Gender Imbalance Drives Higher Costs for Men on Dating Apps

Men using dating apps pay substantially more per date than women and secure far fewer actual dates, according to data from analytics firm PlayersTime. On some platforms, the effective cost for men can reach £40 per date – more than five times the cost for women on the same subscription.

The disparity is most pronounced on Bumble, where men average 4.8 dates per year compared to 26.8 for women. On Tinder’s premium tiers, men average 13.2 dates annually while women average 32. Overall, men secure roughly five dates per year versus 27 for women across major platforms.

This gap stems primarily from the skewed gender ratio on most apps, which typically have significantly more male users. A smaller group of highly active men receive a large share of matches, while many others get very few. Women, receiving more inbound interest, can be more selective, leading to higher conversion rates from matches to dates.

Relationship psychologist Limor Gottlieb noted that men often adopt a high-volume swiping strategy, which many algorithms penalize, while women tend to be more selective. On Tinder, for example, women receive an average of 81 monthly matches compared to 33 for men. While premium subscriptions improve visibility, the fundamental supply-and-demand imbalance means men often need to invest more time and money for similar results.

While this may mean that dating apps have gotten inherently imbalanced, this could be a beneficial thing for the industry. Not only are male users seemingly more willing (or at least more primed) to pay more than their female counterparts, but apps that deliberately try to combat this gender ratio may have a better chance of using it as a marketing tool.