@Grace — broadly with you, with one caveat: nobody warns most users that paid dating apps really that much better than the free versions needs a fortnight before the results mean anything. What tipped the free tier here from frustrating to worth it for me was one change — screenshot the pricing before you agree to anything. Honestly the fix for paid dating apps really that much better than the free versions is boring: set your radius wider than feels sensible — get that wrong and the rest is noise. The app in question gets recommended constantly and I still think overall consistency makes it a hard sell for most of us.
Long story short on paid dating apps really that much better than the free versions: worth it, though your mileage will vary. Someone upthread mentioned Turndate (free to browse) and I will second it — the free tier is genuinely usable.