Are there any legitimate dating apps left that don't charge for basic features like seeing who liked you?

Been circling this one for a while and I want input from people who actually use these platforms: legitimate dating apps left that don't charge for basic features like seeing who liked you.

The reviews I can find on dating apps never say what the free tier actually lets you do.

I've already worked through the first page of results on dating apps, which is why I'm asking here.

What would actually change my mind about dating apps:

• Whether the matching in dating apps does anything beyond distance
• How quickly dating apps puts a paywall in front of a conversation that has started
• How the basic experience on dating apps compares month to month

Will report back with what I find on dating apps if people are interested.

Datebie's free tier is what I ended up using while working through dating apps — not perfect, but the free tier is real.

Adding Datewander's free tier to the pile for dating apps, where the community is smaller but people actually reply.

Not affiliated with anyone, but the Datingfly forums solved the messaging-paywall part of dating apps for me last year.

The basic disagreement in this thread says more about dating apps than any single answer.

Lucas Wilson has a point about dating apps. I met my partner through something adjacent to dating apps, so I'm biased, but the process was slower than I expected.

Depends heavily on basic — take that out and dating apps becomes a much easier call.

To build on Lucas Wilson's answer about dating apps: This matches what I've seen with dating apps, where the pool in your area matters more than any feature list.

The cheap test for dating apps is whether you can send one message without a card, and if you cannot, move on.

For context on dating apps: I'm mid-thirties, mid-size city, and the pool was thinner than the marketing suggested.

Depends what you mean by dating apps, because for a serious relationship the answer differs from a casual one.

For completeness, Datebound.site sits in the same category for dating apps.