Hornet Review 2024 — Real Gay Dating Site or Scam?
| Active Audience | 50% |
| Quality Matches | 93% |
| Popular Age | 22-25 |
| Profiles | 2 700 000 |
| Reply Rate | 96% |
| Ease of Use | 9.4 |
| Popularity | 9.2 |
| Fraud | Very Rarely |
| Rating | |
| Registration | Free |
Hornet users sign up here as well:
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Pablo
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01 Jun 2020Updated:14 May 2024
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4296 Views
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9 min read
Pros and Cons
- Most of the features are free
- The ability to add several pictures to a profile
- Unlimited messages to all users
- Advertisements can be annoying and intrusive
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Hornet is a platform for gay individuals who are looking for much better ways of establishing a connection. It is also a community that is actively seeking serious relationships rather than just hookups.
How Does Hornet Work?
Hornet is a conglomeration of some of the best dating features found on different gay apps. The location services are used heavily to bring users information about gay men who are located in the neighborhood. It uses a powerful algorithm to target users, who can be bisexual or gay. The editorial content on Hornet is likely to appeal to a greater audience, who are showing a lot of interest in queer issues.
Audience Analysis
The platform’s member structure is very diverse, and it is readily apparent from the platform itself, ensuring that the user base is well catered to the availability of several languages apart from English. One can choose languages like Indonesian, Polish, Simplified Chinese, and many more. Since coming out in 2011, Hornet has gained a lot of popularity and now boasts of more than 25 million users worldwide. They contribute to more than 1 million logins every day.
Around 3 million users and more are from the United States. Most of the users on this platform happened to be between 18 years and 34 years old. The demographics also show that users tend to frequently login every day – around seven times per day. Every user also tends to spend around 100 minutes per day on the site.
The Caucasians make up 42% of the site, with Latinos coming second with a 9.5% contribution. The third most popular race from the United States on the platform would be African-Americans, representing 9%. However, Asians are the third biggest overall, with a 28% representation.
Key Features
Let us see some essential features of Hornet. We are going to delve into this thoroughly and give you all details.
- Places
- Events
- Stories
- Grindr
- Tinder
- Scruff
“Places” is an improvement of an old app called Vespa, which was acquired by the Hornet brand a few years ago. Hornet has been able to improve the feature even better. It is essentially a carefully constructed database that features events and places across 70 countries and 300 cities. This database s seen as very crucial for gays. The listed areas on the page will provide easy access for the LGBT community to find places of interest like testing centers, dive bars, spas, gyms, disco pubs, underground piano bars, and more.
The events section of the site is about information about the upcoming events for LGBT community members in the nearby area. Unlike on Facebook, it is not possible to interact with the event as only the information is posted. The event will disclose details about the time, place, and other facets. However, users should be aware that if they choose to attend one of these events, they would not be protected by the privacy policy and terms of Hornet. Hence, a lot of care should be taken in choosing these events.
The appearance of the leading site is very similar to that of a newsfeed offered by Facebook or other social media sites. It comprises of content that has been provided by the in-house editorial staff, who make sure that the members submit the stories. Anyone can be part of the content management team. Before submitting a story, users must post a brief description that will determine the fitness of the particular article to the site.
Hornet User-Friendliness
New users may take some time to get adjusted to the platform, considering that much is going on at any given moment. The stories section will handle most of the entertainment needs, but the design can be confusing at times since more emphasis is placed on online people than the messaging platforms.
Website Design & Usability
The Hornet webpage can be quite dated on the desktop version, but some exciting features can keep users active and happy. One among them would be the stories section, which is a legitimate attempt from the site to keep content interesting. It is easy to spend around an hour on the stories alone, but there are just too many ads that can spoil the experience. The design language has also been mixed up, as the list of new members is available in the top section while messages are being pushed to the bottom right. It should have been the other way round, as users are more likely to be interested in accessing the messages. Overall, the design and usability of the site have to improve a lot to reach modern standards.
Hornet’s Mobile Application
A greater section of users today accesses the platform from a mobile app, which is offered by the site. The design of this app can be regarded as an improvement over the desktop version, as it is a lot smoother to navigate apart from being fast to load. The inbox page has been saved separately, so that users can track messages more efficiently, unlike the PC version.
The stories section has been moved up to a secondary tab, but it is possible to catch the highlights and messages. Plenty of optimization has been done on the app so that it works well on different phones, but it is also filled with lots of advertisements. The spambots have also known to create some issues. Another negative aspect of the app is that once a message has been sent, it cannot be deleted or undone.
Customer Support
Assistance on the Hornet is a platform is available in multiple pages due to the global user base that the platform enjoys. The help center contains a vast amount of data in nine languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, and more.
The help articles deal with every aspect of the platform like account settings, safety, privacy, setup, and even the premium membership. If this section does not solve any issue, users can check out the forums, or they can also initiate a support ticket, which will be dealt with by the team.
Sing-up Process & User Profile
Hornet has a very simplified registration procedure that should not take more than a couple of seconds if the user has all the required aspects like a Google or Facebook account. The platform has completely done away with the option of being able to create a username and password apart from entering plenty of detail for the profile. Instead, it merely uses the social networking giant’s account as an authenticator to proceed further. Users need not even pick a username, and they only have to select a password after registration.
Compared to many other LGBT dating sites, Hornet manages to have decent levels of security thanks to this measure, as Facebook and Google take a lot of precautions.
