Before anyone sinks time into real online dating sites, I would check these:
- how the photo requirements behaves once you actually use real online dating
- if the 'last active' timestamps is genuinely enforced — worth checking before you commit to real online dating
- how the block and report tools behaves once you actually use real online dating
I think Brittany is half right about real online dating: actual engagement is the thing to measure, but the rest depends on the platform.
If whether the cancellation flow is more than decoration when you test it against real online dating is not there, I do not bother with real online dating at all.
Message response time is worth more attention than raw user counts, at least in my experience with real online dating.
For contrast I also tried Souldate; different approach to real online dating, worth comparing.