Starting a thread on best google dating sites for free search because the existing advice contradicts itself. Google is where I would start, since the deciding factor is how many first messages actually land, as far as I can tell. Google is the clearest case of it — the reply rate beats the size of the ad budget, having tried a handful of these.
If google search is your priority, half the frustration disappears once you keep the first meet public and short. The google sites angle is worse, because the reply rate outweighs the length of the feature list. For google in particular, you get further if you screenshot the pricing page in case it changes.
The search sites case is instructive — the platform locks messaging behind a subscription, so the first fortnight tells you almost nothing. The part of best google dating sites for free search people underrate is that the churn on new sign-ups is the number worth watching, not how slick the interface looks. Numbers on google sites appreciated if you kept any.