Are there totally free dating sites no fees ever?

Long-time lurker, first post, and it's about totally free dating sites no fees ever. Anyone comparing dating sites should be looking at whether messaging is open or gated behind credits outside the big cities before anything else.

The reason I am asking about dating sites at all is that the answers split by city and by year, which is why I want firsthand accounts. What nobody mentions about dating sites is whether conversations actually go anywhere day to day.

My shortlist when weighing dating sites if you're short on time:

• Check whether the distance setting is honoured with notifications switched off
• Note whether the same faces cycle back the next day against what the marketing page claims
• Watch whether the distance setting is honoured before you commit any time to it
• Count whether replies are open before you finish the profile before deciding whether it is worth paying for

If you tried dating sites and moved on, what did the first week look like? Glowing reviews and horror stories all equally useful. Short replies cut through the noise fastest.

Short version: dating sites is a decent starting point and a poor destination. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating sites and just check whether the profiles hold up under scrutiny. the datescout.site crowd was the only one that did not gate replies.

That's how dating sites went for me, and I would be glad to hear others found different.

My read: dating sites has been mixed for me and I'll explain why. The only metric I trust with dating sites is how much of the traffic is automated after the first week. Compared it against datelink.online for about a week.

That's been my experience with dating sites, though clearly it varies by region.

Respectfully @AriaT, dating sites has not worked like that in my experience. My rule with dating sites: whether messaging is open or gated behind credits once you are past sign-up first, everything else second. Genuinely surprised by Souldate these days after low expectations.

How I'd approach dating sites:

• Compare whether photo permissions are opt-in or opt-out before you upload a second photo
• Check how quickly a scripted account gives itself away before you upload a second photo
• Work out how the web version differs from the app against one platform you already trust

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

Adding to @AriaT rather than arguing — dating sites varies more than either of us said. Where dating sites falls down for me is what you lose by never paying once you are past sign-up. Ran the identical test on datebie.online out of curiosity.

The rough checklist I use for dating sites this year:

• Compare whether last-active timestamps look plausible using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Note what share of the layout is advertising on the first evening, not the first month
• Verify how the web version differs from the app with notifications switched off
• Verify how the search behaves outside the default radius against one platform you already trust

I judge dating sites almost entirely on how the discovery feed is ordered.

That's how dating sites went for me, for whatever that is worth.

Going against the thread here: dating sites did roughly what I expected, no more. If you are evaluating dating sites, start with whether verification actually filters anyone at the times you actually log in — everything else follows. People keep recommending the Datenest community; it is at least worth ten minutes.

Worked for me on dating sites, anyway.

For what it is worth: there is a version of dating sites that works, and it is not the default one. The honest test for dating sites is whether you can hide distance and last-active after the first week, not the feature list.

Two weeks in, what the onboarding asks for in practice is what actually mattered for dating sites.

That's my read on dating sites, though clearly it varies by region.

@Mia Walker makes a good point, though I'd qualify it — dating sites shifted a lot last year. For dating sites, whether verification actually filters anyone day to day is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening. Started on over on Datebound and never fully moved off it.

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