Comparison

Chess.com vs Chess Puzzles

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 lessons. Improve your skills with over a million puzzles, powerful bot opponents, and detailed game analysis. Explore various chess variants and track your progress with in-depth statistics.

Highlights
  • Online multiplayer chess
  • Over 1 million chess puzzles
  • Hundreds of chess lessons
  • Play against AI opponents
  • Chess variant modes
  • Game analysis tools
  • Community leaderboards
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

Chess Puzzles

Engage with a vast collection of chess puzzles spanning from historical compositions to modern games. Challenge yourself with over a thousand interactive puzzles designed to improve your tactical skills and strategic thinking. Enjoy customizable themes and compare your progress with friends on leaderboards.

Highlights
  • 1177 interactive chess puzzles
  • Mate in 2, 3, and 4 move puzzles
  • Timing clock
  • Customizable piece sets and color schemes
  • Leaderboards for social comparison
  • Facebook integration for sharing progress
Features
Read full description

An amazing collection of chess puzzles! Beginners and experienced players alike will enjoy solving the large number of chess puzzles included in this app. All of the puzzles were carefully chosen from actual games or are compositions inspired by actual games throughout history! (1802 to modern times) The app includes a total of 1177 interactive puzzles!! - 222 mate in 2 puzzles - 490 mate in 3 puzzles - 465 mate in 4 puzzles The object is to finish each puzzle by forcing a checkmate in a given number of moves. These puzzles are fun to play and can be enjoyed at your leisure on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Other features include: ------------------- - Timing clock - Lots of options: 7 chess piece sets and 7 different colors schemes including wood and marble. - Social: Leaderboards to compare the number of puzzles you have solved with your friends and other players. Facebook integration - including the ability to post your progress and ask your friends for help on a puzzle. - Universal app - works on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad! -------------------

Screenshots

Chess.com4 screens
Chess Puzzles4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Chess.com at Free against Chess Puzzles's $0.99. Chess.com also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 17 months) and ratings volume (882K vs 57). Chess Puzzles's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ads (none vs shown). On rating 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 Puzzles costs $0.99 up front. Chess.com sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Chess Puzzles asks for nothing beyond the download.

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 Puzzles. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess.com has 882K ratings behind it against 57, 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 97% of Chess Puzzles's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess.com ships an update weekly, Chess Puzzles every 17 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Chess.com versus Chess Puzzles: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess.comChess Puzzles
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.8 (882K ratings) — better4.7 (57 ratings)
Positive reviews64.4% of reviews96.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings882K — better57
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 17 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#1 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size456 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChess.comGano Technologies LLC

Customer experience

Chess.com

All ratings867,042 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral1.5%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews9,361 reviews
Positive64.4%
Neutral5.9%
Negative29.7%

Chess Puzzles

All ratings57 ratings
Positive98.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive96.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.1%

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 Puzzles

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
None

Chess Puzzles

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chess.com free?
Chess.com is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chess Puzzles free?
Chess Puzzles costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Chess.com or Chess Puzzles?
Chess.com is rated higher. Chess.com averages 4.8 out of 5 from 882K ratings, while Chess Puzzles averages 4.7 from 57 ratings.
Do Chess.com or Chess Puzzles have ads?
Chess.com shows ads; Chess Puzzles does not.
Which is updated more often, Chess.com or Chess Puzzles?
Chess.com ships an update weekly, and Chess Puzzles every 17 months. Most recently, Chess.com was updated on November 10, 2026 and Chess Puzzles on November 1, 2026.

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