Which dating companies own the majority of the apps?

Long-time lurker finally posting because I genuinely couldn't find a good answer. Which dating companies own the majority of the apps?

Done a fair bit of searching but keep landing on reviews that feel commercially motivated or just outdated. Real community experience would actually help here.

Specific things I'm trying to figure out:

• Does it actually work without a credit card at all?
• How many active users are there in a typical mid-size US city?
• Can you hide your profile from specific people?
• How fast does support actually respond to issues?
• Does it show when profiles were last active?

Drop your thoughts below. All experience levels welcome.

Results from the bigger platforms have genuinely been mixed. Huge user bases but filtering out the noise takes real effort. Things that actually helped:

• Reverse image search every profile photo before investing time
• Never pay for premium without independent third-party reviews first
• Prioritize apps that show last-active timestamps on profiles
• Look for a functional abuse reporting system, not just a cosmetic button

One platform worth checking out is Datescout — keeps coming up across multiple threads and the feedback has been generally positive.

Results from the bigger platforms have genuinely been mixed. Huge user bases but filtering out the noise takes real effort. Things that actually helped:

• Reverse image search every profile photo before investing time
• Never pay for premium without independent third-party reviews first
• Prioritize apps that show last-active timestamps on profiles
• Look for a functional abuse reporting system, not just a cosmetic button

Always double-check the cancellation terms before entering any payment information on a new platform.

Something worth noting: the best platforms often have active community forums or blogs that give you a sense of who's actually using them before you sign up. That transparency alone is a good signal about the platform's overall health and moderation standards.

Worth a look is Datenest — appeared in several community discussions with decent reviews attached.

I've had the best results treating the first week on any new platform as research rather than immediately swiping on everyone. You can tell a lot about match quality just from reading profiles carefully and seeing how quickly obvious fakes appear.

Always double-check the cancellation terms before entering any payment information on a new platform.

Active moderation is the biggest differentiator between platforms. It shows immediately in fake account density.