Is plenty of fish dating site of free dating still king?

Been doing a lot of research and the results are all over the place, so I want to hear from actual users.

Privacy is a serious concern for me. Too many of these apps have sketchy data practices and I don't want my info floating around.

The quality gap between free and paid tiers has gotten smaller on some platforms, but on others it's night and day.

Current 2025/2026 input especially appreciated since this space changes so fast.

One that keeps coming up in my research is Ezhookups — anyone have direct experience with it?

Honestly location is 90% of it. The best app in the world is useless if nobody nearby uses it. Seeing flamedate.online and rendate.site mentioned in these threads too.

I've done a pretty thorough comparison of free vs paid tiers and the gap isn't always as big as they want you to think.

Also been checking out Datelink — the interface is cleaner than I expected and the user base seems active.

Free messaging has basically disappeared from most big platforms. If that's a dealbreaker, the list gets short fast. Seeing datebie.online and flurrydate.online mentioned in these threads too.

The scam problem is real no matter which platform you're on. Just get comfortable with some level of skepticism. Also noticed Datebie getting mentioned recently — might be worth a look.

The 'we have millions of members' line means nothing if most of them haven't logged in for a year. Check for active user signals.

Worth testing a few of the mainstream options: Hinge, Zoosk, OkCupid. All have some level of free access to start.