ChessUp vs Chess Move
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ChessUp
This app enhances your chess experience with a smart chessboard. It offers game archives, analysis, and live AI assistance. Connect to play remote opponents on various platforms.
- Chess game archives
- Game analysis
- Live AI assistance
- Remote opponent play
- BLE connectivity
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ChessUp is a companion app for the ChessUp smart chessboard. The app provides chess game archives and analysis. The app can link with the chessboard over BLE to provide live Ai assistance. The app can also provide an internet connection for the board in order to play remote chess opponents on various chess platforms.
Chess Move
This app helps chess players find the best moves using a powerful cloud-based engine. It allows users to set up board positions manually or via camera scan, and customize analysis depth and engine settings for in-depth game review.
- Best move calculation
- Cloud-based Stockfish engine
- Board setup via drag-and-drop
- Camera position scanning
- Customizable engine presets
- Multiple analysis lines
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Introducing ChessMovePro, the all-new powerful move calculator that lets users find the best move in seconds! The app calculates the best lines using powerful dedicated servers running Stockfish 16 in the cloud. ChessMovePro offers a wide variety of customizations that allow users to find the best move quickly. Users can set up their board by dragging and dropping pieces onto the setup board to match the app to their current board position. Next head over to the analysis screen where you can see the best moves and lines at a glance. Customize the engine preset in order to increase depth, get more lines, change the elo target or increase think time. ChessMovePro allows users to use their camera to scan chess positions and find the best moves to play within seconds. The dedicated Stockfish servers ensure only the best moves are shown and that users can analzye games at the highest level. In the settings, users can customize the look of their app with various boards and app colors. Upgrade to ChessMovePro in order to unlock the full suite of customizations for the app and take your experience to the next level! How do I use Chess Move Pro? After opening the app users first have to setup their chess board. Take advantage of the apps scanning feature and pull out your camera to caputre the position or place the chess pieces in the correct squares. Next hit the analyze button and Chess Move Pro will analyze your current chess position using cloud Stockfish 15.1 servers that will find the best next chess move for you to play. If you don't like the next chess move that the app suggests hit the re-calculate button in order to calculate a new best move for the current position. Terms and Conditions: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ChessUp at 4.8 against Chess Move's 4.3. ChessUp also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 17) and review sentiment (55% vs 28%). Chess Move's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Chess Move sells 17 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. ChessUp asks for nothing beyond the download.
ChessUp holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2.6K and 1.1K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 55% of ChessUp's written reviews are positive against 28% of Chess Move's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ChessUp | Chess Move |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (2.6K ratings) — better | 4.3 (1.1K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 54.5% of reviews — better | 27.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2.6K — better | 1.1K |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 16 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 218 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Bryght Labs Inc. | Setse LLC |
Customer experience
ChessUp
Chess Move
User reviews
ChessUp
From 2.6K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great app and board
- 👍 Fantastic board to learn and improve game
- 🚀 Awesome chess experience
- 👍 Wonderful app
- 👍 Incredible learning tool
Room to improve
- 🐛 Lots of bugs and glitches
- 🐛 Crashes and connectivity issues
- 🐛 Misleading marketing and unfinished product
- 🐛 Haptics issues and unresponsive interface
- 🐛 AI difficulty imbalanced
Chess Move
From 1.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ⭐ Great app
- 🚀 Works well
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🧠 Helpful for improving chess skills
- 🏆 Allows beating difficult opponents
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive subscription
- 🔒 Locked behind paywall
- 🐛 Crashes and bugs
- 🔄 Inconsistent performance after updates
- 🤯 Confusing or misleading about free trial
Bugs and requests
ChessUp
Reported bugs
6 issues- Moves not registering
- Bluetooth connectivity issues
- Crashes and freezes
- Sync issues between app and board
- Lessons not working properly
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- Chess.com integration problems
Requested features
5 requests- Add chess openings lessons
- Implement position setup and export/import
- Add post-game review mechanism
- Improve AI difficulty scaling
- Add chess puzzles
Chess Move
Reported bugs
3 issues- Pieces not detected correctly
- Moves suggested in wrong direction
- App crashes on launch or during use
Requested features
3 requests- Add ability to save board positions
- Improve piece detection and move suggestions
- Provide more free analysis options
In-app purchases
ChessUp
No in-app purchases
Chess Move
- ChessMovePro - Premium$3.997 Days
- ChessMovePro - Monthly$3.991 Month
- ChessMovePro - Premium$4.991 Month
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- ChessMovePro - Premium$7.991 Month
- ChessMovePro (Weekly)$7.997 Days
- ChessMovePro - Hidden Discount$9.991 Year
- ChessMovePro (Monthly)$9.991 Month
- ChessMovePro - Premium$14.991 Year
- ChessMovePro - Premium3 Days trial$14.991 Year
- ChessMovePro - Premium3 Days trial$19.991 Year
- ChessMovePro - Premium$19.991 Year
- ChessMovePro (Quarterly)$19.993 Months
- ChessMovePro7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- ChessMovePro (Yearly)$29.991 Year
- ChessMovePro (Yearly)3 Days trial$39.991 Year
- ChessMovePro (Yearly)3 Days trial$49.991 Year
- ChessMovePro7 Days trial$49.991 Year
