Comparison

Chess.com vs Lite lichess

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

Lite lichess

Engage in classic chess matches, solve thousands of puzzles, and study historical games from renowned players. This app offers both online and offline play with flexible settings and supports multiple languages.

Highlights
  • Classic chess gameplay
  • 22,833 chess puzzles
  • 113,090 historical games
  • Online and offline play
  • Flexible settings
  • Multiple language support
Features
Read full description

Key features: - Playing classic chess - 22,833 Puzzles - 113,090 Historical games of famous chess players - Playing online on lichess.org server and offline - Flexible settings - 100% Free, no ads, no purchases, no subscriptions Supported languages: English, 中文, Français, Deutsch, Italiano, 日本語, Português, Русский, Española, Türkçe, हिन्दी Lite lichess is an unofficial app, and side effects may include an incredible browsing experience. Please write to me at oleg.v.soloviev@gmail.com.

Screenshots

Chess.com4 screens
Lite lichess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Chess.com at 4.8 against Lite lichess's 4.3. Chess.com also leads on ratings volume (885K vs 38) and update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). Lite lichess's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, 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. Chess.com sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Lite lichess sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Chess.com holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess.com has 885K ratings behind it against 38, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 64% of Chess.com's written reviews are positive against 81% of Lite lichess's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess.com ships an update weekly, Lite lichess every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 13, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Chess.com versus Lite lichess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess.comLite lichess
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (885K ratings) — better4.3 (38 ratings)
Positive reviews64.4% of reviews80.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings885K — better38
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#1 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size466 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChess.comOleg Soloviev

Customer experience

Chess.com

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

Lite lichess

All ratings38 ratings
Positive81.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative18.4%
Written reviews31 reviews
Positive80.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative19.4%

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

Lite lichess

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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
2 purchases

Lite lichess

One-time2
  • 5 tips$2.99
  • 1 coffee$4.99

Questions

Is Chess.com free?
Chess.com is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Lite lichess free?
Lite lichess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chess.com or Lite lichess?
Chess.com is rated higher. Chess.com averages 4.8 out of 5 from 885K ratings, while Lite lichess averages 4.3 from 38 ratings.
Do Chess.com or Lite lichess have ads?
Chess.com shows ads; Lite lichess does not.
Which is updated more often, Chess.com or Lite lichess?
Chess.com ships an update weekly, and Lite lichess every 2 weeks. Most recently, Chess.com was updated on November 13, 2026 and Lite lichess on November 11, 2026.

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