Lichess vs Chess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Real-time and correspondence chess
- Arena tournaments
- Chess puzzles
- Game analysis with Stockfish
- Interactive study feature
- Chess clock
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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
Chess
Learn chess openings and endgames through a unique four-stage process: follow, understand, practice, and challenge. Master tactics with over 240 puzzles and play against four AI opponents. Core features are available offline.
- Four-stage learning flow
- Opening and endgame courses
- Tactics puzzle training
- Four AI opponents
- Progress and ELO tracking
- Offline core features
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One move at a time. Chess gets clearer. Chess Master breaks every opening and endgame into four learning stages — Follow, Understand, Practice, and Challenge — so you meet each line four times in a row and the moves start to feel inevitable. Study the line, understand the reasoning, reproduce it from memory, then face an AI that plays the same opening against you — learning and real matches in one flow. Four-Stage Learning Flow 1. Follow — Tap each move in sequence, tracing the line by hand. 2. Understand — Watch the line auto-play while you read why each move wins. 3. Practice — Reproduce the sequence from memory, no hints. 4. Challenge — Play an AI that uses the same opening against you. Main Features - Four-Stage Learning Flow: Meet every opening and endgame four times through Follow, Understand, Practice, and Challenge until the moves feel natural. - Opening and Endgame Courses: Sixteen classic openings and sixteen essential endgames, every move annotated with the reasoning behind it. Star ratings track your mastery. - Tactics Puzzle Training: Over 240 puzzles across six themes — fork, pin, skewer, discovered attack, mate in N, and back rank — with ELO-based difficulty matching and a daily puzzle streak. - Four AI Opponents: Bots ranging from ELO 600 to 1600, each with a distinct playing style. Configurable chess clock, move history, captured pieces, and takeback. - Progress and ELO Tracking: Puzzle ELO over time, win and loss per bot, course completion with star ratings, and stats filtered by week, month, three months, or all time. Good For - First-time chess learners - Casual players who want to study openings systematically - Intermediate players drilling tactics to break plateaus - Anyone who wants to practice alone without a local opponent or coach Core features run fully offline and no account is required. The app is supported by AdMob advertising; an App Tracking Transparency prompt appears on first launch for device identifier use. Feedback and bug reports are welcome at seungwoo321@gmail.com. One move at a time — let us keep going together.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Lichess at 4.1 against Chess's 2.0. Lichess also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (785 vs 1). On price, in-app purchases, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Lichess holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lichess has 785 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Lichess ships an update fortnightly, Chess every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lichess | Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (785 ratings) — better | 2.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 53.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 785 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Best chart rank | #42 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 109 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | LICHESS.ORG | SEUNGWOO LEE |
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
Chess
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Lichess
No in-app purchases
Chess
No in-app purchases









