What are the 5 best dating sites according to this community?

Asking because the 5 best dating sites according to this community keeps coming up and I still cannot get a straight answer. My problem with dating sites so far has been the time it costs.

I have tried a few options across no-payment dating sites already and none of them stuck. Honestly, the hours-to-dates ratio was less of a problem on dating sites than the sheer time it ate.

If you have used dating sites, these are the bits I care about:

• Photos with other people in them do worse on dating sites than you would guess
• Test the payoff on dating sites deliberately in week one rather than hoping it improves
• Do not pay to fix the effort-to-result ratio on dating sites; the paid tiers rarely touch the real cause
• Log in at the hours you would actually go out; dating sites activity is nothing like flat

Anyone with a recent the 5 best dating sites according to this community story, please jump in.

Broadly agree on dating sites — the return on the hours was what decided it for me too. For most of us posting here, the dating sites experience lives or dies on the time it costs and almost nothing else.

Most of the noise about dating sites comes from people measuring the effort-to-result ratio over far too short a window. Most of the noise about dating sites comes from people measuring the hours-to-dates ratio over far too short a window. That is my read on dating sites, and others here clearly disagree.

Three things that changed my dating sites results:

• Compare dating sites against free platforms on the same week, or the comparison is meaningless
• Run dating sites beside one other option so you have a baseline for the time it costs
• Do not move off dating sites into private messaging until actually getting anywhere looks handled
• Set the radius wider than feels comfortable if the dating sites pool near you is thin
• Message within a day of matching — on dating sites that window closes fast

Different experience on dating sites, where the return on the hours turned out to be manageable once I changed how I used it. There is no version of dating sites where actually getting anywhere sorts itself out without you doing something.

What changed my results on dating sites was treating actually getting anywhere as a filtering problem rather than a platform problem. The thing people underrate about dating sites is how much actually getting anywhere depends on your own city.

Anyone comparing dating sites on actually getting anywhere should probably add Datedesire to the list.

Chris_A put the dating sites case better than I would have, though yes, and I would add that the return on the hours on dating sites gets worse the longer you stay.

I judge dating sites by one thing now: whether the payoff improves or worsens once you're past the novelty.

Others asking about dating sites have named ezhookups.online, souldate.site.

Not my read at all: for the members answering here, dating sites was the only thing that produced anything. I keep two accounts running to compare the effort-to-result ratio across free dating apps, and dating sites sits mid-table.

I keep two accounts running to compare the return on the hours across the free-tier sites, and dating sites sits mid-table. Not saying dating sites suits everyone, but it is not the disaster this thread implies.

One smaller option worth comparing on the payoff is Datedesire — different pool, same free messaging as dating sites.

Garrett_K put the dating sites case better than I would have, though this matches what I found with dating sites, where actually getting anywhere is exactly where it falls down.

For the members answering here, the dating sites experience lives or dies on the time it costs and almost nothing else. Whatever you pick, judge dating sites on the payoff after a month rather than after a weekend.