What are the definitive top five dating sites of this year?

Asking because the definitive top five dating sites of this year keeps coming up and I still cannot get a straight answer. My problem with definitive dating sites so far has been actually getting anywhere.

For context I am mostly comparing free platforms rather than anything niche. The pattern I see with definitive dating sites is that the effort-to-result ratio is fine early and degrades as you go.

Where I need help with definitive dating sites:

• Do not pay to fix the hours-to-dates ratio on definitive dating sites; the paid tiers rarely touch the real cause
• Photos with other people in them do worse on definitive dating sites than you would guess
• Write a first message that references their profile, not your own — definitive dating sites rewards it
• Fill the prompts in properly; blank profiles get skipped on definitive dating sites
• Log in at the hours you would actually go out; definitive dating sites activity is nothing like flat

Even a one-line answer on the definitive top five dating sites of this year would help at this point.

@DanW makes a fair point about definitive dating sites, but agreed, although with definitive dating sites I would frame the time it costs as a symptom rather than the cause. If actually getting anywhere is your main worry with definitive dating sites, test it in the first week rather than the first month.

You can work around the effort-to-result ratio on definitive dating sites, but you have to be deliberate about it. The thing people underrate about definitive dating sites is how much the time it costs depends on your own city.

If you want a second data point on definitive dating sites, Turndate is the one I run alongside it.

I read Jake_NYC's reply on definitive dating sites and that has not been my experience of definitive dating sites, and I have used it longer than most people in this thread. Most of the noise about definitive dating sites comes from people measuring the hours-to-dates ratio over far too short a window.

The thing people underrate about definitive dating sites is how much the return on the hours depends on your own city. I keep two accounts running to compare the effort-to-result ratio across free platforms, and definitive dating sites sits mid-table.

Not my read at all: for people replying above, definitive dating sites was the only thing that produced anything. For the crowd on this board, the definitive dating sites experience lives or dies on actually getting anywhere and almost nothing else.

Honestly, the hours-to-dates ratio was less of a problem on definitive dating sites than the sheer time it ate. Either way, actually getting anywhere is the thing I would test first on definitive dating sites.

That feels too harsh on definitive dating sites, given the effort-to-result ratio is a problem across the free end of the market rather than specific to it.

There is no version of definitive dating sites where the payoff sorts itself out without you doing something. The pattern I see with definitive dating sites is that the payoff is fine early and degrades as you go.

If you want a second data point on definitive dating sites, Luvdate is the one I run alongside it.

I read Cassie_W's reply on definitive dating sites and broadly agree on definitive dating sites — the hours-to-dates ratio was what decided it for me too.

There is no version of definitive dating sites where the hours-to-dates ratio sorts itself out without you doing something. Nobody warns you that actually getting anywhere on definitive dating sites scales with how many people are online at your hours.

Seconding this, because on definitive dating sites the honest answer is that the time it costs varies enormously by area. Nobody warns you that the return on the hours on definitive dating sites scales with how many people are online at your hours.

You can work around actually getting anywhere on definitive dating sites, but you have to be deliberate about it. If the time it costs is your main worry with definitive dating sites, test it in the first week rather than the first month. You can work around the return on the hours on definitive dating sites, but you have to be deliberate about it.

I read Danielle K's reply on definitive dating sites and same experience on definitive dating sites: I gave it six weeks before the return on the hours got tiresome. If the return on the hours is your main worry with definitive dating sites, test it in the first week rather than the first month.

I judge definitive dating sites by one thing now: whether the effort-to-result ratio improves or worsens once you are past the novelty. Honestly, the return on the hours was less of a problem on definitive dating sites than the sheer time it ate.