If you've been paying any attention to trends in dating app use lately, you've probably heard about Pure. Last year alone, it nearly doubled its user base, easily reaching the $100 million revenue milestone at a time when many of the best-known dating apps are steadily losing market share.
And if you know that it's the hot new dating app, you're probably also experiencing some FOMO and wondering what it will cost you to give Pure a spin.
The answer is kind of complicated and depends on who you are, but the short answer is that Pure is kind of, sort of free sometimes for some people.
Here's what you can and can't do on Pure without becoming a paying subscriber:
Pure free accounts
Pure allows anyone to create an account for free, without handing over their credit card details, but it severely limits what you can actually do in the app as a non-paying member.
Free users can:
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Create a profile with photos and fill out their interests/kinks
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Browse local ads posted by other users and view their profiles, including their interests/kinks
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Browse Pure's extensive database of safety tips and best practices for online dating
But free users cannot:
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Like or chat with other users
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Create a dating ad to make your profile discoverable to other users
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Send virtual gifts to people who catch your eye
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Filter ads based on specific criteria like interests/kinks
There is one major exception, though, and it applies only to women. On Pure, women can do the following without a paid account:
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Create a full profile with photos and interests/kinks
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Create ads
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Initiate and respond to chats
But don't think that, just because women get a few extra perks for free, they're starting with a premium membership! If female users want access to premium features like Incognito mode, the ability to browse ads without making yourself visible to other users, or a filter system to help you manage likes, they need to pay for a Queen membership.
What does Pure cost?
Pure offers tiered pricing depending on your subscription commitment. You should expect to pay:
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About $14 per week on a weekly subscription
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About $30 per month on a monthly subscription
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About $100 per year on a yearly subscription
Is a free Pure membership worth it?
If you're wondering what the purpose of a free Pure membership is if you can't post an ad or talk to other people, you're not alone. If you're not a woman, you have to pony up some cash just to have the chance to talk to another human being, so why not just do so immediately?
Well, there are two major benefits to trying a free Pure account, as far as we can see. The first is that you can start to familiarize yourself with their unique ad system and the swipe-up, swipe-left, and swipe-right mechanics you use to navigate it, which are totally different from most mainstream dating apps and will probably take some getting used to.
But the next benefit is even more important, though it only pertains to people who live outside of big cities. Pure's numbers might be growing at exponential rates, but it's still much more popular in large, metropolitan cities rather than towns and rural areas, so unless you live in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, or Berlin, you shouldn't take for granted that there are a large enough number of Pure users near you to make paying for a membership worthwhile.
That's where the free account comes in handy: you can quickly get a sense of how popular Pure is in your area, and if enough people catch your attention, you can decide to invest.
From this perspective, Pure does a nice job balancing utility with the free membership while still making the paid membership enticing.