Ranked
The cheapest dating apps (2026)
Ranked by the lowest real monthly price we can find for each app in the US. But read the notes before you celebrate: most of the cheapest stickers are annual or six-month lock-ins paid upfront — the month-to-month price is usually far higher.
We take no money from any app, so here's the honest shortcut: the two genuinely cheap-and-clean picks are Feeld (US) and Frolo(UK). Both earn a top honesty grade because they don't bury the real cost.
| # | App | Owner | From / mo | Honesty | Flags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feeld The cheapest honest option in the US: one clean tier, no in-app currency, no lifetime anchor. $8/mo on the 3-month plan. | Feeld Ltd. | $8 | A | 1 clean |
| 2 | Grindr $8.33/mo is the 12-month price — pay monthly and XTRA is $19.99. The cheap sticker is an annual commitment. | Grindr Inc. | $8.33 | B | 1 amber |
| 3 | Plenty of Fish $10.47/mo is billed as $125.64 upfront for a year, not month-to-month. | Match Group | $10.47 | C | 2 amber |
| 4 | Stir $12/mo only on the 6-month plan; the headline you first see is $19.99/week (~$86.62/mo). | Match Group | $12 | D | 1 red1 amber |
| 5 | Hinge $16.67/mo on the 6-month plan — but Hinge runs the worst weekly-framing trick in the category if you pick the short option. | Match Group | $16.67 | E | 1 red2 amber |
| 6 | Match.com | Match Group | $18.99 | D | 1 red1 amber |
| 7 | OkCupid | Match Group | $19.99 | C | 2 amber |
| 8 | Tinder | Match Group | $23.33 | F | 2 red3 amber |
| 9 | Coffee Meets Bagel | Coffee Meets Bagel | $33.33 | F | 2 red1 amber |
| 10 | Bumble | Bumble Inc. | $39.99 | F | 2 red1 amber |
| 11 | eharmony Not actually cheap: the lowest tier is a 6-month contract; the real outlay is $395–$808. | ProSiebenSat.1 (ParshipMeet) | $45.9 | E | 2 red |
| 12 | The League | Match Group | $299 | D | 1 red1 amber |
Cheap, but read the small print
“Cheapest” is the most gamed number in the category. Grindr's $8.33 and Plenty of Fish's $10.47 are real — but only if you commit to a full year upfront. Choose the monthly option and the price often doubles. The honest way to compare is the normalised monthly figure above, which converts every plan to a true per-month rate.
For a genuinely low-cost and low-trick choice, Feeld ($8/mo on the quarter) stands out in the US, and Frolo (£9.99, UK) is the standout abroad — it even sponsors subscriptions for low-income single parents. Both sit at grade A because the price you see is the price you pay.
UK-only apps (Frolo £9.99, Muzz £19.99) aren't in the US table above; if you're in the UK, Frolo is effectively the cheapest honest option in the whole set.
Prices are A/B-tested, personalised snapshots (observed 2026-06-06) — not fixed rate-cards; App-Store-sourced rows are primary, secondary roundups are flagged. “From / mo” is the lowest normalised monthly price we hold for each app in the US, including annual/6-month plans where the per-month rate is lowest (noted inline). Pricing-honesty grades reflect documented dark patterns only — absence of a flag is not proof an app is clean. See methodology & sources.
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