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How Much Does It Cost to Make a Dating App?

29.07.2020 Daria Mickiewicz
2 Comments
How Much Does It Cost to Make a Dating App?

The development of a dating app may be the best option to increase your income.  The world’s most influential online portal for statistics, Statista, concludes that the online dating industry will make a revenue of $1754 million by the end of 2020. It is predicted that this revenue will show $2505 million by the end of 2024.

But how much does it cost to make a dating app? This is an issue on the minds of many of our clients as well. The cost depends on many factors, the most essential being the complexity of the app.

Depending on the complexity, their prices will be significantly different. For example, MVP dating app development can cost $20,000 – $40,000, and the Tinder-clone app costs over $150,000.

In this article, we will outline what these figures are based on. Also, we have created a dating app cost calculator to give you an idea of how much it will cost.

Shall we begin?

Types of Dating Apps

All the dating apps can be divided into four main groups:

  1. Geolocation matching dating apps use location as the main filtering tool and the primary starting point for finding matches.

Examples: Badoo, Tinder, Bumble, happn, and OkCupid.

  1. Matching algorithm-based dating apps or AI-matching dating apps are the next stage in the evolution process of the online dating industry. Some dating apps utilize behavioral matchmaking technology, others apply AI-matching.

Examples: eHarmony, Zoosk and Hily.

  1. Traditional dating apps are a mobile version of out of date dating websites where customers use multiple questionnaires to find their match.

Examples: eHarmony, OkCupid.

  1. Niche dating apps are focused on specific groups of people. They illustrate that no matter who you are or what your interests may be, there are services available to help you find the perfect match.

Examples:

  • SweetRing allows finding the person who’s ready to get married.
  • Ourtime is a dating app for persons over 50.
  • League’s users tend to date people from their social circles.
  • Grade app focuses on protect female users from harassment.

You might also want to check out our case study, which talks about bi-curious dating app development.

Features Dating App Should Have

Certainly, there are no two dating apps with identical features and concepts. But commonly, dating apps have the following set of basic features:

  • Registration through social networks,
  • Profile editing,
  • Geolocation-based searching,
  • Swiping and matching,
  • Connections and chats,
  • Notifications,
  • Settings.

To get more data about, you can check out our case studies that contain details of dating app development process and features:

What Influences the Cost of Dating App Development?

A dating app development cost certainly depends on software development time or developer’s hourly rates. But also you should pay attention to many other factors that are needed to successfully implement an idea. The most influential factors which determine the final cost to build an app are:

  • Software development company type and location,
  • Team members and their experience,
  • Complexity and the number of app features,
  • Back-end infrastructure and connected APIs,
  • Complexity of UX/UI design,
  • Custom designs and animations,
  • Development approach (native, mobile web, hybrid, etc.),
  • Number of platforms to be developed (iOS, Android, web, etc.),
  • Servers, APIs and libraries,
  • App Store and Google Play fees.

You should also take into account all the post-release expenses that go into growing a product:

  • App updates,
  • Customer support,
  • Backend servers maintenance,
  • Cloud hosting,
  • Legal support,
  • Marketing and promotion.

Note, many app development companies provide post-release support as an additional service.

How Much Does It Cost to Make a Dating App?

Dating applications can be divided into three categories according to their complexity: simple, moderate, and complex.

  • A basic app for a dating startup will cost $20,000-$40,000. This usually involves some basic functionality and regular UI components.
  • A moderate app will cost you $40,000–$80,000. This app may include custom UI and payment features, integration with APIs, and improved back-end server.
  • A complex app will be around $80,000–$150,000. Such apps include advanced functionality, custom animations, integrations with third-party services, complex back-end service with several types of database relationships, and more.
Dating applications complexity

Our team estimated top-rated dating apps of the different target audiences. But before taking a deep dive into the cost examples, note that every app is different, and you can not know the exact price without specifications.

Dating App Cost Calculator

For more accurate cost estimates, you may use an interactive dating app cost calculator. Select the items that best describe your dating app and the features you require. It provides you with some figures that you can use for further assessment.

Detailed Dating Apps Development Costs

Here are some average development cost estimates for the most popular dating apps:

Cost to Create an App like Tinder

Tinder

Tinder is one of the most popular and user-friendly online dating solutions. Since it arrived on the market, it has made above 30 billion matches. The secret of its success is gamification, which it introduced using innovative swipe technology.

In March 2019, Tinder presented a new matching algorithm. Currently, the app matches users according to their recent activity, proximity, and gender preferences. It aims to show active users to another active one.

