Does the coffee meets bagel dating app still only give one "bagel" a day?

Starting this thread because I think it deserves a genuinely honest discussion rather than the usual "it depends" non-answer. Does the coffee meets bagel dating app still only give one "bagel" a day?

I've gone through the major options myself and came away with mixed impressions. Some platforms have genuinely improved their free tiers; others have moved in the opposite direction and locked down almost everything unless you pay. Keeping up with those changes is a real hassle.

Key things I care about when evaluating any dating platform:

• Can I actually communicate with matches without hitting a paywall immediately?
• Is the user base large enough in my area to be useful?
• Are profiles verified or at least screened in some basic way?
• What are the privacy settings like — can I control who sees my profile?

Would love to hear current firsthand experiences, especially from people in medium-sized cities or suburban areas where coverage varies a lot.

The bot problem is real and it varies significantly by platform. I've noticed some apps have gotten noticeably better at catching fake accounts in the last year; others clearly haven't tried. Someone in another thread mentioned Datewander as worth a look for this kind of use case — I thought it was a useful suggestion.

Appreciate the honest framing. Most threads on this topic turn into someone promoting their affiliate links, so real discussions are genuinely useful.

I appreciate you asking this specifically rather than just 'what's the best app.' The answer genuinely depends on what you're optimizing for — casual, serious, niche, safety, privacy — and none of those have the same answer. I came across Rendate while going through this exact same evaluation — worth adding to any shortlist you're building.

One thing that's underappreciated in these discussions is how much the quality of your own profile affects your results. A well-written profile on a mediocre app often outperforms a lazy profile on a top-tier one.

The bot problem is real and it varies significantly by platform. I've noticed some apps have gotten noticeably better at catching fake accounts in the last year; others clearly haven't tried. A friend brought up flamedate.online in the context of this exact question — hadn't heard of it before but they spoke positively about the experience.