Comparison

Chess Time 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 Time

Engage in online chess matches with friends or players worldwide. This app supports correspondence play with extended move times and offers features like in-game chat and customizable themes. Track your progress with an auto-calculated ELO rating.

Highlights
  • Online correspondence chess
  • Play with friends
  • Global player matchmaking
  • In-game chat
  • Customizable chess sets and themes
  • Auto-calculated ELO rating
  • PGN export
Read full description

Free online chess - Invite your friends or play against anyone in the world. Chess Time is a full featured online correspondence chess app allowing a player up to multiple days to make a move. Create and play multiple at length chess games. Chess Time features: A global audience of real chess players. Invite friends to play online games. In-game chat. -- Play chess against friends that have other mobile devices. Multiple Chess sets and themes. Play un-rated games to train without affecting your score. -- Auto-calculated ELO chess rating. Export completed games as PGN. Chess Time will send a notification for each move and a reminder for you to move. We recommend enabling notifications. ——————————— -- SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE --- PREMIUM Membership Subscription Options: - Monthly Premium Subscription - Yearly Premium Subscription Premium Membership features: * No Ads * 75 Simultaneous Active Games — Additional 25! * Compete with Premium Members * Exclusive Premium Leaderboard * Daily PGN Emails — Completed game PGNs are emailed daily! Perfect for players studying their games. — TERMS & DETAILS — Chess Time Premium features are only guaranteed on up-to-date iOS devices. Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged the same amount for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage your subscription and turn off auto-renewal by going to your Account Settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a Free Trial, if offered, is forfeited when you buy a subscription. Prices may vary by location. Terms of Use: http://chesstimeapp.com/Terms-and-Conditions.php Privacy Policy: http://chesstimeapp.com/Privacy-Policy.php

About

Chess

Engage in classic chess battles with friends, strangers online, or the AI. Enjoy cross-device multiplayer, daily puzzles, and in-game chat. Analyze your games with an optional paid feature.

Highlights
  • Play with friends online
  • Play against computer AI
  • Daily chess puzzles
  • Cross-device multiplayer
  • In-game chat
  • Game timers
  • Chess960 variant
Features
Read full description

This is a free Chess game where you can play with your friends, with random people online or against the computer. Playing with your friends over the Internet is very easy - one player hosts a game and receives a unique code, the other one joins it by typing this code. No registration or login is required. The game works on various popular devices - TVs, tablets and mobile phones - multiplayer games are possible between different devices. Other features: - Thousands of very challenging new puzzles every day - Chat in the multiplayer games - Game timers - Chess960 aka Fischer random chess - Handicap chess - Spectators: multiple people can join a network game to watch - Ability to analyse your games (paid feature) We hope you like it! * The following terms of use apply: - Apple's standard end user license agreement, available here: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ - Our own terms, available here: https://chesshold.com/terms

Screenshots

Chess Time4 screens
Chess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Chess Time at 4.7 against Chess's 4.0. Chess Time also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (86% vs 53%). Chess's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.6). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Chess sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Chess Time asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Chess Time holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Time has 1.7K ratings behind it against 82, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of Chess Time's written reviews are positive against 53% of Chess's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Time ships an update every 10 days, Chess every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Chess Time versus Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess TimeChess
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.7K ratings) — better4.0 (82 ratings)
Positive reviews86.2% of reviews — better53.1% of reviews
Number of ratings1.7K — better82
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 4 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS15.612.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size42 MB128 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperHaptic Apps LLCPirinel Ltd

Customer experience

Chess Time

All ratings1,659 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral1.9%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews260 reviews
Positive86.2%
Neutral5.4%
Negative8.5%

Chess

All ratings81 ratings
Positive74.1%
Neutral6.2%
Negative19.8%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive53.1%
Neutral18.8%
Negative28.1%

Bugs and requests

Chess Time

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Game incorrectly declaring draws on checkmate
  • Inability to castle or move pieces in certain situations
  • Notification issues across different devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to invite friends to watch ongoing games
  • Option to disable move analysis for rated games
  • Faster move processing and real-time gameplay
  • More diverse chess piece and board designs
  • In-app purchase to remove ads permanently

Chess

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Chess Time

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Chess

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Version (Monthly)7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Premium Version (Yearly)7 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Unlock Premium Version$22.99

Questions

Is Chess Time free?
Chess Time is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess free?
Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chess Time or Chess?
Chess Time is rated higher. Chess Time averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1.7K ratings, while Chess averages 4.0 from 82 ratings.
Do Chess Time or Chess have ads?
Chess Time shows ads; Chess does not.
Which is updated more often, Chess Time or Chess?
Chess Time ships an update every 10 days, and Chess every 4 weeks. Most recently, Chess Time was updated on November 1, 2026 and Chess on November 3, 2026.

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