A new survey from BMO puts the average cost of a single date at $189 this year, up 12.5% from $168 last year. Half of Americans say they’ve cut back: fewer dates, cheaper ones. 47% say dating isn’t financially worth it anymore. And on the apps themselves, a Forbes Gen Z study found 79% of Gen Z daters are burned out on swiping.
That’s not a dating problem. That’s an economics problem apps built on top of a dating problem.
The shift that’s already happening
People aren’t giving up on meeting each other. They’re giving up on the format. Tinder’s own research has a name for it now: "Friendfluence," mutual circles doing the introducing. House parties are standing in for speed dating. More than a third of singles say they’d rather it just be coffee.
None of that needed an app. It needed the room they were already standing in.
Why swiping got expensive in the first place
A match from three cities away isn’t free. It just defers the cost. A profile becomes a 45-minute drive. A stranger becomes a reservation made to justify the effort. The "date" got elaborate because the two of you had nothing real in common yet except an app.
What Vyb actually is, next to that
A show, a coffee shop, a bar in Austin: the room you’re already in is the thing Vyb works with, not a destination you plan around. The person isn’t three cities over. They’re already part of your actual evening. There’s no production to stage just to find out if there’s chemistry. You already know the room. Now you know who’s actually in it.
The part the data gets honest about
Hinge’s own research on Gen Z daters found 84% want deeper connection, not less. The hesitation isn’t about wanting less. It’s about who goes first, and a planned, performative date makes that first real sentence harder to say, not easier. In a place you’re already comfortable in, it gets easier.
Dating didn’t get worse. The format got expensive.
Vyb’s bet is the simple one: free is still better than curated. Be there first.