This is the right question. The answer is mostly whether the sorting can be trusted.
What decided it for me with the site was how many conversations reach a second message.
Took me about 2 weeks on dating apps over 40 for serious dating to work out that the real question was whether the sorting can be trusted.
Where the service works it works fast; where it does not, whether 'free' means free to browse or free to talk is usually the reason.
What separates dating apps over 40 for serious dating from the rest of the field is whether the good profiles are already taken.
Widening the radius on the site added volume and quietly worsened how easy it is to spot a recycled photo.
Most comparisons of the site skip how many obvious fakes survive a week, which is the part that matters.
Your mileage on dating apps over 40 for serious dating will vary by city more than by anything else.
The closest alternative I found was datedesire.online.