A question nearly as old as time itself: Bumble or Tinder?
This article will explain all the differences between the two dating apps and which of the is best for you.
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All the app features of Tinder and Bumble will be compared, and you’ll hear which app is better for what.
The final verdict
After a thorough analysis of both apps, here’s the quick answer to the question:
Which is better: Tinder or Bumble?
If you want to pay, Tinder is best. Whether you want one-night stands or a relationship, Tinder has it all.
If you don’t want to pay and live in a densely populated area, Bumble is best. Yes, the app leans slightly toward relationships, but there are plenty of women looking for fun.
Although Bumble started as a Tinder clone, the two dating apps are now far from identical. Here are the differences in a nutshell:
- Bumble has higher quality profiles, but a smaller audience.
- Tinder has a huge user base, but also more downers.
- If you don’t want to pay a dime, Bumble is the clear winner. If you’re willing to go premium, then Tinder’s extra features give you the best dating results.
Below you will find my in depth analysis of both apps.
Based on over 9 years of daily experience on both apps and hundreds of matches and conversations.
1. Creating an account: which app is easier?
Let’s first discuss which of the two dating apps wins in a race to the first swipe.
Let’s use Bumble as our primary example.
*Starts stopwatch*
First, download Bumble via Google Play or the App Store.
Once you open the app, you’ll see the next screen:
Which gives you two options.
- Continue with Facebook.
- Use another option (your number).
Using your digits costs a little more time because you need to verify it’s your number.
And a few steps later, you also need to fill in details like your name, age, and so on.
After your account is made, you go straight to building your profile.
Which means it’s time to pick your photos.
Pick 4 of your BEST and you’re almost off to the races. You can upload more, but keep in mind that your profile is only as attractive as your worst photo. So focus on quality, not quantity.
Holy Tip:
Simply uploading your Facebook favorites to Tinder or Bumble won’t get you the matches you want.
Most men who pick their ‘favorites’ get close to ZERO matches.
To get more matches, you need to stand out.
Here’s what I recommend:
Use your first photo to clearly and elegantly show your face. Use the rest to show your lifestyle.
After all, she doesn’t just want to admire your looks. She wants to feel like it’s going to be awesome to hang out with you.
Our non-Facebook users now need to fill out their details.
But otherwise, you’ll have to choose what you’re looking for:
Dates. New Friends. Or networking.
Important: Tinder doesn’t make this distinction. The red rival is all about romance and hookups.
If you’re like most of my readers, you want to get into a lady’s lovelies.
After you smash the top ‘Dates’ button, Bumble wants to hear your interests.
Men. Women. Or everyone.
Once you make your choice, you’re ready to swipe.
Now I’ve swiped my first cutie, it’s time to check the time.
Just a little over two minutes.
Not bad, Bumble!
Rather than show you the creation of a Tinder account, I’ll keep it brief.
Tinder is just as quick, if not quicker.
If you’re undecided about using Bumble or Tinder, the time it costs to make an account won’t pull you over the line.
Because the time you win starting a Tinder account is minor.
- Making an account on Tinder and Bumble is stupidly easy. And fast.
So it’s a tie.
Next up, a competition of greater importance.
2. Which app has the most and best profile options?
In the next few minutes, you’ll know which app gives you better profile options to find your dream girl.
After you add your photos to Bumble and Tinder, the apps ask you to fill in your gender and other details.
Before we move on, both apps are LGBTQ+ friendly and give you hella gender options. Whatever you identify as, Tinder and Bumble have your back.
Next, both apps ask you to fill in your birthday and name (unless you signed in through Facebook). That puts an end to the mandatory data.
As for optional info, Bumble and Tinder both let you enter your job, education, and bio.
Did you answer those boxes? Then your Tinder profile is done! It has no more room for anything else but photos.
Bumble, however, has plenty more questions for you to answer.
First of all, Bumble has Profile Prompts.
Which essentially is a series of sentences where you can fill in the blanks. And show off your personality.
