Is Tantan Free?

Yes, up to a point. Tantan's terms say it is free to register for an account, and that the account can be used at no cost as a Basic Membership. The limit you hit is on messages. A free member can send unlimited predefined communications to matches. Personalized ones are limited, both sending and reading. Paying removes some of that friction. Whether it is worth paying depends on what you want from it.

As a Basic member you can register, get recommendations and match. You can send an unlimited number of predefined communications to your matches, which are the short ready-made messages the app offers.

What is limited is personalized messages. You can send and read some, but not as many as you like. That means a free account is perfectly good for finding out whether women near you use the app and reply, which is the single most useful thing to learn before spending anything.

Tantan's terms list several paid plans: VIP, See Who Likes Me, Premium and Ultra-Premium. They say paid memberships offer more features and are ad-free.

Two of the tiers are described in some detail.

• VIP lets you send unlimited Likes and hide your last seen status.
• Premium adds super likes each day, a boost, the ability to see who viewed you and read receipts.

See Who Likes Me and Ultra-Premium are listed in the terms without that detail, so check what they include inside the app before you pay. Prices change, so look at the price the app shows you rather than any figure you have read elsewhere.

The terms say Virtual Goods are bought separately from a Premium Membership. A membership does not include them, and buying one does not upgrade you.

Treat them as optional extras, the same way you would treat any in-app purchase. If you cannot say what a purchase will do for your matches or messages, leave it.

Judge a feature by one question, which is a dating coach's test for paid features on any app: does it help you choose who you talk to, or does it just leave that to the app? Apply that to the list.

• Seeing who likes you can save time, because you can start with people who have already shown interest.
• Read receipts show whether your message was opened, which is useful when you are deciding whether to follow up.
• A daily boost can help in a slow area for a short stretch.
• Hiding your last seen is about privacy more than results.
• Unlimited Likes matter mostly if you are in a busy area and want to move fast.

None of these is magic. Each one gives you a little more information or a little more reach. They help a man who is already writing good messages and already getting replies. They do not turn a weak first line into a strong one.

Stay on the free plan until you have a reason not to. The numbers that justify paying are your own.

Count your matches, the conversations that start, and the ones that turn into a plan. If you are matching but not messaging because of the limit, that is a real reason to look at a paid tier. If you are not matching at all, no tier will fix that, and the better move is to improve your photos or try a different app.

a dating coach watched one man's nine years on Tinder and concluded he could have spent a little money to save a lot of time. That is the fair reading of paying: it is a way to spend less of your time, not a way to be more attractive. Pay when your time is the thing in short supply, and not before.

A paid tier makes sense in one situation. You have shown that women in your area use the app and reply to you, your first messages are working, and a specific limit is slowing you down.

In that case, pick the one tier that removes that limit, buy the shortest plan, and set a reminder for the renewal date. Review it after a few weeks. If the number of dates did not move, cancel.

Do not buy a premium plan on the first evening because the app made it look urgent. The pressure to upgrade is part of how free dating apps earn their money, and it tends to arrive just when you are most hopeful.

Do not pay because a match is slow to reply. Replies come at the speed of the person, not of your membership. And do not subscribe for several months at once to get a lower monthly rate before you know the app works for you.

Tantan is free to join and use as a Basic member. You can send as many predefined messages to matches as you like. Personalized ones are limited. The paid plans add reach and information, and the terms describe them as ad-free. Start free, count your results for two weeks, and pay only if a specific limit is the thing holding you back.