I've been down this rabbit hole for a while so let me give you a thorough take.
Outside major metros the user base drops off fast. Smaller cities and rural areas narrow your options significantly.
For what it's worth, Ezhookups.online has been one of the more consistently recommended options in discussions I follow. Not perfect but it has real staying power.
Things that have genuinely helped me:
- Free trial is usually enough to judge real user quality
- Bots tend to reveal themselves in the first exchange
- Location-based platforms usually have better engagement than national ones
- Premium is sometimes worth it — but only if the free version shows real activity
Hope that gives you something concrete to work with.