Online dating is a $2.1 billion industry growing at 3.5% annually.[1] This enormous growth brings competition, and plenty of it. In AppOptix, we identified the most popular dating apps of 2018 based on app penetration rates. As shown in the table below, Tinder is clearly the most popular app, with a penetration rate of 5.3%, followed by Plenty of Fish (POF) at 3.7% with Bumble and OkCupid neck-and-neck for third (2.4%) and fourth (2.3%) place, respectively.
MOST POPULAR DATING APPS OF 2018
|
INCIDENCE LEVEL / PENETRATION RATE
|
% DAILY STICKINESS
|
SESSIONS / MONTH / USER
|
TIME SPENT / MONTH / USER [HRS:MINS]
|
|
Tinder
|
5.3%
|
26.1%
|
107.0
|
2:17
|
|
POF (Plenty of Fish)
|
3.7%
|
31.1%
|
118.3
|
3:37
|
|
Bumble
|
2.4%
|
21.9%
|
65.0
|
1:19
|
|
OkCupid
|
2.3%
|
21.6%
|
46.2
|
1:18
|
|
Coffee Meets Bagel
|
0.9%
|
26.2%
|
24.8
|
0:31
|
|
Hinge
|
0.5%
|
26.4%
|
47.2
|
1:03
|
|
Match.com
|
0.5%
|
7.7%
|
17.8
|
0:23
|
|
happn
|
0.5%
|
14.5%
|
15.4
|
0:27
|
|
Zoosk
|
0.5%
|
9.9%
|
22.0
|
0:39
|
|
eharmony
|
0.4%
|
27.2%
|
257.4
|
4:45
|
But as we have previously published the incidence level metric doesn’t create a full picture of an apps use. Other metrics to consider are daily stickiness (or engagement), time spent and number of sessions. Daily stickiness indicates which apps are used most often (or daily). Plenty of Fish had the highest stickiness level (31.1%) followed by eharmony at 27.2%, which occurred despite eharmany’s low penetration rate (likely due to their higher monthly subscription fee). For eharmony the combination of low penetration, high stickiness, and high monthly sessions shows that it’s very popular among their small user base. And users of eharmony spend almost 5 hours/month on the app. Comparatively, users of Facebook (a market leader with high app metrics) spent an average of 16 hours/month on the app. Considering eharmony’s monthly minutes and even Plenty of Fish (at 3 hrs. 37mins), these numbers are impressive and showcase the popularity among their user base.