As A Single Lady Who Doesn't Like To Waste Her Time, I Paid For Bumble Premium For Three Months And I Honestly Think It's Worth It, Here's Why

Did you know that people spent $4.2 billion on dating apps in 2021? It’s not surprising considering that even before the pandemic, dating was the most common way couples met each other. Personally, dating apps were never my favorite method for finding people to date. I used dating apps a few times in my life, but I never understood the hype about them and certainly never considered paying for them until earlier this year.

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But, I was chatting with one of my best friends about moving on from a breakup I went through last year and I expressed hesitation about meeting new guys on dating apps. I wasn't impressed with the experiences I had while using them in the past. In response to my hesitation, she told me, “Girl, the good men on dating apps exist. They're just hiding on Bumble Premium.” I was still skeptical, but her comment piqued my curiosity enough that I ultimately decided to test out Bumble Premium for three months.

For those who need a quick refresher on Bumble, it's one of the most popular dating apps with 50 million active users, 2.2 million of which subscribe to the app’s premium features. What sets Bumble apart from other dating apps is that it only allows women to message men first in the case of heterosexual matches. So, once a couple matches, the woman has 24 hours to message first. Then, the man has another 24 hours to message back. If one or both of these messages isn't sent, the match "expires," or disappears.

Bumble's Premium subscription with bonus features and advanced filters costs $19.99 for one week, costs $39.99 for one month, $76.99 for three months, and $229.99 for a lifetime subscription.

All of the features looked ideal for me, so as soon as I bought Bumble Premium, I was ready to start swiping away, using the bonus features, and testing out the advanced filters (there were so many of them that it almost felt like the dating version of Build-A-Bear…perhaps, Build-A-Boyfriend is what I should call it.)

Much to my surprise (in a good way), most of the advanced filters weren't superficial. There were some that were based on shared values and lifestyle choices, like whether or not they’re religious, where they fall on the political spectrum, whether or not they want kids, and whether or not they drink alcohol, or smoke cigarettes.

One of the most useful features was the Beeline. The Beeline was cool because I could have access to all the profiles of guys who already swiped right on me, eliminating the guessing game of whether or not the men behind the profiles were interested in me. The proof was right there before my eyes. So instead of being fatigued from swiping all day on people who may not be a match, I had the option, through the Beeline section, to go straight to the people who already swiped right on me first.

And as someone who travels often, Travel Mode was my favorite feature. Right before I set off on my upcoming international escapades, I’d set my location to the city I was traveling to, got a clear scope of my potential prospects, and then shamelessly slid in the DMs. And I must admit: Bumble matches make the best tour guides when you're traveling to a new city!

Even though I enjoyed most of the filters and features, that's not to say that there were some that I found to be silly or surprisingly not as helpful as I thought. For example, my jaw dropped when I noticed you can filter out profiles depending on their Zodiac sign. Granted, I was a little bit tempted to capitalize on that opportunity considering I’ve never had the best luck with Geminis. However, I ultimately couldn’t take that filter seriously.

As for the filter that I liked in theory, but didn’t find to be that helpful, let’s discuss the height filter. I try not to use too many filters based on superficial qualities, but let’s be real. I’m willing to bet that most people have at least one — one is probably being generous — superficial preference when looking for a potential partner. Height just so happens to be mine, so obviously I set the preferred height range to six feet and above. At first, I loved seeing profile after profile of guys who I could climb like a tree. Then, I couldn't help but notice that the profiles of taller men ran out quickly depending on my location, so the app’s algorithm had no choice but to show me guys who were shorter.

Statistically speaking, only 14.5 percent of men in the United States are six feet or over, so it makes sense why I was ultimately shooting myself in the foot by making sure that only men who were six feet showed up on my radar. Because of this, I set my filter to 5’10 and above as my height preference instead to make sure that I wouldn’t eventually run out of profiles to swipe through.

Pro tip: If you insist on using the height filter, you’re probably better off only using it in countries like the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, Norway, Serbia, or Germany. Given that these are the top six countries with the tallest average human height in the world, it’s not likely that you’ll find yourself running out of profiles to swipe through if dating a short king is a dealbreaker for you. 

Now that you know about my general experience with Bumble Premium, you’re probably wondering "Was she satisfied with her romantic escapades," "Did she find what she was looking for," and the million-dollar question: “Did any of the dates eventually turn into a relationship?”

For starters, yes, the paid version of Bumble did give me more satisfying experiences than the free version of Bumble. The men I met on Bumble Premium were generally more intentional about the time and effort they put into dates. Also, many of them were looking for something more serious than just casual dating, which was a huge difference from what the men were looking for when I was on the free version of the app. Even the guys on Bumble Premium who were only looking for something casual seemed to disclose those expectations with more care and empathy than what I noticed on the regular version of Bumble.

In terms of finding what I was looking for, I didn’t purchase the paid version of Bumble with any super-specific goals in mind. I’ve mostly been in long-term relationships most of my life, so I just wanted to get more experience dating around and seeing where that took me… And boy, did that take me places. I finally got more valuable dating experiences. The dates I went on were more unique than the cliche dinner and a movie first date or the typical "let's go out for drinks" meetup. My dates and I went to jazz shows, sporting events, live figure drawing events, New York's most infamous naked comedy show, and more. The only downside was that I admittedly felt exhausted from going out on multiple dates every week from February to April both locally and during my international travels.

Now, for the million-dollar question: "Did any of the dates I went on turn into a relationship?" No. Funny enough, I’m in a relationship now, but it had nothing to do with Bumble Premium. We randomly met in person while both of us were traveling (but that’s a story for a future article *wink*). But, despite not meeting my boyfriend through a dating app, I’d be lying if I said that Bumble didn’t still play a part in my current relationship status.

My experiences with the Premium version of Bumble helped me manage my expectations of what I find valuable in a potential partner. In the past, I had a good idea of how I wanted my relationships to look, but it wasn’t until I started using Bumble Premium that I started to learn more specifics about what qualities I do and don’t want in a potential partner. Had I not realized what those qualities were before randomly meeting my boyfriend, I’d probably still be single. And if I happen to be single again in the future, I'd go back to using Bumble Premium.

Here’s the bottom line. If you've already been a Bumble user for a while and enjoy the app's unique features — such as women messaging first — and you don’t mind paying for it, then I definitely think it’s worth testing Bumble Premium out, even if it’s just for a month to compare and contrast the differences between the paid version and free version. However, if you have a preference for Tinder or Hinge, then you may want to check out their paid subscriptions first due to the higher price of Bumble Premium. (For comparison, a month’s worth of Bumble Premium is $39.99, whereas Tinder Platinum and Hinge+ are $29.99). But regardless of whichever app you pick, I’d say spending money on dating apps, in general, is worth the investment because of the bonus features and higher quality experiences you’ll have.

Now I want to hear from you! Have you tried Bumble Premium or a paid subscription on another dating app? If so, tell me about your experience in the comments!