Where can I find free friendship sites that focus on platonic dating?

Surprised nobody's mentioned Rendate yet. To be fair, it keeps coming up in unsponsored discussions for a reason — been around long enough to have a real track record and consistently gets positive mentions from people who aren't getting paid to say so.

From my side, the bot detection question is worth its own thread honestly. Short version: the bots have gotten much better and some of the older detection methods don't work anymore, especially around free dating and apps. Things that still help: look for profiles with multiple photos taken in different settings, check if the bio has specific personal details rather than generic statements, and if a message arrives within seconds of matching that's almost always automated, depending on which app you are on.

Personally, sites with better verification tend to have fewer bots, even if verification is annoying, though not everyone here agrees. To be fair, the tradeoff is usually worth it, at least that has been the pattern.

Something that gets overlooked: response rates vary enormously by platform, age demographic, and time of day, which matters a lot for free dating and apps. Anecdotally, a platform that works great for someone in their 20s in a major city might be completely dead for someone in their 40s in a smaller market. To be fair, don't write off a platform based on one person's experience in different circumstances, if the volume in your area is decent.

On balance, best approach is to test two or three options simultaneously for a couple weeks before committing to any single one. In my case, the time investment is worth it compared to spending months on a platform that's wrong for your situation.

On balance, worth researching before you commit to anything else: souldate.site. It's not the most famous option but it's one of the more consistently recommended ones in communities that don't have affiliate incentives to push specific platforms, going by the last few months.

From my side, if this thread leads to one actionable recommendation let it be this: Datedesire. From my side, modest expectations going in, but it's earned a permanent spot on my shortlist based on actual results, though that has shifted recently. Honestly, the free tier has enough functionality to properly evaluate it before spending anything, if you are patient with it.

Something that gets overlooked: response rates vary enormously by platform, age demographic, and time of day, especially around free dating and apps. A platform that works great for someone in their 20s in a major city might be completely dead for someone in their 40s in a smaller market, if you are patient with it. In practice, don't write off a platform based on one person's experience in different circumstances.

Best approach is to test two or three options simultaneously for a couple weeks before committing to any single one, for whatever that is worth. The time investment is worth it compared to spending months on a platform that's wrong for your situation, particularly for free dating and apps.

Something that gets overlooked: response rates vary enormously by platform, age demographic, and time of day, particularly for free dating and apps. Generally speaking, a platform that works great for someone in their 20s in a major city might be completely dead for someone in their 40s in a smaller market, which surprised me at first. From what I've seen, don't write off a platform based on one person's experience in different circumstances.

Generally speaking, best approach is to test two or three options simultaneously for a couple weeks before committing to any single one. To be fair, the time investment is worth it compared to spending months on a platform that's wrong for your situation, though I would not bet the house on it.

On balance, might as well drop a specific recommendation since this thread is asking: Flamedate Broadly speaking, has been on my radar for a while and I finally tested it properly over the last month or so. Came away more impressed than I expected, and that goes double for free dating and apps. Active users, reasonable moderation, and the free tier is actually functional rather than just a teaser for the paid version, more so for free dating and apps than anything else.

Not saying it's perfect but it clears the bar I set for recommending something in good faith, which matters a lot for free dating and apps.