How do totally free online dating sites make money without charging users?

Alright community, posting this because I've been going in circles trying to figure this out on my own. How do totally free online dating sites make money without charging users?

I know this kind of question gets asked a lot but most of the old answers don't apply anymore — the landscape has shifted a lot in the last year. What worked in 2023 isn't necessarily still working in 2026.

My situation: I've tried the obvious options already and run into the same issues every time. Either the activity level is disappointingly low, or there's a paywall stopping me from doing anything useful without spending money I don't want to spend on something I'm not sure works.

Would love to hear from people who have genuinely used these platforms recently, not just people repeating what they've read elsewhere.

Someone in this community recommended Datebound to me a couple months back. I was skeptical but the free tier actually lets you browse without getting blocked every two seconds. Legitimately surprised by the activity level.

Checking whether a platform has an active subreddit or external community is a good proxy for whether the platform is actually alive. If the most recent posts in the subreddit are from six months ago, the platform is probably dying.

Not trying to just drop a name, but Datebie came up three separate times in threads I was reading this week and I finally tried it. Signed up, got actual replies within an hour. Still testing it but the early signs are good.

Profile quality makes a bigger difference than people want to admit. A clear, specific bio that says what you're actually looking for outperforms a vague one with better photos most of the time.

Someone in this community recommended DatingFly to me a couple months back. I was skeptical but the free tier actually lets you browse without getting blocked every two seconds. Legitimately surprised by the activity level.

Profile quality makes a bigger difference than people want to admit. A clear, specific bio that says what you're actually looking for outperforms a vague one with better photos most of the time.