Hinge is the Best Dating App of Them All.

That’s right, folks. You heard it here first. 

We’re major fans on Hinge and we’re not afraid to show it. But how does Hinge work? Is it better than all the other dating apps?

Today, you’ll be witnessing the ultimate match of 2021. Hinge vs. Tinder vs. Bumble. Things will be fair and balanced and there IS one thing we don’t like about Hinge, that you really should be aware of. We’ll get into that at the end of this post.

We know that online dating can be daunting.

There are so many different apps that you can use and you need to know which online dating app is the best for you.

That’s why today we’re going to go over all the reasons that we think that Hinge absolutely blows Tinder and Bumble out of the water. 

But before we can make an accurate comparison, we first need to answer a very important question.

How Does Hinge Work?

Hinge is here to help you find true love, so you can ditch the dating app scene.

It’s definitely different that Tinder and Bumble. And that’s a good thing.

When you sign up, you’ll be presented with a number of questions about yourself and what you’re looking for in a match. 

Hinge will take the answers from your questions and some information from your Facebook profile (if you choose to connect Facebook) and use the algorithm to help you find your match made in heaven.

There’s no need to wait for someone to swipe right on you to talk. That’s right, you can interact directly with people by liking and commenting on their content.The Hinge app kind of works like Instagram. 

Instead of mindlessly swiping left and right, you get to scroll through your feed and interact with people by liking or commenting on their pictures and prompts. 

When you interact with somebody’s pictures and prompts, they will be notified and from there can start a conversation.

That’s fundamentally different from Bumble and Tinder. Your ability to match with someone doesn’t depend just on your photos. Anyone who can leave a clever comment has a fighting chance! 

Matching algorithm

When you sign up, you’re encouraged to fill out your religious beliefs, your preferences, and lifestyle habits in order for the algorithm to help find someone who would be the perfect partner for you. 

Each day you will receive one match recommendation from Hinge, called “Most Compatible”, where they show you one user who would be most compatible with you, according to your selected preferences. 

And not only does Hinge know that you will like them, but by using the algorithm, they know that this person is looking for someone like you, as well.

May 2021 Update: Hinge has removed their “most compatible” feature. They didn’t say why, but my best guess is that it was just too hard for an algorithm to identify a single person who’d be compatibility. It was a great concept, though!

Don’t worry though, there’s still lots to love. I still haven’t even hit you with all 9 of my reasons why I believe that Hinge is the best dating app of them all.

A brief history of Hinge…

Back in 2012 when Hinge first made its appearance, it used to be like any other dating app. While it was unique in that it connected you with friends of your Facebook friends, it was still used for casual dating, with a “swipe left or right” function.

But then one day, they did an entire revamp of the app and announced that their mission was to help you find a long-lasting relationship. That was when they launched their slogan, “Designed to be deleted”.

That was when Hinge really began to take off. Bravo!

Quick interlude

Before I dive into my nine reasons, I’d like to invite you to take our free quiz to determine which dating app is best for you. Because you really shouldn’t waste your time by using all of them. Being on too many apps is a rookie mistake.

You already know we recommend Hinge to a lot of people. But, based on the quiz results it’s only the ideal app for about half of the folks reading this article. More singles than we expected are better off focusing on Bumble or Tinder.

OK, here’s the quiz I personally put together for you. If you don’t want to take it now you’ll find it again at the end of this article.

9 Reasons Hinge Rules in 2021

OK, let’s get into it!

1. It’s Not Just Another Casual Dating App

Unlike its competitor, Tinder, it’s not just for casual dating and hookups.

 On the contrary, their motto is and was the best one I’ve ever read for a dating app.

“Designed to be deleted.” 

At first glance, you might be thinking… Why would anyone want to say that about their own app? 

But hear them out. 

Their goal is to help you find your true love so that you can delete the app entirely and never, ever have to use it again, if all goes well. 

So how does hinge work and how do they do it?

They’ll actually notify you to remember to message back to your potential partners, because they don’t want people to be accidentally ghosted by you.

How thoughtful!

Also, with a free account, they give you a limited amount of likes so that you have to choose your liking wisely. 

A great thing about Hinge is that each like is unique, and it’s not just an “entire profile” like. 

You actually have to scroll through someone’s Hinge profile, similar to an Instagram profile, and like either a photo or a prompt that they completed. Which might I add, is incredibly clever.

Because likes are limited, Hinge says that people are using them more wisely and only liking people’s content who they genuinely think would be a good match for them. 

2. You Get The Most Bang For Your Buck

Now let’s get into the juicy part.

Of course, you can always use the free version of Hinge, but if you want to interact with more users and really get the most out of Hinge, you should upgrade to a preferred membership. *Prices may vary depending on your age and location.

How much does Hinge cost? 

A Preferred Membership on Hinge costs: 

1 month – $9.99/month – Total: $9.99 

3 months – $6.99/month – Total: $20.97

6 months – $4.99/month – Total: $29.94

With a Preferred Membership on Hinge, you’ll have access to everything.

Unlike Tinder, where you pay for one Boost here and there, then upgrade to Plus, or even Gold.

Update Feb 2021: Well, not quite everything is included for preferred members. You may still want to buy roses a la carte (and they’re pricey, more on that later).

Nonetheless, the prices of Hinge absolutely blow Bumble out of the water. For a single month of Bumble Boost, you’ll be paying $24.99.

