Coffee Meets Bagel Review [2024 Cost, Features & How To Use It!]

Coffee Meets Bagel is a free dating app that delivers a handful of matches - called bagels - every day at noon. It’s available on the iPhone and Android.

But here’s the million-dollar question: Is Coffee Meets Bagel good, or should you go with another app like Bumble or Hinge instead?

VIDA's team of dating experts has all the intel you need to decide! We've been using Coffee Meets Bagel on a daily basis since it launched way back in 2012. We've managed thousands and thousands of CMB profiles on behalf of our clients, logging countless hours on the app.

Thanks to all those years of first-hand experience, we've watched Coffee Meets Bagel evolve over time, and we understand what works and what doesn't when it comes to attracting quality matches.

This Coffee Meets Bagel Review for 2024 is packed with everything you need to know about this popular dating app so you can decide if it’s the right choice for you.

Use the links above to navigate, or start from the top!

All About The Bagels

The Coffee Meets Bagel app has two main sections where you can browse profiles: Suggested & Discover.

Suggested Bagels

In this feed, you'll see all the 'bagels' CMB's algorithm has delivered for the day. Rather than swiping, men receive up to 21 bagels each day at noon, which they can either “Like,” “Pass,” or “Priority Like.”

A Priority Like is similar to a Tinder Super Like. According to CMB, it will get you noticed 6x faster. Each time you use it costs around 540 beans - more on those coming up.

You can also unlock more Bagels by spending 250 Beans.

Coffee Meets Bagel works a little different for females. Women are presented with bagels who both meet their criteria and have already “liked” them.

The app’s founders embrace the idea that “men love selection and women are selective,” which has made CMB popular with women.

Suggested Bagels are screened with limited criteria: gender, age, height, distance, ethnicity, and religion.

You have 24 hours to either “like” or “pass” on a person's profile. If you both hit like, you can start chatting with each other.

The Clock Keeps Ticking

The CMB texting platform is only available for 8 days.

This puts some light pressure on you both since you know you’ve only got a week to swap phone numbers or make plans to meet. Seems like a good thing when that’s the entire point of dating apps!

If you want to reopen an expired conversation for an additional 30 days, you do have the option to use “beans.” Beans are the app’s internal currency.

Discover Bagels

In this feed, you can browse through profiles of users who meet the criteria you specify in your search filters.

These advanced filters are the same as your main Bagel preferences, with two additions. You can filter for what type of degree they have and also whether or not they’ve been active on the dating platform within the last 72 hours.

Many CMB users will filter out people who don't check the app frequently. To get the best results you'll want to log in fairly regularly.

Take care not to get *too* particular with your filters, though.

Coffee Meets Bagel isn't as popular as apps like Tinder, so if you want your Discover section to only show you profiles of 5'09" women with brown hair, green eyes, and a bachelor's degree within 1o miles, you probably won't get many (if any) potential matches.

The Discover section also shows you whether or not someone has “liked” you already. If they have, tap the conversation icon and start chatting.

If not, you can send them “Flowers”.

When you send “Flowers” to a potential match in the Discover section, that’s considered a “like” and it requires spending beans. 

Premium users can send "Flowers" up to 8 bagels a month without spending beans. 

Your profile will automatically show up in their Likes You section with a note that you sent them Flowers. This will unblur your profile to them and allow them to match with you for free.

Coffee Meets Bagel Beans

In-app purchases include the ability to buy more beans in bulk. Spend beans to do things like open expired conversations (as previously mentioned), extend the chat window, boost your profile and unlock more profiles.

You can buy coffee beans in increments of 100, 2,000, and 3,000. Pricing may vary depending on your region:

How To Earn Free Beans On Coffee Meets Bagel

Earn free beans by using the platform regularly, inviting friends to use the app, sharing on social media, and completing tasks like filling out your CMB profile or giving feedback on why you passed on a specific match.

Free beans can be used just like purchased beans.

Is A Premium Membership Worth The Cost?

