I only worked this out after a month of tallying with a bit of patience, and the numbers told a clearer story than I did. Consistently, moderation quality predicts your reply rate better than anything else. It was consistent consistently enough to trust when I compared like for like.

I made a spreadsheet, embarrassingly while comparing them, before I was willing to recommend anything. For me, how the inbox is ordered tends to decide whether you stick with it.

Things I wish I had checked sooner:

  • Find out whether the app shows when a profile was last online — worth two minutes before you commit.
  • Look at how blocking works, and whether it sticks — this is the one I would check first.
  • Whether the user base skews heavily in your area — surprisingly hard to find out in advance.

I stuck with it longer than most people would with a bit of patience, which is why my answer is not the popular one. Realistically how the ranking rewards activity is worth more than any feature list.