If you choose to answer one of the prompts, it shows up beneath your photos. Like so:
If you find it difficult to find inspiration for your texts, the prompts are a great help.
Holy Tip:
Filling in your prompts might be quite important.
In experience, the algorithm rewards an info-rich profile with better matches.
My Bumble accounts that don’t have prompts get lesser-quality women than those who do have prompts.
Although that could also be a freaky coincidence.
The prompts give Bumble a slight edge over Tinder.
What REALLY gives Bumble the upper hand, is the following:
If it was just a list of facts, I wouldn’t care. But what makes it so powerful, is that every fact from that list can be used as a filter.
Don’t want to date smokers? Ask Bumble to remove smokers from your swiping stack.
Don’t want girls looking for hookups? Switch your filter to ‘looking for a relationship.’
Don’t want to date someone with a BMI of 69? Tell Bumble to only show you women who ACTIVELY exercise.
To summarize:
- Bumble offers more info than Tinder without overwhelming you.
- Plus, Bumble gives you the option to remove girls from your swipe stack based on 2 of the filters. (Yes, there is a maximum unless you go premium.)
- Although Tinder offers some details to help you find the right lady, swiping is largely based on photos
Bumble convincingly takes this round.
3. Which app has higher quality users?
This tip will show you which app has the best women for YOU.
Different generations have different views on dating apps. Although almost all ages go online in search of sex and romance.
So who thinks what? Well, most young adults (aged 18 to 24) see dating apps as tools for casual flings. Older adults (aged 30 and up) often turn to apps for relationships or marriage.
What does that mean for you? If you want hookups, go for the app with the biggest crowd of young adults.
If you prefer a relationship, choose the service with a more mature audience.
Can the users of Tinder and Bumble be split so cleanly? Let’s find out.
Although there are many, MANY studies on Tinder demographics, the answer is almost always the same:
- With roughly 35%, the biggest group on Tinder is formed by the 18 to 24-year-olds
- The second biggest group makes up 25% of the user base and consists of people aged 25 to 34.
- The last group of significance is the 45 to 54-year-olds who form 20% of the audience.
Long story short, Tinder has a HUGE variety of age groups. And with almost 8 million active users in America alone, expect a large range of educational backgrounds, professions and ethnicities.
Note: On Tinder, men outnumber women by 8 to 2! So you have a lot of competition.
So if you can’t find your type on Tinder, she doesn’t exist.
The biggest drawback of Tinder’s large numbers? You’ll also find lots of girls who are NOT your type.
So while variety is good, a mixed bag of users means it takes longer to find who you want.
What about Bumble?
For starters, Bumble has close to 5 million active users in the US. Ranking it #2 on the most popular American dating app.
Internationally, Bumble doesn’t do as well. But it’s slowly increasing its foreign audience.
As for user demographics, the male-to-female ratio is close to equal. Around 60% are male and 40% are female.
In terms of age, almost 70% of the Bumble audience is under the age of 34.
This means Bumble is also good for both hookups and relationships. Although I’d say Bumble’s users are a bit more focused on relationships.
So who wins the round of demographics? Tinder or Bumble?
Probably Tinder, thanks to its versatility and numbers. But it ultimately depends on preference.
Here are the pros and cons of each dating service:
Tinder:
- Huge and versatile audience. It definitely has plenty of your type.
- Good for both casual hookups and serious relationships.
- Popular across the globe.
- The size of its user base makes it slightly more difficult to find your type of girl.
- Men outnumber women.
- Still has a reputation for being an app for one night stands (although it’s not).
Bumble:
- Very popular in America.
- Greatly mixed audience. And the women are generally more highly educated than those on Tinder.
- The male to female ratio is close to equal.
- Slightly more focused on relationships.
- Not as popular abroad.
- Less users mean less opportunities.
- Annoying system where women have to text the guys first. Men have to respond to that text within 24 hours. Resulting in many lost opportunities on both sides due to two chances of the match being blocked.
