Badoo gives you the biggest, broadest pool of people, almost anywhere in the world. Heyama is the better fit if you want someone who shares your roots, want to say upfront that you're looking for marriage (or not), and would rather pay with Mobile Money than sign up for a subscription. That's the short answer.
A fair warning: this is the Heyama blog, so we're not a neutral referee. To keep it honest, everything said about Badoo here comes from Badoo's own help centre, with a link each time. No prices and no app store ratings, because they change too often to be trusted in an article. The pages were checked in October 2026, so if you're reading this much later, double-check the details at the source.
Badoo vs Heyama at a glance
| Badoo | Heyama | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Singles everywhere, from every background | Africans on the continent and in the diaspora, in English and French |
| Free | Basic use. People who liked you stay blurred without Premium | Profile, Likes, matching, chatting after a match, replying to DMs |
| How you pay | Premium subscription that renews automatically, plus top-up Credits | No subscription: coins, Boost and Incognito are one-off purchases that never renew on their own |
| Payment methods | App Store, Google Play, card or PayPal on the website, mobile operator billing in some cases | Mobile Money depending on the country, PayPal (cards included), App Store and Google Play |
| What you're looking for | 3 options, including "Ready for a relationship" | 4 intentions (Wedding, Friends, Fun, Sex) and an intention filter |
| Messaging before a match | With Credits | With a paid DM in coins. Replying to a DM is free |
| Verification | Selfie copying a gesture (blue checkmark), optional ID verification | Selfie copying a gesture, reviewed by the team, "Certified profile" badge, optional |
| Privacy | Invisible mode included in Premium | Incognito mode (paid pack), screenshots blocked by default |
Looking for a Badoo alternative? Start with who each app is for
Badoo is a general dating app. It welcomes every background and orientation and runs in your phone's language. Its strength is sheer numbers: in London, Toronto or Douala you'll see a lot of profiles, from every walk of life.
Heyama starts from the other end. It's built for Africans, whether they live in Yaoundé, Abidjan, Manchester or Montreal. If you're in Houston and want someone who doesn't need the Sunday family lunch, the aunties' questions or bride price explained, you don't have to filter through hundreds of profiles to find them. That shared background is the starting point of the whole community.
Neither approach is better in general. The real question is what you want to find when you open the app.
Free vs paid: what you actually pay for
On Badoo
Badoo is free for the basics. According to its page on Badoo's paid features, there are two main paid options, plus a lighter plan called Badoo Extra:
- Badoo Premium, a subscription: see who likes you, priority for your sent messages, undo accidental left swipes, unlimited filters, private browsing.
- Credits, a top-up rather than a subscription: move to the top, show you're online, open a chat without a match, buy "Extra Shows". Badoo says purchased Credits expire after 6 months, unless they were bought through the Apple App Store.
Worth knowing: Premium renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the renewal date, and deleting your account doesn't cancel an App Store subscription. If you try Premium, put the renewal date in your calendar.
On Heyama
Heyama isn't "completely free", and we'd rather say so plainly. Free: creating your profile, liking (20 Likes a day before you verify, 200 after), matching, chatting once you've matched, and replying to DMs.
Paid in coins: sending a DM before a match (200 coins), going back to a profile you passed (100), creating a match from the Likes screen (300), and a few filters such as intention (200). Boost and Incognito are bought separately, with money. There's no subscription, so every purchase is a one-off and nothing renews behind your back. You can also earn coins for free through the daily login streak and referrals.
Paying from Douala, Abidjan or London
This is often the deciding point. Badoo's help centre lists its payment methods: the App Store, Google Play, and card or PayPal on the website. Its subscription page also mentions SMS payments, managed by your mobile operator. I found no mention of Mobile Money on its pages.
On Heyama, the payment screen splits "Local payments" and "International payments". Depending on your country you can pay with MTN, Orange, Moov, Wave, Airtel and other Mobile Money services, or with PayPal (cards included), the App Store or Google Play. If you don't have an international bank card, that alone can settle it.
Saying what you want, without the guessing game
On Badoo you can show why you're here: "Here to date", "Open to chat" or "Ready for a relationship". That's a decent start.
Heyama goes further with four intentions: Wedding, Friends, Fun and Sex. Yes, Sex too, because an honest intention beats a misunderstanding on the third date. And you can filter profiles by intention (200 coins): if you want to get married, you don't spend three weeks texting someone who was only in it for fun. For the other warning signs, see our guide to red flags on dating apps.
Verification and safety
Both apps offer selfie verification, which is good news for you either way.
Badoo offers photo verification: you take a selfie copying a gesture, checked by a mix of automated and human review, and get a blue checkmark. There's also ID verification. Two of its safety features stand out: in-app video and voice calls, so you can see someone before meeting, and Private Detector, which blurs explicit images you receive.
Heyama checks every photo, automatically and then by the team, and reviews bios too. Verification is optional: a selfie copying the gesture on screen, reviewed by a team member within 24 hours, then the "Certified profile" badge. Our guide to verifying your Heyama profile walks you through it. Other safeguards: DMs and bios containing a phone number or email address are refused, and when you open a new conversation, a "Be CAREFUL" sheet reminds you never to send money.
Privacy: who gets to see you?
Plenty of singles would rather their colleagues, their pastor or their cousin's friends didn't stumble on their profile. On Badoo, Invisible mode is part of the Premium subscription.
On Heyama, two things help. Screenshots and screen recording are blocked across the whole app by default (you can turn this off under Settings, Privacy, App Privacy). And Incognito mode, a paid pack for 3, 6 or 12 months, means only people you've liked or sent a DM to can see you; it also hides your online status and lets you lock the app with a code.
So, Badoo or Heyama?
Badoo suits you better if you want the largest number of profiles from every background, in-app video calls matter to you, and paying by card or through the app stores is easy for you.
Heyama suits you better if you want a partner who shares your culture, want to pick and filter for a clear intention like marriage, prefer to pay with Mobile Money, and don't want a subscription that renews without asking.
Nothing stops you from trying both for a month and keeping the one where conversations go further than "hey, wyd". If you're also weighing up another app, our Tinder or Heyama comparison and our guide to the best dating app to meet Africans fill in the rest.
And if you'd like to see for yourself, join Heyama and pick your intention.
FAQ
Is Badoo free?
The basics are. Seeing who liked you, private browsing and unlimited filters need Premium, and some actions, such as opening a chat without a match, need Credits.
How do I cancel Badoo Premium?
According to Badoo's cancellation page: in your iPhone Settings under Subscriptions if you paid through Apple, in the Play Store under Payments & subscriptions if you paid through Google, or in the app from your profile if you paid by card or PayPal. You keep your perks until the end of the period you paid for.
Does Heyama have a subscription?
No. Coins, Boost and Incognito are one-off purchases with no automatic renewal.
What's a good Badoo alternative for African singles?
It depends on what you want. If shared culture, a clear intention and Mobile Money payments matter to you, an app built for Africans and the diaspora, like Heyama, is worth a try alongside the general apps.
