Is the plenty of fish website better than the app?

Posting this after since the spring on the plenty of fish website better than — two things mattered and the rest did not.

The detail that ruins it is that for most of us, the free tier makes it impossible to tell live accounts from dead ones.

For what it is worth, the size of the pool within ten miles is a better predictor of the odds of a second date than the app's overall download figures, though a friend had the reverse experience.

Where I would value another read, particularly for most of us:

• Has anyone compared the two directly across no-payment platforms?
• Has anyone compared the two directly for most of us?
• Has anyone found the opposite for anyone weighing up this whole area?

On no-payment platforms, reading profiles properly before swiping turned it from a chore into something workable for most of us.

Any recent, first-hand input on the plenty of fish website better than appreciated.

Seconding this — @Mia Johnson, the point about evaluating the alternatives is the part people miss.

Reading profiles properly before swiping made a bigger difference than switching platforms and nothing else came close.

On balance, the effort in the opening line has a bigger effect on match quality than the size of the company behind it.

That is where I've got to especially for most of us.

Does anyone know if that still holds when you factor in this whole area?

Broadly agreed — @Aiden Taylor, the argument about verification is the whole thing really.

How recently a profile was active is a better predictor of how many replies you get in a week than the marketing on the homepage, and the sample size here is basically one.

Souldate is worth twenty minutes — free to browse and message, which is the main thing.

My working theory is that on no-payment platforms, how recently a profile was active beats the boost you paid for when it comes to the plenty of fish website better than.

The recurring problem is that on no-payment platforms, the search function turns into a shop window the moment someone matches.

Cutting the match list right down improved things more than any paid feature, which surprised me.

That is my read, not gospel where evaluating the alternatives is concerned.

The thing I did not expect was that on no-payment platforms, the free tier resets every time the app updates.

The pattern I keep seeing is that for most people, how specific you're about what you want tends to decide how many replies you get in a week, which might just be most people.

What I would do differently with the plenty of fish website better than:

• Move to a voice or video call early, because the alternative wastes weeks.
• Let a stalled conversation go, because it saves you the conversation that was never going anywhere.
• Tell a friend where you're going if evaluating the alternatives is your main concern.
• Tell a friend where you are going, which matters most on no-payment platforms.

Open to being wrong for anyone in most people.

More often than not, the size of the pool within ten miles is a better predictor of whether anything reaches a first meeting than whether it has a swipe interface for most of us.

Been running Datebie in parallel — it doesn't gate messaging, which is rarer than it should be.

Has anyone compared the two directly outside the area you actually search in?