  • How long did it take to develop the Tinder app: A simple version for one platform may consume over 1500 hours.
  • Team (one developer per technology): Back-end developer, front-end developer, Android developer, iOS developer, UX/UI designer, quality assurance engineer, and project manager
  • Cost to build a dating app like Tinder: $50,000–$150,000+

Cost to Create an App Like Bumble

Bumble

Bumble is a location-based social application. Wolfe Herd, founder and CEO of Bumble, has described Bumble as a “feminist dating app”. In heterosexual matches, only female users can make the first contact with matched male users, while in same-sex matches either person can send a message first.

As of September 2019, with a monthly user base of 5 million, Bumble is the second-most popular dating app in the U.S. after Tinder. According to Forbes, the company is valued at more than $1 billion and has over 55 million users.

  • How long did it take to develop the Bumble app: A simple version for one platform may consume over 950 hours.
  • Team: project manager, designer, developers for Android and iOS, backend developers, and QA engineer.
  • Cost to build a dating app like Bumble: $65.000 — $135.000

Cost to Create an App Like Match

Match

Match is an online dating service with websites serving over 50 countries in twelve languages. For instance, in the UK alone Match has coupled up about 1.6M people.

It is free to register with Match. To access additional dating features, including receiving specific profile suggestions and reading and sending messages, the user will need a Match subscription.

  • How long did it take to develop the Match app: A simple version for one platform may consume over 1400 hours.
  • Team: mobile app developers, backend developers, UI/UX designers, quality assurance (QA) specialist, and project manager.
  • Cost to build a dating app like Match: $55.000 — $150.000

Cost to Create an App Like OkCupid

OkCupid

OkCupid is a U.S.-based, internationally operating online dating website and application. It is supported by advertising and by selling user data. Despite claiming that the site is completely free, users are increasingly charged for an array of once-free features. OkCupid is owned by Match Group, which also owns Tinder, Hinge, Plenty of Fish, and many other popular dating apps and sites.

  • How long did it take to develop the OkCupid app: A version for one platform may consume more than 1200 hours.
  • Team: mobile app developer, backend developer, UI/UX designer, quality assurance (QA) engineer, and project manager.
  • Cost to build a dating app like OkCupid: $30.000 — $135.000

Cost to Create an App Like Plenty of Fish

Plenty of Fish

Plenty of Fish is a popular dating system that has over 2.5 million hits a day and more than a billion in total. POF is available in more than 20 countries, 11 languages, and has apps for iOS, Android and Windows, and welcomes 65,000 new users every day.

In December 2019, Plenty of Fish pushed out a fix for its app after a security researcher found it was leaking information that users had set as private on their profiles, including hidden names and postal codes.

  • How long did it take to develop the Plenty of Fish app: A simple version for one platform may consume over 1000 hours.
  • Team: project manager, designer, developers for Android and iOS, backend developers, and QA engineer.
  • Cost to build a dating app like Plenty of Fish: $50,000–$80,000

Cost to Create an App Like Snack

Sneck app

Snack dating app was inspired by the short-form video app TikTok. Instead of uploading pictures for other users to swipe through, users can upload a short video to present themselves. You sort through a feed of introductory videos to favorite the ones you’d like to get to know. Should they favorite your video, you’ll be able to DM each other.

The emphasis on videos makes Snack a good dating app option for socially distant times, though the focus is clearly on the under-30 folks. Snack is only available on the iPhone at the moment.

  • How long did it take to develop the Snack app: A simple version for one platform may consume over 950 hours.
  • Team: project manager, designer, developers for Android and iOS, backend developers, and QA engineer.
  • Cost to build a dating app like Snack: $65,000–$120,000

Final Words

In short, a basic dating app costs $50,000–$80,000. This price includes building an MVP for both Android and iOS and hiring one person for each technology. A multi-platform app with premium features will cost you $135.000 or more.

Do you want to build your own dating app? If so, then email us at info@vironit.com with a brief description of your project. Our expert team will get back to you within one business day with a free consultation and discuss the next steps.

Find more details about these projects on our portfolio page.

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2 responses to “How Much Does It Cost to Make a Dating App?”

  1. james charles says:

    Reply

    Hi. A year ago I have made a dating site. And today, I think about turning my dating site into an app. But I feel like it’s too late since the competition is truly insane. Do you think it’s worth it?

    • Darya Tryfanava says:

      Reply

      Hi, James.
      Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that it’s too late, or the competition is high. All you need is to stand out and do something different that people love. Note, all those dating apps are the exact same thing: simply swipe left or right and message depending on a match or not. It’s about time they change, in my opinion.
      If you want to talk more about your dating app, and it’s specifics, feel free to PM us.

Leave a Reply to Darya Tryfanava Cancel reply