It’s a new year and another opportunity to give love a chance. The events of – COVID-19, impacted the dating scene as people were cut off from each other for quite some time. Of course, if people can’t see each other, dating becomes almost impossible.
As a result of the pandemic’s impact, more people turn to dating-apps to rekindle their dating life. Are you looking to hop on the online dating train? This article will compare two of the most popular apps to help you make an informed choice when picking out a platform to find your partner.
So, Tinder Vs. Plenty of Fish, who will win your attention? Read on to discover.
Tinder vs. Plenty of Fish
Comparing their History
Tinder and Plenty of Fish have both been around for a while now. However, Plenty of Fish (POF henceforth) has been around for longer. Tinder, the youngest of both, was launched nine years ago in 2012. This means that POF has more ‘age pedigree’ than Tinder.
So, in terms of ‘been there, done that,’ POF wins it with its 13 years of experience in the industry. Of course, surviving through the ‘dotcom boom’ to date is a sign that it is doing something right.
Comparison of Revenue
While it only makes sense for Plenty of Fish to come out tops in this section, the result is a bit shocking. The gap in the valuation and revenue of both platforms is enormous. POF has a $575M valuation and an income of $100M, while Tinder is valued at $10Bn and revenue of $1.2Bn. This shows that more people believe Tinder’s services are worth paying for.
Key Features of both Websites
What makes both platform’s endearing to their users? This part of the article points out the services offered by both dating platforms.
Tinder
The Tinder dating platform is packed with several eye-catching features. Some are expected of a dating app, and others aren’t but attract a premium fee.
Tinder’s entire operating system is based around one gesture – ‘swiping.’ It is that motion you make across your touchscreen devices to swat things away or pull them into the main view
Coupled with its geolocation service, Tinder has leveraged this system to offer even more exciting features. The geolocation service makes sure you get to see people who live around you (even though you can run into profiles of people not even in the same country with you), and these people are presented to you in a stack like the appearance of a deck of cards.
If you like what you see, you swipe right. If not, you swipe left. Tinder has a super-like feature you can use to let a user know you are digging them. If it were possible to repeatedly ‘like’ a person’s single picture on Instagram, this feature would be its equivalent.
Super-likes are limited, you only get five a day, but you can purchase more of them if you want. Tinder also has a chat feature built into the app, so you do not need to exchange numbers with a match before you talk to them.
This protects your very private digital space from strangers who you may not want to speak to by the end of the day.
Another cool feature Tinder has is the Boost feature. How would you like to appear at the top of your geographic region’s cool when someone from there creates an account or opens the app? The Boost feature does just that for you.
It ensures that a lot of people see you for a limited period of 30 minutes. This feature is not free and is a part of their premium offering.
Plenty of Fish
Compared to Tinder, POF is not as feature-packed and offers a much different approach to how a dating app can operate. You could pin it to their decade-long history in the social media industry.
This is because the platform feels very much like a traditional social media app. However, its detailing makes up for what it lacks in ‘cool’ features.
POF is focused more on searching out a user. They let you be thorough or picky when making an effort to match with the right person. There may not be any other dating app out there that enables you to be as fussy as POF does.
They have a premium service too. When you go premium, your profile will often appear first on their ‘Meet Me’ page, open to many eyes who visit the platform. You’ll also be able to know if your messages were read or discarded using POF premium’s service.
Comparing the Sign-Up Process
Tinder’s sign up process is blazingly fast compared to POF’s. You only need to supply a handful of information about yourself before getting to the swiping process. However, Tinder doesn’t allow you to create an account on their web platform.
You will be redirected to an app store if you try, but you can log into your account using the web version. There is a way around this. If you’ve never registered for Tinder and would like to use the web version, you could go onto ‘login with Google, Facebook’ or any of the options, and your account will be created for you.
For POF, you can register without downloading the app, but the signup process is reminiscent of getting a government document. By the time you are done, you might need a drink or just put away using the platform altogether till some other time.
The positive, however, is that you have to supply more details about yourself and help people be sure about who you are to an extent before making contact.
User Base
POF was founded in Canada and is primarily famous over there, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Brazil, Spain, and the United States. It is available in 9 languages, so to an extent, it has a diverse user base. The website is not available worldwide; however, some countries are blocked from even accessing the platform. This is where it appears Tinder has outdone POF as it has been able to open itself up to more markets and more revenue.
Tinder is available in over 48 languages and is open to more countries globally, making it more diverse than POF and most other dating apps out there.
Success Rate
Tinder is very superficial in the way it operates. Men have reported a lower success rate on their apps than women. Also, heterosexual women will find a match 10 to 30% of the time more than men. In all, Tinder is shaping out to be more of a place for meaningless hook-ups than real relationships.
POF’s success rate is considerably higher. So, its revenue doesn’t tell the whole story. Its advanced search engine ensures your fate isn’t entirely in the hands of an algorithm.
Ease of using each platform
Both platforms are easy to use, and their layouts are easy to figure out. But POF is more comfortable because it has this traditional feel and looks to it. So, the interface may feel a bit more familiar.
On the other hand, Tinder has a slight learning curve to it, but they’ve tried to make things easy with hints and information boxes everywhere you need them. Also, the interface is more modern than that of POF.
Pricing of Each Platform
Tinder has two tiers of premium services. They include Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold. It costs $9.99 a month to use the Tinder Plus, which lets you pay for a six-month and an annual plan. Tinder Gold, in contrast, costs more than double at $29.99 a month.
POF’s premium membership costs $19.99, but they have services such as tokens and live credits that allow you to use their premium features without going premium.
Pros and Cons of Each
Tinder – Pros
- Has a faster sign-up process.
- Very ‘gameified’ and fun to use.
- Its premium features are worth paying for.
Tinder – Cons
- Dating can take a step back from being realistic to looking very video-game-like. The result is that you might be finding more hook-ups than actual relationships.
- There are many features that you may have to read some articles to figure out exactly how they work.
POF – Pros
- Let’s you search manually with its in-depth searching feature.
- It is pretty straight-forward to figure out since it feels very much like every traditional social media platform out there.
POF – Cons
- A stressful signup process.
- Its premium service is a little drab and not as exciting as Tinder’s.
Bottom Line
Both platforms have parts where they edge out one another. If speed dating interests you and you care a lot about the aesthetics of an app’s user interface, Tinder is the dating platform you should consider using.
If you are more scrutinizing of a potential partner’s detail and have the time and patience to sift through several options, POF is the platform that can cater to those needs.
Tinder is exciting, fun, and much more hip to use. POF is excellent, too, and focuses more on its users’ personality. Now that you’re armed with a detailed comparison the choice is yours! Visit the Perfect DM homepage for more expert advice & information.
