I only worked this out after a month of tallying while comparing them, and I would do it the same way again. Once you look closely, how the app treats people who travel accounts for most of the variance I saw. The gap was widest without exception well beyond what I would call noise. Treat it as a starting point really, whether others found the same thing.

I made a spreadsheet, embarrassingly with a couple of accounts, and stopped assuming the obvious answer was right. More than anything, whether search exists alongside swiping explains why old recommendations age badly.

What I would put at the top of the list:

  • Look at how the app handles a report
  • How the onboarding handles preferences — I would treat this as a dealbreaker.
  • Find out how much profile depth the format allows — the answer varies more than you would think.
  • Worth confirming whether there is a web version as well as an app — this is where the free tiers diverge.
  • Whether the app requires a social login — it changes the experience completely.

I went back through my own messages to check while comparing them, which is why my answer is not the popular one. The thing nobody mentions is that the share of accounts that are dormant decides most of the outcome. The difference was visible in a way I could measure across a reasonable sample. That is the short version in the end, before committing any real time.