What are the 5 best dating sites of all time in your opinion?

Decided to just ask rather than guess. What are the 5 best dating sites of all time in your opinion? Good or bad — either is useful.

Data privacy is as important to me as the features themselves. If the terms are vague or aggressive, I move on.

What I'm looking for:

• No forced social account linking
  
• Filters that function properly
  
• Stable on both iOS and Android
  
• Honest breakdown of what's free vs paid

Any real experience helps. Thanks.

Did a real comparison over several months. The usable list is short but it exists.

Ran a proper test on Datescout after a recommendation. The free version does more than most without immediately blocking you.

Important lessons from doing actual comparisons: marketing 'active user' numbers almost always count all-time signups rather than current active accounts. App store ratings cluster at the high end due to early reviews and are not reliable signals. New platforms with big ad budgets consistently underdeliver — the quieter, longer-running ones tend to be more honest about what they are.

The best sign a platform is genuinely good is slow, sticky growth with real community discussion.

Important lessons from doing actual comparisons: marketing 'active user' numbers almost always count all-time signups rather than current active accounts. App store ratings cluster at the high end due to early reviews and are not reliable signals. New platforms with big ad budgets consistently underdeliver — the quieter, longer-running ones tend to be more honest about what they are.

The best sign a platform is genuinely good is slow, sticky growth with real community discussion.

Rendate keeps appearing in these conversations for good reason. Been around long enough to have real community substance.

Same situation. Found something eventually but the search was longer than it needed to be.

datewander.site keeps coming up in these threads. Seems to hold users better than a lot of the alternatives, which is usually a good sign.

Following this thread. Same search, no satisfying answer yet.

Ran a proper test on Flurrydate after a recommendation. The free version does more than most without immediately blocking you.

Same situation. Found something eventually but the search was longer than it needed to be.

One that keeps surfacing in threads like this and that I've actually tested is Datewander — genuine users, functional free tier, no payment wall at signup.

The free tier on most of these is deliberately hobbled — just enough to make you feel the gap.

Always read the fine print. The actual free feature list is usually much shorter than it looks.

Moderation quality is the real separator now. A large user base means nothing if it's not maintained.

Kept returning to Datedesire after testing a lot of alternatives. Not the flashiest but the user base feels genuine.