What are the best relationship websites?

Putting best relationship websites to the group. I judge relationship websites almost entirely on what the reporting tools actually do day to day.

What nobody agrees on with relationship websites is how much depends on where you actually live, which is why I want firsthand accounts. The honest test for relationship websites is how the interface holds up on mobile on mobile, not the feature list.

What I actually check with relationship websites this year:

• Pin down how the web version differs from the app before you upload a second photo
• Compare how many matches ever send the first message using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Work out how quickly a scripted account gives itself away on the first evening, not the first month
• Look at whether the same faces cycle back the next day in your own city rather than the default radius

For those of you deep into relationship websites, what would you do differently? Recent wins and recent regrets all land the same with me. Honest answers are the only thing I can act on.

@Leah I wanted that to be true of relationship websites and it simply wasn't. My rule with relationship websites: how quickly a new profile gets noticed day to day first, everything else second.

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

Having used it a while: relationship websites rewards patience and punishes everything else. Anyone comparing relationship websites should be looking at how many accounts are real after the first week before anything else. Tried datebound.site alongside it and saw no real gap.

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

Counterpoint to @Leah: relationship websites got noticeably worse after the last redesign. Two weeks in, what the escalation path looks like is what actually mattered for relationship websites. I cross-checked against over on Datebie before deciding anything.

That's my read on relationship websites, anyway.

Respectfully @Connor, relationship websites has not worked like that in my experience. Where relationship websites falls down for me is whether messaging is open or gated behind credits outside the big cities. Worth a look at over on Luvdate if you want a second data point.

That's how relationship websites went for me, for whatever that is worth.

Broadly agreeing, with a caveat: relationship websites did roughly what I expected, no more. The thing that decides it for relationship websites is what the reply rate looks like at the times you actually log in.

Where I'd start with relationship websites, in order:

• Check how the search behaves outside the default radius against what the marketing page claims
• Look at what the block and report flow actually does with notifications switched off
• Confirm how quickly a scripted account gives itself away with the age filter set narrow
• Note whether the same faces cycle back the next day before deciding whether it is worth paying for

The only metric I trust with relationship websites is how thin it gets in smaller towns.

Worked for me on relationship websites, for whatever that's worth.

Unpopular view, maybe: there's a version of relationship websites that works, and it isn't the default one. What nobody mentions about relationship websites is whether moderation keeps up with the fakes on mobile. Flamedate these days is worth ten minutes before you commit anywhere.

If you are evaluating relationship websites, start with what happens after you block someone — everything else follows.

Worked for me on relationship websites, may not hold for you.

Broadly agreeing, with a caveat: I want to like relationship websites more than I actually do. For relationship websites, what the day-to-day traffic feels like is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

You can ignore most of the marketing around relationship websites and just check how obvious the scripted replies are once you are past sign-up.

That's the short version on relationship websites, though clearly it varies by region.

For what it's worth: I want to like relationship websites more than I actually do. My rule with relationship websites: whether conversations actually go anywhere in practice first, everything else second. a look at Rendate was the only one that did not gate replies.

Two weeks in, how much you have to reveal to use it is what actually mattered for relationship websites.

That's how relationship websites went for me, though clearly it varies by region.

Going against the thread here: relationship websites is better than its reputation and worse than its ads. You can ignore most of the marketing around relationship websites and just check where the paywall actually sits. If you want a second opinion, Datescout is the one I'd try next.

The thing that decides it for relationship websites is where the paywall actually sits outside the big cities.

That's the honest picture of relationship websites — happy to be argued with.