If you're searching for a fun hookup or summer fling, and especially if you're prepared to pay for a premium dating account to boost your chances, you're going to be faced with a lot of choices. Not only do you have to pick a dating app or site, from the literal dozens of options, but you also have to consider what subscription tier will best fit your needs or maximize your chances.
By reputation, longevity, and success rate, there are two standout options in the game right now: Tinder and AdultFriendFinder. But while they're both geared towards short-term fun, they operate in very different ways, beginning with the fact that Tinder is a smartphone app and AFF operates on computers exclusively (or almost exclusively).
The next big difference between the two services is the age brackets that use them. More than half of Tinder users are under the age of 30, while the median AdultFriendFinder member is between 30 and 38 years old, so there's a pretty significant demographic difference between them, though you shouldn't let that discourage you from trying them out even if you happen to fall outside their mainstream age group. After all, their combined member pool is well into the millions, so it's not like you'll be fishing in a small pond.
But that brings us to the big question: which subscription tier is right for you? We did the research and compared offerings to help you find the right fit for your dating circumstances, without wasting your money on unnecessary extras.
Tinder subscription tiers
Tinder+
The most basic premium account Tinder offers is also probably the right fit for most people. It unlocks a major quality-of-life upgrade for swipe addicts, unlimited likes, so you'll never have to wait out the clock in frustration ever again, but it also offers another majorly useful feature, especially for young people travelling between university and their hometown: Passport. The Passport feature allows you to change your swiping location, instantly switching up your pool of available singles, which is majorly useful if you're expecting to be in a new place in a month or so, as you can start pre-planning your dates.
Tinder uses a dynamic pricing model, varying by your age, location and subscription length, but in the United States you should expect to pay from $8 per month for a Tinder+ membership.
Tinder Gold
Tinder Gold includes all of the aforementioned Tinder+ features, with three additional features to give you a sneaky edge over the competition: a weekly "Super Like," one monthly profile boost to increase your visibility to nearby singles, and, best of all, the ability to see who has liked your profile before you swipe right or left on that person.
If you've used Tinder in the past without much success, or with less success than you would like, a Gold subscription goes a long way towards helping you boost your visibility and find new matches, especially if you happen to come across a profile that has liked you that you somehow overlooked.
These extra perks aren't cheap, though. Taking into account the aforementioned dynamic pricing model, you should expect to pay between $23 and $45 dollars a month for Tinder Gold, depending on the length of your subscription.
Tinder Platinum
Ready to bring out the big guns? Tinder Platinum is the service's most exclusive and most expensive membership tier, but it's also the most feature-rich. Naturally, it includes all of the perks available to + and Gold members, with two key additions: as a Platinum member, your likes get priority visibility above non-Platinum users, which means you'll automatically be shuffled to the top of the pile for singles you swipe on, and you'll unlock the "Message before Matching" feature, which works exactly as it sounds: you'll be able to DM the sexy single who catches your eye before you both swipe on each other.
If you have a lot of confidence in your text game but want to buy yourself the chance to flex it, Platinum is a fantastic option. On the other hand, if you're someone who likes to let their profile and photos do the work for them, it doesn't offer enough of a compelling reason to upgrade from a Gold membership.
Again, taking into account dynamic pricing, you can expect a Platinum membership to cost you between $29.99 per month with a multi-month commitment or up to $50 per month with a short-term commitment.
AdultFriendFinder subscription tiers
AFF Gold
If you opt for the AdultFriendFinder route, you're absolutely going to want to spring for at least the Gold membership. Unlike Tinder, which offers free members an enticing variety of ways to match and meet, AdultFriendFinder severely restricts the freedom of non-paying accounts. You can't message people one-on-one, for example, or even view other people's profiles, without ponying up some cash.
With a Gold membership, however, your on-site experience starts to improve dramatically. You can view full profiles, including nude photos and full-length videos, and even comment on those public-facing photos and videos. It's also not possible to send friend requests without a Gold membership, and on the AFF platform, this is a major inhibitor to interacting.
But by far the biggest benefit of the Gold membership is how dramatically it improves the site's search functionality. You'll unlock a ton of new filters, including the ability to search by specific kinks or interests, and as a premium member, your profile will be given priority when other people search for criteria you meet.
All of that added functionality comes at a cost, though. A Gold membership costs between $39.95 per month on a month-by-month subscription or as little as $14.95 per month if you opt in for an entire year.
AFF VIP
If you become an AdultFriendFinder power user and want to increase your on-site perks even further, you might consider upgrading to a VIP membership. It's only available at a flat cost of $29.95 per month, in the United States, but it delivers some incredible benefits, from read receipts (so you know when someone has seen your message) to enhanced visibility across the site, which includes having a VIP badge affixed to your profile photo. There's even an exclusive, VIP-only site area, where you can mingle with the other elite members.
If you're looking for local hookups, truth be told, the VIP membership won't really improve your chances above and beyond the regular Gold membership, but if you also like to have virtual fun, the premium subscription tier does unlock a lot of doors, showing you just how wild AdultFriendFinder can be.
