Comparison

Learn with Forward Chess vs Gutenberg | eBook Reader

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Learn with Forward Chess

This app is an interactive reader for chess books, allowing users to play through chess lines directly within the book. It offers a vast in-app store with over 100 chess eBooks and a growing collection of opening theory periodicals via subscription.

Highlights
  • Interactive chess book reader
  • Play through chess lines
  • In-app chess eBook store
  • Subscription for opening theory
  • Tactics training
Features
Read full description

Forward Chess is an Interactive reader of chess books. Play through the lines in the book, or try your own, it's like having a chess board and a chess book in the palm of your hand. Forward Chess includes the ability to purchase over 100 chess eBooks through our In-App Store. Check it out. Our collection is growing weekly! Forward Chess also contains the following subscription options - ChessPublishing's monthly periodical for the latest in opening theory - We offer a choice of 4 different auto-renewing subscriptions - 1 Section for 1 Year @ $19.99 USD - 3 Sections for 1 Year @ $39.99 USD - 6 Sections for 1 Year @ $69.99 USD - 12 Sections for 1 Year @ $99.99 USD - Payment will be charged to 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 for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase - No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period - Links to Your Privacy Policy and Terms of Use - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication. Forward Chess takes your privacy seriously See our privacy policy here: https://forwardchess.com/privacy-policy and term of use here: https://forwardchess.com/terms-of-service

About

Gutenberg | eBook Reader

Access a vast library of public domain e-books and audiobooks from around the world. Explore tens of thousands of titles across numerous languages and categories, including classics and popular works.

Highlights
  • Vast public domain e-book library
  • Extensive audiobook collection
  • Thousands of titles available
  • Multiple languages supported
  • Categorized book selection
  • Top 50 e-books listed
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

This app contains the largest public domain e-book and audio book platforms in the world. This application brings a large collection of e-books and audio books to your phone and makes more than 50.000 e-books, 10.000 audio books available for you. Thousands of books from different categories and languages. Languages with more than 50 e-books, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog. Top 50 e-books: 1- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 2- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll 3- The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman 4- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 5- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle 6- Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 7 -The Bayeux Tapestry Elucidated by John Collingwood Bruce 8- Why Men Fight by Bertrand Russell 9- Dracula by Bram Stoker 10- The Young Train Dispatcher by Burton Egbert Stevenson 11- Il Principe. English by Niccolò Machiavelli 12- Et dukkehjem. English by Henrik Ibsen 13- Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem 14- Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 15- Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary 16- Rowlandson by Mary White Rowlandson 17- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 18- Grimms' Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm 19- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain 20- Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes 21- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American 22- Slave by Frederick Douglass 23- Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie 24- Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin 25- The Iliad by Homer 26- The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare 27- Red Wagon Stories by Wells Hawks 28- War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy 29- The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana by Vatsyayana 30- The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for 31- Serious People by Oscar Wilde 32- Common Sense by Thomas Paine 33- Histories of two hundred and fifty-one divisions of the 34- German army which participated in the war 35- The Romance of Lust: A Classic Victorian erotic novel by Anonymous 36- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens 37- Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville 38- The War in the East by Trumbull White 39- Ulysses by James Joyce 40- Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë 41- The Key to Theosophy by H. P. Blavatsky 42- Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse 43- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 44- The Philosophy of Fine Art, volume 3 (of 4) by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 45- The Theory of Environment by Armin Hajman Koller 46- Les Misérables by Victor Hugo 47- The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin 48- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving 49- Webster & Tourneur by Cyril Tourneur and John Webster 50- Prestuplenie i nakazanie. English by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Top Audio Books: 1- Pride and Prejudice 2- Jane Eyre 3- Persuasion 4- Anne of Green Gables 5- Emma 6- Little Women 7- The Count of Monte Cristo 8- Mansfield Park 9- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 10- Wuthering Heights 11- The Woman in White 12- Frankenstein: The 1818 Text 13- A Little Princess 14- Moby-Dick 15- Sense and Sensibility 16- North and South 17- Dracula 18- The Scarlet PimpernelThe Scarlet Pimpernel 19- The 39 Steps 20- The Picture of Dorian Gray 21- Tess of the D'Urbervilles 22- David Copperfield 23- My Man Jeeves 24- The Invisible Man 25- A Christmas Carol 26- The Secret Garden 27- Northanger Abbey 28- Uncle Tom's Cabin 29- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 30- The Return of Sherlock Holmes 31- Middlemarch 32- A Room with a View 33- Agnes Grey 34- Wives and Daughters 35- Around the World in Eighty Days 36- The Metamorphosis 37- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 38- Don QuixoteDon Quixote 39- The Importance of Being Earnest 40- A Tale of Two Cities Terms of Use(EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Learn with Forward Chess4 screens
Gutenberg | eBook Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Learn with Forward Chess at none against Gutenberg | eBook Reader's shown. Learn with Forward Chess also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks). Gutenberg | eBook Reader's advantage is chart position (#206 vs unranked). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and in-app purchases 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. Learn with Forward Chess sells 70 one-off in-app purchases and Gutenberg | eBook Reader sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Learn with Forward Chess holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 334 and 745 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of Learn with Forward Chess's written reviews are positive against 70% of Gutenberg | eBook Reader's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Learn with Forward Chess ships an update fortnightly, Gutenberg | eBook Reader every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Learn with Forward Chess versus Gutenberg | eBook Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLearn with Forward ChessGutenberg | eBook Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (334 ratings) — better4.5 (745 ratings)
Positive reviews74.8% of reviews — better69.7% of reviews
Number of ratings334745 — better
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#206 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size188 MB48 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperForward Chess, LLCWebron Software LTD