- Women are less likely to date you if you only want casual sex.
The conclusion?
Tinder wins.
I’d advise Bumble if you strictly want a relationship with a smart person, and Tinder if you want to cast a wide net.
4. What app leads to better conversation?
If you want to maximize your odds of getting a reply, one app is better than the other. The question is: which?
To give you context, a match is no guarantee that the two of you will have a conversation.
A few reasons why the reply never comes could be because:
- She’s busy.
- She’s changed her mind about you.
- She liked you by accident.
So how do you increase the chances of getting a reply?
The BEST way is a good Tinder profile.
Find out what that looks like by getting instant free access to my Dating Profile Checklist.
The second best way is app dependent.
Let’s start with Tinder. Tinder uses a mutual-like system.
Once you both like each other, Tinder opens up a direct line of communication between the two of you. Both you and she can send the first text. Although experience shows that it’s almost always the guy.
Let’s pretend it’s always the man who has to send the first message.
How do you make it more likely for her to answer?
With an irresistible opener. That leaves thousands of options.
Which is why I’m going to make it easy on you.
In comes the Clickbait Opener.
The highest response-rate opener to ever grace your eyes.
Bumble, however, works differently.
How?
A match on Bumble doesn’t lead to an open line of communication.
On Bumble, only SHE can start the conversation.
This one is awesome. Often girls will just say “Hey”.
So you can’t lure a reply out of her. She decides if she wants to talk to you.
To make matters worse, she gets a 24-hour window to send the first text after matching.
What happens when she doesn’t? You lose the match.
And before I forget, once she sends you a message, you must reply in 24 hours to keep the match alive. Or else it disappears. Pretty sucky.
The recap?
Tinder lets you send the first text, so you can motivate her to reply.
Bumble forces you to wait for her opener, so you can do nothing but wait.
Honestly, it’s a bad system. Because it leads to expiring Bumble matches for no good reason.
Tinder wins this round by a landslide.
5. Which app has fewer catfish?
For my first-time readers, a catfish is someone who uses photos of another person.
Said simply, a catfish is a phony.
When it comes to online dating, finding out 21-year-old Jenny is actually a 200-pound construction worker named Bob, is a terrifying experience.
So it’s nice when dating apps help you keep the Bobs out of your life. Although it’s best to start with what YOU can do to detect catfish.
Most catfish are actually women who use flattering photos of themselves. Mostly to make themselves look prettier or thinner.
So how do you spot a catfish?
By paying attention to the warning signs:
- When she only has photos of her face. She’s probably carrying some extra weight.
- When she has one or two photos, but no Instagram.
- When every photo is shot from the same angle.
- When she always shows off her body, but hides her face. She’s likely a butterface.
If you swipe left on all these profiles, you probably won’t be catfished.
Although the chance your match looks nothing like her photos still exists.
So what do Bumble and Tinder do to help you?
- Use verification. A small, blue checkmark lets you know they verified their photos.
- Allow you to connect your Instagram. Pretty solid proof to show you’re real.
When it comes to eliminating catfish, it’s a tie.
6. Which app has the better algorithm?
Tinder and Bumble use different algorithms, and one of them helps average men get far more matches.
Not too long ago, Bumble and Tinder used the same system for matching.
Bumble still uses it today. And that system all revolves around your Elo score.
That score determines the ladies you see, which ladies see you, and how high you are in their swipe stack.
Suppose your score is a 7/10 (the actual score is more complex than this).
Then you’ll regularly see and be shown to 6s and 8s. And rarely 5s and 9s.
So your score is a BIG DEAL.
The factors that influence Elo score?
- The number of Likes you get.
- The people who return your Likes.
- And the score of the people who Liked you. A Like from a high rank weighs more than one from a lower rank.
- Your selectiveness. If you want to maintain your score, roughly 20% of your swipes should be Nopes (rejections). Although I advise you to simply swipe whoever you like.
