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
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Chess you can pick up in a minute and keep playing for years. Play a computer opponent at the level that suits you, solve a checkmate puzzle a day, and learn the ideas that win games — on a real 3D chess set or a clean 2D board. PLAY THE COMPUTER • Six levels, from Beginner (about 600 Elo) to Master (about 2100 Elo) • Our own chess engine, built for this app — no internet connection needed • The lower levels make human-like mistakes, not random blunders • Undo, flip the board, and ask for a hint when you are stuck TWO PLAYERS, ONE DEVICE • Play a friend face to face on the same iPhone or iPad A 3D BOARD, OR 2D • A turned wooden set on a walnut board, lit and shadowed like the real thing • Pieces lift and travel as you move them • Switch to a flat 2D board with one tap • Adjust the camera angle to the view you like • Turn your iPhone or iPad on its side for a bigger board DAILY PUZZLE • A checkmate puzzle every day: mate in one, two or three • Every puzzle is checked by computer to have a forced mate • Any winning line counts — not just the one we had in mind LEARN CHESS • 12 short lessons on how the pieces move, openings, endgames and strategy • Each step shown on the board, with the squares and moves highlighted YOUR GAMES • A full score sheet as you play, in standard notation • Share any game as PGN • Statistics for your results, streaks, levels and favourite openings CHESS PREMIUM Premium is optional; the full game is free to play. Premium adds: • Unlimited hints (free play includes 3 a day) • Game analysis: accuracy, mistakes, blunders and an evaluation graph for every game • Four more boards and the Glass piece set • Your average accuracy across all analysed games Premium is available as a monthly or yearly auto-renewing subscription, or as a one-time lifetime purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and can be managed in your Apple Account settings. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your games, statistics and settings stay on your device. No account, no ads, no tracking. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.eustudio.org/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Lichess at none against Chess's 2. Lichess also leads on chart position (#39 vs unranked). On price, ads, 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. Chess sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Lichess asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Lichess | Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (813 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 53.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 813 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Best chart rank | #39 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 109 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | LICHESS.ORG | EU Studio |
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
- Premium Monthly$0.991 Month
- Premium Lifetime$19.99









