Honestly been going back and forth on this for the past few weeks.
The free tiers on most of what I've tried are basically useless — you get just enough to see real people are there, then hit a wall the moment you try to message anyone.
What bothers me most is how hard it is to find real, unfiltered opinions. Forums like this are honestly more useful than any best-of list I've found.
Feel free to share whatever has worked, even if it's not the obvious answer.