired. You can earn some Beans without paying, for example when you upload a new photo, update a prompt or check in daily.

There are also two subscriptions, Premium and Platinum. The help pages describe them as including Boosts and Flowers each month, and they suggest a subscription to people who find themselves buying Beans often. Free users get a daily number of Bagels set by the algorithm, while Premium users have no daily limit as long as the app has Bagels left to show. We give no prices, because they change, so read the screen when you buy.

A paid feature is a multiplier. My rule is to check that the free version already produces something, because multiplying nothing still gives you nothing. If women are liking you back and some chats turn into dates, paying for more reach can make sense. If they are not, money will only show a weak page to more people.

He is also firm that never paying is a mistake, because an app looks after the members who pay. So buy one thing, such as a single Boost or a few Flowers, and watch what changes over a couple of weeks. Drop it if nothing moves.

Use Flowers like a rare gift. A Flower means something because it is deliberate, and one sent to every woman in the batch tells her nothing and costs you Beans.

The free things matter most. Your lead photo should be recent, in daylight, with your face easy to see and no sunglasses or group shot. Your other photos should show different places and outfits, so she can picture an ordinary week with you.

Your written answers should sound like you. A specific detail, such as the neighborhood you would take her for tacos, gives her something to answer. "I love travel and good food" could be anyone.

Your first message should mention one real thing from her page and end on a question she can answer in a line. Because your chats start from two deliberate likes, throwing away the goodwill with "hey, how's your week" wastes the best part of the app.

Check Suggested around noon for two weeks. Record how many Bagels you liked, how many liked you back, how many conversations started and how many dates you set. If the likes come back and the chats are alive, keep the app and consider one paid extra. If almost no one likes you back, fix the photos and your answers first. If the chats are good and the dates are missing, suggest a specific drink sooner.