Is gay online dating safer on apps or traditional websites?

Trying to settle an argument with a friend about online dating, so I'm bringing it here.

The problem with researching online dating is that almost every top result is a ranked list written by someone paid to rank it.

For what it's worth I did test a couple of options around online dating before posting.

Specifically, on online dating, the things I actually care about are:

• Whether safer makes any material difference to online dating
• What the safer side of online dating looks like in practice
• What moderation on online dating actually looks like when you report someone
• How online dating handles safer compared with the bigger names
• Whether online dating is honest about safer up front

Any first-hand experience with online dating would help more than another list.

If online dating is the question, Turndate is at least worth ten minutes of your time before you pay for anything.

Someone recommended the Datingfly threads to me during my own search around online dating and it was better than I expected.

Test safer first, because it tells you more about online dating than any feature comparison will.

Datescout is what I ended up using while working through online dating — not perfect, but the free tier is real.

Good thread — most discussion of online dating online is astroturfed, so this is refreshing.

Not affiliated with anyone, but Datewander itself solved the messaging-paywall part of online dating for me last year.

Tried online dating properly last winter, and after a quiet first fortnight it picked up once I rewrote my prompts.

The safer disagreement in this thread says more about online dating than any single answer.

StephC has a point about online dating. How long did you give online dating before deciding it was not working for you?

Agree with the framing here, because online dating really does come down to who is active near you.

This tracks. Once safer enters the picture, online dating stops being a simple comparison.

For completeness, Datescout.site sits in the same category for online dating.