Comparison

Chess.com vs Magnus Trainer

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

Head to head
About

Chess.com

Engage in chess with millions globally through online matches, tournaments, and practice modes. Enhance your skills with over a million puzzles, expert lessons, and AI opponents. Explore various chess variants and track your progress with detailed statistics.

Highlights
  • Online multiplayer chess
  • Over 1 million chess puzzles
  • Hundreds of chess lessons
  • AI opponents with adjustable difficulty
  • Tournament participation
  • Chess variant gameplay
  • Game analysis and statistics
Features
Read full description

Play chess lessons online with over 280 million players from around the world! Chess is known as the best strategy board game in the world! Enjoy unlimited 3D offline pocket chess games and improve your chess rating with 1,000,000+ puzzles, more than 20 million chess games a day, lessons, and over 100 powerful bot opponents. Unlock your inner chess master today! PLAY CHESS ONLINE: - 2 Player online chess mode is entirely free to enjoy with your friends. - Join tournaments with players online or friends and become a master. - Play games in real-time from one minute per game to 30 minutes or longer with friends. - Review your strategy and game lessons and lay out daily correspondence in online chess. - Play exciting chess variants in our app: chess960 (Fischer-Random), blitz chess, puzzle rush, bullet chess, puzzle battle, or blindfold. CHESS PUZZLES: - Enjoy 1,000,000 + unique puzzles. - Rated mode automatically adjusts to your skill level to help you improve. - Race the clock with a timer to beat your high score in Puzzle Rush. - Practice puzzles with specific themes in this strategy board game (checkmate in 1, in 2, in 3, blindfold, endgames, fork, skewer, sacrifice, timer, etc.) CHESS LESSONS: - Hundreds of quality chess lessons and online videos made by masters (Learn and practice your skills with chess problems) - Interactive puzzles tutorials with tips and game recommendations. - Learn all the chess rules and strategies in a step-by-step lesson plan (opening, endgame...) CHESS COACHING: - Learn from helpful and immersive visual chess coach lessons. - Review your games with the coach and learn the strategy of the board game for every move. - Play games with the coach, who will guide you through the fundamentals move by move and provide helpful hints as you play. PLAY CHESS ONLINE AGAINST THE COMPUTER: - Choose the level of computer opponent you want to play and set a timer. - Analyze your chess games offline and learn to see where you went wrong and how you can improve. CHESS COMMUNITY: - Join a community of more than 200M online chess players. Find friends! - More than 20M games played each day. - Compete to get your own rating and try to join the best player online chess leaderboards against other players. - Watch the most popular superstars: Hikaru, GothamChess, or Magnus! ... and MUCH MORE: - Play chess games offline against the computer and the clock with a timer. - Articles by the best coaches and masters. - Explore openings like Queen´s Gambit or Sicilian Defense. - Challenge and play with your friends in an online chess game. - Choose from 20+ board themes and 3D pieces. - Get in-depth performance stats about your games, puzzles, and lessons. Playing pocket chess online has never been so easy! Chess.com is the place to play chess games online with your friends and other players! Share your suggestions and comments. Our support team is happy to help you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year! ABOUT CHESS.COM: Chess.com was created by chess players and people who love chess! Team: http://www.chess.com/about

About

Magnus Trainer

Master chess with engaging games and interactive lessons created by Grand Masters and the World Chess Champion. Learn fundamentals, openings, and endgames through bite-sized challenges and puzzles for all skill levels.

Highlights
  • 250+ unique lessons
  • Bite-sized chess games
  • Thousands of puzzles
  • Beginner to advanced levels
  • Expert-crafted courses
  • Interactive learning
Features
Read full description

A better, more fun way to learn and train chess! Master chess through engaging games and interactive lessons with Magnus Carlsen, the World Chess Champion! WHY MAGNUS TRAINER? Curated courses created by our learning experts and Grand Masters. 250+ unique lessons covering chess foundation to openings and endgames. Bite-sized games designed to reinforce your learning, each game has dozens of levels and thousands of puzzles. Caters to beginners and advanced players alike. Learn chess with the greatest player of all time! UNIQUE TRAINING BY CHESS EXPERTS Play unique, beautiful games crafted by chess experts and game design experts. Deepen your chess skills through premium lessons based on games by Magnus Carlsen and other world-leading chess players. All games and lessons are created by Magnus Carlsen and his team of experienced Grand Masters, all of whom have years of coaching experience. Magnus Trainer makes learning chess easy and engaging for players of all levels. New games are updated and added regularly to bring you the best possible experience, and we're adding new theory lessons every week. Each mini-game has dozens of levels, ranging from beginner to advanced, allowing all chess players, new and experienced, to find a challenging fit to improve their skills. Those who have never played chess before are able to learn the fundamentals in a series of introductory lessons, while more experienced players have access to advanced tactics and strategies, covering a range of endgame essentials. FROM AN AWARD WINNING TEAM The Magnus Trainer app has been featured in Fast Company, The Guardian and VG, and is the creation of the team behind the popular Play Magnus app, winner of several design awards. “I’ve always done things a little differently. That is what inspired me to create Magnus Trainer. Chess has always been fun, but this takes learning and training chess to a new level. Magnus Trainer is chess training for everyone!” — Magnus Carlsen “The Future of Chess!” — Rob, App Store Reviewer You can also check out our other free app, Play Magnus. Play against Magnus at any age from 5 years and up! REACH FURTHER WITH A MEMBERSHIP The app is free to use, with added benefits for paying members. Members enjoy instant access to all 250+ premium lessons, many exclusive only for members. As a member, you also get infinite lives so you can always keep playing, including exclusive bonus levels. In addition, members get detailed statistics with insights into their performance and game progress. For Magnus Trainer we offer the following subscriptions: 1 month 12 months Lifetime TERMS OF PAYMENT Payment will be charged to your iTunes account after you’ve confirmed a purchase. Subscription to a membership automatically renews, unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period, and the price for the renewal will be provided. You can change your subscription settings in Subscriptions in App Store, or in the More tab in Magnus Trainer when a subscription is active. It is not possible to cancel an active subscription to get a refund of the remaining time. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication. TERMS OF USE https://company.playmagnus.com/terms PRIVACY POLICY https://company.playmagnus.com/privacy

