My experience with search dating sites was mixed enough that I want to be specific rather than general.
Took me about 6 weeks on the app to work out that the real question was how many conversations reach a second message.
Most comparisons of search dating sites skip whether the good profiles are already taken, which is the part that matters.
Turning off read receipts made the platform far less stressful, though it did nothing for whether the good profiles are already taken.
Assuming you're not paying, how many profiles logged in this week is where the service gets tight.
What decided it for me with search dating sites was how many conversations reach a second message.
I would judge that one on whether the recommendations improve with use rather than on the feature list.
Is search dating sites still like this, or has it improved?