How Much Does It Cost to Build a Dating App in 2026? The Parts You Can't Skip

A first version of a dating app costs $5,000 to $15,000 with us and takes 2 to 4 weeks. That buys one way to match people, likes, chat, a paywall and the safety tools the app stores ask for, in one market. Each big extra, like video calls, ID checks or AI matching, adds weeks. At our rate of $39 to $55 an hour, every extra 100 hours of work costs $3,900 to $5,500.

The part you can’t cut is safety. Apple and Google won’t publish a dating app that lacks a way to report people, block them and delete your account. Planned from day one, they’re a small part of the budget. If Apple rejects you for missing them, you lose time you’d planned for launch.

People do pay for dating apps. Pew Research found that 3 in 10 US adults have used a dating site or app, and 35% of those users have paid for one, including for extra features (Pew Research Center, 2023).

What a dating app needs at launch, and what can wait

Most of the cost of a dating app sits in a short list of parts. Here’s how we split them for a first version.

Part	Launch or later	Why
Sign-up, 18+ age check, profile with photos	Launch	No profile, no app. Both our dating apps are for adults only
One matching rule (distance, zodiac, faith or interests)	Launch	This is your reason to exist. One rule is enough to test it
Likes, matches and a feed with filters	Launch	The core loop people come back for
Chat between matches	Launch	Matches that can’t talk don’t turn into dates
Report, block and filter content	Launch	Apple guideline 1.2 and Google Play’s UGC policy require them
Delete account inside the app	Launch	Required by Apple (5.1.1(v)) and Google Play
Admin panel for reports, photos and bans	Launch	Someone has to act on reports, fast
Paywall: subscription, paid likes or credits	Launch	The surest test of whether people will pay
Photo or ID verification	Soon after	Fights fake profiles, but costs money per check and build time
AI matching, video calls, events	Later	Prove people come back before you pay for these

The first eight rows are the version we’d launch. On Kosmo, verification was the feature the budget pushed out, as you’ll see in the story below.

The safety tools Apple and Google require

Apple’s guideline 1.2 says any app with user-generated content or social features must have a way to filter objectionable material, a way to report offensive content with timely responses, the ability to block abusive users, and published contact information (Apple App Review Guidelines). A dating profile, a photo and a chat message are all user-generated content.

Google Play asks for the same things. Users must accept your terms before they post. You need ongoing moderation and an in-app way to report content and users. Apps where people talk one-on-one must let users block each other (Google Play UGC policy).

Both stores also require account deletion. If people can create an account in your app, they must be able to delete it inside the app (Apple, guideline 5.1.1(v)). Google Play also wants a web link where people can ask to delete their account and data (Google Play Console Help).

In code, these are small features. The work that costs money is the process behind them: an admin panel where a person reviews reports, removes photos and bans accounts, plus someone on your team who checks it every day.

Dating is a crowded category for Apple

Guideline 4.3(b) names dating among app types that Apple says are “well established” on the App Store. Apple won’t accept new ones unless they offer “a meaningfully different or improved experience” (Apple App Review Guidelines).

This rule can move your launch date. Apple first rejected HealthyNikah, a Muslim marriage app we rebuilt, as one more dating app, even though an earlier version had passed. We removed the dating language, appealed and sent a new build, and the app was approved (HealthyNikah case study). So budget a few extra days for review, and write your store listing around what makes your app different.

Apple says it reviews at least 50% of submissions in under 24 hours and 90% in under 48 hours (Apple App Review). A rejection, a fix and a resubmission can turn that into a week or more.

Paywalls: subscriptions, likes and credits

Plan your paywall from the first version. It’s the only way to find out if people will pay, and it touches more screens than founders expect.

On iPhone, anything that unlocks features inside the app, like a subscription or paid likes, must go through Apple’s in-app purchase (guideline 3.1.1). Google Play has a similar rule for its own billing system (Google Play Payments policy). That changes your margins:

• Apple keeps 30% of a subscription price in a subscriber’s first year and 15% after they’ve paid for a full year (Apple, auto-renewable subscriptions).
• Developers who earned up to $1 million in the prior year, or are new to the App Store, can join the Small Business Program and pay 15% (Apple Small Business Program).

You don’t have to build store billing from scratch. RevenueCat sits between your app and Apple’s and Google’s billing, keeps track of who paid for what, and lets you change paywalls without a new release. It’s free up to $2,500 in monthly tracked revenue and then charges 1% (RevenueCat pricing).

Our two dating apps show two ways to charge:

• Kosmo had three plans from day one: Guest (basic features, no free SuperLikes), Basic (unlimited likes and messages, 5 free SuperLikes) and Premium (everything, plus a profile boost). Guests could also buy SuperLikes without a plan (Kosmo case study).
• HealthyNikah charges a joining fee and a subscription that starts billing later, and each match request costs a credit. It runs on RevenueCat with Apple and Google in-app purchases, plus Stripe for payments outside the stores (HealthyNikah case study).

Expect billing to take longer than it looks. On Kosmo, subscriptions needed more time than planned. On HealthyNikah, the old custom billing system kept breaking and charged some members twice, which is why we replaced it with RevenueCat. Test upgrades, downgrades, renewals, refunds and “restore purchases” on real devices before launch.

