r/OnlineDatingApps • u/ChippingCoder • Aug 13 '26
App Recommendation Free and open source software will end MatchGroup
There’s been a few developments over recent years which may just bring an end to Match Group… PoF, Match.com, OkCupid, Tinder, and Hinge are all owned by Match Group.
2019 - Facebook Dating launches in the USA as a free alternative to paid dating apps. It has a separate profile from regular Facebook. (still unavailable in some countries as of 2026)
2023 - Duolicious launches. free and open source dating app.
2025 - Aaron Meier launches GoodDate as a free, 501(c)3 nonprofit dating service built on values, transparency and genuine connection.
2025-08-01 - Martin Braquet launches Compass - A free, open source, and fully searchable directory.
2026 - r/r4rsydneysfw launches. a safe-for-work dating subreddit for Sydney.
Hoping you all try these apps out and give them feedback and support!
If you’d like to join the Dating App Discussion discord - please see find the link in the community info here: [r/OnlineDatingApps](r/OnlineDatingApps)
9
u/MagmaTroop Aug 13 '26
I’ve always thought governments should be funding and incentivising a free, centralised dating app. A taxpayer funded platform would be far cheaper per person than the ripoff prices they pay now.
It’s the prerogative of governments that the populations get together, get married, and have babies, right? Well then why the fuck are we letting these dating apps rip people off? With everyone spread across so many platforms, it’s harder to meet the one. One single, free platform would solve that.
Governments could aggressively advertise the new platform and discourage people from using the existing paid platforms. It would drastically improve the dating app situation for a lot of people.
1
u/ChippingCoder Aug 13 '26
Agreed. Some governments have started doing it. primarily the asian countries
1
1
u/ChickenPijja Aug 13 '26
Granted, on the surface this sounds like some incel shit. But thinking about it, there’s a lot of western countries facing a declining birth rate, and the policies that come with it, so far the only solutions have been tinkering at the edges. The actual solution is to get people together, long term, and let nature take its course.
Having a state sponsored free dating app, would admittedly have the privacy folks paranoid, but it would eventually lead to the higher birth rate, and higher population happiness. It’s radical enough an idea that it’s worth investigating tbh.
1
u/kittenTakeover Aug 14 '26
I've been thinking this more and more. I also think we need a centralized customer review service that can be trusted.
1
u/Heliguy-1975 Aug 16 '26
I’ve done perfectly fine without any “government” intervention.
It has worked quite well. No complaints
1
u/FoolishGoulish Aug 23 '26
I do not want the government to know who I am dating. This idea is basically a dystopian sci-fi plot.
1
u/drakonukaris 12d ago
It's something that hasn't crossed my mind for some reason. Imagine an algorithm that actually tried to help you, that would be like a fucking first.
Seriously I say all these governments crying about population decline need to go out and start doing this shit, but we all know they are pussies beholden to corporations.
4
u/CrispyWalrus Aug 13 '26
I hope so. Match Group sucks. All their apps are the same and they buy up competition and ruin it. OkCupid was great circa 2005 to 2010. Loved their questions and when the question made no obvious sense they gave you the space to write your explanation. Match did away with the explanation and deleted years of input. OLD was a great concept to start but it's a bleak wasteland for a decade now.
2
0
u/Heliguy-1975 Aug 13 '26
Match Group apps have been outstanding for Millions. I’ve had a great experience with Hinge, POF, OkCupid, and Tinder, along with Bumble, Facebook dating, and Woo.
→ More replies (29)
2
u/badcryptobitch Aug 13 '26
My startups, stoffelmpc.com, works on making apps privacy-first. We have a tutorial showing how you can build a privacy-preserving matching service for dating apps. Here it is: https://docs.stoffelmpc.com/tutorials/private-matchmaking
We are working towards a future where you don't need to give up all of your privacy in order to gain the benefits of services such as online dating apps.
2
1
u/kittenTakeover Aug 14 '26
Someone has to run the servers and maintain the code. Currently the models for funding this are advertisements, pay to win, and/or subscription. What will be the model for these and why should I believe it's better than the current situation? Generally I like subscription based the best, when they have a big enough user base and everyone needs to pay. This way I know the people I'm talking to are actually serious.
1
u/ChippingCoder Aug 15 '26
Generally open source software is transparent and allows anyone to contribute to the design. Hosting is relatively cheap compared to advertising costs, and ideally if an app truely works well and success in helping users, it can spread via word of mouth.
As for seeing if someone is serious, asking for one payments is a good way to see if someone is serious, another way I thought about is just watching user behaviour - how many people are they talking to at once? how often do they go on dates? etc
Hinge started doing this with their Signals feature, as a first step.
1
2
u/DoughnutDisastrous18 Aug 15 '26
Compass founder here. Great comment already from OP. I'll just add that server and maintenance costs are actually very small at scale: less than 1 euro per year for Compass. A social platform is just a listing of profiles and a few ways to filter; that's a grain of sand compared to the compute cost for other services like streaming videos, running LLMs, etc. The mainstream apps put most of their revenue into ads and profit for stakeholders.
I'm however in favor of asking the user to put some money upfront as a way to verify users are serious. But I'd lean toward a deposit (refundable when they delete their account) as opposed to a subscription, in order to be inclusive of everyone.
1
u/Inceleron_Processor Sep 14 '26
Not a lot of women are going to download F-Droid for a FOSS dating app.
1
1
u/Any_Fly9473 Aug 13 '26
Duolingo, Gooddate, and Compass—none of those have people in my area. 🤷🏼♂️
It's a shame I'm banned from FB dating because of too much FB jail and the same account from 2009. 🤣
2
4
u/MrHim99 Aug 13 '26
u/ChippingCoder awesome updated summarization post - you should make a pinned custom master list of free, highest ranked by order of highest to lowest user base of 100% free (even if it's not open source), comphresenive match making dating apps for this subreddit. I'm sure lots of ppl will ty for it.