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
Engage in classic chess matches, honing your strategy and tactics. This app offers adjustable AI difficulty, a two-player mode, and daily challenges with puzzles. Enjoy customizable boards and graphics while learning the game's intricacies.
- Play against AI with 10 difficulty levels
- Two-player local multiplayer mode
- Daily challenges and classic chess puzzles
- Customizable boards and pieces
- Hint and undo functions
- Automatic save function
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Chess is an excellent board logic game that can train your strategy and tactics. The game is played on an 8×8 chessboard with two players. Each player starts with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The objective is to checkmate the opponent's king by placing it under an inescapable threat of capture. With our game you will learn the basics and the best moves thanks to the hint option. You can also select the difficulty level suit to you. Whether you are a beginner or a chess master, you will absorb the knowledge and find the joy of playing chess. Play against the AI or with your friends and develop your skills even without the chessboard. FEATURES: - You can play with your friends! (Two player mode) - Daily Challenge and Classic Chess Puzzles! - Awesome graphics - Customized Board and Chess! - Outstanding AI engine with 10 levels of difficulty - Undo function - Daily Challenge and Classic Chess Puzzles! - Automatic Save Function
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Chess.com at 4.8 against Chess's 4.1. Chess.com also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 8 months) and ratings volume (827K vs 45). Chess's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 12) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On price, review sentiment, ads 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. Chess asks for nothing beyond the download.
Chess.com holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess.com has 827K ratings behind it against 45, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 64% of Chess.com's written reviews are positive against 67% of Chess's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Chess.com ships an update weekly, Chess every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chess.com | Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (827K ratings) — better | 4.1 (45 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 63.9% of reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 827K — better | 45 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 8 months |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| 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 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 445 MB | 74 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chess.com | Aged Studio Limited |
Customer experience
Chess.com
Chess
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
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
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
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- 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
No in-app purchases








