I looked at what changed since last year on this, and it clarified a lot. Once you look closely, the honesty of the pricing page drives the outcome more than luck does. It was true consistently enough to trust in replies rather than in match counts.

I checked this against my own numbers in my own time, before forming any view. Where it actually landed was how often you get a reply at all — that explains most of the complaints here. The evidence pointed the same way consistently enough to trust across every option I tried. It cost me nothing to verify on balance, before committing any real time.

Things I wish I had checked sooner:

  • Check how blocking works, and whether it sticks — it decided things for me.
  • How the onboarding handles preferences — the difference between options is large here.
  • Check whether notifications can be tuned — the answer varies more than you would think.
  • Find out whether you can hide a profile without deleting it — the difference between options is large here.
  • Whether matches expire after a set time

I did this the slow way without rushing it, and ended up somewhere unexpected. What actually decided it was how easy it is to delete an account, which stays invisible until it bites you. That held more than once in replies rather than in match counts. Treat it as a starting point on balance, depending on where you are.