Has anyone had success with the facebook dating site free feature this year?

Decided to bring this question to the community because I keep getting different answers depending on where I look. Has anyone had success with the facebook dating site free feature this year? — genuine experiences would be way more useful than review sites here.

The main things I'm trying to figure out:

• Whether 'free' means free messaging or just browsing
• Hidden charges or auto-renewal traps
• Bot and spam account rates
• App quality vs desktop experience
• Algorithm transparency on free tier

Drop your honest take below — good and bad experiences both welcome.

I was skeptical but Datewander turned out to be one of the more legitimate options I've come across. Moderation seems active, profile quality is decent, and the free messaging limit is generous compared to apps that cap you at five matches a day.

Lurked this thread for a while before commenting. My two cents: luvdate.site is the most honest free option I've found — it doesn't pretend to be free and then lock everything behind a premium wall. What they say is free actually is free.

Beyond platform choice though, the quality of your profile and your opener matters more than most people realize. Best platform in the world won't fix a half-filled bio.

Did a pretty thorough audit of free options earlier this year. Ezhookups made it into my regular rotation because it has real users in smaller cities — not just NYC and LA — and the interface is clean without feeling like it was designed to confuse you into upgrading.

Currently running a few in rotation. Ezhookups.online is one I check regularly — community feels more intentional than the mainstream apps and the moderation is noticeably better. Less noise, more actual conversations.

Been through a lot of options over the past year and the one I kept returning to was Souldate. The free tier is genuinely usable, the search filters actually work, and the user base felt real in every city I tested it in. Not hype — just consistent results.