Hinge vs Coffee Meets Bagel: two relationship apps, two ways to match

Where each app is sold

The Coffee Meets Bagel iPhone listing sits in 2 of the 45 App Store storefronts checked, and the US storefront is one of them. It is missing from 43, including the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and France.

The App Store listing carries the label "(*North America & Caribbean)", and the Google Play description is marked the same way. The 500K+ download count belongs to that North America listing. No official supported-country list was found, and whether a separate app serves other countries is not confirmed.

Thirty-two of the 45 storefronts list Hinge. The 13 that do not include Japan, Thailand, Colombia and the United Arab Emirates. A web version is not confirmed for either app.

Casual dating and where each app draws the line

Coffee Meets Bagel is blunt about it. The Google Play description opens "Ready to ditch the dating games and find something serious?" and says 91% of its daters are looking for a serious relationship, a self-reported figure. The homepage headline reads "For serious daters", and the store listings carry the line "Looking for something casual? You're welcome to join, but you won't find that here." The company also claims over 150 million matches, and neither figure is audited.

Hinge is quieter. Its homepage says the app "is built on the belief that anyone looking for love should be able to find it", and its wording about being designed to be deleted points away from hookups. Casual dating is not confirmed as a goal. CMB puts its filter in the listing text, and Hinge leaves readers to infer theirs. People who do want the casual end of the market will find it sorted in casual dating, and our dating app picks ranks the relationship-first ones.

A daily batch against open browsing

Coffee Meets Bagel hands out profiles on a schedule. A curated batch called Suggested arrives around noon each day, both sides can like or pass for free, and a mutual like is a match. Discover opens more profiles for browsing and is where flowers, bought with beans, can be sent. Likes You collects the people who liked you. These details come from a help center article (archived copy dated October 13, 2025) and the terms.

Hinge's listings describe a different mechanism. A match starts when one person likes or comments on a specific part of the other's profile, and the app draws on prompt answers, photos and profile fields to suggest people. Paid access is split in two: Hinge+ for unlimited likes and a view of everyone who has liked you, HingeX for improved recommendations and priority likes. CMB's paid plans add seeing all your likes, Bonus Bagels, flowers, Boosts and more, so both apps put the list of who liked you behind a subscription.

Chat rules and free messaging

On CMB, matches can start a conversation for free in the Chats section. A chat stays open for an initial 7 days and remains open while the conversation is active, and a closed chat can be reopened with beans for 30 days. Read Receipts need a subscription. A match that goes quiet closes on its own.

Hinge opens chat once a like or comment has turned into a match. Convo Starters turn a person's prompts and pictures into opening lines, and a Match Note passes information along before the match exists. The listings do not say if free Hinge accounts have message limits; they name only likes and the likes list as paid additions. Hinge also sends a "We Met" survey after two people exchange phone numbers.

Free preferences and paid filters

CMB gives free members preferences for gender, age, distance, ethnicity, religion and relationship goals. Subscribers add Premium Preferences, which include height, education, family plans, kids, marital status and smoking, among others. The listings do not say which of the two subscriptions adds them. Incognito mode, which shows you only to people you have liked first, is part of CMB Platinum.

Hinge's pages give less to work with. Preferences are set so the app "can help introduce the best people to you", and profiles carry fields such as politics and dating intentions. Advanced filters and Incognito Mode are not mentioned in the Hinge listings checked, so a filter-for-filter match cannot be drawn. More apps with these features are in advanced filter apps and apps with an incognito mode.

Hinge vs Coffee Meets Bagel prices on the US App Store

Coffee Meets Bagel's rows state their periods. CMB Premium is listed on the US App Store at USD 34.99 and USD 39.99 for 1 month and USD 74.99 for 3 months, and CMB Platinum at USD 46.99 and USD 54.99 for 1 month and USD 99.99 for 3 months. Each 3-month row is below three times its tier's lowest 1-month row. Beans, the in-app currency for flowers and reopened chats, have no price row recorded.

Hinge's rows state none. The US App Store lists Hinge Subscription from USD 14.99, Hinge+ from USD 16.99 and one Membership row at USD 19.99, and the UK App Store lists Hinge Subscription from GBP 14.99, Hinge+ from GBP 12.99 and Membership at GBP 17.99. CMB has no UK row because the app is not listed on that storefront, so only the US appears for it.

Prices as listed in the store on November 5, 2026. They change by country, platform, account and promotion.

Prices as listed in the store on November 5, 2026. They change by country, platform, account and promotion.

The lowest listed Hinge row on the US App Store (USD 14.99) is below the lowest listed 1-month CMB row there (USD 34.99). That gap would mean a cheaper Hinge only if the Hinge row were also a monthly price, and the listing does not say. Until it does, the two cannot be lined up month against month. Rows come from the iPhone App Store alone, so Google Play and web prices are not covered. Full lists are on Hinge pricing and the Coffee Meets Bagel price page.

Verification and data collected

Coffee Meets Bagel may ask a member to verify a profile photo in certain circumstances, through the vendor Persona and a scan of facial geometry. The terms add "We do not routinely verify the identity of our Users", so the pages checked describe no badge that every member carries. Hinge names Selfie Verification, a face-geometry check whose data is deleted within 30 days, and its privacy policy mentions Face Check in regions where it is required. Whether Hinge's check is optional is not stated. The profile verification list covers the other apps.

The CMB privacy policy, last updated September 4, 2025, lists email, zip code, birthday, gender and preferences, photos, device ID and, with permission, GPS location. CMB says it does not sell personal information but allows third parties to collect data through the service for business and advertising purposes. Hinge's policy sets longer clocks: transaction data is kept for 10 years, data from a banned account for up to two years, and a three-month safety window follows any closure. US users can opt out of Hinge's targeted advertising. The privacy comparison puts the wider field side by side.

Cancelling and deleting

CMB subscriptions are cancelled with the store or payment provider that took the payment, and the cancellation takes effect at the end of the current period. Purchases are final and non-refundable except where the law or Section 20 of the terms allows. The account can be deleted or put on hold in the app or through a support ticket. Deleting is the only way to end the agreement, and a store subscription has to be cancelled on its own.

On Hinge too the account and the store subscription are separate things, and store subscriptions are cancelled in that store account. The cancellation guide and the account deletion steps cover other apps.

Who each app suits

Coffee Meets Bagel fits readers in the US who want a short daily list, say they are after a serious relationship and are content with an app that tells casual daters they will not find that there. Its free preferences already reach as far as religion and ethnicity.

Hinge fits readers outside the US, since it is listed in 32 storefronts including the UK, and readers who want matches to start from a like or a comment on part of a profile. Its Google Play base is 10M+ against 500K+ for CMB's North America app.

If neither suits, Hinge alternatives and alternatives to Coffee Meets Bagel sort other apps by need. Hinge is also set against two bigger names in Bumble vs Hinge and Tinder vs Hinge, CMB has Bumble vs Coffee Meets Bagel, and the rest are in dating app comparisons.