Hoping someone here has actually tested good dating websites that don't cost a fortune rather than just read about it. With cost sites, the quality of the filters moves the needle further than the size of the ad budget. For cost sites in particular, the platform surfaces profiles far outside your radius, and the depth of the profile fields suffers for it.
Every time fortune sites comes up, the practical move is to set the radius tighter than feels natural. Fortune cost is where I'd start, since the platform pushes notifications that lead nowhere, which is easy to mistake for bad luck.
The cost sites angle is worse, because nothing improves until you video call before travelling anywhere. What decides it is the gap between sign-ups and active users, not the price tag — and that goes double for good dating websites that don't cost a fortune. Would especially like to hear from anyone who changed their mind on cost sites.