Comparison

Lichess vs Grandmaster Chess Clock

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Lichess

Play chess online with millions of users, participate in tournaments, solve puzzles, and analyze games. This free and open-source application offers a comprehensive chess experience for players of all levels, with features for learning and casual play.

Highlights
  • Real-time and correspondence chess
  • Arena tournaments
  • Chess puzzles
  • Game analysis with Stockfish
  • Interactive study feature
  • Chess clock
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Lichess is a free/libre, open-source chess application powered by volunteers and donations. Today, Lichess users play more than five million games every day. Lichess is one of the most popular chess websites in the world while remaining 100% free. The following features are available right now: - play real time or correspondence chess - play arena tournaments - play against online bots - solve chess puzzles from a wide variety of themes, online or offline - race against the clock in Puzzle Storm - analyse your games with latest Stockfish locally or on the server - board editor - study chess with a collaborative and interactive study feature - learn board coordinates - play over the board with a friend - watch live chess broadcasts from all major chess tournaments - watch Lichess TV and online streamers - use a chess clock for your over the board games - many different board themes and piece sets - custom background themes - translated into 55 languages

About

Grandmaster Chess Clock

This app provides precise timing for chess games, supporting various time controls and offering detailed game history tracking. It allows users to record, share, and analyze their games, making it ideal for tournament players and enthusiasts looking to improve their time management.

Highlights
  • Versatile time controls (Rapid, Blitz, Bullet)
  • Customizable time settings with increment/delay
  • Automatic game recording and detailed statistics
  • Share and export game records and history
  • Tournament-ready precision timing
  • Elegant dark theme and intuitive interface
  • Multi-language support
Features
Read full description

Grandmaster Chess Clock is the chess clock that remembers your games. It is a precise, tournament-grade chess timer for over-the-board play — and the only clock that automatically keeps a record of every game you play on it, shows you where your time went, and replays the moves for you. Play with any time control, record your moves while the clock runs, and leave every board game with a saved score sheet, head-to-head statistics, and an automatic verdict on how you spent your clock. A CLOCK YOU CAN TRUST • Fischer increment, Bronstein, and US delay timing, implemented faithfully • Blitz, bullet, rapid, and classical presets, plus fully custom time controls • Base time to the exact minute and second, per player — time odds included • The screen never sleeps while the clock is running • Portrait table mode and landscape side-by-side layout, readable from both seats • Crisp tap sounds, haptic feedback, and low-time alerts with a color-blind-friendly mode • Pause, resume, and adjust either clock mid-game TWELVE HANDCRAFTED CLOCK FACES Make the clock yours: Digital, Daylight (bold type for bright rooms), Arbiter (the tournament hall standard), Walnut (wood and brass club clock), Pixel (8-bit voxel world), Ember (dark-fantasy fire), Terminal (phosphor CRT), Neon (synthwave dusk), Royal (gold on lacquer), Cosmos (deep-space starfield), Zen (ink and ivory) and Hero (comic-book energy). Digital, Daylight and Arbiter are free. Each face restyles the whole clock screen. RECORD MOVES WHILE YOU PLAY Open the built-in chess board and enter moves as the game happens: a legal move presses the clock automatically, so notation and timekeeping become one action. The board stays fixed, each player sees their own pieces upright from their side of the table, and every move is validated against the rules of chess. A CLOCK THAT REMEMBERS Every finished game is saved automatically to your game diary — players, result, time control, and the full per-move clock timeline. Open any game for per-player statistics: moves played, average move time, longest think, time used, and time remaining. If you recorded the moves, watch the whole game replay itself with one tap. YOUR TIME, COACHED — CLOCK PRO Your clock knows exactly how you spend your time — something no online chess site can see for your real board games. Clock Pro turns that data into coaching: • An automatic time verdict after every game: did you flag, scramble, or manage your clock cleanly? • Time Coach: your time-trouble patterns across weeks and months • Head-to-head records against every opponent, and your score in every opening • An activity calendar of your playing life and personal time budgets • All nine premium clock faces, voice announcements, and no ads SHARE AND EXPORT • Share any game as a report that replays in any browser — board, clocks, move times • Open a game directly in Lichess for free engine analysis • Clock Pro: export your archive as a shareable insights report • Back up and restore your entire archive as a portable file PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No sign-up. Everything works offline and stays on your device. Your games are yours. COMMON QUESTIONS Is it free? Yes — the full clock, move recording, the game diary, and game-report sharing are free. Clock Pro (subscription or a one-time lifetime unlock) adds the time-coaching suite, premium faces, and removes ads. Does it work offline? Completely. Airplane mode, a basement club, a park bench — no connection needed. Who is it for? Club and tournament players who want a serious chess clock, improvers who want to learn from every game, coaches tracking a student's real time usage, parents timing scholastic chess, and friends playing blitz at a café. What is a game report? One file that opens in any browser and replays your game — board, clocks, and each move's thinking time. Send it to anyone; nothing to install. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Lichess4 screens
Grandmaster Chess Clock4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Grandmaster Chess Clock at 100% against Lichess's 52%. Grandmaster Chess Clock also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.1) and update cadence (every 2 days vs fortnightly). Lichess's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ads (none vs shown). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Grandmaster Chess Clock sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Lichess asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Grandmaster Chess Clock holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lichess has 662 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 52% of Lichess's written reviews are positive against 100% of Grandmaster Chess Clock's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lichess ships an update fortnightly, Grandmaster Chess Clock every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Lichess versus Grandmaster Chess Clock: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLichessGrandmaster Chess Clock
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (662 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews51.8% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings662 — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterAd-supported
Best chart rank#54 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size86 MB54 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLICHESS.ORGAras Atakligan

Customer experience

Lichess

All ratings662 ratings
Positive74.0%
Neutral5.3%
Negative20.7%
Written reviews552 reviews
Positive51.8%
Neutral10.5%
Negative37.7%

Grandmaster Chess Clock

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Lichess

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • Swipe-to-go-back gesture interferes with piece placement

Requested features

3 requests
  • Name of opening in opening explorer
  • Ability to add and subtract additional things on the homepage
  • Reset/replay button on puzzles

Grandmaster Chess Clock

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Lichess

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Grandmaster Chess Clock

Subscriptions2
  • Clock Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Clock Pro Annual$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • Clock Pro Lifetime$44.99

Questions

Is Lichess free?
Lichess is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Grandmaster Chess Clock free?
Grandmaster Chess Clock is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Lichess or Grandmaster Chess Clock?
Grandmaster Chess Clock is rated higher. Lichess averages 4.1 out of 5 from 662 ratings, while Grandmaster Chess Clock averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Lichess or Grandmaster Chess Clock have ads?
Grandmaster Chess Clock shows ads; Lichess does not.
Which is updated more often, Lichess or Grandmaster Chess Clock?
Lichess ships an update fortnightly, and Grandmaster Chess Clock every 2 days. Most recently, Lichess was updated on October 18, 2026 and Grandmaster Chess Clock on October 14, 2026.

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