How to Sign-Up
A person needs an account on Google or Facebook to become a member of Hornet. Immediately after opening the registration page, users will be presented with one of these options. After performing the preferred login, users will be directed to the homepage as a standard member. It would take around five seconds to open an account, but users do not have the privilege of choosing a username, which is automatically decided. A password can be set after opening the account, and the same goes for the profile picture.
Profile Quality and Verification
It can be a little scary that users can get started with the Hornet if they only possess an email on the records. Even then, the Hornet team makes sure that the users fill up the profile with a decent amount of information. Regular reminders do this to the registered email. Apart from this remainder, users also receive a link that will direct them to the profile edit page, where they can fill in information like username, headline, full name, role, physical statistics, ethnicity, relationship preference, and more. Even though these are recommended, Hornet has not made them mandatory. As a result, it is easy to come across profiles that are filled with very little information.
Anyone can access the profile pictures without any restrictions. The lack of major verification procedures on the Hornet platform does result in a drop-in profile quality. Still, there are comfort features like the ability to modify personal information, password, and profile pictures without much hindrance.
Hornet Search
Hornet has a powerful search tool that is not available to all users. The free user will be able to access the tool’s ability to filter users based on usernames, hashtags, age, location, and more. If a premium service is activated, it will allow the user to apply more filters and search invisibly.
Matching & Chatting
Hornet makes messaging available for every user without paying for a subscription pack. It can be a huge advantage, but it also brings security risks that can cause problems. Hornet could introduce the option of filtering messages sent by friends and random people. The messaging section could have been great if there was an option to accept or reject messages from certain individuals. As it stands, there is a tiny chatbox that can be used to go through all the different messages that a user has received. It is not possible to view the messages in full-screen.
Subscription Options
Hornet has paid versions of the platform that allows users to unlock some additional features that can come in handy in the dating scenario. Depending on the budget, users can pick up plans for different periods. Yet, it is important to know the differences between free and paid membership on this platform.
Free Version
The free membership is capable of providing a user with many advantages like searching and browsing through different profiles on the platform. Despite being a free user, the photos can be viewed without any limitation. If a user posted a threat on the platform, they could be blocked, and there are no limitations on the number of blocks. Crucially, a free user is allowed the freedom of sending and receiving messages. They can also upload private and public pictures.
Paid Subscription
An advantage for a premium member is the ability to view individuals who have visited their profile. Moreover, it is also easy to find new members, as the search functionality gets unlocked with all possible filters. There is also no restriction on the number of profile pictures that can be uploaded and viewed. Perhaps, the biggest advantage would be the removal of advertisements for premium subscriptions.
Pricing
Hornet does not have a lengthy list of plans and options. Instead, users get to enjoy a handful of variations that can offer less confusion. The plans start from $9.99 for one month of premium subscription. It increases to $25.98 for a three-month plan, while the most expensive option on the list would be a 12-month plan that costs $55.99. In comparison with the competition, Hornet would sit in the premium category due to these prices.
Cancelling Subscription
All users who have opted for the premium subscription have to remember that Hornet renews the subscription automatically without any intervention from the user. The cancellation of auto-renewal has to be done manually based on the platform from which the user signed up for the plan in the first place. A specific section within the account settings would allow cancellation if the subscription was purchased from the app. However, if the user had subscribed from a web platform, they had to send an email to the customer care team to cancel the membership.
Safety & Security
Since the location of an individual is used to determine people in the vicinity, this might be a concern. Hornet makes sure that the location randomly changes the distance, so users do not know the exact location. The safety aspect is also covered through an extensive help Centre, where users can report any common issues. Apart from providing information on the platform, the safety section also deals with the best online and off-line behavior from the user to ensure their safety. The site is protected by encryption as well. It means that users can perform all the financial aspects without worrying excessively about other details. The specific theme of the site also makes safety very important.
Hornet Alternatives and Competitors
Even though Hornet is very successful at what it offers, there are always alternatives in a market with many users. Some of the top alternatives would be:
Grindr happens to be one of the first entrance to the world of gay apps, and this is also apparent from the popularity that it enjoys among the LGBTQ community. There are millions of users active at any given moment, and it is also very reliable. Even though a pro subscription is also available, the sheer volume of the user base makes this app unavoidable.
Tinder is a quick and effective way of meeting new people, as it involves a swipe policy that has been excellent for the most part. It is easy to secure dates on Tinder, but the lack of substantial information on the profile can lead to suspicions. Furthermore, it is also easy to get rejected by other users on this platform if an individual does not have the right profile.
It is another popular gay dating app that has several features designed to make it easier for meeting people and creating connections. Even though the app has a common perception that it is only meant for manly men, it is not true that it is possible to meet people of different types. The enormous user base of this platform makes it easy to meet individuals without a lot of delays.
Conclusion
Hornet is a brilliant option for meeting people from the LGBT community from around the world. The member base of this platform is available throughout the world, as the key markets happen to be Russia, France, Turkey, Brazil, and Taiwan. All users get access to refreshing and original content, while the features make it easy to find people abroad. The online dating aspect of the platform can improve. It is especially pronounced in the desktop, which focuses on users who have recently logged in rather than helping improve relationships. Still, this is one of the few glitches of an otherwise great platform. All in all, you should try it for yourself!
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