Tinder · B2C · swipe dating app
Offer three subscription levels and sell extra boosts on top
Former CPO calls it one of the best ways to price consumer apps; no revenue split given
Workedpricingupsell-expansionpaywall
What they did
Instead of one price, Tinder sells Tinder Plus (cheap on-ramp that gets people over the 'penny gap'), Tinder Gold (see who liked you) and Tinder Platinum (more Super Likes/Boosts, message before matching), and layers a la carte microtransactions (Super Likes, Boosts, bundles) on top to catch willingness to pay between and above tiers. Subscriptions give predictable revenue; consumables flex with need. Keep to 2-3 tiers to avoid complexity; the app avoids showing all tiers on one paywall. Few free users buy consumables: subscriptions act as a force multiplier because consumables (get more right-swipes) pair with Gold (see who swiped right). Built organically: one tier launched, learned what users valued, added the next.
What happened
Became Tinder's monetization model; guest says the same subs+microtransactions combo also works in gaming.
- Stage
- scale
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How Tinder Captures More Value With Tiered Pricing and Consumables — Ravi Mehta“And so this combination of a subscription set of tiers as well as Microtransaction products turns out to be one of the most optimal ways, especially within consumer to price your product.”
“So I didn't do that deliberately, but it is the case that very few free users actually buy micro transactions. It tends to be that these subscriptions are kind of force multipliers for the micro transactions.”
“And then that cheaper tier is meant to be an on-ramp, find people that are willing to jump the penny gap, get them into a paid product that shows them that they can get a lot more from the experience”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from Tinder
All 22 Tinder tactics- Put a toggle in the top bar that opens a new paid tierAbout $50M in revenue from one small A/B test
- Use a prediction model to show each user just the one plan they'll likely buyEstimated multimillion-dollar yearly revenue gain in an A/B test
- Raise the price of the standalone feature so it stops stealing subscriptionsFewer lost subscriptions, slightly lower conversion, higher total revenue
- Price the 7-day feature pass the same as a 7-day subscription, shown side by sideLess cannibalization and more revenue, but still not good enough
- Give each paid feature its own paywall and check its sales every morningShowed 2-3 features drive most new subs; weak ones were made free
- Sell the travel feature on its own for 1 day, 3 days or a weekConversion jumped, but it pulled buyers away from the cheapest subscription
More from this episode
- Tinder: Keep dating free for most users so there are plenty of people to match85-90% never pay; the 10-15% who do fund the business
- Tinder: Interview users spending $100-250 a month, then build a top plan for themLed to Tinder Platinum; no results shared
- Tinder: Test many prices for each plan and add-on, country by countryHundreds of price SKUs live at once; no test results shared
- Tinder: Sell a paid 'super like' that stands out from a normal likeSuper Likes are 3x more likely to get a match
- Tinder: Let people start swiping in two minutes using Facebook login and photosOnboarding cut from ~20 minutes to under 2; brought younger people into online dating
- Sesame Care: Replace a 3-screen checkout with a 20-question intake before paymentConversion up (host says 40%); 99%+ of people answer each next question
- TripAdvisor: Sort hotels by each traveler's past behavior without calling it 'just for you'Unlabelled version converted better; labelling it 'just for you' dropped conversion
- Tinder: Show ads to free users to cover their costSmall share of revenue; ads worth far less than a subscriber
- Start at $20-30 a month; if nobody pays, fix the product, not the price
- Wispr Flow: Give a short free trial that builds a daily habit, then chargeGuest converted without hesitation; a free-tier rival he uses daily never got paid
- Sell live classes, Zoom sessions and week-long intensives to your most engaged usersRevenue almost doubled; live offers now half of revenue
- Calm: Play rain sounds the moment the app opens, and in 15-second ads
- TripAdvisor: Set quarterly goals as a short why, 3-5 commitments, and a task listGuest says teams that adopted it found it works better than OKRs; no numbers