Free hookup app accounts: Comparing AdultFriendFinder, Tinder, Grindr, and more

We all get the urge to have fun at one time or another, but not everyone wants to shell out the cash to make it happen. If you’re strapped for cash or just want to keep that credit card tight in your wallet, know that there are plenty of free affiliate programs and sites that offer results without you having to pay a membership fee.

That said, not all free dating services work the same way, and they don’t always offer the same level of freedom. They are still businesses, after all, and they are still looking to make a profit. They’ll lure you in with the promise of freeing up the fun while hiding some of their best features behind your subscription – which they hope will tempt you to go ahead and sign up for that premium membership.

To help you navigate the world of hookup apps and sites as a free user, here’s a handy guide to the top dating services – and all the best features you can get for free.

Tinder’s immense popularity probably has a lot to do with how well it balances its free and premium features. As a free user, you can create an account, fill out your profile with up to nine photos and videos, and swipe to match and chat with singles in your area.

In other words, you can use Basic features of Tinder without opening your wallet. But limiting yourself to a free account is just that — limiting. This includes an ad-supported UI and a limited number of swipes over 12 hours. OK, so it doesn’t sound too bad on paper — until you spend an hour swiping and finally find the profile of your dreams, the person who seems destined to pique your interest, only to realize you’ve fallen out of favor.

To get the most out of a free Tinder account, we recommend splitting your swiping time into morning and evening sessions, to minimize the impact of their 12-hour right-swipe limit. If you get a good game using this strategy, you’re all set and you won’t need to upgrade your account. But if you’re not satisfied with how many matches you’re getting, it might be time to check Tinder Gold and Platinum tiersas this unlocks some match cheat codes, including one monthly profile boost to increase your visibility, and the ability to see who liked your profile and message accounts you haven’t matched yet.

AdultFriendFinder is one of the most limited dating services for free members. Not only will you be able to talk face-to-face with a free account, you won’t even be able to view other users’ profiles without incurring a monthly membership fee.

However, don’t be discouraged. If you’re looking for instant fun online, AFF’s free account still has it covered. First, AdultFriendFinder is less of a dating service than an entire sexy ecosystem, complete with live web cam shows, discussion boards, adult-themed photo contests, and tons of sexy stories. You can access and participate for free, so whether you just want to watch a webcam feed or test your writing skills in the streaming fiction segment, you have great options.

On the other hand, if you want to use AFF to find a potential partner in your area, you really need to upgrade to their paid subscriptionwhich not only opens up extended search features and the ability to talk face-to-face with other members, but also improves the quality of the photos and videos you see, which is worth the cost alone.

Like Tinder, Grindr is open to non-paying users. With a free account, you can create a profile, search and chat with other people nearby, and create a private photo album and send a single photo. In one sense, Grindr is even more generous to its free users than Tinder: It lets you match one person outside of your location as quickly as a day, giving you a small taste of the app’s reach and power.

Best of all, for those eager to connect, Grindr allows two free users Right now times per week, which serve as a temporary (one hour, maximum) status update for nearby users and in Current mode. Don’t forget, Grindr is all about instant connections.

It’s not all the opposite, though. Like Tinder, Grindr funds its free user features by serving constant ads, which really affect users’ experience, while also limiting their profile access to “local” Grindr users, which basically means accounts near you. If you’re in LA or Manhattan that’s not really a problem, but if you’re running the app in a small town or a remote area — meaning a smaller population — it could mean fewer encounters.

If that’s a problem for you, you can choose either Grindr XTRA or Grindr Unlimited subscription to unlock quality of life features. These include the ability to post multiple time-lapse photos, a large grid to explore, and the ability to see who has viewed and liked your profile.

In many ways, Pure is the most interesting dating app out there. It is a true innovator in design and interface, which makes it no surprise that it is the most popular app for Gen Z songs. Unfortunately, it is very limiting in the scope it offers free users. Unless you’re a woman, that is.

On Pure, male and non-binary users must pay to unlock the app’s most useful features, while women get unlimited access to the app for free. Before you cry foul, though, keep in mind that most dating apps are heavily skewed toward men (Tinder users are about 75 percent malefor example), so by attracting women with free memberships, Pure can save gender equality among its users. That’s a good thing, right?

As a free user, you will be able to create a profile and fill in all the required information, as well as a list of your kinks. But you can’t reply or chat face-to-face with other users, which means you’re locked out of the app’s most fun and interactive features.

Unlike Tinder, Grindr or AFF, Pure actually requires a paid subscription to be useful at all — if you’re not a woman, that is.