Safety and privacy beyond the store rules

Store rules are the floor. Dating apps carry more risk than most apps, because strangers meet in real life.

Start with three things. Check age at sign-up and keep under-18s out. Give members control over who sees their photos: HealthyNikah, for example, has a one-time blurred photo view, so pictures stay private. Make reporting one tap away from every profile and chat, and make sure a person reads every report.

Then there’s privacy law. Dating data often shows someone’s sex life, sexual orientation or religion. Under UK GDPR, all three are “special category data”, which needs an extra legal condition to process (ICO). In practice: collect only what matching needs, explain why you ask, keep it encrypted, and delete it when the account goes.

What makes a dating app cost more

The price of a dating app grows with each thing that adds screens, servers or people. These are the usual ones:

• A second way to match, or a matching rule that needs its own data, like astrology charts or detailed faith questions.
• Video or voice calls, which need a calling service and more testing on bad connections.
• Chat translation. Kosmo translates chat messages into the app’s language with ChatGPT, and the app shipped in English and Spanish.
• A web app next to the mobile apps.
• Moving members from an old app or a spreadsheet. HealthyNikah moved more than 3,200 members with their profiles and credits.
• ID or photo verification through a paid service.

Each of these is a choice you can make after launch, once you know people stay.

Two dating apps we shipped

Kosmo: dating matched by zodiac sign

Kosmo matches people by their star signs. Users swipe profiles, read zodiac compatibility, see who liked them and chat in public topic rooms or in private. Our team built it in Flutter with a NestJS and PostgreSQL backend: a backend developer, a frontend developer, a Flutter developer, a QA engineer, a project manager, a Scrum master and a designer.

The MVP launched on time and on budget. It got 6,000+ downloads in its first 2 weeks. After launch we changed the login page, the splash screen, the search and the subscription page based on user feedback, and Google Play conversion reached 64% (Kosmo case study).

The cut list is useful too. During the project we added user verification and a feature called Guru to the plan, but the budget didn’t stretch to build them. The admin panel did ship: admins remove inappropriate photos, block people who break the rules and review reported users. So moderation shipped, and verification and Guru waited.

The project also had 36 change requests. That’s normal for a first version, so leave room for them in your budget.

HealthyNikah: a rebuild, not a first version

HealthyNikah is a UK matchmaking app for Muslims who want to marry. It already had a community, so the job was different: rebuild old code, fix billing, move members and pass Apple review. We wrote up how to build a Muslim marriage app and how to rewrite a live dating app without losing members from that project.

What a dating app costs after launch

The build is one bill. Running the app is a monthly one:

• App stores: Apple’s developer program costs $99 a year (Apple), and Google Play charges a one-time $25 fee (Google Play Console Help).
• Store fees on every subscription (15-30%) and RevenueCat’s 1% once you pass $2,500 a month.
• Servers, image storage and push notifications. These grow with your members.
• Moderation time. Someone has to read reports every day, and that’s a salary or your own evenings.
• New features. After launch, we usually work in weekly sprints, which cost about $3,000 to $4,500 a week for a small team.

How to keep the first version cheap

Pick one city, one community or one language. Pick one matching rule and make it obvious on the first screen. Build iPhone and Android from one codebase with Flutter or React Native. Skip the web app until people ask for it. Use ready-made parts for login, payments and the admin panel, which is a big part of why our MVPs take weeks, not months.

Before any of that, check that people want your twist on dating. Our guide on how to validate a startup idea shows how to test it with real people and real money first. If you want a team that has shipped dating apps, see our dating app development page.

FAQ

How much does it cost to build a dating app like Tinder?

A first version with profiles, one matching rule, likes, chat, safety tools and a paywall costs $5,000 to $15,000 with us and takes 2 to 4 weeks. A Tinder-sized product with video, AI matching and many markets costs far more and takes many months. Start small, then add features people ask for.

How long does it take to build a dating app?

A focused first version takes 2 to 4 weeks with us. Add time for app store review: Apple reviews 90% of submissions within 48 hours, but a rejection and resubmission can add a week. Dating apps also face Apple’s crowded-category rule (4.3).

Do dating apps have to use Apple’s in-app purchase?

Yes, for anything that unlocks features inside the app, like subscriptions, boosts or extra likes (Apple guideline 3.1.1). Apple keeps 30% of a subscription in its first year and 15% after that, or 15% from the start for small developers in the Small Business Program.

What do Apple and Google require from a dating app?

A way to filter objectionable content, report it and block abusive users, published contact details, and in-app account deletion. Google Play also asks users to accept your terms before posting and wants a web link for deleting accounts. Someone on your team must act on reports.

Why does Apple reject dating apps?

Two rules catch dating apps: missing safety tools (guideline 1.2) and the spam rule (4.3), which names dating as a category Apple won’t accept more of unless the app offers something meaningfully different. Show what’s different in your listing, screenshots and review notes.

What does a dating app cost to run after launch?

Plan for $99 a year for Apple, a one-time $25 for Google Play, 15-30% store fees on subscriptions, RevenueCat’s 1% above $2,500 a month, servers that grow with your members, and someone to moderate reports. New features with us cost about $3,000 to $4,500 a week.

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