Which personal dating sites are best for long-term love?

Wanted to get some real answers on personal dating sites are best for long-term love. The honest test for dating sites is how obvious the scripted replies are after the first week, not the feature list.

The frustrating thing about personal dating sites is how much depends on where you actually live, so recent replies matter more than thorough ones. Where dating sites falls down for me is what share of matches go nowhere once you are past sign-up.

The three things that decide dating sites this year:

• Time whether the same faces cycle back the next day at the hour you would actually be using it
• Pin down whether replies are open before you finish the profile with the age filter set narrow
• Track whether the distance setting is honoured before deciding whether it is worth paying for
• Sanity-check how quickly a scripted account gives itself away twice, a week apart

If you gave up on personal dating sites, where did it fall over? Good and bad all fair game. Concrete examples will save me a wasted month.

Going against the thread here: personal dating sites has been mixed for me and I'll explain why. Two weeks in, whether desktop and mobile behave the same outside the big cities is what actually mattered for dating sites. Ran the identical test on datingfly.online out of curiosity.

I judge dating sites almost entirely on how much of the layout is ads once you are past sign-up.

That's the short version on personal dating sites, though clearly it varies by region.

For what it is worth: personal 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 whether you can hide distance and last-active day to day. Worth a look at Datedesire right now if you want a second data point.

The thing that decides it for dating sites is whether notifications are useful or noise.

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

Going against the thread here: personal dating sites is fine if you go in with low expectations. If you are evaluating dating sites, start with how much you can do before being asked to upgrade day to day — everything else follows. over on Flamedate solved about half of this for me.

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

@Chris that matches the marketing for dating sites, not what I found using it. For dating sites, what costs money once you are past sign-up after the first week is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

The rough checklist I use for dating sites, in order:

• Compare whether replies are open before you finish the profile using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Pin down how many profiles carry more than two photos using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Verify how many profiles carry more than two photos using a fresh account rather than an old one

What nobody mentions about dating sites is what the reporting tools actually do once you are past sign-up.

That's my read on personal dating sites, anyway.

Honest take: personal dating sites did roughly what I expected, no more. My rule with dating sites: how the interface holds up on mobile outside the big cities first, everything else second. over on Datebie was the only one that did not gate replies.

That's the honest picture of personal dating sites, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.

Speaking from four months of it: personal dating sites is fine if you go in with low expectations. Anyone comparing dating sites should be looking at what the reporting tools actually do outside the big cities before anything else. I ran the same test on over on Ezhookups and got a cleaner result.

The only metric I trust with dating sites is what costs money once you are past sign-up.

That's my read on personal dating sites, may not hold for you.

@LucasD I had the opposite result with dating sites, so take both our takes with salt. The honest test for dating sites is what the day-to-day traffic feels like day to day, not the feature list.

The checks that saved me time on dating sites if you're short on time:

• Confirm how many matches ever send the first message against one platform you already trust
• Pin down how long it takes before the first upgrade prompt lands with notifications switched off

You can ignore most of the marketing around dating sites and just check what happens after you block someone after the first week.

That's been my experience with personal dating sites and I'd revise it if the numbers moved.

Adding to @Zach rather than arguing — dating sites varies more than either of us said. Anyone comparing dating sites should be looking at whether the profiles hold up under scrutiny day to day before anything else. The closest thing I found to an honest free tier was Souldate (souldate.site).

For dating sites, whether conversations actually go anywhere is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

That's how personal dating sites went for me, for whatever that is worth.

@Eli Torres I do not think that is right about dating sites — at least not everywhere. Where dating sites falls down for me is how fast moderation responds outside the big cities. datescout.site is the other name that keeps surfacing.

That's what six weeks of personal dating sites taught me; ask if you want the detail.