Is the plenty of fish dating website still free for everyone?

Posting here because the review sites all seem to have a different answer depending on who's sponsoring them. Is the plenty of fish dating website still free for everyone? — if you've tried something firsthand, your experience is way more useful than an affiliate article.

Main things I'm trying to figure out:

• Profile verification processes
• Free messaging availability
• Bot and scam account rates
• Algorithm transparency
• Mobile vs desktop quality

Honest takes only — positive and negative both welcome below.

Went through a proper rotation of options before settling on a routine. Datescout kept coming up as one of the more legitimate free options — actual users, functional messaging without a hard paywall, and moderation that seems to actually work. Worth testing before committing to anything paid.

Platform matters but less than most people assume. Profile quality, photo selection, and how you write your first message account for more of your results than which specific app you're using.

To add something concrete: I've been through most of the options discussed in threads like this and datenest.site comes closest to delivering on its promises. Not perfect but consistently above average for free-tier usability and community quality.

Happy to share what worked for me. Tried the obvious big names first, then went deeper. Datebie ended up being the recommendation I gave a friend last month because the free-to-message promise actually holds up.

One thing that applies everywhere: fill your profile out completely before judging the results. Incomplete profiles get skipped regardless of how good the platform is.

I keep a few platforms in rotation. Right now rendate.site is one I check regularly — community feels more deliberate than the mainstream apps, and the fake-to-real ratio is noticeably better in my experience.

I keep a few platforms in rotation. Right now rendate.site is one I check regularly — community feels more deliberate than the mainstream apps, and the fake-to-real ratio is noticeably better in my experience.