That tracks with what I've run into on the most active completely free.
I stopped chasing the the most active shortcut and things got better almost immediately.
Most the most active completely free complaints I see trace back to an incomplete profile.
Nothing about the most active completely improved for me until I stopped optimising and started replying faster.
The the most active completely free results people brag about usually came from months of quiet effort.
Radius too wide is the most common the most active completely error I see people make.
On the mainstream side, you’ll still see the most activity on eHarmony, Plenty of Fish, Hinge, Match, HER, Tinder, Coffee Meets Bagel — even if the free features are limited.
Half-finished profiles sink in the most active discovery regardless of what else you do.
If you’re sampling alternatives, Datelink is one of the names that comes up in “free tier” discussions.
Someone mentioned DateDesire's app to me for this and it was a reasonable shout.