With a Preferred Membership, you’ll have access to unlimited likes, you can conveniently see everyone who liked your profile in a grid view, which is incredibly convenient.

You’ll also have access to even more preference filters, which will really help you narrow matches down.

As icing on the cake, you’ll get the answers to all of your dating questions from a panel of Hinge experts.

The payoff

Is it worth the money? Probably. According to Hinge, preferred members get twice as many dates as free users. This is probably because matches view you more serious if you’re down to pay a little extra to find your true love.

3. Incredible Success Rate

Of course, success in this area is based on what your end goal is. But my guess is, if you’re thinking about Hinge, you’re looking for something more and long-lasting. 

So here’s what I consider a huge success.

Hinge has a 90% success rate in the same category, plus 72% of those dates result in a second date. 

(that’s way higher than my Tinder and Bumble success rates, sigh)

Second dates always mean that there was a lot of chemistry and you both what to see what could be.

Whereas everyone knows that Tinder is 99% for hookups, and Bumble is probably somewhere in the middle, Hinge is there to help you find love and they get it right 90% of the time. 

Odds I’m very happy about.  

4. You’ll Find Very Unique and Personal Profiles

Listen, we all love a good Tinder bio. There’s no denying that. 

But the problem with Tinder bios is that most of the time, they just copied-and-pasted them. There’s almost no getting to know someone from their bio. 

On Hinge, a profile is like an Instagram feed, full of a person’s favorite images and prompts. 

When you sign up for Hinge, they’ll ask you personal and fun questions that can’t be answered with a simple yes or no. 

And you can’t just copy and paste the answers from somewhere. You actually have to put some thought and effort into the questions, and then your personality will naturally shine through.

Because Hinge profiles are so personable, it really makes it stand out from Tinder and Bumble.

5. You Get To Put Yourself Out There

Unlike Tinder and Bumble where you look at profiles and swipe left or right, Hinge doesn’t believe in swiping and actually has a much better system for making genuine matches. 

With Hinge, you can see people’s profiles and engage with them even if they haven’t swiped right on you, like on Tinder or Bumble.

Hinge encourages its users to comment on and like people’s pictures and prompts as a way to get their attention and start communicating with their potential love interests. 

This puts emphasis on creating quality conversations with people with the sole purpose of communicating and creating a bond, unlike the other two apps where you just swipe based on some pictures and a generic bio.

6. No More Games, See Who Already Likes You

As I mentioned, there’s no swipe function on Hinge. So you don’t have to wait around to see if people like you back. 

Even as a free member, you can see who likes your profile without reciprocating that like. 

That means you can make the first move and it actually means something because the person whose profile you liked, will see that notification, even if they didn’t like your profile. 

This removes the childish game of liking and hoping that person will like you back. You straight-up like their content, they’ll see it, and you can start talking immediately.

7. You’re Pretty Much Guaranteed A Quality Conversation

No more sending random gifs or sly pick-up lines. 

No more guessing what to say to make the right move. 

Well, for the most part.

As I said, Hinge asks you many meaningful and fun questions when you sign up and the answers will appear on your profile.

You can scroll through anyone’s profile, find an answer that sparks something within you, and start a quality conversation based on that.

No more awful “u up?” texts. You can actually have a fun, educated conversation with someone. 

8. See Who You’re Most Compatible With

Arguably the best feature of all dating apps is the “Most Compatible” feature. 

Every day, a Hinge user will be presented with someone who their algorithm deems as their “Most Compatible” match.

These matches are found based on basic user match preferences and also, wouldn’t you know it, on the 3 questions and prompts you answered when you first signed up. 

The Hinge algorithm literally won a Nobel prize. So you know it’s real and things are going to get serious for you on this one-of-a-kind app.

9. They’re Serious About Finding You “The One”

If you’ve been on Hinge before and you exchanged numbers with someone, then you have probably heard about “We Met”. 

Every time you exchange numbers with someone, they’ll ask you a few questions about your date to see if you enjoyed meeting them, which will help them improve their algorithm. 

To quote Hinge itself, “‘We Met’ helps us understand your dating journey as you move things off the app. A few days after exchanging phone numbers, we’ll ask you a) if you went on a date and b) if your date is the type of person you’d like to see again. If you indicate that you don’t want a second date, we’ll will take that info into account when recommending new people to you.

We created ‘We Met’ to learn about our members’ dates in order to provide better recommendations in the future. Simply put, ‘We Met’ lets you give us feedback on your Hinge dates so you can get out on better dates, faster!” 

OK, there’s one thing I am not so sure about….

In November 2020, Hinge introduced “Roses”, which are basically the equivalent of Superlikes on Tinder. You get one free rose per week to give to that special someone, and can buy more, from $2.99 and up. They’re not cheap!

The problem is, Hinge removes the people you’re most likely to swipe right to and puts them in a separate feed, “Standouts” where you have to give them a rose to interact. You will notice fewer people in your discovery feed.

So, it seems that Hinge knows who you find attractive based on your previous behavior and is taking full advantage.

Now, they do have to make money. But have they gone too far?

How to match with Standouts without Roses

One bit of good news. I’ve found that if you regularly view the standout profiles (they’re hot, so why wouldn’t you) they eventually end up in your regular feed, where you can like and comment for free!

It usually takes weeks, but your patience will eventually be rewarded. That said, sending a rose is still more effective (at least for me), since it makes the person feel special. Plus, if you wait around, that person might get swooped up.

So, don’t write roses off if you’ve got the cash.

Final Thoughts