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Personal Finance Reports

Bumble for Dating? Tinder for Hookups? Now We Know Where to Swipe.

Updated Jun 28, 2023   |   2-min read
Mike Brown Author Photo
Written by Mike Brown
Mike Brown Author Photo
Written by Mike Brown

Expertise:

Mike Brown uses data from surveys and publicly-available resources to identify emerging personal finance trends and tell unique stories. Mike’s work, featured in outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, provides consumers with a personal finance measuring stick to make informed financial decisions.

Learn more about Mike Brown

Our blog post found that most Tinder users are not looking for relationships. We found that only 4.16 percent of Tinder users said they are “looking for a relationship,” and 44.44 percent said they use it for “confidence-boosting procrastination,”.

We compared and contrasted how millennials use Bumble vs. Tinder. Using data under license from polling company Whatsgoodly, we analyzed 1,319 responses from millennials using the apps. But first, a look at the top dating apps:

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  • Online? Yes
  • Premium: $26.95/month
  • Best For: Serious relationships, automatic matching
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  • Online? Yes
  • Premium: $20.99/month
  • Best For: Serious relationships, self search (no auto)
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  • Online? No
  • Premium: $10-20/month
  • Best For: Hookups
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  • Online? No
  • Premium: $9.99/month
  • Best For: Casual dating

More Bumble Users are looking for Dates. Tinder Users are Looking for Hookups.

The poll asked 1,319 Millennials the following question:

“Is there a difference in what you use Tinder or Bumble for?”

In our analysis, we found that 40.1% of respondents said “Tinder is for hookups, and Bumble is for dating”. Then, 5.7% of respondents said “Bumble is for hookups, and Tinder is for dating.” And, interestingly enough, 54% of respondents said “There is no difference.”

In other words, we found that in direct comparison, proportionally 7x the number of Bumble users view Bumble as a dating app vs. Tinder as a dating app. If you are looking for love, Bumble might be the place to swipe. But hey, not everyone is looking for love. If you are looking for a hookup you might want to be swiping on Tinder.

In the competitive online dating industry it feels like there is a new app and website every week. Each app and website’s pitch is a bit different but all are targeted at individuals looking for dates. Despite branding, age, and reputation, we thought it was interesting that the majority of users saw no difference between the two apps.

Keep swiping.

Methodology

LendEDU has gathered this data under license from polling company Whatsgoodly. In total, 1,319 Millennials were polled from July 7th, 2016 to April 6th, 2017. Whatsgoodly reported a margin of error of about ~2%.

See more of LendEDU’s Research