Best Dating Apps in Singapore: Which Is The Cheapest of Them All?

” When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another – and ourselves.” – Jack Kornfield

Dating apps seem to be the solution to this.

With the revolution of smartphones, one can now use dating apps to find their soulmate online. In a way, technology might have helped boosted Singapore’s pathetic fertility rate a little.

Every dating app usually follows a certain pattern when it comes to monetizing:

• It is usually free to download and free to use
• In-app purchases available to upgrade your account or to buy tokens that can possibly help increase your chance of meeting new people.

With Seedly always on a lookout to help Singaporeans make smarter personal finance decisions, we decide to do a comparison across all dating apps and their features.

Which dating app is the cheapest?

We understand that each dating app is unique in their own way. The mechanism of each dating app is further explained at the bottom of the article.

In this comparison, we lay out a few assumptions:

• Each dating app has an equal chance of getting a date.
• With each upgrade, the chance of getting a date increases equally.

From this comparison, we understand that:

• Lunchclick is the cheapest per month to unlock premium features, followed by Tinder.
• For even more premium features, Tinder is the most affordable too.
• For extra features such as getting “Super likes”, “Coffee beans”, etc., Tinder is also the cheapest at $1.29 for each Super like.
• Lovestruck has the most expensive package at $78 per month followed by Paktor at $47.98 per month.

Editor’s note: On a side note, when interviewing successful couples in Seedly’s team, Coffee Meets Bagel and Bumble seem to have a positive result.

Best dating apps in Singapore

Tinder

How to use Tinder:

• App user swipes right to a person’s profile if he finds the other party attractive. He swipes left if he doesn’t.
• One is limited to 1 “Super Like” each day. Super Like prompts the other party that you liked him/her.

Premium features:

Tinder Gold has these features in place:

• See who likes you
• Unlimited right swipes
• Top profile in the area for 30 mins
• Swipe around the world
• 5 super likes a day

Pricing of Tinder Gold is as such:

• 1 month: $22.13
• 6 months: $12.22/month
• 12 months: $9.57/month

Tinder Plus has these features in place:

• Unlimited right swipes
• Top profile in the area for 30 minutes
• Limit what others see about you
• Swipe around the world
• 5 super likes a day

Pricing of Tinder Plus is as such:

• 1 month: $13.82/month
• 6 months: $8.07/month
• 12 months: $6.34/month

Super Likes are priced at:

• 5 at $1.29 each
• 25 at $1.07 each
• 60 at $0.94 each

Tinder is on Android and IOS

Bumble

How Bumble works:

• At Bumble, women make the first move.
• Once matched, the woman has 24 hours to make the first move and the man has 24 hours to respond. (In same-sex matches, either person has 24 hours to make the first move)
• Else, the connection expires.

Premium features

Bumble Boost has these features:

• See everyone who has right-swiped you
• extend your matches by 24 hours
• rematch with expired connections

The pricing for Bumble Boost is:

• 1 week: $12.98/week
• 1 month: $32.98/month
• 3 months: S$22.33/ month
• 6 months: S$17.83/month

Bumble is on Android and IOS

Coffee Meets Bagel

How Coffee Meets Bagel works:

• Coffee Meets Bagel has a new model targeted at ladies.
• The app gives men 21 matches and ladies 6 matches daily, according to your interests, demographic data, social network and other details to give you matches.
• Once matched, the chat is open for 7 days before it expires.

CMB Premium

CMB Premium is priced at S$46.99/month.

One can also buy Coffee Beans at:

• 100 coffee beans for S$2.76
• 2,000 coffee beans for S$33.32
• 3,000 coffee beans for S$34.71

Coffee Meets Bagel is on Android and IOS

OkCupid Dating

How OkCupid Works:

• Answer questions to inform the algorithm what you care about most.
• OkCupid Discovery helps you search for people who share your passions.
• Our one-of-a-kind messaging system lets you focus only on the connections you’re interested in, and none of the ones you’re not.

Premium features of OkCupid

Boost feature allows one to

• Be seen first on the feed

It is priced at US$1.99 for 1 boost, 5 Boosts at US$1.79 each and 10 boosts at US$1.69 each

A-List allows one to

• See who likes you
• browse profile invisibly
• Get special match search option
• Message read receipts
• browse without ads

It is priced at:

• 1 Month: $27.63
• 3 Months: $20.72/mo
• 6 Months: $13.81/mo

Premium A-List allows users to

• See who likes you
• browse profile invisibly
• Get special match search option
• Message read receipts
• browse without ads
• Fine Tune Matches

It is priced at:

• 1 Month: $48.36
• 3 Months: $41.45/mo
• 6 Months: $36.85/mo

OkCupid Dating is on Android and IOS

Lovestruck

How Lovestruck.com works:

• Activities are hosted regularly for registered singles to join.
• If members choose to fill in their social media handler, the company checks and verify whether the information they provided to LoveStruck.com is genuine.
• Other members can also see your other social accounts once you’ve been verified by the site.
• Every profile is verified physically, ensuring that they are true to whatever their profile is.

Standard and premium membership

• Allows you to send and receive unlimited messages
• view members’ photo albums
• Know who viewed your account and made you a favourite keeping your online activities private, boosting or hiding your profile in search results.

Standard

• 1 Month: $58
• 3 Months: $32.67/mo
• 6 Months: $24.67/mo
• 12 Months: $17.33/mo

Premium

• 1 Month: $78
• 3 Months: $46/mo
• 6 Months: $33/mo
• 12 Months: $23.17/mo

Lovestruck is on Android and IOS

Paktor

How Paktor works:

• Swipe right to like and chat with your mutual matches
• Absolutely safe and confidential, like people around you anonymously
• View suggested profiles increase your chances of matching

Premium feature of Paktor:

• Premium member can reply to messages
• see who has liked you
• unlock filters
• Premium member who do not get a date after three months, will get a further three months free.

Premium plans start at S$36.50/mo for a 6 months membership plan.

A 3-month membership plan costs S$39.66/mo

A month membership plan costs S$47.98 per month.

Paktor is on Android and IOS

Lunchclick

How Lunchclick works:

• Download the app and fill in vital information regarding yourself.
• A background check on you is ran.
• After your profile is approved, you get 1 potential match daily.
• One can choose to accept or reject the match.
• When you accept a match, a date is set up between both of you in a physical location.

Premium features of Lunchclick:

Users get a free daily match daily for a week.

Premium users get 2 matches sent to them daily for one week.

Premium features start at S$9.42/mo. Lunchclick also provides other packages with price ranging from S$109 to S$269.

Packages include three daily dates, dating consultants etc.

Lunchclick is on Android and IOS

The economics of dating apps

While going through these apps, we noticed a certain pattern that these apps monetize.

• These apps are free to download and use
• Free feature showcases a bit of their features and exhibits the number of potential users on it.
• The user experience is usually seamless and addictive, involving simple movement such as swiping or tapping to keep it going.
• Premium features seem to help boost the chance of getting match and to lock users in, price discrimination is practised. (The longer you subscribe, the cheaper it gets per month!)