- Receiving and sending messages to your matches.
As of March 2019, Tinder changed its algorithm. While the Elo score lives on, it now plays a smaller role.
The most important factor for Tinder is your activity. The more active you are, the higher you get placed in the stack.
So how does Tinder’s new matching system work? It’s honestly quite vague.
Simply put, Tinder’s algorithm sticks a label on you. Similar to a genre in the movie industry. So if the algorithm made you a ‘hippie’, it shows you to people who tend to like hippies.
Tinder’s robots also study your tastes. And if it sees that you like ‘tall blondes’, that’s who you’re most likely to see.
The trouble is, nobody knows exactly what label Tinder’s algorithm is sticking on people. Which means we don’t have a good idea of how to influence the system.
The old Elo system was much easier to understand: A better profile almost ALWAYS led to better and more matches.
Long story, short for the average Tinder user: Old Tinder system good. New Tinder system bad.
Bumble, however, is still using the better Elo system.
So if you want more power over which women you see, Bumble is the way to go.
Another quick victory for Bumble.
7. Which app has the best premium features?
Now we’ll discuss every paid feature of Tinder and Bumble and show you which app deserves your money.
Let’s begin with a feature shared by both dating services.
1. Rewind / Backtrack
No matter who you are, you’ll eventually swipe a cutie left and out of your life by accident.
If you want her back, both apps have you covered.
Bumble gives you, the Backtrack.
Jiggle your phone from side to side and you’ll get a prompt, similar to this:
As the image shows, you get a maximum of three Backtracks.
And they reset every 3 hours.
“Only three limited chances for a paid feature???”
Actually, Bumble offers the Backtrack for FREE.
It doesn’t cost you a cent.
Tinder’s Rewind, which works the same except for the jiggling, is a PAID feature.
To activate Rewind, you want to press the left circular arrow on the bottom of your Tinder screen.
Because Rewind requires a paid membership, you get an infinite amount.
2. Super Likes / Super Swipes
Both dating apps give you a method to boost the odds of matching.
Tinder hands you the Super Like.
Which essentially communicates, “Hey, I like your style. We should definitely chat.”
As the gif shows, you send her a Super Like by hitting the blue star at the bottom, or swiping up.
What happens on her side?
She receives a notification.
As she opens Tinder, she doesn’t see you immediately. She has to find you in her stack.
And because the Super Like pushed your profile to the top, she’ll find you in a couple of swipes.
How does she know who sent her the Super Like? She’ll see a big blue star next to your name.
Back to the comparison.
Tinder offers you 1 free Super Like a day. Tinder premium gets you 5.
Bumble has the Super Swipe, which is almost identical. The only difference is that it’s called differently, and costs TWO dollars a pop!
That’s rough. Especially because its results are mixed.
Read my Tinder Super Like article to find out who you want to send your Super Like.
3. Unlimited Likes (right swipes)
Non-paying Tinder users have a limited amount of Likes.
In the early days, Tinder gave you 120 Likes every 12 hours. That later dropped to 100. And is now tied to your Tinder score.
Which means that a SUPER bad Tinder profile can earn you as little as 50 Likes per 12 hours.
If you want to swipe more, you need to buy Tinder premium.
Bumble has no such limitation. Probably because Bumble has another method to stop men from creeping out the ladies:
The women-text-first-rule.
To be clear: Bumble let’s you Like as many women as you want for FREE. Tinder demands money.
4. Tinder Boost
To increase your matches, Tinder gives you the Tinder Boost.
A feature that puts your profile at the top of the swiping stack of all the women in your neighborhood, for 30 minutes.
Although the idea is that you only get shown to girls of a similar rank, the algorithm actually shows you to ladies with other scores too.
Which means your profile will be shown to higher and lower-ranked women.
Why? So you’ll get happy when you see your Likes climb.
And buy more Tinder Boosts.
Premium Tinder users get one free Boost per month.
