eharmony vs Hinge - Which is Better for You? [2024 Reviews!]

Debating the merits of eHarmony vs Hinge? If you only have time to manage one, it’s a decision that will impact your dating life. Making the right choice is crucial!

VIDA’s team of dating experts use both eHarmony and Hinge on behalf of the thousands of clients we represent. We’ve logged in to Hinge daily since it launched in 2013, and have been using eHarmony since 2009. 

All that firsthand experience makes us uniquely qualified to weigh in on which app is better, because we track all the results we get for every client!

Coming up, we’ll explain each platform’s unique features, strengths, and weaknesses, compare cost and premium benefits, and more.

Let’s dive in!

eHarmony Or Hinge: Which Is Better?

Both eHarmony and Hinge have withstood the test of time. eHarmony launched over two decades ago, with Hinge hitting the market back in 2013.

In our experience, Hinge is the better choice in most cases. Overall, it’s more popular - and the more users there are, the higher the odds of finding truly compatible matches. Plus, you can use it for free. 

While we’ve used platforms to successfully arrange high-quality dates for our clients, Hinge is the app we use most often.

But that being said, which one is right for you depends on your circumstances and expectations. That’s why we’ve broken this review into sections, so you can easily choose the dating app that best fits your specific needs.

eHarmony VS Hinge: Premium Features & Cost

Budget is a big consideration for many singles, so let’s talk numbers first.

Hinge

Hinge can be used effectively for free, although there are some limitations. For instance, free users are limited to “liking” up to 8 profiles each day once you’ve completed your Hinge profile.

You’ll also have limited access to the various match filters, but the basics are available to free users: gender, age, location, ethnicity, and religion.

This popular dating app offers two premium subscriptions, Hinge+ and HingeX. 

If you tried Hinge several years ago, you may remember one called Hinge Preferred. Most of those features were rolled into Hinge+ when the premium memberships rebranded and expanded.

Hinge+ offers a trial subscription that lasts 1 week, which costs $14.99. Otherwise, 1 month is around $32.99, with the monthly price decreasing slightly when you invest in a longer membership.

With a Hinge+ membership, you’ll be able to:

• Like an unlimited number of profiles each day
• Access all the compatibility filters
• See everyone who Liked you
• Filter your Discover & Likes You feeds by Active Today, Nearby, and New Here. The standard filter is Compatibility, which is the default for all users.

The more expensive option, HingeX, unlocks additional premium features and also includes all the benefits of Hinge+.

The trial subscription for HingeX costs around $24.99 for 1 week, if you want to give it a test drive. Otherwise a single month costs around $49.99, with the price dropping if you purchase a longer membership.

With a HingeX membership, you’ll be able to:

• See your enhanced recommendations
• Use Priority Likes, which means your profile stays near the top of the recipient’s feed
• Skip The Line, which is essentially an ongoing profile boost that will net you more visibility on the app

For a deep dive into the upgrade options and when it makes sense to pay for Hinge, check out our Hinge+ vs HingeX comparison!

eHarmony

While it’s free to set up your profile and take the compatibility quiz on eHarmony, there’s not much else you can do without paying. 

You’ll receive your suggested daily matches, but only the most basic of information is revealed. You can respond to messages sent from a paying member, but you can’t start any conversations. And perhaps most importantly, you can’t see any photos.

So basically, if you want to have any success with eHarmony, you’ll need to pay for it.

eHarmony cost depends largely on where you live and what promotions are running at the time.

Generally you can expect to spend around $45 dollars per month when you opt for the 6-month plan.

There’s also a 12-month plan that costs around $29 per month, or a 24-month plan which brings the price down to around $20 per month.

As a Premium eHarmony member, you’ll be able to:

• See photos
• Send unlimited messages
• Filter your matches
• Search by distance
• See who has viewed your profile 
• View your detailed personality profile
• Receive regularly updated matches 

eHarmony doesn’t offer a free trial, but you can use this hack to give it a free 3-day test drive.

Verdict: eHarmony Vs Hinge Cost

Hinge comes out on top if you’re basing your decision simply on cost and what you can do for free. 

But there is one caveat to consider:

Paying for an online dating service is often an advantage, as it cuts down on the number of fake profiles and flakey matches. Singles who are putting money into a dating platform tend to be more active and responsive users.

