Comparison

Chess vs Chess Alliance

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

Head to head
About

Chess

Discover the world of chess with this interactive e-book. Learn the rules, terminology, and essential strategies through engaging content and practice moves with interactive diagrams. Improve your game, whether you're a beginner or looking to refine your skills.

Highlights
  • Interactive e-book format
  • Teaches rules and terminology
  • Covers essential strategies
  • Interactive diagram feature
  • Practice legal moves
Features
Read full description

Over 600 million people worldwide know how to play chess. Now you can learn how to play too, with Learn Chess! Learn Chess is a short, fun, interactive e-book that teaches you the rules, terminology, essential strategies, and more. Even if you already know the rules, it can help you improve your game. Features: - 118 pages of content - 91 chess diagrams - Interactive diagram feature lets you try out legal moves Learn Chess is made by the developer of tChess Lite and Pro, the popular and critically acclaimed iPhone chess games.

About

Chess Alliance

This platform offers a comprehensive suite of tools for chess players of all levels to play, practice, learn, and improve. Engage in live games, solve thousands of puzzles, analyze your matches with AI feedback, and join or create chess clubs for community interaction and tournaments.

Highlights
  • Play against similar level opponents
  • Challenge friends and chat
  • Watch live games and tournaments
  • Solve over 100,000 tactics puzzles
  • Analyze games with AI feedback
  • Create and join chess clubs
  • Access learning tools like opening trees and game databases
Features
Read full description

Chess Alliance is a professional platform with extensive features designed to help chess players all around the world to play, practice, learn and improve on their chess levels. More than half a million players on Chess Alliance are already studying in chess clubs. Come and join us! Have fun and make friends with players at all levels and in any age group! PLAY CHESS - With players at similar levels - Challenge your friends and chat with them WATCH GAMES - Watch other users play live on Chess Alliance - Watch live games of international tournaments TACTICS PUZZLES - Solve more than 100,000 puzzles - Customized puzzles to match your level and help you improve ANALYSE - Analyse each game and get feedback reports after playing - E-coach system helps you to improve with Big Data analysis CLUB - Players can create chess clubs and invite others to join - Club members can post threads and communicate in the club - Club admins can host online tournaments within the club LEARNING TOOLS - Computer players - Opening trees - Position search engine - Game database - Master database - Mini-games for beginners OTHER TOOLS - Notebook - Clocks - Local database - Themes AND MORE TO EXPLORE!

Screenshots

Chess4 screens
Chess Alliance3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Chess at 92% against Chess Alliance's 49%. Chess also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.9) and ads (none vs shown). Chess Alliance's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 9 months) and monetization model (ad-supported vs paid). On price, ratings volume, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Chess holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 200 and 100 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 92% of Chess's written reviews are positive against 49% of Chess Alliance's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess ships an update every 9 months, Chess Alliance every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Chess versus Chess Alliance: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChessChess Alliance
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (200 ratings) — better3.9 (100 ratings)
Positive reviews92.4% of reviews — better48.6% of reviews
Number of ratings200 — better100
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB126 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperTom KerriganBeijing Qiyi Technology Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

Chess

All ratings200 ratings
Positive96.5%
Neutral0.5%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews539 reviews
Positive92.4%
Neutral5.2%
Negative2.4%

Chess Alliance

All ratings84 ratings
Positive73.8%
Neutral7.1%
Negative19.0%
Written reviews35 reviews
Positive48.6%
Neutral5.7%
Negative45.7%

In-app purchases

None

Chess

No in-app purchases

None

Chess Alliance

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chess free?
Chess is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Alliance free?
Chess Alliance is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Chess or Chess Alliance?
Chess is rated higher. Chess averages 4.7 out of 5 from 200 ratings, while Chess Alliance averages 3.9 from 100 ratings.
Do Chess or Chess Alliance have ads?
Chess Alliance shows ads; Chess does not.
Which is updated more often, Chess or Chess Alliance?
Chess ships an update every 9 months, and Chess Alliance every 3 weeks. Most recently, Chess was updated on September 22, 2026 and Chess Alliance on September 1, 2026.

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