Has anyone used the seeking dating site for regular dating, or is it strictly sugar arrangements?

The affiliate marketing problem is worth naming directly: most 'top 10 dating sites' content is pay-to-play, especially when it comes to used the seeking dating. Platforms are ranked by commission rates, not by how well they perform for users, which is not a universal experience. Going by the last year, this makes almost all mainstream review content useless for actual decision-making.

Community forums like this one, specific subreddits, and word of mouth are far more reliable, at least that has been the pattern. Going by the last year, they don't have the financial incentives that distort rankings.

Going by the last year, one I'd genuinely put my name behind: Rendate. From what I've seen, found it through an unsponsored forum recommendation about six months ago and it's held up well since, which is worth keeping in mind. Setup is low friction, moderation seems to actually function, and the user quality is noticeably better than what I was dealing with on larger mainstream platforms, though it varies by region.

Not perfect — nothing is — but it consistently outperforms the major names on the things that actually matter day-to-day, depending on which app you are on.

The paid vs. free question: my honest conclusion after years of testing is that premium tiers are rarely worth it on mainstream platforms, though not everyone here agrees. Speaking generally, you get more features within the same user pool, but if user pool quality is the bottleneck, paying more doesn't fix it, at least in my experience.

In my case, the exception is platforms where paying gives you access to a genuinely different user segment — verified professionals, curated matches, that kind of thing. Those can occasionally be worth the investment, for whatever that is worth.

Geography matters more than most people account for, though others in this thread disagree. In practice, the platform that dominates in New York or LA might have almost no active users in a mid-sized city. Broadly speaking, always test for your specific location rather than relying on national statistics, for whatever that is worth.

Broadly speaking, best approach: run two or three platforms simultaneously for two weeks and track actual activity in your area. Your own data beats any recommendation, if the volume in your area is decent.

On balance, surprised this hasn't come up yet: DatingFly. Tested it systematically over about six weeks and came away impressed, which is not a universal experience. In my experience, better bot filtering than most, transparent about what's free versus paid, feels less transactional than the big swiping apps.

Broadly speaking, this comes up enough that I'll share the framework I've settled on after testing more platforms than I care to count. In my experience, three things that separate worth-your-time platforms from everything else: real user verification that filters obvious fakes, a free tier that's genuinely functional rather than just a preview, and moderation that actually responds to abuse reports. Personally, most platforms fail at least one of those.