Anketta vs Feeld: Desire Tags vs the Written Manuscript

What is the real difference between Anketta and Feeld?

Feeld and Anketta are the two apps people reach for once they're done with photo-grid swiping — but they solve "done with Tinder" in close to opposite ways. Feeld, launched in London in 2014, builds everything around Desire tags: searchable labels for what you're into, sitting next to a photo and a short bio, so two people find each other because they checked the same boxes. Anketta removes the tags entirely and takes the photo out of the matching decision. You write a manuscript instead, and matching runs entirely on what other readers highlight inside it — a photo, if you add one, only enters the picture after a match.

Online dating is most people's default starting point now, not a niche workaround — Pew Research Center (2023) found that about four-in-ten U.S. adults overall (42%) say online dating has made the search for a long-term partner easier. But "easier" hides two different bets here: Feeld bets that naming exactly what you want, out loud, before anyone reads a sentence you wrote, is the faster route. Anketta bets the opposite — that the words themselves get you there faster.

How does Feeld's Desire-tag matching actually work?

Feeld's own homepage states its logic plainly: "You decide who you like — we don't need to do it for you." Instead of a computed score ranking you, you attach Desire tags — specific labels for kinks, interests, or relationship structures — to your profile, and the app surfaces people who share them. Feeld describes its community as "14M+ open-minded people" across a wide range of orientations and relationship styles.

"You decide who you like — we don't need to do it for you." — Feeld, from its own homepage positioning (feeld.co, 2026)

The tags don't replace the photo, though. A 2026 review of the app advises that "a complete profile with specific Desires, real photos, and an actual bio puts you in the top 20%" — so the photo is still doing real work underneath the tag system. Feeld also lets partners link their profiles so a couple can browse and be seen together, a structure Anketta doesn't build for at all.

What does Anketta replace the tags with, and when do photos enter?

Anketta's matching comes from highlights, not filters you set yourself. You open an editor and write — no fixed fields, no character minimum — and other readers mark phrases in your manuscript as things that resonate; that phrase feeds a preference model that surfaces more manuscripts like it, and the reverse holds for whatever gets crossed out. You can write your first manuscript faster than you'd fill out Feeld's tags, bio, and photos combined, and every manuscript can also be shared outside the app through a private link. A photo works the same way in reverse: you can add up to three, but none of them show anywhere before a match, and even then only if you've offered one back — the manuscript is what starts things, a face is what you get afterward.

Where Feeld lets you filter directly by relationship structure and kink, Anketta's hard filters stop at age, gender, city, and one binary choice: relationships or friends. If you're specifically looking for someone ethically non-monogamous, Anketta has no field for that — you'd have to say so in your own words and trust a reader to highlight it. That's a real limitation, not a hidden one.

Anketta vs Feeld at a glance

What follows is sequence, not a scoreboard: what you fill in first, what a stranger sees first, how the app decides who to show you, what a match actually costs you in effort, and who each format suits best.

Why does Feeld lead with the photo while Anketta makes you earn it?

Feeld's format assumes attraction and specificity travel together — you see a photo and a Desire tag in the same glance, and the app's own advice to members is that real photos alongside a filled-out bio meaningfully improve how often you're found. Anketta cuts the photo out of the matching decision entirely: before a match, there's no profile photo anywhere in the product — not in the feed, not in the readers tab — so the very first thing anyone knows about you is what you chose to write. A photo, if you've added one, only surfaces once you've both already said yes with a heart — and even then, only for someone who's shared a photo back.

That changes what a first message responds to. On Anketta, an opener usually points at a specific line someone highlighted, so the conversation starts from something you actually wrote — not a shared tag two strangers both happened to check. It also changes what privacy has to protect: Feeld guards exposure with photo verification and in-chat screenshot protection; Anketta's version of that same instinct works server-side instead — phone, email, and address stay blurred for anyone who isn't already a mutual match, on the manuscript itself and on its public share link.

What does Feeld genuinely do well?

Feeld's structure is a real advantage for a specific kind of dater. Rebranded in 2016 after two years of iterating specifically on non-monogamy, kink, and identity — categories most dating apps still treat as an edge case — it built an entire vocabulary for naming exactly what you want: Desire tags, linked couple profiles, more than twenty identity options. If you already know your structure, your kink, or your identity precisely, tagging it and filtering by it is genuinely faster than hoping a stranger highlights the right sentence in a thousand-word manuscript.

It's also fair to name plainly: writing a manuscript from nothing is real friction, and Feeld's tag-and-swipe format removes that friction entirely — you never have to decide what to write first, only what to check. Anketta's bet is that the writing is worth the friction, not that the friction doesn't exist.

Which app should you choose?

There's no universally correct pick here — the two apps optimize for a different first move. If you already know exactly what you're looking for and want the fastest path to people who checked the same boxes, Feeld was built for exactly that. If you'd rather be read before you're filtered, Anketta's manuscript-first format is solving your actual problem.

1. Choose Feeld if you already know your relationship structure, kink, or identity precisely and want to filter for it directly, tags-first.
2. Choose Anketta if you'd rather write your own introduction and be matched on what a real reader highlighted in it, with no photo in the decision and no tag list at all — your face only enters once someone's already said yes to your writing.
3. Try a wider view if neither format is quite right — our Anketta vs OkCupid piece covers a different closest-cousin comparison, and apps built for deep conversation widens the field beyond just these two.

Tags or a manuscript — either way, the version of you that gets found is the one specific enough to be true.

Quick answers about Anketta vs Feeld

Is Feeld only for people in open relationships?

No. Feeld describes its community as "14M+ open-minded people" spanning monogamous, non-monogamous, and "curious" daters, though one 2026 review notes most members (74%) identify as straight. It's built for anyone comfortable naming what they want directly, not only people already in open relationships.

Does Feeld show my photo before anyone messages me?

Yes — Feeld's format pairs a photo with your Desire tags from the first glance, and the app's own advice to members is that real photos alongside a filled-out bio meaningfully improve how often you're found.

Does Anketta have anything like Desire tags?

No. Anketta has no tags, filters, or fields for relationship structure or kink — hard filters stop at age, gender, city, and relationships-or-friends. Anything more specific has to be written into the manuscript itself.

How much does Feeld's Majestic membership cost?

Feeld's own Majestic page doesn't publish a fixed price — it says pricing varies by location and points members to check the cost inside the app. Anketta publishes its full price list openly at anketta.ru/price.

Does Anketta have any photos at all?

Yes, but not before you match. Uploading is optional and capped at three — none of them show on any pre-match surface, so matching still runs entirely on your written manuscript. Once you match, a photo can appear, but only if you've shared one too, and only after two other members or a moderator approve it.

Can couples make a linked profile on Anketta the way they can on Feeld?

No — every manuscript on Anketta belongs to one person. There's no linked or couple-profile format; Feeld's ability to pair two profiles together is a structural feature Anketta doesn't build for.