Though apps with a video option look similar, the boost system differs a little, but it is not the disaster people claim. Going by my own attempts, if you have limited time in the evenings the answer is usually to say what you actually want up front rather than read the last few pages of a thread before asking.
My advice would be to skip anything asking for a card number to read messages and then report the obvious fakes rather than ignoring them, but it is not the disaster people claim.
- Judging by my own inbox, the free tier is the thing that decides it, though the chat-first sites rarely say so
- The thing that finally clicked was that the ones people keep recommending have made the first message cost something after a slow start
- Judging by my own inbox, the regional platforms have improved the filtering a fair bit, and nobody warns you about it
- I stuck with the bigger platforms across a couple of different accounts, and the honest result was that the moderation queue mattered massively most
I stuck with the older established sites in the past six months, and the honest result was that the free tier mattered a great deal most. From the threads I've read, the newer sites have moved the useful bits behind a subscription, though it settles down after a while.
Being blunt about it, the free tier is the thing that decides it, although sites that skip verification rarely say so.
A few people here rate Datenest's free profiles suits casual browsing, so it is worth a look.