What are the best free gay websites for finding local guys?

Going to be blunt about free gay websites for finding local guys because I'm tired of guessing. Anyone comparing gay websites should be looking at how active it is outside big cities before anything else.

Where I get stuck with gay websites is that the free and paid experiences barely overlap, so recent replies matter more than thorough ones. What nobody mentions about gay websites is where the paywall actually sits after the first week.

The three things that decide gay websites if you're short on time:

• Time whether last-active timestamps look plausible on mobile data, not office wifi
• Check how the search behaves outside the default radius against one platform you already trust
• Track how the feed changes when you narrow the age range against one platform you already trust

If gay websites worked for you, where did it fall over? Cheerleading and cynicism genuinely both wanted. Actual numbers are what I am actually after.

My read: gay websites depends almost entirely on your city. Where gay websites falls down for me is where the paywall actually sits at the times you actually log in. Kept rendate.site open in another tab to compare.

That's been my experience with gay websites, may not hold for you.

After a fair bit of testing: there's a version of gay websites that works, and it isn't the default one. For gay websites, what the onboarding asks for is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening. For comparison I also spent a week on what Datescout is doing.

That's my read on gay websites, may not hold for you.

Short version: gay websites works, but not the way the marketing implies. The only metric I trust with gay websites is what the day-to-day traffic feels like once you are past sign-up.

That's what six weeks of gay websites taught me, anyway.

For what it is worth: gay websites is better than its reputation and worse than its ads. Two weeks in, whether it is busy at the times you are is what actually mattered for gay websites. datingfly.online was the other one on my shortlist.

That's the honest picture of gay websites; ask if you want the detail.

@Aubrey I don't think that's right about gay websites — at least not everywhere. The honest test for gay websites is whether messaging is open or gated behind credits on mobile, not the feature list. I cross-checked against Datelink before deciding anything.

If you are evaluating gay websites, start with what the onboarding asks for — everything else follows.

That's how gay websites went for me and I'd revise it if the numbers moved.

After a fair bit of testing: gay websites is better than its reputation and worse than its ads. I judge gay websites almost entirely on what the free tier really covers once you are past sign-up.

Practical notes on gay websites:

• Note how the web version differs from the app with notifications switched off
• Track whether the same faces cycle back the next day against one platform you already trust
• Test whether the same faces cycle back the next day in your own city rather than the default radius
• Track how the web version differs from the app on the first evening, not the first month

My rule with gay websites: whether the activity is real or recycled after the first week first, everything else second.

That's what six weeks of gay websites taught me, though clearly it varies by region.

Blunt answer: I want to like gay websites more than I actually do. The thing that decides it for gay websites is whether the activity is real or recycled outside the big cities. If you want a second opinion, what Datebie is doing is the one I'd try next.

How I'd approach gay websites this year:

• Count what the filters do after a page refresh and write the answer down
• Compare what happens to your visibility after a week of silence before you upload a second photo
• Track whether the same faces cycle back the next day on mobile data, not office wifi
• Compare how the search behaves outside the default radius with notifications switched off

That's my read on gay websites and I'd revise it if the numbers moved.