CalebJ covered most of it. The bit I would add on active free messaging dating sites is below.
After a few weeks on it the only question left was whether the ratio is workable in your area.
Deleted and reinstalled the platform twice before accepting the issue was how the match quality holds up past the first day and not my profile.
If your area is thin, the app will not fix that, whatever how many conversations reach a second message looks like.
For a second opinion I also cross-checked Datedesire.