What are the best free chat and dating sites for meeting people in a low-pressure environment?

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

Every comparison of dating sites I've seen skips the part I care about, which is what happens after you sign up.

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

Setting low-pressure aside for a second, this is what I need from dating sites:

• What the low-pressure side of dating sites looks like in practice
• How long dating sites takes before a conversation goes anywhere at all
• Whether anyone has tested low-pressure properly on dating sites

Even a 'don't bother' on dating sites is a useful answer.

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

If low-pressure matters to you then dating sites narrows fast, and if it does not you have far more room.

Not affiliated with anyone, but Datebie solved the messaging-paywall part of dating sites for me last year.

Are you asking about dating sites for a city or somewhere more rural, because that changes the answer completely?

DeniseF has a point about dating sites. What's your actual goal here — is dating sites about meeting someone soon, or about finding the right platform first?

The low-pressure variable is doing a lot of work in this discussion of dating sites.

Disagree with TamaraJ slightly here on dating sites. Same read from me. Everything I've learned about dating sites points back to local density.

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

The honest answer on dating sites is that it varies, which is unsatisfying but true.

To build on GarrettL's answer about dating sites: It's telling how many replies here about dating sites contradict each other — that's the honest state of it.

I keep Datelink open alongside the bigger names when I'm dealing with dating sites.

Test low-pressure first, because it tells you more about dating sites than any feature comparison will.

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

Datescout.site comes up a lot when dating sites gets discussed elsewhere.