Coffee Meets Bagel is free for a basic subscription. However you won't have full use of this dating app's features unless you pay for a premium account.

Upgrading Coffee Meets Bagel unlocks these premium features:

• Full access to your “Likes You” feed
• Send 8 more “Flowers” in Discover every month
• Monthly profile boost
• Premium match preferences
• Read Activity Reports on Bagels who interest you
• Message read receipts
• Unlimited rewinds
• Get 15% off Bean purchases

A premium subscription to Coffee Meets Bagel costs around $35 a month, or you can get a discount by committing to 3 or 6 months upfront:

Premium members have access to the “Activity Report” feature. You can use it to give you an idea of whether or not sending a message is worth your time and energy.

The Activity Report provides stats like the percentage of time they chat with their matches, how often they send the first message, how fast they respond to a message on average, and more.

One drawback to the Activity Report is that it only updates every 72 hours, and every stat except for the “Active within 72 hours” is calculated on the most recent 15 connections for that bagel.

So if your bagel is a newer user or doesn’t use the app a lot, the Activity Report may not be all that accurate.

There is also a "light" version of a Premium membership, called Mini. It costs less, but it also doesn't include all the Premium features.

Mini subscribers only have access to these paid features:

• Premium preferences
• Monthly profile boost
• Activity Reports
• Read receipts
• Unlimited rewinds
• Bean discounts

As a Mini member, you won't unlock your "Likes You" feed or the 8 extra Discover Flowers. The Mini subscription starts at $14.99 for 1 month.

Want a more in-depth look at the features you get? Check out this Coffee Meets Bagel Premium review!

Demographics: The Coffee Meets Bagel Age Range

A recent survey estimates around 60% of CMB users are 30 to 49. The average age is a little higher than what you'll find on Hinge, Bumble, and Tinder:

If you fall outside of that core range, upgrading probably isn’t worth it unless you’re in a big city like SF, LA or NYC. Otherwise, you may just be better off paying for Tinder or Bumble, and accessing a larger pool of local singles.

Creating Your Profile

Setting up a CMB profile is quick and easy when you login via Facebook. With the click of a button you are immediately set up with a profile including your name, age, and photos from your Facebook profile. But CoffeeMeetsBagel doesn't require Facebook. You can login with your mobile number instead.

If you want to become one of many Coffee Meets Bagel success stories, take the time to fill out the short profile questions. The answers increase your likelihood of being matched with people.

The profile page consists of three statements: “I am…” “I like…” and “I appreciate when my date…”, each with a 276-character limit. You can also answer a few CMB prompts to give your potential matches even more details about you.

Users receive only a handful of matches each day, so your profile (or lack thereof) can have a big impact on your success rate. If she’s hovering between “Like” and “Pass” after checking out your photos, an attention-grabbing profile could seal the deal.

Here is a Coffee Meets Bagel profile example that packs a huge punch in just a few sentences:

These tips on how to write a profile will help boost your match rate!

Nailing Your Coffee Meets Bagel Icebreakers

You’ll have the opportunity to add up to 3 ice breakers. These are little tidbits of information that will be presented to your matches as a conversation starter:

Icebreakers are a great way to add a little intrigue and spark to your profile. When you ignite someone’s curiosity, they’re much more inclined to engage in a conversation with you.

Here are a few Coffee Meets Bagel icebreaker examples to get you pointed in the right direction:

• What happens in Venice, stays in Venice...
• Ideal weekend getaway: Beach house, city condo, or mountain cabin?
• Best guilty pleasure: Wine, cheese, or chocolate fountains?
• So, what's your jam... skiing, snowboarding, or meet-at-the-après-party?
• New Zealand, Switzerland, or that exotic, distant country known as... Canada?

Coffee Meets Bagel Photos

CMB allows you to upload up to 9 photos. It automatically pulls from your Facebook account, or you can upload them from your phone.

Since it’s almost impossible to look equally attractive in 9 photos, it’s best to stick to a range of 3-7. Your worst photo is the most memorable, and it could send someone straight to the “Pass” icon. Check out this expert advice on choosing your strongest photos!

