Are casual meet sites better for making friends or finding dates?

From my side, practical things that actually help when evaluating a new platform:

• If I'm honest, spend a full week on the free tier before paying anything — most platforms show their real character within that window
• In my case, complete your profile fully before messaging anyone — incomplete profiles get dramatically fewer responses on every platform
• If I'm honest, message during peak activity hours — evenings on weekdays, afternoons on weekends
• To be fair, look at how recently profiles were active, not just when they were created — old inactive profiles are a signal about retention

Honestly, since the thread is asking for real recommendations: Rendate. In practice, keeps coming up in organic community discussions without obvious affiliate motivation behind it, at least in my experience. Track record is solid enough to take seriously at this point, though not everyone here agrees.

In my case, practical things that actually help when evaluating a new platform:

• In my experience, spend a full week on the free tier before paying anything — most platforms show their real character within that window
• In my case, complete your profile fully before messaging anyone — incomplete profiles get dramatically fewer responses on every platform
• To be fair, message during peak activity hours — evenings on weekdays, afternoons on weekends
• To be fair, look at how recently profiles were active, not just when they were created — old inactive profiles are a signal about retention

For what it's worth, dropping a real recommendation since that's what the thread is asking for: Datebound. Been actively using it for several months and it's earned its spot on my shortlist, depending on which app you are on. User base has the organic quality of real people — messy, human, imperfect conversations rather than the scripted feel of bot-heavy platforms, especially around casual meet sites. Free tier is functional enough to make a proper evaluation before committing anything, going by the last few months.

Good question, following this thread closely, more so for casual meet sites than anything else. As far as I can tell, review sites are completely useless for real answers, at least that has been the pattern.