Chess.com vs Chess ⁺
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chess.com
Engage in online and offline chess matches with millions of players worldwide. Improve your skills through interactive lessons, over 500,000 puzzles, and powerful AI opponents. Compete in tournaments and explore various chess variants.
- Online multiplayer chess
- Offline play against AI
- Extensive puzzle library
- Interactive chess lessons
- Tournament participation
- Chess variants
- Game analysis
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Play chess lessons online with over 265 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 500,000+ 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 500,000 + 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
Chess ⁺
Enhance your chess abilities with this comprehensive training application. It offers a vast array of puzzles, tactical exercises, and learning modes for players of all levels. Track your progress with live statistics and enjoy a visually engaging experience.
- 2D & 3D chess pieces
- Hundreds of levels
- Thousands of exercises
- Tactics training
- Opening and endgame practice
- Checkmate puzzles
- Learning mode with hints
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The most advanced chess training app. Improve your skills, learn tactics and strategies. Chess + was created with the goal to improve chess skills of every player. This app is perfect for any amateur or professional. Difficulty of tasks is dynamically adjusted to the skills and previous performance. Features: ● 2D & 3D chess pieces ● Hundreds of levels ● Thousands of exercises ● Tactics training ● Opening and endgame training and practice ● Checkmate puzzles ● Time and move limit puzzles ● Learning mode with best move hints ● Play chess in infinite rematch fights ● Live chess statistics and leaderboards ● Game boosters ● Mistake preventing (Learn how to play without mistakes in your chess games) ● Amazing 3D chess world, with cartoon graphics. ● No advertising Chess + is an offline application. You don't need internet to play online, but you can switch to online play using our other app. Play chess and learn various strategies and compare your results with friends. Chess + is completely free to play app, but you can purchase some optional in-game items. Download this free chess game and let the journey begin!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Chess ⁺ at none against Chess.com's shown. Chess ⁺ also leads on review sentiment (85% vs 64%) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). Chess.com's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (827K vs 2.9K). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.com sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Chess ⁺ sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Chess.com against 4.7 for Chess ⁺. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess.com has 827K ratings behind it against 2.9K, 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 85% of Chess ⁺'s.
Chess.com ships an update weekly, Chess ⁺ every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chess.com | Chess ⁺ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (827K ratings) — better | 4.7 (2.9K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 63.9% of reviews | 85.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 827K — better | 2.9K |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #5 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 445 MB | 57 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Chess.com | Entertainment 4Media AG |
Customer experience
Chess.com
Chess ⁺
User reviews
Chess.com
From 827K App Store ratingsWhat 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
Chess ⁺
From 2.9K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great gameplay
- 👍 Visually appealing
- 💡 Helpful for learning chess
- 🎓 Effective teaching of tactics and strategies
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
- 💰 Limited free content, requires in-app purchases
- ⏱️ AI can take too long to make moves
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
Chess ⁺
Reported bugs
3 issues- AI freezing and not making moves
- Game progress and achievements being reset
- Connectivity issues with login and cloud sync
Requested features
3 requests- Ability to analyze and save past games
- Option to play against other users online
- More advanced training modes and challenges
In-app purchases
Chess.com
- Gold Membership7 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Gold Membership7 Days trial$6.991 Month
- Platinum Membership7 Days trial$6.991 Month
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- 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$49.991 Year
- Gold Membership7 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Platinum Membership7 Days trial$79.991 Year
- Diamond Membership7 Days trial$99.991 Year
- Diamond Membership7 Days trial$119.991 Year
Chess ⁺
- 10 Gem Pack$0.99
- Starter Pack$1.99
- 50 Gem Pack$4.99
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- 100 Gem Pack$9.99
- 250 Gem Pack$19.99
- 500 Gem Pack$36.99
- 1000 Gem Pack$69.99