Hinge is the more popular platform of the two, but you may also encounter more unresponsive and/or flakey matches.

eHarmony VS Hinge: Demographics & Popularity

Now, let’s take a look at who’s using the apps.

What Users Are Looking For

Both Hinge and eHarmony market themselves as dating platforms for singles who want a serious relationship. eHarmony in particular tends to attract marriage-minded singles, while you’ll also find a range of relationship goals on Hinge.

Hinge encourages users to display their “Dating Intentions” as a badge on their profile, with options ranging from Life Partner and Long-term Relationship to “Figuring Out My Dating Goals” and “Prefer Not To Say”.

The focus is firmly on quality over quantity, with both platforms using algorithms to deliver a curated feed of compatible matches.

Age Of Users

Hinge’s core demographic was originally millennial singles, but these days it’s also a popular app with the younger crowd. If you’re under 50 and in a major city, it’s definitely a dating app to try.

eHarmony has staying power - it’s been around since 2000 and undergone several rebrandings over the years. Most recently it revamped its look to appeal to a younger demographic, which is a growing market for them.

Still, it’s most popular with commitment-minded singles in their 30s to mid-40s, and you’ll also find plenty of daters over 50 as well. 

Verdict: eHarmony vs Hinge Overall Popularity

When it comes to sheer numbers, Hinge is the winner with an estimated 23 million active users. It’s consistently the third most popular dating app in the US, coming in under Tinder and Bumble.

But as with most dating apps, users tend to be more heavily concentrated in urban areas. If you’re in a more rural location, you may have better luck on eHarmony (or better yet, give Match.com a try). 

eHarmony Vs Hinge: Profiles

Both of these dating platforms are similar when it comes to how profiles are laid out. 

Profiles are prompt based, meaning you select a prompt and then answer it. You can be strategic with what you include, sharing the traits and details you think would be most attractive to the type of person you want to meet.

Hinge and eHarmony also make liberal use of interest badges, which is a perfect way to convey basic information quickly. 

eHarmony has one potential advantage over Hinge in the profile department: it calculates a compatibility score for each user. That means you can see at a glance which matches the algorithm feels are the best bet.

However, Hinge has an advantage that eHarmony doesn’t: more interactive profiles. Hinge allows you to include voice notes, videos, and polls on your profile, which are all geared toward showing off multiple facets of your personality and engaging your potential matches.

Hinge also allows you to connect your Instagram as a way of sharing even more insights into your life.

Verdict: eHarmony vs Hinge Profiles

This one’s a draw. eHarmony’s compatibility scores can be a helpful way to prioritize your time, but Hinge’s interactive profiles give you more opportunities to show off different facets of your personality.

eHarmony Vs Hinge: Matching

When it comes to checking out your potential matches, eHarmony and Hinge offer very different user experiences.

eHarmony

eHarmony’s algorithm delivers a slow feed of suggested matches based on your compatibility quiz answers and other factors. And it’s this slow feed that our team has found to be eHarmony’s biggest disadvantage.

Unlike dating sites such as Match.com, OkCupid, POF (Plenty of Fish), you can’t freely search the database of users. You’re very limited when it comes to what potential matches you’re allowed to see.

There are no advanced search options that allow you to search for matches on your own. However, you can specify additional information, such as: 

• Age 
• Height
• Smoking Habits
• Children/Wants Children

If you have a paid subscription, you can also filter by: 

• Religion 
• Ethnicity 
• Income
• Education
• Distance

In a nutshell, eHarmony keeps you fully dependent on the algorithm’s choices for you. 

Research has shown algorithms aren’t very reliable when it comes to predicting long-term compatibility, so not being able to search for matches on your own might be problematic. 

But if you’re into extensive personality tests that reveal your communication style, relationship boundaries, and other insights, you may find eHarmony’s approach worthwhile. 

The site uses 32 “dimensions of compatibility” to suggest your matches and displays a compatibility score with each one. It also serves up an in-depth personality profile you can theoretically use to improve your approach to dating and relationships.

