After testing several platforms over a few months, here's what I've noticed. The ones with the most real activity tend to have stricter sign-up flows — less convenient but worth it for quality.
A few patterns worth knowing:
- Activity peaks on weekday evenings and Sunday afternoons on most platforms
- Phone verification at sign-up dramatically reduces bot and throwaway accounts
- Tinder, Bumble, Hinge — still the biggest pools but heavily algorithm-gated on free tiers
- Smaller niche apps often have better conversation quality simply because intent is clearer
Also worth checking whether the platform shows last-active times. If they hide it, they're usually hiding low engagement.
Not sure if it fits your situation but Flurrydate is worth a look.