Hinge tests a cheaper plan as users become more fed up paying for dating apps

Hinge is testing a cheaper subscription plan as its parent company Match Group looks for new ways to get users to pay for dating apps at a time when people are increasingly tired of subscriptions and, in some cases, dating apps altogether. During its third-quarter 2026 earnings call on Monday, Match Group said the new Hinge tier will include features such as additional filters and custom location boundaries, giving users more control over who they see and where they meet people.

Hinge 正在测试一项更便宜的订阅计划，因为其母公司 Match Group 正在寻找新的方式来吸引用户为约会应用程序付费，而此时人们对订阅服务越来越感到厌倦，在某些情况下，甚至对约会应用程序本身也感到厌倦。在周一举行的 2026 年第三季度财报电话会议上，Match Group 表示，新的 Hinge 层级将包括额外的筛选器和自定义位置边界等功能，让用户能更好地控制他们看到的人以及与人见面的地点。

“It’s designed for women in particular, but also for price-sensitive users,” said Steve Bailey, chief financial officer of Match Group. “Remember that Hinge is one of the highest-priced products we have. The revenue per payer, for example, at Hinge is almost twice that of Tinder, around $30. It also has one of the lower payer penetrations. Its payer penetration is only slightly more than half that of Tinder.” Match Group didn’t share how much the new subscription will cost. TechCrunch has reached out to the company for more details.

“它特别为女性设计，同时也针对价格敏感型用户，”Match Group 首席财务官 Steve Bailey 表示。“请记住，Hinge 是我们价格最高的产品之一。例如，Hinge 的每付费用户收入几乎是 Tinder 的两倍，约为 30 美元。它的付费用户渗透率也是较低的之一，仅略高于 Tinder 的一半。”Match Group 未透露新订阅服务的价格。TechCrunch 已联系该公司以获取更多细节。

The move comes as dating apps continue to struggle to convince people to pay for services they’re growing tired of using. Between subscription fatigue, endless swiping, and frustration with the overall dating experience, users are increasingly questioning whether premium dating features are worth the money. Interestingly, Hinge is making this move despite being one of Match Group’s strongest performers. The app had a much better quarter than Tinder, with global monthly active users growing 12% year over year, direct revenue increasing 19%, and paying users rising 23% to 2.3 million.

此举正值约会应用程序继续努力说服人们为他们日益厌倦的服务付费之际。在订阅疲劳、无休止的滑动以及对整体约会体验的挫败感之间，用户越来越怀疑高级约会功能是否物有所值。有趣的是，尽管 Hinge 是 Match Group 表现最强劲的产品之一，但它还是采取了这一举措。该应用程序的季度表现远好于 Tinder，全球月活跃用户同比增长 12%，直接收入增长 19%，付费用户增长 23%，达到 230 万。

The app generated $221 million in direct revenue and had 2.3 million paid subscribers as of the end of the quarter. Direct revenue is money earned from subscriptions and in-app purchases. By comparison, Tinder brought in $480 million in direct revenue but experienced a slight 2% decline year-over-year, although it has 8.9 million paid users, a 4% decline from a year earlier. The lower-priced subscription could help Hinge build on that momentum by converting more users into paying customers without requiring them to spend as much upfront.

截至本季度末，该应用程序产生了 2.21 亿美元的直接收入，并拥有 230 万付费订阅用户。直接收入是指通过订阅和应用内购买赚取的资金。相比之下，Tinder 的直接收入为 4.8 亿美元，但同比略有下降 2%，尽管它拥有 890 万付费用户，较一年前下降了 4%。价格较低的订阅服务可以帮助 Hinge 保持这一势头，将更多用户转化为付费客户，而无需他们预先支付太多费用。

The move also marks a shift in Hinge’s subscription strategy. In 2023, the company experimented with a more expensive tier aimed at users willing to pay extra for features designed to help them get more out of the app. Now, it’s testing whether a more affordable option could appeal to a broader audience. Still, cheaper subscriptions alone are unlikely to solve the bigger problem facing dating apps: user fatigue. Match Group says it’s seeing some signs of improvement, partly thanks to efforts to make its platforms feel less like traditional dating apps.

此举也标志着 Hinge 订阅策略的转变。2023 年，该公司曾尝试推出更昂贵的层级，旨在吸引愿意为旨在帮助他们从应用程序中获得更多收益的功能支付额外费用的用户。现在，它正在测试更实惠的选择是否能吸引更广泛的受众。不过，仅靠更便宜的订阅可能无法解决约会应用程序面临的更大问题：用户疲劳。Match Group 表示，它看到了一些改善的迹象，这部分归功于其努力让平台感觉不那么像传统的约会应用程序。

Recent initiatives include Group Hangouts and Events, which offer users alternative ways to connect beyond the usual one-on-one matching experience. Match Group plans to ramp up those efforts in the fourth quarter. Another initiative on the horizon is real-time adaptive recommendations, which the company plans to begin testing in the fourth quarter. Announced during its CEO Connection presentation in September, the feature will allow Tinder to respond to user actions within seconds rather than hours, with the goal of making recommendations more relevant and personalized.

最近的举措包括“群组聚会”和“活动”，为用户提供了除通常的一对一匹配体验之外的替代连接方式。Match Group 计划在第四季度加大这些努力。即将推出的另一项举措是实时自适应推荐，该公司计划在第四季度开始测试。该功能在 9 月的 CEO 连接演示中宣布，将允许 Tinder 在几秒钟内（而不是几小时内）响应用户操作，目标是使推荐更具相关性和个性化。