I am an Indian male engineer, got an admit from a top 15 US school and used
ApplicantLab extensively. So I guess I qualify to answer.
I totally understand what you are talking about - the review page is full 5 stars, making it tough to differentiate among them. But none of them offers a free trial afaik, except for
ApplicantLab. And if there is only one thing you want to take from this reply, it is this -
try ApplicantLab's free 15 day trial and see for yourself if it works for you. I did, found it amazing and chose it eventually.
As for my feedback, I have already written a review. To summarize that, I think the tool is extremely helpful in creating your story (branding), framing your essays by choosing life events for each school (to maximize your fit) and finally in prepping for interviews and networking. That's the reason most of the reviews are glowing - because people are elated at having received admit from a top school at an extremely low investment of money (not time, your dedicated effort is crucial for this tool to work).
However, if you think you work best only with actual face-time with a consultant (rather than reading/watching the same advice on the app) , I suggest you buy additional hours for essay editing/consulting that Maria provides. I did not use that service so can not comment on the bandwidth. But I found Maria to be extremely approachable through the entire process, so drop her a mail anytime to get more details. .
PM me if you have any questions regarding
ApplicantLab. Would be happy to help.