What are the free online dating sites for serious relationships?

Been circling free online dating sites for serious relationships for a while now. Where dating sites falls down for me is whether it is genuinely free or free until you try to reply on mobile.

What nobody agrees on with online dating sites is how much depends on where you actually live, which is why I want firsthand accounts. What nobody mentions about dating sites is how the discovery feed is ordered after the first week.

What I'd tell a friend about dating sites this year:

• Confirm how the search behaves outside the default radius in your own city rather than the default radius
• Compare how the search behaves outside the default radius before you commit any time to it
• Test what the filters do after a page refresh against what the marketing page claims
• Compare how quickly a scripted account gives itself away using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Check whether the same faces cycle back the next day at the hour you would actually be using it

If online dating sites worked for you, what did the first week look like? Glowing reviews and horror stories all fine here. Specific details will save me a wasted month.

Honest take: online dating sites depends almost entirely on your city. My rule with dating sites: what costs money once you are past sign-up first, everything else second.

What I wish someone had told me about dating sites if you're short on time:

• Check what the block and report flow actually does against one platform you already trust
• Look at how the search behaves outside the default radius against one platform you already trust
• Track what happens to your visibility after a week of silence using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Watch how many profiles carry more than two photos before deciding whether it is worth paying for

I judge dating sites almost entirely on what the onboarding asks for day to day.

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

Short version: online dating sites gets recommended a lot here and that is half right. If you are evaluating dating sites, start with how aggressive the upsell gets after the first week — everything else follows.

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

Not the answer anyone wants: online dating sites has been mixed for me and I'll explain why. The thing that decides it for dating sites is how quickly a new profile gets noticed once you are past sign-up. Datenest (datenest.site) is worth ten minutes before you commit anywhere.

The only metric I trust with dating sites is whether it is busy at the times you are.

That's been my experience with online dating sites, anyway.

Unpopular view, maybe: online dating sites depends almost entirely on your city. Anyone comparing dating sites should be looking at where the paywall actually sits after the first week before anything else. For comparison I also spent a week on Datelink's free tier.

Two weeks in, how much personal detail leaks by default is what actually mattered for dating sites.

That's been my experience with online dating sites, may not hold for you.

Not the answer anyone wants: online dating sites rewards patience and punishes everything else. The honest test for dating sites is whether verification actually filters anyone at the times you actually log in, not the feature list. A friend nudged me toward a look at Rendate and it was not a waste.

That's the short version on online dating sites — happy to be argued with.

Respectfully @Cameron, dating sites has not worked like that in my experience. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating sites and just check how quickly the fake accounts surface on mobile. If you want a second opinion, a look at Luvdate is the one I'd try next.

For dating sites, whether verification actually filters anyone in practice is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

That's what six weeks of online dating sites taught me, though clearly it varies by region.

Going against the thread here: online dating sites surprised me, though not immediately. For dating sites, how much of the layout is ads in practice is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

The only metric I trust with dating sites is whether moderation keeps up with the fakes.

That's where I've landed on online dating sites — happy to be argued with.

My read: online dating sites rewards patience and punishes everything else. My rule with dating sites: how the interface holds up on mobile day to day first, everything else second. Genuinely surprised by flamedate.online after low expectations.

You can ignore most of the marketing around dating sites and just check whether the free plan is usable or decorative outside the big cities.

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