Chess without ads vs Lichess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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/
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 without ads at 4.7 against Lichess's 4.0. Chess without ads also leads on review sentiment (90% vs 51%) and ratings volume (38K vs 604). Lichess's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 7) and chart position (#80 vs unranked). On price, update cadence, ads 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 without ads sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $0.49 per 7 days. Lichess asks for nothing beyond the download.
Chess without ads holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess without ads has 38K ratings behind it against 604, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 90% of Chess without ads's written reviews are positive against 51% of Lichess's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly fortnightly. Both last shipped on September 25, 2026.
| Parameter | Chess without ads | Lichess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (38K ratings) — better | 4.0 (604 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 90.4% of reviews — better | 51.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 38K — better | 604 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #80 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 44 MB | 83 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Christophe Théron | LICHESS.ORG |
Customer experience
Chess without ads
Lichess
User reviews
Chess without ads
From 38K App Store ratingsWhat 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
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 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
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 without ads
- PRO, 1 week$0.497 Days
- PRO, 1 month$0.991 Month
- PRO, 3 months$1.993 Months
- Learn chess$4.99
- PRO, for life (SALE!)$9.99
- PRO, for life (regular price)$12.99
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- PRO FOR LIFE - TODAY ONLY$14.99
Lichess
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Chess without ads free?
Is Lichess free?
Which has better reviews, Chess without ads or Lichess?
Do Chess without ads or Lichess have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chess without ads or Lichess?
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