Customer experience

Learn with Forward Chess

All ratings334 ratings
Positive96.1%
Neutral2.4%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews123 reviews
Positive74.8%
Neutral9.8%
Negative15.4%

Gutenberg | eBook Reader

All ratings745 ratings
Positive89.1%
Neutral3.0%
Negative7.9%
Written reviews66 reviews
Positive69.7%
Neutral6.1%
Negative24.2%

User reviews

Learn with Forward Chess

From 334 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great app for chess-book lovers
  • 🚀 Easy to follow or analyze moves with the implemented chessboard
  • 👍 Simple and effective interface
  • 👍 Great to use on mobile device
  • 👍 Larger board and text than Chessable

Room to improve

  • 💰 Books are a little expensive for digital purchases
  • 🐛 App crashes or freezes occasionally
  • 🐛 Loses user's place when reopening the app
  • 🐛 Buggy when navigating between libraries and books
  • 🐛 Analysis engine sometimes doesn't recognize castling possibilities

Gutenberg | eBook Reader

From 745 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 📚 Extensive collection of classic literature
  • 💰 Free access to thousands of books
  • 👍 Easy to use interface
  • 📖 Page-turning feature mimics physical books
  • 🌙 Night mode for comfortable reading

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Search function is unreliable and confusing
  • 📱 Poor book organization and browsing
  • 💔 Missing many books found on Project Gutenberg website
  • 📺 Excessive and intrusive advertisements
  • ⚙️ Limited customization options for book format

Bugs and requests

Learn with Forward Chess

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Login issues when changing devices
  • Books not properly filing into libraries
  • App crashing when trying to add books to libraries
  • Losing current position when switching between full screen and normal view
  • Inconsistent behavior when navigating through a book

Requested features

7 requests
  • Allow users to upload their own book PDFs
  • Implement spaced repetition learning program within books
  • Improve search and filtering options in the book store
  • Add more language support beyond English books
  • Provide better syncing of purchases across devices
Show 2 more
  • Improve text formatting and readability
  • Implement highlighting, bookmarking, and note-taking features

Gutenberg | eBook Reader

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Search returns no results or irrelevant results
  • Books listed on Project Gutenberg not appearing in app
  • App fails to download certain books
  • Reading progress not saved between sessions
  • Continuous scroll instead of page-by-page display
Show 2 more
  • Search function completely non-functional for some users
  • App crashes or becomes unresponsive

Requested features

10 requests
  • Improved search functionality with better filtering
  • Better book organization and categorization system
  • Dictionary/word definition feature
  • Improved paragraph spacing and text formatting
  • Page-by-page navigation instead of chapter-based
Show 5 more
  • Ability to delete books from library
  • Bookmark and reading progress saving
  • More non-fiction and contemporary book titles
  • Author search by first and last name
  • Reduced or optional advertisements