Unbiased feedback is your best friend when it comes to choosing your most attractive photo array. Consider crowdsourcing feedback on a site like PhotoFeeler to get the strongest lineup possible.

Coffee Meets Bagel Review: Pros & Cons

PROS:

• Users aren’t overwhelmed with matches and unwanted messages, so women are more responsive than those on Tinder or OkCupid. It’s relatively easy to set up a first date.
• Women tend to outnumber men on this app.
• It doesn’t require a huge time investment. You can’t browse profiles, and you’ll only get messages from Coffee Meets Bagel users whose profiles you like.
• Purchasing a premium membership allows you to see how active a match is on the app, and whether or not your message has been read.

CONS:

• You only get a limited number of matches per day, so you have limited control over who you meet and the number of dates you go on.
• CMB’s matching algorithm isn’t the most sophisticated out there. Matching is based on only five criteria: age, height, distance, ethnicity, and religion.
• The app hasn’t reached Tinder levels of popularity, so unless you’re in a mega city the user pool will be relatively small. Internationally, Coffee Meets Bagel cities include Hong Kong and Sydney.

Let's take a look at what CMB users had to say about their experience.

Coffee Meets Bagel User Reviews

On the App Store, the Coffee Meets Bagel app has a respectable 4.5 out 5 stars, based on 150K+ ratings.

Reviews ranged from a lukewarm "Just like every other dating app" to a "My favorite dating app":

The overall star rating was lower on Google Play, where raters gave it only 3.5 stars based on 111k+ reviews.

One user shared that he had found a long-term girlfriend through the app, but when he rejoined was not fond of the changes:

Bugs and glitches were a common complaint voiced by multiple Coffee Meets Bagel users, as was not enough of the features being free.

On Trustpilot, CMB user reviews resulted in a 1.3 rating.

User complaints ran the gamut from "very glitchy" to "Worst dating app ever!" and "Blatant cash grab".

On Reddit, reviews were mixed. Some redditors reported few users in their areas, while others had more luck. imakeitrainbow, for instance, wrote that "I've had some quality dates from it, I like that you sort of have to pace yourself, rather than being able to swipe endlessly. A friend met her husband on Cmb. They just bought a house and are expecting their first baby"

Giggles1000 reported a "high proportion of asians on CMB in my city. Apparently that's common; I think it was made by Asian women."

Of course, it's wise to take online dating app reviews with a big grain of salt. People who had a negative experience might be more apt to take the time to complain about it, whereas those who had a positive experience might not be as likely share it.

Is CoffeeMeetsBagel Worth Trying?

Coffee Meets Bagel is not the best dating app to try if you’re looking for a quick hook-up, as it's more popular with singles seeking a long-term relationship. And if you’re looking to find a serious relationship quickly, you probably won’t want to rely exclusively on the matches it provides.

On the flip side, it’s a great app for those who are looking for quality dates and don’t have a ton of time to invest in finding meaningful connections online.

However, because of the way it’s designed, you’re probably not going to be going on dates very often. So it’s usually wise to combine CMB with another dating app like Bumble, Hinge, Tinder or Match.

In our experience, we've found CMB seems to attract young professionals and sophisticated women. If you’re looking for a quality relationship and aren’t in any particular hurry to find it, CMB is a good place to start.

According to CMB's internal data, 70% of users said they are looking for a relationship, while only 12% want a casual hook up.

But if you want to meet someone sooner rather than later, you probably won’t want to put all your eggs into the Coffee Meets Bagel basket. Who wants to wait around for their perfect date instead of going out and finding it?

If you’re too busy to manage multiple dating profiles at a time, why not let VIDA's modern dating service help?

It's the best way to meet attractive singles quickly, without having to do all the work. Our dating experts can find and message quality matches across multiple dating sites and apps, so all you have to do is show up for the first date!

Finding your ideal partner has never been easier. Go here to learn more!