New report shows how Grindr’s plan is working to perfection…
When it comes to deleting Grindr, the biggest kink among gays appears to be talking a big game and not following through.
Mark
When it comes to deleting Grindr, the biggest kink among gays appears to be talking a big game and not following through.
Amid unrelenting criticism from its user base, Grindr continues to attract more paying customers and shatter revenue projections. This summer, we’ve seen a barrage of imitators launch new platforms that claim to be free of toxicity and scammers. But so far, men looking to have sex with men keeping returning to the grid.
Is Grindr unstoppable, like a DL daddy who just landed in a college town? Some recent analysis from Wall Street begs the question…
Grindr tops the competition
How about we take this to the next level?
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Out of the three big dating apps on Wall Street, Grindr is the only one gaining paid users. Match Group (Tinder and Hinge) and Bumble have reached their climax.
Meanwhile, Grindr keeps growing. Writing on Seeking Alpha (appropriate), Gary Alexander says it’s “becoming clear that Grindr’s niche in the gay dating space is leading to a higher propensity to pay among its user base, especially for newer premium features.”
In other words, Grindr has gays locked in handcuffs. The company’s revenue has grown an impressive 38% year-over-year, beating expectations. Grindr ended the first quarter with 1.4 million paying users, up 19% year-over-year. For comparison’s sake, Match Group lost roughly 318,000 paying customers over that time span.
At the end of 2026, Grindr expects revenue of at least $535 million this year, an increase of 22% over last year.
Based on those figures, Alexander has one piece of advice for stock pickers: buy! buy! buy!
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Here’s what’s happening in the Gay Appmosphere.
The plan is working…
It’s no secret that Grindr is incentivizing people to sign up for its premium versions by rendering its free version almost unusable. The numbers show that Grindr’s enshittification is reaching its desired results.
Current subscriptions range from $149.99 per year for Grindr Xtra to $150 for six months of Grindr Unlimited. Grindr Edge, which is still in its beta phase, costs between $350 and $500 per month.
Much-maligned online, Grindr nevertheless expects Edge to be a big subscription driver. The program uses AI (“gay-eye”) to sum up conversations and curate potential matches. In other words, it promises to eliminate all friction from the grid
When people are presented with a choice between friction and no friction, they often choose the latter. That’s why Grindr became so popular in the first place: it’s easier to cruise on the coach than, say, in a dark room or a park.
What does this say about gays?
Much like the app’s notorious flakes, the gays are all talk and no action. Earlier this year, financial expert Nick Wolny called out Grindr users on the disconnect.
“Their revenue numbers say something about GBQ men and what we say we want versus what we actually buy and how we actually spend our money,” he said. “What do we value, what are we willing to pay for it, and why?”
A publicly traded company, Grindr has a responsibility to its shareholders. Meanwhile, its users are responsible for they spend their time and money.
With elevated incomes on average, gay men have the luxury of spending frivolously. It appears they would rather spend $14.99 for a week of Grindr Xtra, than $14.99 for cover and a cocktail.
Or perhaps they spend on both. Grindr is an embedded part of the gay ecosystem.
A global brand
In his piece, Alexander mentions a couple of “headwinds” facing Grindr, including anti-LGBTQ+ measures in Southeast Asian countries. That anecdote hammers home the point: Grindr is a global brand.
For millions of gay people across the world, Grindr is the most foolproof way to connect with other gays. That’s also the case for people who live in rural areas, the suburbs and most mid-sized cities. While some gay bars and queer spaces exist outside of major cities, they’re few and far between.
That’s not to say Grindr has a monopoly on facilitating sex between men. The emergence of Sniffies and endurance of other platforms like Scruff and Jack’d illustrate that.
But with 15 million monthly active users, Grindr is by far the most popular. There’s no barrier to entry; that is, until users endure their first app-killing popup ad.
Then they just sign up for a paid version!
Related
Grindr’s latest revenue numbers are making gays ask a very uncomfortable question about themselves…
Despite constant complains, Grindr is awash in subs
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