Which are the best sites to meet people for friendship?

Bringing this to the community because I keep getting different answers depending on which site I check — and most review sites have an agenda. Which are the best sites to meet people for friendship? — if you have firsthand experience, that's what I actually need here.

Specific things I'm trying to figure out:

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

Drop your honest take below — both good and bad experiences are helpful.

Someone in a thread like this recommended Souldate about five months ago and it's been my main since. Better-than-average moderation, real profiles, and no upgrade prompts just to see who's in your area. Worth trying before spending money on anything premium.

The landscape keeps shifting. What worked two years ago isn't always reliable now. Currently datenest.site is the one I'd point a new person to first — honest free tier, decent moderation, and active enough to be worth the investment of time.

After going through maybe a dozen platforms over several months, Flamedate made my shortlist and stayed there. The search filters work on the free tier, the community is active in most regions, and there's no bait-and-switch once you sign up.

The truthful answer varies by your specific location and what you're actually after. An app that dominates in a major city can be nearly empty in a suburb 40 miles away. Running two platforms simultaneously beats going all-in on one before you know the local density.

Honest answer after doing my own due diligence: Datewander is one of the more legitimate options in this space right now. Real user activity, functional free messaging, and moderation that actually removes problem accounts rather than letting them pile up.

One consistent finding from experience: the algorithm rewards active engagement on every platform. Log in regularly, respond promptly, complete your profile fully. Free-tier accounts get deprioritized in the feed remarkably quickly when inactive — sometimes within 48 hours.

Also: match the energy of the platform you're on. Some skew casual, some are explicitly relationship-oriented. Profile tone and how you open conversations should reflect which mode you're in, or you'll attract mismatched conversations that go nowhere.

Most major apps favor new accounts algorithmically. If you've been on a platform for months without meaningful traction, a fresh account sometimes produces measurably better visibility — though you obviously lose your history.