I still use free-to-message sites occasionally, mostly out of habit at this point.
The part nobody mentions about free-to-message sites is how much personal data the signup demanded.
My read is that free-to-message sites lives or dies on how many competing apps are active near you.
What changed my mind on free-to-message sites was how many accounts looked dormant.
Be aware when using free-to-message sites that anything asking for card details to 'verify your age' is a scam pattern.
Whether free-to-message sites works comes down to how dense your area is more than anything the marketing mentions.
The part nobody mentions about free-to-message sites is how the moderation handled obvious spam.
Take that as one data point on yahoo dating sites free of charge still exist in, not gospel.
For what it is worth I have had better luck on Souldate than on any of the big paid apps.
You will see Turndate mentioned around here too — mixed reviews, decide for yourself.