Should You Use OkCupid or Hinge?

Use OkCupid if you will answer its match questions honestly and write to women with care. Use Hinge if you want a simpler feed and can fill in a few short answers that sound like a person. Both reward effort over a lucky photo, so a man who puts in the work does fine on either. If you cannot pick, run both for two weeks and keep the one that sends you dates. People in the "OkCupid or Hinge" posts on Reddit split on this, because each app is only as good as the number of women near them who are active.

OkCupid matches people on their stated preferences and on their answers to a long list of match questions. Each woman shows a Match percentage, built from how your answers and your wants line up with hers.

In Discover you see one woman at a time and drag the card right to like her or left to pass. If she already liked you, your like makes a mutual like, and both of you hear about it for free. Then you can chat. You can also send an intro, which lands in her Intros tab before you match.

That format rewards attention. You read what she wrote and look at her percentage before you decide.

Hinge shows you a feed. You read her prompt answers and personal details, such as religion, height and politics. You then like one specific photo or prompt, and you can add a comment. Hinge says a comment makes a reply more likely.

A match happens when she accepts your like or your Rose. After that, the chat sits in your Matches tab.

Hinge also limits how many chats can wait on your reply, under a rule it calls Your Turn Limits. If too many women are waiting, it stops you sending or receiving likes until you answer one or end it.

OkCupid asks for the most. The questions are part of your page, and the percentage a woman sees comes from them. If you answer the way you think women want, the app pairs you with women who suit a man you are not. A few true answers, even strong ones, push the wrong women down and pull the right ones up.

Hinge asks for less, and it asks for it in small pieces. Every match starts from something she liked, so give her two or three real details to point at. A man with one good photo and nothing written has handed her nothing.

On both, vague lines fail. "Love to travel" belongs to every man on both apps. "I keep a list of every ramen shop I have tried and I rate them" belongs to one.

a dating coach describes OkCupid as one of the more hackable sites he used, meaning you could tune a lot of it to get results with little effort. He also says that on a longer-form app like OkCupid, your page matters more than it does on Tinder.

On Hinge, he says that in the US it tends to do better than Tinder, especially in major cities, and that it has more of a relationship vibe. He does not rank it against OkCupid, so neither do we. Read his two comments as a description of what each app asks of you.

OkCupid suits a man who can say something specific about his life in three or four sentences. It also suits a man who is a little unusual. On a photo-first app an odd hobby is a risk. On OkCupid it is a reason for the right woman to like you, because a shared answer raises the percentage.

Hinge suits a man who wants a cleaner feed and is happy to answer a few prompts. It also suits a man who will reply within a day to the women who like him.

Neither suits a man who matches and then answers no one. A man who is weak at photos and weak at writing will struggle on both, and that is a photo and writing problem, not an app problem.

An app can be busy in one city and quiet in the next. a dating coach's rule is that your results depend on whether the women on it are really looking to date.

So spend a few days on each before you judge it. Look at whether the women show clear photos and filled-in pages. Look at whether you see the same few faces again and again. A thin pool on one app is a better reason to switch than anything in a review.

a dating coach says a paid tier multiplies what you already have. If the free version gives you likes back and a few conversations, a paid tier gives you more. If it gives you nothing, it multiplies nothing.

OkCupid's free account sets preferences, answers match questions, likes and chats. Hinge is free on iOS and Android, and Hinge+ and HingeX are optional subscriptions. Features and limits change, so read the screen on the day you decide.

He also says refusing to spend anything can hold a man back. So the plan is neither never nor on day one. Run the free versions, count, and pay for a short stretch only if you can name what the money should change.

Put the same photos and the same written answers on both apps. For two weeks, keep a short tally on each: women you liked, likes back, chats that started, plans made and dates taken.

If OkCupid gives you fewer chats that turn into plans more often, that is a real result. If Hinge gives you more chats and few plans, look at how long you wait before suggesting a coffee. a dating coach's range is about four to seven short messages, each with a purpose.

Keep the app that gave you dates with women you were glad to meet. If both did, run both. If neither did, fix your first photo before you change apps.