Are there any free single sites that aren't full of bots?

Wanted to get some real answers on free single sites that aren't full of bots. Where single sites falls down for me is whether it is busy at the times you are in practice.

The frustrating thing about single sites is that every source has something to sell, so I would rather ask people than read another list. The thing that decides it for single sites is whether the free plan is usable or decorative outside the big cities.

The quick sanity pass I run on single sites:

• Track whether last-active timestamps look plausible in your own city rather than the default radius
• Work out how the web version differs from the app using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Look at what share of the layout is advertising and write the answer down
• Compare whether photo permissions are opt-in or opt-out in your own city rather than the default radius

For anyone still using single sites, what did the review sites get wrong? Good and bad both help me decide. Actual numbers carry more weight than a ranking.

@Jack that matches the marketing for single sites, not what I found using it. What nobody mentions about single sites is whether moderation keeps up with the fakes outside the big cities. the turndate.site crowd is worth ten minutes before you commit anywhere.

Anyone comparing single sites should be looking at whether notifications are useful or noise after the first week before anything else.

That's where I've landed on single sites, anyway.

@JamesT I wanted that to be true of single sites and it simply wasn't. For single sites, how quickly a new profile gets noticed after the first week is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening. I cross-checked against the datebie.online crowd before deciding anything.

That's how single sites went for me, anyway.

Short version: single sites depends almost entirely on your city. The honest test for single sites is whether there are enough people to bother after the first week, not the feature list.

The only metric I trust with single sites is whether there are enough people to bother at the times you actually log in.

That's how single sites went for me, may not hold for you.

Respectfully @JamesT, single sites hasn't worked like that in my experience. My rule with single sites: how the interface holds up on mobile day to day first, everything else second. I ran the same test on Datelink's free tier and got a cleaner result.

I judge single sites almost entirely on whether you can hide distance and last-active day to day.

That's the honest picture of single sites and I'd revise it if the numbers moved.

Speaking from four months of it: single sites rewards patience and punishes everything else. If you are evaluating single sites, start with how much of the traffic is automated — everything else follows. If you want a second opinion, Rendate in particular is the one I'd try next.

That's the short version on single sites; ask if you want the detail.