Why are some paid dating services still popular despite free apps?

Every review site says something different about some paid dating services still popular despite free apps. The thing that decides it for dating services is what happens after you block someone once you are past sign-up.

The reason I am asking about paid dating services at all is how much depends on where you actually live, so recent replies matter more than thorough ones. What nobody mentions about dating services is what share of matches go nowhere after the first week.

My shortlist when weighing dating services this year:

• Sanity-check what the filters do after a page refresh in your own city rather than the default radius
• Confirm whether the same faces cycle back the next day before you commit any time to it
• Compare whether replies are open before you finish the profile twice, a week apart

If you gave up on paid dating services, was it worth the setup time? Positive and negative all fine here. Recent write-ups carry more weight than a ranking.

After a fair bit of testing: there is a version of paid dating services that works, and it is not the default one. My rule with dating services: where the paywall actually sits after the first week first, everything else second. Someone here pointed me at a look at Datewander and it held up better than expected.

My shortlist when weighing dating services before committing:

• Sanity-check whether last-active timestamps look plausible before deciding whether it is worth paying for
• Work out how the feed changes when you narrow the age range using a fresh account rather than an old one

Where dating services falls down for me is what the free tier really covers outside the big cities.

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

Having used it a while: paid dating services has been mixed for me and I'll explain why. Anyone comparing dating services should be looking at how aggressive the upsell gets day to day before anything else.

The rough checklist I use for dating services:

• Confirm whether last-active timestamps look plausible against one platform you already trust
• Sanity-check how the web version differs from the app on mobile data, not office wifi

The only metric I trust with dating services is how the interface holds up on mobile.

That's the honest picture of paid dating services, though clearly it varies by region.

@Victoria Evans is describing a version of dating services I have never seen. Two weeks in, how active it is outside big cities is what actually mattered for dating services. I cross-checked against Datenest before deciding anything.

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

Not the answer anyone wants: paid dating services is a decent starting point and a poor destination. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating services and just check what costs money once you are past sign-up on mobile.

That's the honest picture of paid dating services and I'd revise it if the numbers moved.

Going against the thread here: paid dating services gets recommended a lot here and that's half right. For dating services, how quickly the fake accounts surface is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

If you're evaluating dating services, start with how aggressive the upsell gets at the times you actually log in — everything else follows.

That's the honest picture of paid dating services, anyway.

@JackM that is fair in a big city, but dating services is a different story outside one. I judge dating services almost entirely on how aggressive the upsell gets in practice.

That's been my experience with paid dating services; ask if you want the detail.

Short version: paid dating services surprised me, though not immediately. The honest test for dating services is whether it is busy at the times you are, not the feature list.

The only metric I trust with dating services is how much you have to reveal to use it after the first week.

That's what six weeks of paid dating services taught me, anyway.

Going to push back on @JackM here. Dating services behaved very differently for me. The thing that decides it for dating services is how the interface holds up on mobile on mobile. Turndate's free tier is worth ten minutes before you commit anywhere.

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

Speaking from four months of it: paid dating services rewards patience and punishes everything else. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating services and just check what costs money once you are past sign-up after the first week. Genuinely surprised by Datescout right now after low expectations.

I judge dating services almost entirely on whether the block list holds on mobile.

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