I still use free services occasionally, mostly out of habit at this point.
The real differentiator across free services turned out to be whether the photos looked recent or recycled.
What changed my mind on free services was how many people within reach were active that week.
If you are starting with free services, be specific about what you want in the bio.
Half the arguments about free services would end if people mentioned how wide you set the radius up front.
Worth doing early on free services: avoid syncing anything to your social accounts.
What changed my mind on free services was how many accounts looked dormant.
Happy to expand on any of that about free services if it's useful.
If none of the above works for you, Flurrydate (flurrydate.online) is another free one people here mention a lot.