In-app purchases

70 purchases

Learn with Forward Chess

One-time70
  • True Lies in ChessFree
  • CHESS INSIGHT 01/2026$2.99
  • Simple Attacking Plans$9.99
Show 67 more
  • Simple Chess$10.99
  • The Power of Pawns$12.99
  • My System: FastTrack Edition$12.99
  • Play the Mackenzie!$12.99
  • 1001 Ways to Checkmate$12.99
  • My System$13.99
  • The World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book$14.99
  • Openings for Amateurs$14.99
  • Modern Chess Strategy$14.99
  • Techniques of Positional Play: 45 Practical Methods$15.99
  • American Dream$16.99
  • Zurich Chess Tournament, 1953$16.99
  • Chess Endgame Calculation 1$16.99
  • Chess Strategy for Club Players$16.99
  • 100 Endgames You Must Know$17.99
  • Capablanca the Great Minimalist 1$17.99
  • Attacking Chess for Club Players$17.99
  • Openings for Amateurs - Vol. 3$17.99
  • Capablancas Best Chess Endings$17.99
  • The Most Instructive Games$17.99
  • Improve Your Chess Pattern Recognition$17.99
  • Steps to Giant Improvement$19.99
  • Perpetual Chess Improvement$19.99
  • Playing 1.e4 e5 - A Classical Repertoire$19.99
  • Amateur to IM$19.99
  • The Complete Manual of Positional Chess$19.99
  • Chess Tactics from Scratch$19.99
  • COR: The London System$19.99
  • Attacking the English/Reti$19.99
  • COR: Accelerated Dragon$19.99
  • Mastering Chess Exchanges$19.99
  • Study on Your Own Workbook 3$19.99
  • OR: Strategic Play with 1 e4$19.99
  • Playing 1.d4 d5$19.99
  • Reimagining 1.e4$19.99
  • Beating the QG – Indian Style!$19.99
  • Endgame Studies You Must Know$19.99
  • Pawn Endgames$19.99
  • 100 Tactical Patterns$19.99
  • 100 Tactical Patterns Workbook$19.99
  • Drill Your Chess Strategy!$19.99
  • Thinking Inside the Box - Grandmaster Preparation$19.99
  • Chess Imbalances - a GM Guide$21.99
  • The Modernized Colle-Zukertort$21.99
  • Ding Liren's Best Games$22.99
  • Winning Chess Middlegames 2$22.99
  • Dream Moves$22.99
  • Rock Solid Chess: Volume 3$22.99
  • Positional Decision Making in Chess$23.99
  • Pump Up Your Rating$23.99
  • Chess Structures - A Grandmaster Guide$23.99
  • The Woodpecker Method$23.99
  • Mastering Chess Defence$23.99
  • Associative Thinking$23.99
  • The Philosopher&the Housewife$23.99
  • The Real Paul Morphy$23.99
  • 50 Mistakes You Should Know$23.99
  • The Woodpecker Method 2$23.99
  • Chess Informant 158$24.99
  • A Killer Guide to Attacking Chess$25.99
  • School of Future Champions 1$25.99
  • Chess Informant 161$26.99
  • Vasily Smyslov: Volume II$27.99
  • Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual$27.99
  • Akiba Rubinstein (UCC Series)$29.99
  • Pushing Horizons$29.99
  • OR for Black after 1...e6$29.99
6 purchases

Gutenberg | eBook Reader

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Subscription$1.991 Month
  • Weekly Subscription$4.997 Days
  • Weekly Subscription3 Days trial$4.997 Days
Show 1 more
  • Yearly Subscription$24.991 Year
One-time2
  • Premium$39.99
  • Lifetime Premium$39.99

Questions

Is Learn with Forward Chess free?
Learn with Forward Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Gutenberg | eBook Reader free?
Gutenberg | eBook Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Learn with Forward Chess or Gutenberg | eBook Reader?
Learn with Forward Chess is rated higher. Learn with Forward Chess averages 4.8 out of 5 from 334 ratings, while Gutenberg | eBook Reader averages 4.5 from 745 ratings.
Do Learn with Forward Chess or Gutenberg | eBook Reader have ads?
Gutenberg | eBook Reader shows ads; Learn with Forward Chess does not.
Which is updated more often, Learn with Forward Chess or Gutenberg | eBook Reader?
Learn with Forward Chess ships an update fortnightly, and Gutenberg | eBook Reader every 6 weeks. Most recently, Learn with Forward Chess was updated on October 13, 2026 and Gutenberg | eBook Reader on October 15, 2026.

Other comparisons