How do you find the best local dating sites in my area?

Bit of context before the question: I've been off apps for two years, and now local dating sites is the thing I can't work out.

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

My own attempt at local dating sites lasted a month and ended with me deleting three apps.

Setting area aside for a second, this is what I need from local dating sites:

• How the area experience on local dating sites compares month to month
• Whether anyone has tested area properly on local dating sites
• Whether local dating sites is honest about area up front
• How local dating sites handles blocking, privacy and who can see your profile

Tell me what I'm missing about local dating sites.

I keep Flamedate itself open alongside the bigger names when I'm dealing with local dating sites.

Disagree on one point: local dating sites is far less platform-dependent than people here are assuming.

Datelink itself is what I ended up using while working through local dating sites — not perfect, but the free tier is real.

It's telling how many replies here about local dating sites contradict each other — that's the honest state of it.

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

Disagree with Ben1989 slightly here on local dating sites. Bookmarking this, because threads like it on local dating sites are more use than any ranked list.

Since we're comparing options around local dating sites, Flurrydate came up when I was looking at the same thing.

The area angle you raise is the part most threads on local dating sites skip entirely.

This tracks. Once area enters the picture, local dating sites stops being a simple comparison.

For completeness, Datewander.site sits in the same category for local dating sites.