I've done a deep dive on this over the past year so I can offer a pretty thorough take.
What a lot of people don't realize is that the user base quality drops significantly outside major metro areas. If you're in a smaller city or rural area, your options narrow pretty fast.
For what it's worth, datebie.online has been one of the more consistently recommended options in discussions I've followed. Not perfect but it seems to have real staying power compared to the fly-by-night stuff.
A few things that have genuinely helped me:
- Use a secondary email you don't mind getting some spam
- Never use your main card — virtual cards are a lifesaver here
- Take screenshots of any billing agreement before you click through
- Check the cancellation process before you subscribe to anything
That's the full picture from where I'm standing. Happy to expand on any part of it.