Grindr Continues Growth as Other Mainstream Dating Apps Stumble
While dating giants like Bumble and Tinder face mounting challenges, Grindr is charting a markedly different course – emerging as a standout in a faltering market. As competitors report declining revenue and stagnating growth, Grindr has posted significant gains in both user engagement and financial performance.
Grindr’s stock has rebounded sharply since its 2022 public debut, recently trading above $20 after a mid-2024 climb and continues to see positive stock forecasts. In contrast, Bumble’s share price has plummeted from its $43 IPO to around $6. Revenue trends mirror this divergence: Grindr has posted a 25% year-over-year increase in revenue and a growing user base, now exceeding 14.5 million monthly active users.
Grindr CEO George Arison attributes this success to the company’s continual product innovation and focus on user needs – particularly those of Gen Z. He challenges the idea that younger users are abandoning dating apps altogether. “If you don’t build a product that Gen Zers want, they’re not going to use it,” he told Fast Company in a discussion about the app’s future. While others blame dating app fatigue, Arison sees it as a failure of innovation.
Recent feature rollouts, such as Albums and the real-time “Right Now” discovery tool, have driven strong user engagement. These tools are made available to all users, with limited access for free accounts and expanded capabilities for paying subscribers. This measured approach to monetization, Arison says, is intended to avoid the pitfalls seen in other apps: “We are doing product-led processes—it’s not just monetize, monetize, monetize.”
Grindr is also expanding beyond dating, with recent efforts including a telemedicine brand, Woodwork, and broader lifestyle ambitions. The company’s strategy to become a “global gayborhood in your pocket” may be a lofty goal, but pursuing it seems to have kept them growing even when other apps are suffering user downturns – and this kind of community-centric design might be the key.
