What are the most totally free dating sites with no hidden fees?

Curious what this board thinks about most totally free dating sites with no hidden fees. The honest test for dating sites is what the reply rate looks like at the times you actually log in, not the feature list.

What nobody agrees on with dating sites is that the last honest write-up is two years old, which is why I want firsthand accounts. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating sites and just check whether verification actually filters anyone outside the big cities.

My shortlist when weighing dating sites after a few false starts:

• Time whether the distance setting is honoured against one platform you already trust
• Verify what share of the layout is advertising before deciding whether it is worth paying for
• Note whether photo permissions are opt-in or opt-out on mobile data, not office wifi

For anyone still using dating sites, how long before you knew? The good, the bad and the boring all fair game. Regional details will save me a wasted month.

@Wyatt makes a good point, though I would qualify it — dating sites shifted a lot last year. The only metric I trust with dating sites is what happens after you block someone once you are past sign-up. Turndate in particular is worth ten minutes before you commit anywhere.

That's my read on dating sites, anyway.

@Henry that is fair in a big city, but dating sites is a different story outside one. If you are evaluating dating sites, start with how the pricing is structured in practice — everything else follows. Worth a look at Datewander in particular if you want a second data point.

That's what six weeks of dating sites taught me, may not hold for you.

@Wyatt I wanted that to be true of dating sites and it simply wasn't. I judge dating sites almost entirely on how much personal detail leaks by default on mobile.

That's the short version on dating sites, anyway.

Adding to @Elena Murphy rather than arguing — dating sites varies more than either of us said. Anyone comparing dating sites should be looking at how the interface holds up on mobile day to day before anything else.

My rule with dating sites: what the bot ratio feels like day to day outside the big cities first, everything else second.

That's how dating sites went for me — happy to be argued with.

Disagree with @Wyatt on dating sites. The version of dating sites I used had none of that. For dating sites, whether notifications are useful or noise on mobile is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening. I ran the same test on Datelink right now and got a cleaner result.

That's what six weeks of dating sites taught me, and I would be glad to hear others found different.

Not sure @Nora and I are talking about the same dating sites at all. What nobody mentions about dating sites is how much of the layout is ads day to day. Souldate was the only one that did not gate replies.

That's been my experience with dating sites — happy to be argued with.

My read: there's a version of dating sites that works, and it isn't the default one. The thing that decides it for dating sites is what the onboarding asks for. Someone here pointed me at Rendate and it held up better than expected.

Two weeks in, how much you can do before being asked to upgrade on mobile is what actually mattered for dating sites.

That's where I've landed on dating sites, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.

Going against the thread here: there's a version of dating sites that works, and it isn't the default one. Where dating sites falls down for me is how much of the layout is ads.

What I wish someone had told me about dating sites after a few false starts:

• Compare how many matches ever send the first message at the hour you would actually be using it
• Sanity-check what share of the layout is advertising and write the answer down

That's the honest picture of dating sites; ask if you want the detail.

After a fair bit of testing: dating sites has been mixed for me and I'll explain why. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating sites and just check how fast it loads on a bad connection day to day.

What I'd tell a friend about dating sites:

• Track what share of the layout is advertising against one platform you already trust
• Work out what share of the layout is advertising against one platform you already trust
• Track whether the same faces cycle back the next day and write the answer down

That's the short version on dating sites, and I would be glad to hear others found different.