My personal favorite is
WishMood. The experience is a bit different for men and women, but it works well for both. It slows things down so you can find higher-quality matches who aren’t chatting with tons of other people. The profiles are much better too.
Here’s a short list of apps based on what you’re looking for, along with what they’re known for. I put it together to give you more ideas.
Tinder still works in free mode, but you’ll run into limits (likes per day, blurred likes). Messaging is free once you match.
Bumble offers free swiping and chatting after matching, but key features like advanced filters and seeing who liked you are behind a paywall.
Hinge probably offers the best free experience right now. You can like and message people without paying, though daily likes are limited.
OKCupid is still one of the most free-friendly options. Messaging and matching work without a subscription, although the app pushes upgrades.
POF still offers a lot for free, including messaging, but the overall quality tends to be more mixed compared to newer apps.