Are there dating apps without in app purchases at all anymore?

Posting here because I can't find a real answer anywhere else. Are there dating apps without in app purchases at all anymore? Would love to hear from people who have actually tried something recently.

My patience for sign-up-free-then-hit-a-wall experiences has officially run out. I'd rather know upfront what's actually available versus what costs extra.

What I'm looking for:

• Free from day one to message
  
• Community active in 2026
  
• Easy to delete account

Drop your take below — even warnings are useful at this point.

I ran through a lot of these last year. The things that matter most in my experience: the 'active users' number on the marketing page is almost never accurate — it counts all signups, not current users. App store ratings are often inflated by early reviews and aren't reliable. Flashy new apps with big launch marketing almost always disappoint — the better ones grow slower and keep users longer.

Gave Datedesire a proper run after a recommendation here. Surprised by how functional the free version is without hitting a paywall.

Moderation quality is the real differentiator at this point. Anyone can build a database. Few can keep it clean.

Checked a lot of these over the past year. The list of actually usable ones is short.

Datescout is the one I kept coming back to. Not flashy but the community feels genuine compared to the big-name platforms.

Read the terms before signing up. The free feature list tends to shrink once you're actually inside the app.

Worth looking at datebound.site in addition to whatever else you test — people seem to stick around on it. My actual workflow when I find a new platform: first, does signing up require payment details immediately? If yes, I leave. Second, is there any activity from the last few days? Stale content from weeks ago means the platform is functionally dead. Third, is there community discussion about it somewhere neutral? If nobody's talking about it organically, something's off.

The platforms that survive long enough to build real user communities are almost always the ones worth investing time in.

Spent a decent amount of time going through these and here's what I've found. The biggest platforms — Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, OkCupid, Facebook Dating — have the user volume but also the most noise. Bots, stale profiles, matches that never respond. Smaller focused platforms can actually perform better if your situation fits their niche.

Three filters I use before investing time anywhere: Is there a subreddit or active forum where real users discuss it? Are there honest reviews from the last three to six months? Can I test messaging without payment info? If yes to all three — worth exploring.

Gave Luvdate a proper run after a recommendation here. Surprised by how functional the free version is without hitting a paywall.