Comparison

Chess Time vs Chess without ads

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 without ads

Learn and play chess without distractions. This app offers guided lessons for beginners and advanced analysis for experts, helping you improve your game with intelligent suggestions and post-game reviews. Play offline and enjoy a seamless, ad-free experience.

Highlights
  • Ad-free learning and play
  • Introductory lessons for beginners
  • Grandmaster move suggestions
  • Game analysis with good/bad moves
  • Supports USCF and FIDE rating scales
  • Strong mobile chess engine
  • Offline play
Features
Read full description

Beginner or advanced, become a chess master, without ever being disturbed by ads. Do you want to master the most prestigious, the classiest game ever, while having fun? It's EASY! For starters, there are no ads to distract you. There's no account to create, and you don't even need to be connected to the Internet. So, how does it work? If you are a beginner, let yourself be guided by the introductory lessons included. The lessons are SHORT and EASY. Right from the start, you begin playing by moving pieces, and you learn the rules of the game while having fun. The first 40 lessons are free. Once you know the rules, you start playing real games! The coach shows you the moves a Grandmaster would pick. Not just one move, but THE 4 BEST MOVES. Sounds too simple? But think about it... How did you learn to speak as a child? Did you take grammar and spelling lessons? Of course not. You listened to the adults talk and then you went for it! Because that's how you learn! This app allows you to do just that, AND IT WORKS! From the very first games, you start learning effortlessly. You immediately enjoy playing, and after a while you notice that the right moves come to mind naturally, as if they were obvious. Gradually, you deactivate the suggestions and play by yourself. At the end of each game, the coach shows you the good and bad moves you've made. You can better understand what happened, and you can even try out other moves to improve. If this sounds unbelievable, you should read the user reviews for our app. It has one of the highest satisfaction ratings on the App Store, in all countries. FOR BEGINNERS, THIS APP... • contains introductory chess lessons that are suitable even for children. The first 40 are free. • shows you all the possible moves of a piece when you touch it. • explains why certain moves are forbidden. • can suggest 4 to 6 excellent moves at any one time. The green button lets you show or hide these suggestions. • can tell you when you can mate your opponent, so you can look for the winning move by yourself. • can warn you when your opponent is about to play a dangerous move. • provides many trainer levels of increasing difficulty. • knows and applies perfectly all the official rules of chess. • is a very competent teacher of a very high level. • analyzes your games and shows you how to improve. FOR EXPERTS: • Both USCF and FIDE rating scales are supported. • This app has one of the strongest chess engines for mobile devices (3040 USCF Elo). • On current devices, as incredible as it sounds, it plays at the world champion level. • The chess engine displays its thinking, up to 20 moves ahead. • You can analyze a game by replaying it. The app indicates bad moves by coloring them red. The 4 best moves in each position are shown in green. • This app supports variations: you can test other moves and then return to your original game. OTHER FEATURES INCLUDE: • The coach can comment on the game as you play (optional). • When the game is over, the coach can analyze it and show you how to improve. • Several beautiful visual themes are included, which you can customize. • 4 playing styles are included, from «cautious» to «suicidal», which you can combine with all available levels. • Includes an opening book of more than one million moves. • Many customization options are available (graphics, sounds, engine output…). • ...and much more... privacy policy: http://www.chesstiger.com/iphone/About_privacy_en.html terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Chess Time4 screens
Chess without ads4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Chess without ads at none against Chess Time's shown. Chess without ads also leads on ratings volume (38K vs 1.7K). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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 Time sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Chess without ads sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $0.49 per 7 days. 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 — 4.7 for Chess Time against 4.7 for Chess without ads. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess without ads has 38K ratings behind it against 1.7K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 86% of Chess Time's written reviews are positive against 90% of Chess without ads's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Time ships an update every 10 days, Chess without ads fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Chess Time versus Chess without ads: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess TimeChess without ads
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.7K ratings) — better4.7 (38K ratings)
Positive reviews86.2% of reviews90.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.7K38K — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterFortnightly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size42 MB44 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperHaptic Apps LLCChristophe Théron

Customer experience

Chess Time

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

Chess without ads

All ratings38,324 ratings
Positive94.5%
Neutral2.9%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews483 reviews
Positive90.5%
Neutral2.5%
Negative7.0%

User reviews

Chess Time

From 1.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 🌍 Cross-platform play
  • 📊 Detailed player stats and rankings
  • 💬 In-game chat functionality
  • 🕰️ Flexible time controls for games

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional glitches and bugs
  • 🔍 Limited customization options
  • 💰 Ads can be intrusive
  • 🔒 Lack of robust anti-cheat measures
  • 🖥️ Outdated or basic user interface

Chess without ads

From 38K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Excellent chess training tool
  • 🚀 Customizable difficulty levels
  • 💡 Helpful move suggestions
  • 👍 Clean and intuitive interface
  • 🚀 No ads or distractions

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Limited free version with paid upgrade
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 💡 Desire for more chess variants and modes
  • 🔒 Aggressive prompts to upgrade to paid version

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 without ads

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Freezing on the login screen
  • Incompatibility with older devices
  • Inconsistent behavior when running out of free credits

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more chess variants (3-check, king of the hill, etc.)
  • Provide more detailed game analysis and feedback
  • Improve the en passant move functionality
  • Add online/multiplayer capabilities

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Chess Time

Subscriptions2
  • Chess Time Premium$1.991 Month
  • Chess Time Premium - Annual$17.991 Year
One-time1
  • IOS Chess Time Pro$4.99
7 purchases

Chess without ads

Subscriptions3
  • PRO, 1 week$0.497 Days
  • PRO, 1 month$0.991 Month
  • PRO, 3 months$1.993 Months
One-time4
  • Learn chess$4.99
  • PRO, for life (SALE!)$9.99
  • PRO, for life (regular price)$12.99
Show 1 more
  • PRO FOR LIFE - TODAY ONLY$14.99

Questions

Is Chess Time free?
Chess Time is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chess without ads free?
Chess without ads is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chess Time or Chess without ads?
Chess Time is rated higher. Chess Time averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1.7K ratings, while Chess without ads averages 4.7 from 38K ratings.
Do Chess Time or Chess without ads have ads?
Chess Time shows ads; Chess without ads does not.
Which is updated more often, Chess Time or Chess without ads?
Chess Time ships an update every 10 days, and Chess without ads fortnightly. Most recently, Chess Time was updated on October 7, 2026 and Chess without ads on October 15, 2026.

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