Meetup builds recurring communities around interests. FirstMove helps you connect with people at the specific event you're attending right now.

Meetup and FirstMove both help people connect in real life, but they operate on different timescales and with different social architectures. Understanding that difference makes the choice straightforward.

Meetup's model: recurring community

Meetup is built around the group. You find a group that shares your interest — hiking, board games, Python programming, salsa dancing — and you start attending their regular events. Over time, you become part of a community. The social connections you build are persistent and cumulative.

This model works well for people looking to build a social life in a new city, for finding communities around specific hobbies or interests, for organising recurring event series with a consistent audience, and for situations where you want gradual relationship building over multiple meetings. Our piece on finding friends with shared interests in the UK digs into that pattern.

Meetup's key strengths: a large established user base in many UK cities, thousands of groups covering a wide range of interests, event management tools for group organisers (RSVP, reminders, communication), and the community context makes first meetings less cold.

Meetup's limitations: the in-event experience is thin — Meetup doesn't help you connect with people while you're at the event itself. The group-joining model creates friction: you have to commit to a group before you can really participate. It's less useful for one-off events like concerts, festivals, conferences, and one-time gatherings. And the app experience has received mixed reviews for usability. If you're after a quick rundown of substitutes, see our Meetup app alternatives guide.

FirstMove's model: in-event presence

FirstMove is built around the event moment. You're here, at this event, right now. Other people are here too, and some of them are open to meeting someone. FirstMove creates the conditions for those connections to happen.

Download the free app and create a quick event profile. At the event, VibeZones activate — showing you who nearby has opted in to connecting. Browse nearby profiles; indicate interest if someone catches your attention. A connection (Mutual Handshake) only happens if they indicate interest too. Ice-breaker prompts help you start a conversation. After the event, your profile data expires — minimal digital footprint.

FirstMove works at any live event — festivals, conferences, social nights, charity events — without requiring the event to use the platform.

Head-to-head comparison

Feature | Meetup | FirstMove

Core model | Recurring interest-based groups | In-event real-time connection

Best for | Building community over time | Meeting people at a specific event

Event types | Regular group meetups | Any live event (festivals, parties, conferences)

In-event experience | Minimal | Core feature

Connection timing | Asynchronous (pre-event) | Real-time (during event)

Profile type | Persistent social profile | Ephemeral per-event

Privacy model | Standard | Privacy-first

One-off events | Limited | Works for any event

Organiser tools | Group management, RSVP | Venue analytics (FirstMove Business)

Cost | Free (with limitations) | Always free

UK market | Strong | UK-focused

A practical scenario

Imagine you're going to a one-off food festival in your city. You don't have a group to bring; you're going to explore and potentially meet interesting people.

With Meetup, you might find that a local food enthusiast group is also attending, and you could RSVP to join them. If that group is active and organised, this could be a useful way in. If there's no relevant group, or the group organiser hasn't set up an event for the festival, Meetup doesn't help.

With FirstMove, you download the app, create a quick profile, and arrive. VibeZones at the festival show you other FirstMove users who are there and open to connecting. You can see who's nearby, indicate interest in people you'd like to meet, and start conversations with ice-breaker prompts — all without any advance coordination.

The scenario where Meetup helps more: you want to find a community around food and attend regular events together over months.

The scenario where FirstMove helps more: you're at a specific event and want to meet interesting people who are there right now.

Complementary, not competing

In many cases, these tools are most usefully thought of as complementary. Meetup for building your recurring social life and finding community groups. FirstMove for maximising any specific event you attend, whether or not it's part of a group.

The gap that most people feel is the in-event gap — arriving at a gathering with no easy way to identify and approach the interesting people nearby. FirstMove addresses that specific problem. Our wider list of the best networking apps for events in 2025 covers other options worth knowing.

Try FirstMove

Download FirstMove free on iOS and Android — use it at your next event, whatever it is.

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