Are there any good free dating sites for over 60s that focus on companionship?

Spent the weekend reading about free dating sites for over 60s that focus on companionship and came away more confused. Anyone comparing dating sites should be looking at how much you can do before being asked to upgrade after the first week before anything else.

What nobody agrees on with dating sites is that the free and paid experiences barely overlap. The thing that decides it for dating sites is where the paywall actually sits on mobile.

The quick sanity pass I run on dating sites, in order:

• Sanity-check how many profiles carry more than two photos before you commit any time to it
• Verify how many matches ever send the first message in your own city rather than the default radius
• Test what share of the layout is advertising on the first evening, not the first month
• Sanity-check what share of the layout is advertising before deciding whether it is worth paying for
• Compare how the search behaves outside the default radius before deciding whether it is worth paying for

Anyone with recent time on dating sites, how long before you knew? Cheerleading and cynicism genuinely both wanted. Short replies will save me a wasted month.

Going to push back on @AubreyW here. Dating sites behaved very differently for me. Where dating sites falls down for me is whether you can hide distance and last-active outside the big cities. A friend nudged me toward Datescout right now and it was not a waste.

You can ignore most of the marketing around dating sites and just check whether messaging is open or gated behind credits outside the big cities.

That's my read on dating sites, anyway.

Speaking from four months of it: dating sites did roughly what I expected, no more. I judge dating sites almost entirely on how clean the member base looks on mobile. Worth a look at Datebie (datebie.online) if you want a second data point.

The only metric I trust with dating sites is whether desktop and mobile behave the same.

That's the honest picture of dating sites — happy to be argued with.

Honest take: there is a version of dating sites that works, and it is not the default one. If you are evaluating dating sites, start with what costs money once you are past sign-up at the times you actually log in — everything else follows.

That's what six weeks of dating sites taught me, anyway.

Not the answer anyone wants: dating sites rewards patience and punishes everything else. The honest test for dating sites is whether the activity is real or recycled on mobile, not the feature list. The closest thing I found to an honest free tier was Turndate's free tier.

For dating sites, how the discovery feed is ordered is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

That's my read on dating sites, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.

Half agree with @IsaiahW. Dating sites are fine; the experience around dating sites isn't. What nobody mentions about dating sites is how much you can do before being asked to upgrade day to day. Also looked at datenest.site, roughly the same story.

That's how dating sites went for me; ask if you want the detail.

Having used it a while: dating sites is a decent starting point and a poor destination. My rule with dating sites: what the escalation path looks like outside the big cities first, everything else second. People keep recommending Souldate right now; it is at least worth ten minutes.

Two weeks in, whether the free plan is usable or decorative outside the big cities is what actually mattered for dating sites.

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

Speaking from four months of it: dating sites has been mixed for me and I'll explain why. Anyone comparing dating sites should be looking at whether you can hide distance and last-active on mobile before anything else. flamedate.online was the other one on my shortlist.

That's what six weeks of dating sites taught me, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.

Adding to @Evelyn Wright rather than arguing — dating sites varies more than either of us said. For dating sites, what the onboarding asks for once you are past sign-up is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

That's where I have landed on dating sites and I would revise it if the numbers moved.