Tinder vs Hinge vs Bumble: Which Is Best for Guys?

No app wins for every man, but there is a sensible order to try them in. a dating coach's view is that Hinge tends to beat Tinder in the US, especially in major cities, while in many places in Europe Tinder is almost the only app people are on. He personally rates Hinge far above Bumble. So our view is to start on Hinge if you live in a major US city, start on Tinder if it is the app people around you use, and make Bumble the next one you test. Keep whichever one produces matches and conversations for you.

The three apps start a match in three different ways, and that shapes what you do on each.

Tinder calls its core move Swipe Right to Like someone. If she Likes you back, it is a Match. The decision happens on a single card, in a second or two.

Hinge works from one specific piece of a page. You send a Like or a Rose on a particular photo or prompt, and you can add a comment. The match happens when she accepts it.

Bumble makes the match first. After that, each of you gets an opening message before the chat fully opens, and if neither of you sends one inside the app's time limit, the match expires.

Hinge calls itself the dating app designed to be deleted. Bumble's homepage says it exists to bring people closer to love and wants members to find meaningful and authentic relationships. Tinder's own help page describes a free version where a user can match, chat and connect.

Those are company descriptions, and they tell you what the app wants to be known for. a dating coach's read of the reputations is more practical. In a live Q and A he said Tinder has more of a hookup reputation, though relationships start there too. Hinge and Bumble have more of a relationship vibe, though hookups happen on both. A reputation describes the average user. It says very little about the one woman you end up messaging.

a dating coach says that in major US cities Tinder has a lot of fake profiles, which is one reason he finds Hinge tends to do better there. He also points out that in many places in Europe, Tinder is almost the only app people are on. The same app can be the wrong choice in one country and the obvious one in another.

Our view is that because the swipe is the whole first step, Tinder suits a man whose photos are clear and different from each other. A set that tells her something in a second is worth more here than anywhere else on this list.

Hinge shows a man a woman's prompt answers and personal details, and it says every match begins with a like or comment on a specific part of a profile. That is a mechanic you can use. Our view is that Hinge suits a man whose photos and written answers give a woman something specific to point at. A man with one decent photo and nothing written has handed her nothing to like.

It also changes the experience of choosing. You are reading something she wrote before you decide, so you learn a little about her before the match exists.

Bumble's mechanic is the time limit. The match can expire until both of you have sent an opening message, so the app rewards the man who writes soon after matching. Our view is that it suits a man who checks his app regularly and likes a short, definite window.

It does not suit a man who matches in bursts and replies days later, because some of those matches will simply expire. a dating coach's personal pick between the two relationship-leaning apps is Hinge, which he states as his opinion, and he adds that you should use whatever you like.

Each app sells optional tiers. Tinder lists Plus, Gold and Platinum. Hinge has Hinge+ and HingeX. Bumble has Boost, Premium and Premium+.

The headline feature on each is close to the same idea, which is seeing who already liked you. Tinder Gold's is See Who Likes You. Hinge+ lets a man see all incoming likes at once. Bumble Premium adds the Liked You queue.

a dating coach's rule covers all three apps. Buy a tier for a short stretch, and keep it only if your results move. His reason is that a tier multiplies your results, and an account with almost none gives it very little to multiply.

Some men fail on Tinder and do well on Hinge. Some fail on Hinge and do well on Bumble. a dating coach attributes that to differences in each app's algorithm and in who is on it, and his advice is to test several and keep the one where you succeed.

His biggest point is the one most men skip, and it is not about which site you pick. It is about how you write your profile. A profile that reads as looking for a hookup gets hookups, he says, and one that says you want something long-term gets that. Our view is that the photos work the same way. A man who gets nothing on all three is rarely being beaten by the apps. He is being beaten by the first three seconds of his own photos and the one sentence she reads next.