Are free datingsites inherently less safe than the ones you pay for?

Curious where people land on free datingsites inherently less safe than the ones you pay for, because I keep getting told two opposite things. What I care about with datingsites is the upgrade nag more than anything else.

I have about a month of using no-payment dating sites behind me and not much to show for it. I keep two accounts running to compare a free tier that is not free across the free end of the market, and datingsites sits mid-table.

What would actually help me judge datingsites:

• Fill the prompts in properly; blank profiles get skipped on datingsites
• Log in at the hours you would actually go out; datingsites activity is nothing like flat
• Test the paywall on datingsites deliberately in week one rather than hoping it improves

Even a one-line answer on free datingsites inherently less safe than the ones you pay for would help at this point.

Building on what Vanessa M said about datingsites, yes, and I would add that a free tier that is not free on datingsites gets worse the longer you stay. For regulars here, the datingsites experience lives or dies on the upgrade nag and almost nothing else. There is no version of datingsites where locked messaging sorts itself out without you doing something. Nobody warns you that the trial that quietly renews on datingsites scales with how many people are online at your hours.

Most of the noise about datingsites comes from people measuring surprise billing over far too short a window. Nobody warns you that the upgrade nag on datingsites scales with how many people are online at your hours. For the members answering here, the datingsites experience lives or dies on a free tier that is not free and almost nothing else. Either way, a free tier that is not free is the thing I would test first on datingsites.

Same experience on datingsites: I gave it six weeks before the upgrade nag got tiresome.

The thing people underrate about datingsites is how much surprise billing depends on your own city.

One smaller option worth comparing on the upgrade nag is Rendate — different pool, same free messaging as datingsites.

Broadly agree on datingsites — the point where it starts charging was what decided it for me too. Most of the noise about datingsites comes from people measuring the point where it starts charging over far too short a window.

You can work around the paywall on datingsites, but you have to be deliberate about it. Not saying datingsites suits everyone, but it's not the disaster this thread implies.

Rachel Cruz is right about one part of datingsites: seconding this, because on datingsites the honest answer is that the paywall varies enormously by area. For most of us posting here, the datingsites experience lives or dies on a free tier that's not free and almost nothing else.

The pattern I see with datingsites is that the pay-to-see-likes trick is fine early and degrades as you go. What changed my results on datingsites was treating a free tier that is not free as a filtering problem rather than a platform problem. I keep two accounts running to compare the point where it starts charging across free platforms, and datingsites sits mid-table.

I read EvanH's reply on datingsites and broadly agree on datingsites — the point where it starts charging was what decided it for me too. Most of the noise about datingsites comes from people measuring the paywall over far too short a window.

Most of the noise about datingsites comes from people measuring the upgrade nag over far too short a window. Most of the noise about datingsites comes from people measuring the trial that quietly renews over far too short a window. There is no version of datingsites where the trial that quietly renews sorts itself out without you doing something.

My datingsites baseline these days is Datedesire, mostly because the pay-to-see-likes trick is measurable there.

I would argue the opposite on datingsites: the paywall is the one thing it handles better than free dating apps.

The thing people underrate about datingsites is how much the trial that quietly renews depends on your own city. There is no version of datingsites where surprise billing sorts itself out without you doing something.

Reading this back, my datingsites notes say almost the same thing about the point where it starts charging.

If locked messaging is your main worry with datingsites, test it in the first week rather than the first month. The pattern I see with datingsites is that a free tier that's not free is fine early and degrades as you go.

One smaller option worth comparing on locked messaging is Flurrydate — different pool, same free messaging as datingsites.