Screenshots

Chess.com4 screens
Magnus Trainer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Chess.com at weekly against Magnus Trainer's every 5 weeks. Chess.com also leads on ratings volume (885K vs 13K) and chart position (#1 vs unranked). Magnus Trainer's advantage is review sentiment (81% vs 64%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Chess.com sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Magnus Trainer sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Chess.com against 4.8 for Magnus Trainer. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess.com has 885K ratings behind it against 13K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 64% of Chess.com's written reviews are positive against 81% of Magnus Trainer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess.com ships an update weekly, Magnus Trainer every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on November 12, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Chess.com versus Magnus Trainer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess.comMagnus Trainer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (885K ratings) — better4.8 (13K ratings)
Positive reviews64.4% of reviews80.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings885K — better13K
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#1 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size466 MB187 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChess.comChess.com

Customer experience

Chess.com

All ratings882,124 ratings
Positive95.9%
Neutral1.5%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews9,372 reviews
Positive64.4%
Neutral5.9%
Negative29.7%

Magnus Trainer

All ratings12,671 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.7%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews417 reviews
Positive80.8%
Neutral6.0%
Negative13.2%

User reviews

Chess.com

From 885K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent app for learning and improving chess skills
  • 🎓 Comprehensive lessons, puzzles, and analysis tools
  • 🌍 Large player base for quick matchmaking
  • 📊 Detailed game statistics and progress tracking
  • 💻 Seamless integration between mobile app and website

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent connection issues and game freezes
  • ⏱️ Unreliable and inconsistent game timers
  • 🔒 Lack of transparency around anti-cheating measures
  • 💰 Aggressive paywall for advanced features
  • 🤖 Subpar AI opponents with questionable move choices

Magnus Trainer

From 13K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Well-structured lessons
  • 👍 Clear and informative
  • 👍 Helpful for beginners to masters
  • 🚀 Improves chess skills quickly
  • 👍 Engaging and entertaining

Room to improve

  • ⏱️ Strict time limits on exercises
  • 🐛 Puzzle engine only accepts one solution
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and crashes
  • 🔀 Inability to skip lessons and progress at own pace
  • 🔀 Lack of option to practice without time pressure

Bugs and requests

Chess.com

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Incorrect move suggestions in game analysis
  • Inability to leave or manage chess clubs within the app
  • Puzzle mode crashing when attempting to reveal the solution
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data
  • Pieces not registering correctly on the board during gameplay

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to customize board and piece themes
  • Option to pause and resume games at a later time
  • Improved game analysis with more detailed explanations
  • Enhanced social features for interacting with other players
  • Offline mode for practicing puzzles and tactics

Magnus Trainer

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Pieces disappearing during games
  • Moves not recognized by the engine
  • Crashes on loading lessons

Requested features

5 requests
  • Option to view solution when failing puzzles
  • Ability to customize chess board and piece design
  • More organized and structured content
  • Integrated chess game mode to apply learned skills
  • Progress sync across multiple devices

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Chess.com

Subscriptions10
  • Gold Membership7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Gold Membership7 Days trial$6.991 Month
  • Platinum Membership7 Days trial$6.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • Platinum Membership7 Days trial$10.991 Month
  • Diamond Membership7 Days trial$14.991 Month
  • Diamond Membership7 Days trial$16.991 Month
  • Gold Membership7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Platinum Membership7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Diamond Membership7 Days trial$99.991 Year
  • Diamond Membership7 Days trial$119.991 Year
10 purchases

Magnus Trainer

Subscriptions7
  • Monthly Premium Membership$4.491 Month
  • Monthly Premium Membership2 Months trial$6.991 Month
  • Monthly Premium Membership1 Month trial$6.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • Monthly Premium Membership7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Yearly Premium Membership$37.991 Year
  • Yearly Premium Membership$55.991 Year
  • Yearly Premium Membership7 Days trial$74.991 Year
One-time3
  • Refill All Lives$1.99
  • Premium Membership$149.99
  • Lifetime Premium Membership$299.99

Questions

Is Chess.com free?
Chess.com is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Magnus Trainer free?
Magnus Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chess.com or Magnus Trainer?
Chess.com is rated higher. Chess.com averages 4.8 out of 5 from 885K ratings, while Magnus Trainer averages 4.8 from 13K ratings.
Do Chess.com or Magnus Trainer have ads?
Both Chess.com and Magnus Trainer show ads.
Which is updated more often, Chess.com or Magnus Trainer?
Chess.com ships an update weekly, and Magnus Trainer every 5 weeks. Most recently, Chess.com was updated on November 12, 2026 and Magnus Trainer on November 12, 2026.

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