And the feature delivers what it promises.
What does Bumble’s equivalent get you?
Nothing. Because it doesn’t have a similar feature.
Note: Bumble does have Bumble Boost but that’s the name of its premium membership.
5. Tinder Passport
Passport is the ultimate feature for Tinder if you’re a frequent traveler.
The feature lets you pick any spot in the world and swipe as if you were actually there.
Tinder Passport is good for three types of people:
- People who work far away from home. Rather than match with women near the office, you can swipe closer to home.
- People who are about to go abroad for work or vacation. That way you’ll have dates planned by the time you set foot on foreign soil.
- People who are curious and want to see what country really has the most beautiful women.
I’m a HUGE fan.
So let’s look at Bumble’s counterpart. Bumble Travel.
It’s not part of the Bumble Boost subscription, you actually have to buy it SEPARATELY.
It’s 5 Bumble coins for one 7-day location change.
BIG MEH.
Tinder easily takes it.
By the way, I also wrote a complete guide on how to change your location on Tinder.
6. See who Likes you
The biggest time-saver of them all…
The Likes You feature.
Both dating apps give you this option.
And it’s great for people with little time.
Instead of a 30-minute swiping sesh, you can go straight to the girls who already like you.
And get an instant match.
Tinder has no name for it, but you can find it in your Matches & Messages screen.
Inside the golden-lined circle on the far left.
So if I would swipe all the girls right inside my Like library, I’d get an extra 5.569 matches.
Bumble works the same way, except it’s called the Beeline.
This round is a draw.
7. The highly prized Tinder feature
Bumble doesn’t offer this feature, but is it something you’d miss?
Let’s find out.
The Tinder feature I’m talking about is called Top Picks.
Which you can find by clicking the gold diamond at the top of your screen.
Inside, you’ll find 9 different ladies who the algorithm picked specifically for you.
Its goal?
To save you time.
Instead of swiping randos, Tinder’s robots hand-picked 9 ladies that are exactly your type.
Allegedly.
Once you take a look, you’ll find out that Tinder has no clue about what you like.
My guess is that the algorithm actually shows you women who are popular.
To help you out even more, Tinder gives your Top Pick girls special titles.
Like ‘Doctor’, ‘Scholar’ and ‘Creative’.
Sadly, these labels are 169% meaningless.
Did she graduate high school?
To which I say:
“Go home, Tinder. You’re drunk.”
So, yes, it’s a feature Bumble doesn’t offer.
But, no, you don’t need it.
8. Two other features Bumble doesn’t offer
Tinder is clearly the king of features, but what else does Tinder have to offer you?
No ads.
Note: Bumble doesn’t even have ads, except for its own premium services.
The ad-free Tinder experience is hardly worth mentioning.
While it sounds like a big deal, it’s really not.
Because Tinder allows you to swipe the ads away.
Any other good Tinder features?
Privacy management.
Tinder lets you control who sees you.
And let’s you hide from everyone but the people you’ve liked.
A must-have feature for politicians and celebrities who want to hide their identity from the public. Or anyone else who wants to be anonymous on Tinder.
Other details you can hide are your age and distance.
9. Two features Tinder doesn’t offer
Outside of the See who likes you-feature, Bumble only offers two more features to its paying members.
Extend match.
Which gives her another 24 hours to send you the first message. And keep the chance of matching alive.
Rematch.
For when the match expired and you want to give her another 24 hours to send you a text.
Two extraordinarily desperate features, that essentially say:
“I know we haven’t met and that I know nothing about you. But please, I need you in my life.”
To be fair, it can lead to a match.
But you’ll start on uneven footing.
After all, she knows you like her more than she does you.
Which often leads to disinterest on her part.
So what’s the result of the Bumble and Tinder feature war?
Tinder, hands down, has the best premium features.
