It's not a typical dating app though... I don't know if it's still true but supposedly it had 6-12 month subscriptions to start. It's also mostly used by celebrities and people adjacent to celebrities. For those folks - it probably pays for itself and they're not hurting over $10/month. It's also highly selective and so if you get selected then of course you'll pay - it's a relatively cheap status symbol. There are probably a lot of networking opportunities on it beyond just the dating aspect. A lot of other industries are very dependent on "who you know" for anything to happen.

I'd gladly be a longer term subscriber if there was an app that A) connected me to people (most dating apps just don't do this to start for most straight men) and B) connected me to people who were what I'm looking for (very few people on dating apps I look at and feel drawn to). As it stands - all the dating apps right now are extremely disappointing. The filters I would like in an app just don't exist. I would legitimately pay $100+/month if I knew the apps would lead to dates with people I was interested in or if I would be able to connect with likeminded individuals that lead to real world interactions.

If I was a celebrity or adjacent to celebrity stuff - I would gladly be on an app like Raya because it sounds like you could at least filter out the overwhelming majority of people who you're not gonna line up with.