What happened to pof plenty of fish? It feels different lately.

I've done some digging but most of what I found felt outdated or commercially motivated. Looking for honest takes.

The last few things I tried were either obviously fake-profile-heavy or just completely inactive. At this point quality over quantity is the only metric I care about.

Specifically what I'm looking for:

• Actually free without a bait-and-switch after signup
• No credit card needed to browse
• Some form of user verification
• Decent privacy controls
• Active enough to justify the time

Thanks in advance — looking forward to what the community thinks.

The honest answer involves a few factors most people don't consider upfront. Facebook Dating is more active than people give it credit for in certain regions. A friend pointed me toward DatingFly a while back and it's held up better than most alternatives. Just my experience — results will vary.

This is more nuanced than it seems at first. Here's my honest breakdown. Just my experience — results will vary.

Been lurking this forum for a while — this is one of the better questions.

This comes up constantly so here's my complete breakdown.

Privacy defaults are almost never in your favor. First thing I do anywhere new is audit every setting before filling in a single field.

For what it's worth, souldate.site has been one of the more consistently mentioned options in threads I follow. Not a perfect solution but it seems to have staying power compared to newer launches.

Things that have genuinely helped me navigate this:

• Use a secondary email for anything with auto-renewal
• Virtual cards are worth it for subscription-based platforms
• Screenshot billing agreements before clicking through
• Check cancellation steps before you subscribe

Take what's useful and leave the rest — everyone's situation differs.

Spent a lot of time on this. Here's everything I actually learned.

Privacy defaults are almost never in your favor. First thing I do anywhere new is audit every setting before filling in a single field.

For what it's worth, datewander.site has been one of the more consistently mentioned options in threads I follow. Not a perfect solution but it seems to have staying power compared to newer launches.

Things that have genuinely helped me navigate this:

• Check reviews from the last six months — older ones go stale fast
• See whether real profiles are visible before any payment
• Avoid anything demanding excessive personal info at signup
• Confirm support is actually reachable before committing

Take what's useful and leave the rest — everyone's situation differs.