Why Is Badoo So Expensive?

The dating app feels expensive because it sells three separate things, and the costs add up when you buy them together. Premium is a subscription with many features, Extra is a cheaper tier, and Credits are a top-up balance you spend piece by piece. A man who buys all three, or lets Credits refill on their own, ends up paying far more than the one feature he actually wanted.

Premium covers seeing who likes you and priority for your sent messages. It adds a daily crush, ad removal, undo for an accidental left swipe, bonus credits on Credits purchases, unlimited filters and private browsing. It can be taken for 7 days, 30 days, 90 days or 180 days, or as a Lifetime option.

That is a long list, and part of the price is paying for features you will not use. Ad removal and undo are comforts. If you paid for Premium to see who likes you, you are carrying the price of everything else too.

Extra is a cheaper tier. It includes a daily crush, ad removal, undo for accidental left swipes and bonus credits, and it can be taken for 7, 30, 90 or 180 days.

The catch is that it does not show who likes you. If that is what you wanted, Extra will not do it, and buying Extra and then Premium costs you twice. Work out which feature you want before you choose.

Credits are not a subscription. They are a top-up system, and you spend them on specific things. These include moving to the top of Discover, being seen by more people in Encounters, opening chats without a match, sending a crush and buying Read Receipts.

Each of those is a small purchase, which is exactly why they add up. A man who buys a Credit boost on Monday, a chat on Tuesday and Read Receipts on Wednesday has spent more than he realises. Most of it went on things that will not fix a weak photo.

On Badoo web and Android you can switch on auto refill, which tops up your Credits automatically when your balance drops below a set level. It is easy to leave on without remembering.

To turn it off, open Settings, go to Payment settings and set Auto refill to Disabled. Check this today, even if you think you never turned it on.

Before you decide Badoo is too expensive, find out what you are actually paying for. Open the Plans section of your Profile tab and see which plan is active. Check the renewal date, because Badoo says subscriptions renew automatically unless they are cancelled at least 24 hours before it.

Then check Payment settings for auto refill. Many men are paying for a plan they forgot, a Credits top-up they never chose, or both. Cancelling what you do not use is the quickest way to make Badoo cheaper.

Badoo says refund eligibility depends on its Terms and Conditions, on the platform you paid on, on where you are and on what you bought. So do not assume a refund is available. Decide before you pay, not after.

a dating coach is not against paying for dating apps. He argues that a little money often saves a lot of time, and that men who refuse to spend anything cost themselves results. But he also says to test each paid feature cheaply and to keep it only if it moves your numbers.

So make it a test. Count your matches, conversations and plans for a week without paying. Then buy the shortest plan that includes the one feature you want, and count again. If the numbers rise by enough to justify it, keep it. If they do not, cancel it, and turn auto refill off.

An expensive app is a good deal if it brings you dates, and a cheap one is a bad deal if it brings you none. A common reason men feel Badoo is expensive is that they paid before they fixed the basics.

If your photos are weak, more reach and priority only show a weak photo to more women. Fix the lead photo first, write opening messages that mention something real about her, and suggest a plan sooner. Spend after that, and spend on one thing at a time, so you know what worked.