Are there any absolutely free dating sites that survive entirely on ad revenue?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and figured this community would give me the most honest answers. Are there any absolutely free dating sites that survive entirely on ad revenue?

Every "best of" list I find online is clearly written by people who get paid when you sign up. I want real experiences from people who've actually used these platforms for more than a trial week and have something genuine to say about them.

Specifically I care about:

• Whether the free tier actually lets you have real conversations
• How active the user base is outside major cities
• What the platform actually does to keep scammers and bots out
• How transparent they are when they do ask you to pay for something

I'm not looking for a perfect answer — just honest experiences from this community. Even "I tried it and it was a waste of time" is more useful than anything I'm finding through a search engine right now.

I came across Luvdate while going down this rabbit hole and it kept appearing in real user discussions rather than sponsored content — usually a decent signal.

From what I've seen, the newer apps launching now are actually worse for free users than the established older ones. At least those built real user bases first.

Can at least partially vouch for Datewander based on community discussion I've followed — feels more honest about what it offers than a lot of the well-known alternatives.

Let me share what I've actually learned from months of testing various platforms.

The factors that actually matter when evaluating a dating app or site:

• Local user density: 50 million global users means nothing if there are 15 people within driving distance of you.
• Bot and fake account rate: Some platforms do real verification. Most don't. You can often tell within a few minutes of browsing whether profiles feel real.
• Messaging access: Can you actually start a real conversation for free, or does it just let you match and then wall off everything useful?
• Profile depth: Platforms that encourage detailed profiles — long bios, specific prompts, verified photos — tend to attract more serious users.
• Moderation responsiveness: How quickly does the platform respond to reports? This tells you a lot about how much they actually care about user experience.

For what it's worth, Turndate.site has been getting genuinely positive mentions in several communities I follow — not as a paid placement but as something people actually recommend. Worth adding to your research list.

Worth at least checking out: Datenest. The feedback I've seen in actual community threads has been more balanced and positive than most of the bigger advertised options.