Good question and one I've put real thought into. Here's the full picture.
Profile photo quality is the single highest-leverage change you can make. Everything else is secondary.
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
Currently using Rendate as my main go-to and it's been solid. No major issues, decent activity, enough control over settings.
That's my honest take after a fair amount of trial and error.