Hinge

Like most dating apps, Hinge presents profiles in a stack where you can Like or Pass on each one. You can check out your suggested matches in 3 separate feeds:

• Likes You – Free users can scroll through who “liked” them one at a time, but you’ll have to upgrade to see them all at once.
• Discover – Where you’ll find singles who meet your specified criteria.
• Standouts – A curated group of users that have profile or photo prompts similar to previous content you’ve liked. 

There is also a “Most Compatible” feature that serves up profiles the algorithm believes are just who you’re looking for, based on your activity within the app. And it’s available to all users.

Hinge allows users to filter their match preferences based on gender, age, neighborhood, distance, ethnicity, and religion. Also, users can change their location whenever they want. 

Paying Hinge members can take advantage of “Subscriber Preferences”, which includes:

• Height
• Dating Intentions
• Children and Family Plans
• Educational Background
• Politics
• Vices (drinking, smoking, drugs, etc.)

You can even select whether or not these are a “Dealbreaker”, and Hinge won’t show you profiles that include these specified dealbreaker qualities. 

Verdict: eHarmony vs Hinge Matching

Hinge is the clear winner here, with more ways to check out potential matches. And provided you upgrade, you can Like as many profiles as you want every day.

eHarmony Vs Hinge: Messaging

Now, let’s dive into how you communicate with other users.

eHarmony

As you’ve learned, eHarmony requires a paid subscription if you want to start conversations. As a free member, you’re limited to replying to messages from paid users.

Once you’ve upgraded, you also have to fill in at least 50% of your profile in order to send messages. When you like someone and they like you back, you’re able to send a message by tapping the conversation icon on their profile screen.

eHarmony also provides a “stock” icebreaker in the form of, you guessed it, stock photos. Select the photo you like best from 5 pairs of photos. 

They’ll look something like this:

Your match also selects their photo preferences from the same bunch. 

When you’re both finished, eHarmony reveals how many answers were the same and which ones you both liked. The hope is that you’ll use one of these photos as a way to start a conversation.

Or, take a page from our expert playbook and use the lifestyle badges to inspire an icebreaker. You’ll see all sorts of passions, sports, interests, hobbies, etc. displayed on your match’s profiles, and if you come up with a few stock icebreakers of your own, you can save a ton of time.

For instance, if your match has “Adventure Trips” displayed as one of the things they’re passionate about, send this message:

It’s personalized just enough to not seem copy/paste, and you can quickly send it to multiple matches.  

eHarmony also allows you to include a message when you Like a piece of content within someone’s profile, which can be an easy way to boost your match rate. The ability to message before matching is a huge advantage, although it isn’t free - you need to be a paid subscriber.

Hinge

Hinge allows you to message someone before you match with them, and you can do it for free.

Here’s how it works. When you “like” any part of a user’s profile, you can also leave a comment:

Treat this like an extra chance to make a stellar first impression, and it can be a game changer.

Verdict: eHarmony vs Hinge Messaging

Hinge gets the win here as well. While both platforms allow you to send messages before matching, you can only do it on Hinge without having to pay for the privilege.

Final Verdict: eHarmony Or Hinge?

If you’re only going to use one, Hinge is our pick. And that’s a verdict based on years of actual, hands-on experience using both dating platforms!

But here’s something to consider. When it comes to dating sites, it’s best not to put all your eggs in one digital basket. Different apps tend to attract different types of singles, so you may find you get better results on one versus another. 

And the only way to know for sure is to test, test, test. We recommended starting with the most popular apps, like Bumble, Hinge, Match, and Tinder, then adding in a niche app or two like The League if it aligns with the type of singles you want to meet.

Keep in mind choosing the right portfolio of apps is just the beginning. You’ll also need a profile that’s optimized for each one, and a solid messaging strategy. Add in a keen understanding of how each algorithm works, because every action you take (or don’t take) on an app matters.

It’s work - but it’s crucial to put in the time if you want results. And isn’t meeting your ideal partner worth whatever it takes?

Or, if you just want to skip straight to the “meeting your ideal partner” part, why not let VIDA handle every aspect of modern dating for you?

From selecting the right platforms and optimizing your profile to doing your swiping and messaging, VIDA’s team of experts does it all. We’ll even arrange your dates with the matches you approve!

There is no easier way to meet singles who are just your type. Find out how VIDA’s modern matchmaking service works here!