Hinge vs Bumble: two business models, two directions

Hinge and the Bumble app now earn similar sums from similar numbers of paying members, but they are heading in opposite directions. In the second quarter of 2026 Hinge's direct revenue was $203.5 million, up 22%, from 2.0 million payers, up 17% ^[1]. The Bumble app's revenue was $171.7 million, down 14.7%, from 2.08 million paying members, down from 2.50 million a year earlier ^[7]. Hinge first earned more than the Bumble app in a quarter at the end of 2025 ^[3][9].

The surprise in the numbers is pricing. Across six quarters Hinge has earned roughly 20% more per payer than the Bumble app, and that gap has barely moved ^[1][6][7][9]. The difference between the two businesses is almost entirely about whether paying members are arriving or leaving.

Revenue and payers, quarter by quarter

Source: Match Group ^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} and Bumble Inc ^{[7][8][9][10]} results. Hinge Q1 2025 revenue is from the reconciliation in Match's Q1 2026 letter, which does not give that quarter's payers ^[2].

Over these six quarters Hinge's quarterly revenue rose 37.5% and its payers 25%, on our calculation from the first and last rows ^[1][6]. The Bumble app's revenue fell 19.2% and its paying members 26.2% ^[7][9].

For full years, Hinge's direct revenue was $550 million in 2024 and $691 million in 2025, up 26% ^[6][3]. The Bumble app's revenue was $866.3 million in 2024 and $783.0 million in 2025, down 9.6% ^[9]. Its average paying members fell from 2.81 million to 2.43 million ^[9].

Revenue per payer, with the method

Both companies publish a monthly revenue per paying member. Match calls it RPP, Bumble calls it ARPPU, and both work it out the same way: revenue for the period divided by the average number of paying members, divided by the number of months (see ARPPU). Where a figure was not published, we have used the same method.

Source: Match Group ^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} and Bumble Inc ^{[7][8][9][10]}. Our calculations: Q4 2024, $212.4 million divided by 2.8126 million paying members divided by three months; Q4 2025, $181.0 million divided by 2.1852 million divided by three ^[9]. The method reproduces Bumble's published Q2 2026 figure of $27.55 exactly ^[7]. Premium is Hinge divided by Bumble, minus one.

Two cautions. Match reports Hinge's payers rounded to one decimal place, so dividing its revenue by 2.0 million will not match its published RPP; use the published figure ^[1]. And Hinge's figure is direct revenue, while Bumble's app line is total revenue for the app, so the two are close but not identical definitions ^[1][7].

Two product strategies

Hinge: add features for serious daters, then expand abroad. Match describes Hinge's growth as coming from product, international expansion and monetisation, and says Hinge will reach $1 billion of revenue in 2027 ^[1]. Recent features include Friend's Take, which lets friends and family add notes to a profile, a badge called Signals for thoughtful participation, and work on its first reinforcement learning model to spot when a member might need help ^[1]. Hinge rolled out Face Check across key markets, which Match says cut interactions with bad actors by 20% to 30% ^[2]. Abroad, direct revenue in its European expansion markets grew 86% in the second quarter of 2026, Mexico and Brazil launched in 2025, and Argentina, Chile, Peru and India were planned for 2026 ^[1][3]. It planned to test an additional subscription tier in the third quarter ^[1].

Bumble: clean up the base, rebuild the platform, change the core mechanic. Bumble spent 2025 and 2026 trying to improve the quality of its member base, and says complaints about bots, spammers and low-quality profiles have in many respects been addressed ^[11]. It is moving to a new cloud platform and plans to start rolling out a new interaction model that moves away from the swipe in very early 2027 ^[11]. Nearer term it lets members send one opening message until the other person replies, has extended the 24-hour reply window, is testing an AI assistant called B, a standalone in-person events app called Plans, simpler subscription tiers and limited free access to Likes You ^[11]. All of this will now continue under Ithaca Holdings, which agreed on 13 October 2026 to buy Bumble for about $1.3 billion ^[12].

Where they stand in late 2026

Source: Match Group ^[1], Bumble Inc ^[7][12] and Bumble's Q2 2026 call ^[11]. Bumble app payer change is our calculation from 2.08 million against 2.50 million ^[7].

At current trends Hinge is likely to pass the Bumble app on paying members too: the gap was 0.08 million in the second quarter of 2026, down from 1.2 million at the end of 2024 ^[1][6][7][9]. Hinge's payer count is rounded, so the true gap could be a little wider or narrower. That is our reading of the trend, not a forecast either company has made.