I keep seeing vague answers on other forums so figured I'd ask people who actually know.
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.
If you've got experience with any platforms or approaches that work, drop them below.