Coffee Meets Bagel VS Elite Singles: A Comparison

In the mid-1990s, a third of all couples were introduced by friends. Twenty years later, the same number of relationships were being formed online. Today, that number is even greater, with some estimates suggesting that as many as 50% of all relationships begin online.

Online dating works, and it works because the vast majority of singles now use online dating sites. The question is not whether you should sign up—if you’re single and looking for love, a fling, or a friend, it’s a no-brainer. The question is which site you should join and with more options than ever before, that’s not an easy one to answer.

In this guide, we’ll compare two popular options for progressive modern daters: Elite Singles and Coffee Meets Bagel. We’ll highlight the best online dating site from these two options and, hopefully, point you in the right direction.

The Basics: Registration and Demographics

Coffee Meets Bagel and Elite Singles are populated by educated professionals. Many have at least a bachelor’s degree, some run businesses, some work in the professional sector. Most are serious about finding a partner, although the Elite Singles dating site seems to have a larger number of users looking for a relationship as opposed to a hook-up.

Both sites have a comprehensive registration process, but we find the Elite Singles dating site to be the better of the two. Users are required to complete a questionnaire that highlights key personality traits and helps the system to find an ideal match. This questionnaire can be skipped and finished at a later date if preferred.

These sites have more female users than male, averaging around 60% female to 40% male.

Source: EliteSingles.com

The Matching System

Both options will send you a number of matches each day. For the Elite Singles dating site, this number is up to 20 for both sexes. For Coffee Meets Bagel, it’s 21 for men and 5 for women. The reasoning behind this is that women are more selective and will message fewer of their matches. The app’s algorithm uses this information to ensure females receive only the most compatible matches.

The questionnaire employed by the Elite Singles dating site ensures that both sexes receive highly compatible matches.

Elite Singles is a highly focused dating website that generates very detailed matches and makes more connections than many other sites. As discussed in our review of Elite Singles, it connects over 2,000 couples every single month—a huge number for such a specialized dating website.

You will also find many more users on the Elite Singles dating site. There are in excess of 13 million users on the site in total, at least 2 million of which are active regularly. The Coffee Meets Bagel dating site, however, has received just 7 million sign-ups since it was founded and has a much more limited active user base. This shouldn’t be a problem if you live in a major city, but if you live in a smaller town or rural area you will find many more matches on Elite Singles.

Price Comparisons

Coffee Meets Bagel is free to use, but with limitations. To lift these and get the premium features, you need to pay $35 a month. The Elite Singles dating site has a free trial, after which you can secure membership for between $19.95 and $37.95 a month. The cheaper price is available to users who pay for a 12-month membership.

Chatting Options

Elite Singles features a traditional messaging system, with options for comments, likes, personalized messages, and “smiles”. Conversations can be deleted, messages can be reported, and unsent messages can be saved. It’s fast, smooth, and error-free.

There have been some complaints regarding the Coffee Meets Bagel system and many of the bad reviews concern the apparent issues with the site’s messaging system.

To initiate a chat with this site, you need to match with someone. That means you have liked them and they have liked you back.

If you have liked them and they have not liked you back, you won’t be able to chat. This can be frustrating for some users, but it ensures that conversations are more meaningful and users are not bombarded with countless unwanted messages. After all, the site was created to be more female-friendly and one of the biggest issues for female users is unwanted messages.

Safety and Service

Both of these dating sites have strict safety measures in place to protect their users. On the Elite Singles dating site, you can hide your profile to stop appearing in matches. You can also delete a match to “block” them. Additionally, it is possible to report users who abuse the service. In fact, there is even a team tasked with removing fake profiles and potentially harmful accounts.

Coffee Meets Bagel has similar features. However, we can’t mention security without discussing the much-publicized breach that occurred on Valentine’s Day 2019. The company announced they had been hacked and user data had been compromised. Anyone whose details were on the site prior to May 2018 is believed to have been targeted, accounting for around 6 million users in total.

These details were sold on the Dark Web along with information stolen from several other popular applications. Fortunately, this hack did not include financial data or passwords. Nevertheless, it was still a big concern for the site’s users.

Special Features

Elite Singles is geared more towards serious daters seeking someone who is just as educated and professional as they are. It uses an advanced matchmaking algorithm and is more of a traditional service, focusing on personality matches. Coffee Meets Bagel is a little less detailed. It focuses on a quick accept/reject swiping method that has proved popular on other dating apps.

This feature tends not to produce the best results, especially when it’s not backed by an advanced algorithm and personality matches.

Coffee Meets Bagel uses its own in-app currency, known as “Beans”. You are given a number of these when you register and can purchase more when needed. Beans can be used to perform several actions within the app.

Conclusion

Coffee Meets Bagel is a solid dating site that operates in a very busy marketplace. It offers some of the features found on more general and generic apps, but with a focus on professional individuals. However, it isn’t as effective, efficient, or secure as Elite Singles. Elite Singles has a better reputation, a larger userbase and seems to produce better results.

Both services have their own pros and cons. That being said, if you’re a highly-educated professional seeking the perfect match, Elite Singles might be the best online dating site for you.

If you want a dating website that is a little less specific, take a look at our review for Zoosk, which, like Coffee Meets Bagel, is built around an app.