A lot of internet users might ask, why pay for the opportunity to get acquainted on the Internet if it can be done completely free of charge? After all, there are many different social networks, messengers, various thematic forums of interest, and the like. There is a lot of variety, it makes no sense to pay, for example, for a premium account on Tinder or Bumble.
Why do hundreds of thousands of people around the world prefer paid online dating services?
Today, in this article, we will try to sort this issue and understand what guides those who pay money for the opportunity to meet new people on the Web. We are sure you will have a better understanding.
Popular dating services that offer their services for free and for money
Let’s look at some of the world’s most famous dating sites and apps that offer a fairly extensive set of free features, and at the same time, provide more opportunities for money.
Tinder
Free features: creating a profile, searching and viewing other users’ profiles, likes, sending messages, and the ability to communicate only with those participants with whom you had a match — mutual sympathy.
Paid features: unlimited swipes, translation of messages into other languages, disabling ads, the Passport function which allows you to search for users in other cities, and other advanced features.
Bumble
Free features: creating a profile, searching and viewing other users’ profiles, likes, sending messages, the ability to communicate only with those participants with whom you have a match, and a 24-hour timer for replying to messages.
Paid features: extending the timer for a response, the ability to contact “expired” contacts, and the Travel Mode function which allows you to search for users in other cities, etc.
OkCupid
Free features: creating a profile, searching and viewing other users’ profiles, likes, sending messages, and the ability to communicate with only those participants with whom you had a match.
Paid features: advanced search tools, the ability to see who has liked your profile, the ability to send messages to all users even if they haven’t added you to their contact list, the ability to hide your profile from users who do not interest you, and other features.
As you can see, both free and paid functionality in popular dating services are almost identical. There are differences, of course, but they are not that significant. However, speaking objectively, a free account severely limits the user, thereby pushing them to pay for a premium and remove these restrictions.
However, extended functionality is not the only reason why contemporaries often prefer paid dating services. There are also some other features:
In paid applications, users tend to be more serious
If a person pays for the opportunity to meet, this usually indicates the seriousness of their intentions. On the other hand, in free dating apps, many users do not fully understand what they want. Some register solely out of curiosity, others want to “kill time,” and others just have fun online.
Paid access in most cases means better moderation and no intrusive ads
It must be remembered that online dating is a business. A business must earn profit to progress and improve the quality of services. Accordingly, paid functions provide a profit and thus, allow it to comprehensively engage in better moderation, expand functionality, and refuse the abundance of advertising as an alternative source of income. Using paid dating services is often more comfortable and safer.
Premium accounts are a priority for dating sites, and they are more willing to recommend them
Everything is quite obvious here – premium users are always at the TOP, they are recommended by the algorithm often, and they have more chances for a promising meeting. Conversely, “free” accounts are often pessimized, making it harder for their owners to find a potential partner.
This is what you need to do if, for some reason, you can’t or don’t want to use paid dating services
The difficulty is that the vast majority of modern dating sites and applications are somehow paid. The only exceptions are very unpopular sites, but the chances of meeting your love on such platforms are extremely small.
If you are not ready to pay for the opportunity to meet interesting people, we can recommend trying free features in the already mentioned applications and some others. Here they are;
- Tinder
- Bumble
- Badoo
- Hinge
- OkCupid
Be prepared for the fact that your options will still be limited. However, in any case, this is a good way to try a particular site for free, to understand how it works, and how well it suits you. You may like one of the options so much that you decide to pay for premium access anyway. Nonetheless, this is purely a personal decision.
If traditional dating sites don’t suit you for some reason, we recommend that you pay attention to random video chats like Omegle. These are sites or applications for smartphones that connect random users via video. The best part about this is that most of them are completely free.
For our part, we can advise you on a few popular video chats:
OmeTV is a pretty popular video chat where you can use gender and geographic filters. A message translator is also present. You can download and install a branded mobile application for ease of communication.
Omegle.chat offers high-quality free service with support and comfortable communication worldwide. Also, https://omegle.chat/ offers a free message translator in your chosen language, which automatically removes almost any language barrier.
ChatRandom is a video chat with gender and geographic filters, as well as a search for interlocutors by a list of interests. An interesting feature of ChatRandom is thematic chat rooms, in which many users can communicate at the same time.
Omega is a simple video chat with a gender filter and a choice of language for communication. This is a standard set of functions for Chatroulette.
Random video chats allow you to meet people from all over the world, communicate comfortably online, and just have a good time. Therefore, if you haven’t discovered this communication format to this point, it’s time to fix it!
Conclusion
There is a definite answer to the question of whether it is worth paying for the opportunity to get acquainted on the Internet.
No, there is no such answer, and it is up to you to decide whether the offered features are worth the money you were asked to pay. Some so many people paid for a Tinder premium account and found love instantly. However, there are some people for whom the premium feature gave absolutely nothing. Also, some people used random video chats for dating and made successful acquaintances for free.
The choice is yours. Therefore, we are sure that you will make the right decision!
