For chinese, CMB is the best. Second is Bumble. Premium subscription comes with some benefits.

I have been using these apps for half a year now.

Premium on CMB lets you see if the girl is active or not. If she active and not replying you, then most likely she is not interested. CMB mostly chinese girls.

Premium on Bumble lets you rewind a profile that you left-swiped in case you had second thoughts. It also has incognito mode which only shows your profile to girls you are interested in. It's good to have some privacy with incognito to prevent your clients from seeing you (to save you from awkwardness at work). Bumble has a normal mix of chinese and malay girls which to my opinion has more attractive girls in terms appearance maybe say by 50% more than CMB.

This month experiencing dry season @ CMB, so i wrote them CMB tech support an email and they told me it wasn't a bug and they gave me 1000 free beans.
The free beans could be used to revive an old convo. Spending on Discovery is a waste because u get to swipe the profiles at a later date.

TanTan and Tinder are the worst. You get some matches but they only chat once a month.

After swiping CMB & Bumble everyday for 1year+ (both premium) since Oct 2022, here are some personal stats:

Me 35yo/Male/KL
Total physical dates (meet ups) around 30 (20% from Bumble and 80% from CMB)

CMB
CMB Settings: preferred location within 40km, most of the time ages 27 to 32, with the exception that they were never married, not Hindu & not Hispanic.

CMB total 260 chats to date over a period of 430days = 0.6chats/day = 1 new chat every 2 days

CMB Cost:
Premium subscription for CMB (went with 6monthly plan) = roughly around RM1100 for 1 year

Saverpack 3000 beans for RM92.50 (roughly gives you total 8 extra swipes for hinting girls outside their search criteria, unless you do it during Thursday happy hour, where bean cost per swipe is less)
Purchased the saverpack beans probably 3 times = total RM280

Estimated Total expenditure for CMB (premium subscription + Beans) to date = RM1400.

CMB Value vs Performance:
RM1400 for 25 meet-ups = RM56 per meet-up (rough figure)




BUMBLE
Bumble Settings: no specific preferences for all girls aged 26 to 32 (increased the age range since it has always been unlimited swipes)
Bumble total 150 chats over a period of 430 days = 0.3chats per day = 1 new chat every 3 to 4 days
Purchased Bumble Superswipes a few times. During 2022, Bumble Superswipes were expensive (5 Superswipes for RM 30). But since March 2023, they became cheaper (30 Superswipes for RM 45). Even now, the lifetime app service subscription is only a one-time-off payment of RM250.

Sadly, I had been blindly paying the monthly Bumble subscription without being aware of the lifetime option.
Total expenditure for Bumble (subscription + SuperSwipes) = RM2000
(RM1570 for subscription and RM430 for SuperSwipes)

Bumble Value vs Performance:
RM2000 for 5 Bumble meet-ups = RM400 per Bumble meet-up

* Even if i had been a premium Bumble subscriber from the very beginning (ie. RM250 premium sub + RM430 for all the SuperSwipes = total RM680), the performance is still poor (ie. RM680 for 5 Bumble meet-ups = RM136 per Bumble meet-up)

Do note that I used the same set of pics (the best ones) for both CMB and Bumble.




Total Dating Expenditure for 2023:
Each meet-up estimated around RM100 (say 2 cocktails + share 1 or 2 plates)

So, 30 dates x RM100 = total RM3000 (but definitely more than that because there were a few second dates with the same girl)

The most expensive date was a 2-day staycation, burnt a hole in my wallet about RM1000 (golddigger girl from Bumble with average looks, job crisis and badly managed finances. Even my stuffs end up becoming her prop for Insta pics.)

Total dating expenses (app/meetups) = RM7400
If to include the Misc stuffs like movies/billiards/and second time dates, i think around RM8000+


App Review:
Bumble has overall degraded over the year, that they had to lower their cost for purchasable swipes.
Even verified profiles are suspicious, the pics do not seem native for the stated/spoken language.
The superswipes are a waste of money (yielded a chat response of maybe less than5% whom i didn't even get to meet).
However, the interface is a lot better than CMB (bigger pictures and less laggy).

CMB still the best app in 2024. It's even better after the recent changes: unlimited suggestions.
It feels pleasant especially for guys to receive flowers from girls now (a better indication that they are interested)
Average looking girls (average face appearance with decent profiles) still get a lot of likes per day from guys (as long as they dressed to reveal a little more than the norm - confidently expressed.)

Other things that i have observed:
Girl pics without body shots are likely to weigh heavier
Faces with symmetry problem (example one eye higher than the other) tend to take pics which are tilted/rotated/distanced.
Body pics showing deco/neck/sideview to show breast/butt outlines are good enough to generate many likes without a face pic.
Interested girls will ask you out and follow up with conversations/whatsapp (reciprocal) etc.
Splitting the bill on the second date is bad - very often the end of the encounter.
You'll remember the girls you met because either they were attractive or they pissed you off.

Overall, for me meeting pretty girls via dating apps is very hard, not to say a total failure but the money could be put to better use.

Any guys here with 30-50 active chats on CMB at any one time maybe can share some tips, or any success stories. How about speed dating? Anyone been to one with many girls?

Yes, around RM25 for one cocktail. I only go to those franchise bar-restaurants at common malls. Starbucks/Coffee bean would cost around RM50 as well for 2 drinks.

The staycation was a second date. I was hasty and clouded because it felt like a perfect replacement for my-ex after recent breakup, someone in the same career field, younger etc. One year later after meeting different girls, I felt quite silly.
Now, meet ups/getting their numbers don't really matter anymore, thanks to beauty filters. But I do enjoy date-worthy girls who put in the effort and look their best.

The potential attractive ones that I met refused to continue after second or first date. I also met average ones who texted me and asked me out, but I didn't want to pursue them.
I believe it will easy to pick a girl with average looks.
But here are the things that they asked me 100% every single time:
1) Do you stay alone?
2) What are you looking for?
3) What do you do on weekends?

Mid-afternoon first dates are the best. Just order drinks and talk (expected both had lunch already). Save money for guys. If exciting girl, sometimes appetite not great for food also haha.
Lunch or dinner best reserved for second date (if there is chemistry, like reciprocal chats on Whatsapp or if she asks you out).