This has been on my mind lately and I figured this community would have solid input.
What bothers me most is how hard it is to find real, unfiltered opinions on this stuff. Forums like this are honestly more useful than any best-of list I've found through searching.
The free tiers on most of what I've tried are basically useless. You get just enough to see that real people are there, then hit a wall the second you try to actually message anyone.
Feel free to share whatever has worked for you, even if it's not the obvious answer.