Chess.com vs Lichess
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
Lichess
Play chess online with millions of users, participate in tournaments, solve puzzles, and analyze games. This free and open-source application offers a comprehensive chess experience for players of all levels, with features for learning and casual play.
- Real-time and correspondence chess
- Arena tournaments
- Chess puzzles
- Game analysis with Stockfish
- Interactive study feature
- Chess clock
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Lichess is a free/libre, open-source chess application powered by volunteers and donations. Today, Lichess users play more than five million games every day. Lichess is one of the most popular chess websites in the world while remaining 100% free. The following features are available right now: - play real time or correspondence chess - play arena tournaments - play against online bots - solve chess puzzles from a wide variety of themes, online or offline - race against the clock in Puzzle Storm - analyse your games with latest Stockfish locally or on the server - board editor - study chess with a collaborative and interactive study feature - learn board coordinates - play over the board with a friend - watch live chess broadcasts from all major chess tournaments - watch Lichess TV and online streamers - use a chess clock for your over the board games - many different board themes and piece sets - custom background themes - translated into 55 languages
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Chess.com at 4.8 against Lichess's 4.0. Chess.com also leads on ratings volume (833K vs 604) and review sentiment (64% vs 51%). Lichess's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 12) and ads (none vs shown). On price 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
Both are free to download. Chess.com sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Lichess asks for nothing beyond the download.
Chess.com holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess.com has 833K ratings behind it against 604, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of Chess.com's written reviews are positive against 51% of Lichess's.
Chess.com ships an update weekly, Lichess fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chess.com | Lichess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (833K ratings) — better | 4.0 (604 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 64.0% of reviews — better | 51.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 833K — better | 604 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #6 — better | #69 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 445 MB | 83 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chess.com | LICHESS.ORG |
Customer experience
Chess.com
Lichess
User reviews
Chess.com
From 833K 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
Lichess
From 604 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great interface
- 🚀 Smooth performance
- 💡 Useful resources for learning and analysis
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional UI issues
- 💡 Room for more customization options
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
Lichess
Reported bugs
1 issue- Swipe-to-go-back gesture interferes with piece placement
Requested features
3 requests- Name of opening in opening explorer
- Ability to add and subtract additional things on the homepage
- Reset/replay button on puzzles
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
Lichess
No in-app purchases