Here’s the rundown for both apps, starting with Tinder:
- Undo an accidental left swipe with Rewind
- Grab a girl’s attention with Super Like (and you get one for free)
- Get more eyeballs on your profile with Tinder Boost
- Pick any spot in the world and swipe like you’re there with Tinder Passport
- Save time with the See who likes you feature
- Unlimited right swipes require a paid membership
- Top Picks is useless
And for Bumble:
- Let’s you undo unintended left swipes for free
- Gives you unlimited right swipes
- Save time with the See who likes you feature
- It costs 2 dollars for a Super Swipe
- Has two features that give your potential match more time to send you a text and start an ACTUAL match. Very lackluster.
Tinder’s premium features CRUSH Bumble’s paid features.
An easy victory for Tinder.
Bumble vs Tinder: Final Conclusion
Bumble vs Tinder… who wins?
1. Account creation
Neither Bumble or Tinder ask you to fill in never-ending questionnaires.
So you can go from app download to swipe in roughly 2 minutes.
Draw.
2. Who offers the best profile details
When it comes to profile details, Bumble smashes it out of the park.
Bumble offers prompts that give you a chance to show off your personality.
Plus, prompts give you inspiration so you don’t run out of things to text.
More importantly, Bumble gives you a list of details that you can use as filters.
Which means you can exclude certain women from showing up in your swipe stack. Tinder doesn’t offer anything like it.
Win for Bumble… Although I’m a fan of how Tinder keeps it simply
3. Bumble and Tinder demographics
On the subject of women, Bumble and Tinder are versatile.
The core age of both apps is 30 and younger.
Although Tinder definitely has a bigger community of 18 to 24-year-olds.
In contrast, Bumble has more women aged 24 and up, who are also more highly educated than their Tinder counterparts.
When it comes to size, Tinder has an ENORMOUS audience, but men also outnumber women by 9 to 1.
In comparison, Bumble has far fewer users, but the male to female ratio is almost equal.
To conclude:
- Tinder has a bigger younger audience who mostly want casual hookups.
- Bumble has a slightly older and more mature audience, who mostly want serious relationships.
4. What app is best for a reply?
Without a doubt, Tinder is best for coaxing a reply out of your match.
Why?
Because you can text her once Tinder says it’s a match.
And send her a message that triggers her to reply.
Bumble gives you ZERO influence, because she has to text you first.
Win for Tinder.
5. What app has less bots and catfish?
The only tool Tinder offers against catfish, is Instagram.
Which isn’t bad, but Bumble gives you a way more effective weapon.
Verification.
Win for Bumble.
6. What app has a more easy to influence match system?
Bumble has a far more easy to understand algorithm.
Which means you can more easily game the system and get better matches.
A good dating profile instantly puts you together with the most desirable women.
Download my Dating Profile Checklist to find out how.
Win for Bumble.
7. What app has better premium features?
Without a doubt, Tinder offers the best paid features.
Whether you want the features, however, is up to you.
Bumble Boost is basically Tinder’s mid-range subscription plan, Tinder Gold.
But Tinder offers something even better: Tinder Premium. And that adds some impressive features.
The two game-changing Tinder features are:
- Prioritized Likes. If you like someone with a Premium account, she’ll see your profile before someone who doesn’t have a Premium membership.
- Message before Matching. Premium lets you send a text after you like someone’s profile, HUGELY increasing your odds of matching.
Clear win for Tinder.
To sum it up…
If you want to pay, Tinder is best. Whether you want one-night stands or a relationship, Tinder has it all.
If you don’t want to pay and live in a densely populated area, Bumble is best. Yes, the app leans slightly toward relationships, but there are plenty of women looking for fun.
Want to make sure you match these women and get them excited to meet you?
Download my free goodie bag.
Inside, you’ll find tips to build an attractive profile, get 10 texts that always work, plus my most powerful texting technique to get her addicted to you.
Find it in your inbox by clicking the big gold button below.
Enjoy.
Blessings,
Louis Farfields
And don't forget your download below ;)
keep on posting
That`s nice! Thanks!