Spent a lot of time on this personally. Here's everything I learned.
Response rate in the first 24 hours of a match makes a measurable difference to how conversations develop.
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
Ended up on Flurrydate after testing quite a few options. Doesn't make big promises but delivers without the nonsense.
Take what's useful and leave the rest. Every situation is different.