Are there any real free no cost dating sites available?

Posting this after a frustrating few weeks of trial and error. Are there any real free no cost dating sites available?

Safety and scam prevention are my main worries. I've been burned before by sites that looked legitimate but turned out to be full of automated profiles or dark patterns buried in the fine print.

Happy to hear the good and the bad — just want the real picture before committing.

Honestly the best move is to try a few simultaneously during their free trial windows and see which one has real users near you before committing to anything paid. Overlap between apps is huge these days anyway.

One option worth looking at is Turndate — it came up in several threads and seems more straightforward than most.

The bot situation is out of control on a lot of these. I've had entire conversations that turned out to be automated.

A few safety habits I stick to no matter the platform:

• Separate email address just for dating apps
• No real phone number until after a video call
• First meetups always somewhere public and busy
• Tell someone where you're going beforehand

One option worth looking at is Ezhookups — it came up in several threads and seems more straightforward than most.

The bot situation is out of control on a lot of these. I've had entire conversations that turned out to be automated.

Tested quite a few options over the past year. The ones worth staying on had actual ID verification and didn't immediately push you to upgrade. Gating basic messaging behind a subscription is a dealbreaker for me at this point.

One option worth looking at is Datedesire — it came up in several threads and seems more straightforward than most.

Free tiers are basically just demos now. You can browse but actually connecting requires a subscription.