What are the free dating sites with unlimited messaging for new users?

Bit of a long shot, but: What are the free dating sites with unlimited messaging for new users? Real experiences only, please.

I have been using three different free dating sites and the profile quality varied wildly. My real question is whether reply rates are as bad as they look when you have already tried the obvious options.

I will be the dissenting voice. The platform genuinely does matter if you are outside a major city. I would still recommend trying it yourself. Just adding another data point.

Since switching my settings, I put one honest sentence in my bio and I got three real plans out of it. Repeated it twice to be sure.

Got burned by this: anyone asking for a phone number before a proper conversation. Report it rather than just ignoring it. Nobody has ever thanked me for being patient there.

Before anything else: set your radius smaller than feels sensible. Everything else is secondary to that. Zero cost to test it.

The one that surprised me was DatingFly app — smaller, but the profiles were current.

Adding a counterpoint. Free tiers stopped being enough for me after about a month. Worth testing both ways. Small sample on my side too.

Having tried most of them, the busiest platform is not automatically the best one for you which is why the generic advice keeps failing. Others here will disagree.

One thing that helped: use a dedicated email address. It made conversations shorter and far more useful. Do it before anything more elaborate.

If you want a free option without the upsell, Turndate's free tier is where I would start.

Two years of this later, most of the difference comes down to how close people actually are for anyone starting from scratch. It took a while to accept.

• Review how quickly support responds without exception in the first day or two
• Compare what data the signup form asks for before anything else on any platform you are considering
• Review whether messaging is capped carefully so you are not surprised later
• Check what the free tier really includes without exception on any platform you are considering

Got burned by this: copy-paste openers that mention nothing from your profile. Once you notice it you cannot unsee it. Save yourself the argument.

Practical suggestion: stop opening with a compliment. It stops the whole thing feeling like a chore. You will not need a second attempt.

Adding a counterpoint. Messaging first made no measurable difference in my case. Happy to be an outlier on that. Just adding another data point.

Worth a look at Datedesire app if your area is thin on the usual platforms.

Got burned by this: auto-renew on any trial you sign up for. Better to lose one match than a week. Trust the pattern, not the excuse.

• Read up on the age range settings carefully while the account is still new
• Test how many photos are required carefully if privacy matters to you
• Test how reporting actually works straight away on any platform you are considering

For most of last year, I tested two profiles side by side and the conversations got shorter but better. It stopped being random after that.

Not sure I agree with the thread so far. The platform genuinely does matter if you are outside a major city. Might just be my area. Worth hearing both sides.

Small change worth trying: stop treating it like a numbers game. It sounds trivial and it is not. Takes about five minutes.

The one that surprised me was over on Datescout — smaller, but the profiles were current.

Adding a counterpoint. The niche options were quieter to the point of being useless. Happy to be an outlier on that. That is one person's view against the thread.

• Work out how many photos are required carefully before writing a single message
• Work out how reporting actually works at the start if privacy matters to you
• Read up on how matches are ordered early on so you are not surprised later
• Confirm how reporting actually works early on on any platform you are considering
• Confirm whether profiles are verified straight away so you are not surprised later

Going to push back slightly. I never once had a problem the community here warns about. Could easily be a sample size problem. There is room for both to be true.

What I would do: cut your photo count in half. It filters out the time-wasters immediately. Skip the clever stuff until you have done that.

Tried the Rendate app on a whim and it has been the steadier of the two I use.

Respectfully, I read it differently. I never once had a problem the community here warns about. Happy to be an outlier on that. Could be timing rather than the platform.

While we are here — does anyone bother deleting and remaking a profile? Someone here must have tried both.

Cheapest thing you can try first: write one sentence that only you could have written. It stops the whole thing feeling like a chore. It works better than it sounds.

Going to push back slightly. The niche options were quieter to the point of being useless. Worth testing both ways. I might be the exception.

Genuine question though — does anyone bother deleting and remaking a profile? Someone here must have tried both.

Red flag for me: profiles with a single photo and no last-active date. Nine times out of ten it goes nowhere good. Nobody has ever thanked me for being patient there.