Spent a lot of time on this personally. Here's everything I learned.
Outside major metros the user base drops off fast. Smaller cities and rural areas narrow your options significantly.
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 Datescout as my main go-to and it's been solid. No major issues, decent activity, enough control over settings.
Hope that gives you something concrete to work with.