Comparison

Chess.com vs Chess

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 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.

Highlights
  • Online multiplayer chess
  • Offline play against AI
  • Extensive puzzle library
  • Interactive chess lessons
  • Tournament participation
  • Chess variants
  • Game analysis
Features
Read full description

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

About

Chess

Manage and study chess databases and games in PGN format with advanced analysis tools. Supports game creation, modification, and import from various sources. Includes engine analysis, opening book management, and puzzle training.

Highlights
  • PGN database and game management
  • Create, modify, and import games
  • Advanced engine analysis with Stockfish
  • Opening book and ChessBase support
  • Chess 960 (Fischer Random) support
  • Diagram recognition for PGN conversion
  • Puzzle training and online play
Features
Read full description

Chess Studio is the first and only application for iPhone and iPad able to manage chess databases and games in PGN format in a complete and efficient way. Chess Studio is an application designed and built for those players who really want to deepen their knowledge in the field of chess, studying chess regularly and participate in tournaments. Chess Studio allows you to: • Read database and games in PGN format (also with extended notation of moves). • Create, delete and modify folders and databases. • View games with annotations and textual comments and keep track of the displayed games. • Use a double chessboard on the same screen for better game analysis. • Visualize moves and variants in compact mode or indented mode. • Modify existing games with move annotation and textual comments. • Insert new games and positions. • Insert, replay and analyze games in Chess 960 mode. • Insert moves with annotations and textual comments. • Insert variation, subvariations etc. • Insert and visualize graphical annotation (colored arrows and highlighted squares). • Share Databases and Games through Airdrop. • Download chess database from internet. • Download chess database directly from PGN Mentor site. • Import games, database and Opening Books from other applications. • Merge two or more databases. • Copy/Paste games and positions. • Analyze games with Stockfish 19 Engine with the support of the Neural Networks (up to 5 lines of analysis simultaneously) with the support of the Engine Evaluation Bar. • Replay games automatically. • Visualize Pawn structure. • Manage Variations and sub-variatons: delete and promote variations. • Read the weekly Magazine The New In Chess (TWIC) and download the games. • Uploading and Downloading PGN Database to/from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive. • Three different modes for moving pieces. • Analyze endgames with Endgame Tablebases. • Analyze and study Chess Openings in the Chess Openings Section. • Create and manage Opening Books in Polyglot format. • Import and manage ChessBase Opening Books (ctg format). • Automatically classify a database according to ECO code. • Replay, enter and analyze Chess 960 games (Fischer Random Chess). • Play against the engine both in standard mode and in Chess 960 mode. • Play online through the LiChess platform • Train by solving Puzzles • ChessBase Database support. • Diagram Recognition: this feature allows the user to take and/or upload photos of chess diagrams and convert them into PGN format positions. Other features and technical details: • Modify the board size. • Professional chess fonts and figurines for moves notation and annotation. • Preview of the game in the board tapping the Info button. • Quick search feature. • Advanced search feature. • Complete management of Null Moves with Tutorial. • Visualization of ECO code and Opening during game replay or game insertion. • Visualization of Book Openings during game replay or game insertion. • Portrait/Landscape mode for all devices. • Support of Slide Over and Split View mode. • Function to move up within variants and subvariants. • iOS 26 compatible and optimized for all the devices. • Sharing of databases across devices via iCloud Drive (also with Chess Studio for Mac OS). • Sound option. • Support for iPad Pro Keyboard or bluetooth keyboard. • VoiceOver/Accessibility support. • Direct contact via email with the developer to report problems, ask for explanation and suggestions (very quick answer!). • Languages: English, Italian, Spanish and German. Complete description at: https://chessstudio.wordpress.com/chess-studio/ To view the privacy policy and Terms of Use (EULA) visit https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ The application is continuously updated with new features and improvements. No registration! No advertising! No sharing of personal data!

Screenshots

Chess.com4 screens
Chess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Chess.com at Free against Chess's $3.99. Chess.com also leads on ratings volume (827K vs 116) and update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). Chess's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (92% vs 64%). On rating, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

Chess.com is free to download; Chess costs $3.99 up front. Chess.com sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Chess sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 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 4.7 for Chess. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess.com has 827K ratings behind it against 116, 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 92% of Chess's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess.com ships an update weekly, Chess fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Chess.com versus Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess.comChess
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating4.8 (827K ratings) — better4.7 (116 ratings)
Positive reviews63.9% of reviews92.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings827K — better116
Update frequencyWeekly — betterFortnightly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#5 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size445 MB237 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperChess.comGiordano Vicoli

Customer experience

Chess.com

All ratings827,408 ratings
Positive95.9%
Neutral1.5%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews8,373 reviews
Positive63.9%
Neutral5.9%
Negative30.2%

Chess

All ratings116 ratings
Positive92.2%
Neutral2.6%
Negative5.2%
Written reviews174 reviews
Positive92.0%
Neutral2.9%
Negative5.2%

User reviews

Chess.com

From 827K 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

Chess

From 116 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Powerful chess database features
  • 👍 Comprehensive analysis tools
  • 👍 Excellent PGN management
  • 👍 Great value for price
  • 👍 Frequent updates and improvements

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Steep learning curve
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes
  • 🐛 Unintuitive interface
  • 🐛 Some users find it confusing
  • 🐛 Missing dark mode

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

12 issues
  • Problem saving updated game data
  • Engine stopped working after 30 seconds
  • App crashes when adding annotations without hitting 'edit mode' first
  • Crash opening .pgn in landscape mode
  • Crashes when selecting a cell with 0 games associated
Show 7 more
  • App freezes sometimes
  • Download stuck on 'downloading'
  • Dropbox issues on earlier iOS versions
  • Program not bulletproof upon saving work
  • Can't download cbv files
  • Graphical annotations drawing unwanted arrows
  • App doesn't work after iOS update

Requested features

20 requests
  • Add dark mode
  • Add board flip button
  • Improve interface for screen reader users
  • Add private game feature with code
  • Add computer whole game analysis with annotations
Show 15 more
  • Add coloring moves based on annotation
  • Add drawing arrows that are saved
  • Add bookmark feature
  • Add buttons/swipe to go forward/backwards to next/previous game
  • Add select all function for copying games
  • Add autoplay games
  • Remember last position/game opened in a database
  • Support Millennium boards
  • Support UCI engine compatibility
  • Optimize database game view
  • Make edit mode arrows slimmer and add more colors
  • Allow direct iCloud access to databases without export
  • Make graphical annotations optional/disableable
  • Improve font size adjustment for moves and annotations
  • Add search with multiple criteria

In-app purchases

12 purchases

Chess.com

Subscriptions12
  • Gold Membership7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Gold Membership7 Days trial$6.991 Month
  • Platinum Membership7 Days trial$6.991 Month
Show 9 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$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
2 purchases

Chess

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Premium Subscription3 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Yearly Premium Subscription3 Days trial$8.991 Year

Questions

Is Chess.com free?
Chess.com is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chess free?
Chess costs $3.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Chess.com or Chess?
Chess.com is rated higher. Chess.com averages 4.8 out of 5 from 827K ratings, while Chess averages 4.7 from 116 ratings.
Do Chess.com or Chess have ads?
Chess.com shows ads; Chess does not.
Which is updated more often, Chess.com or Chess?
Chess.com ships an update weekly, and Chess fortnightly. Most recently, Chess.com was updated on September 24, 2026 and Chess on September 22, 2026.

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