Comparison

Next Chess Move vs Pulsar Chess Engine

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

Head to head
About

Next Chess Move

This application provides a powerful chess move calculator utilizing advanced engines like Stockfish 17.1 directly on your device. It also offers free access to numerous other engines running on remote hardware, with an optional upgrade for enhanced calculation strength and access to powerful servers and GPUs.

Highlights
  • On-device Stockfish 17.1
  • Free remote engine access
  • Large selection of chess engines
  • Optional Pro upgrade
  • Access to powerful cloud hardware
  • GPU acceleration for LcZero
Features
Read full description

NCM is a powerful chess calculator that runs Stockfish 19 directly on your device. The app also includes free access to a growing list of engines running on NCM's remote single core CPU hardware: • Stockfish latest official releases and development builds • Lc0 (all official networks and several contrib networks) • Akimbo • Alexandria • Altair • Arasan • Astra • asmFish • Avalanche • Berserk • Black Marlin • Booot • Caissa • Cinder • Cfish • Clover • Coda • Combusken • CorChess • Counter • Defenchess • Demolito • Devre • Ethereal • Fire • Frozenight • GNU Chess • Halogen • Hobbes • Horsie • Igel • Integral • Koivisto • Laser • Lc0 • Mantissa • Marvin • Minic • Motor • Nalwald • Nemorino • Obsidian • OpenTal • Patricia • Pawn • Pawnocchio • Peacekeeper • PlentyChess • Quanticade • Raphael • Reckless • Rice • RubiChess • Seer • ShashChess • Smallbrain • Starzix • Stash • Stockfish • Stormphrax • Sunfish • Tarnished • Titan • Triumviratus • Tucano • Vajolet2 • Velvet • Viridithas • Wasp • Weiss • Winter • Xiphos • Zahak The optional NCM Pro in-app purchase provides one year access to powerful hardware and features that significantly enhance the strength of calculations: • Ryzen 7950X 16 CPU-core servers • RTX 2080 GPUs for LcZero • 6-man syzygy tablebases on SSD drives

About

Pulsar Chess Engine

Play chess and six popular variants with adjustable AI difficulty levels. Review logged games, access master game collections, and utilize Crafty engine analysis for standard chess and Chess960. Offers accessibility features for blind users.

Highlights
  • Plays 7 chess variants
  • Adjustable AI difficulty levels
  • Game logging and review
  • Master game collections
  • Crafty engine analysis
  • VoiceOver accessibility
Features
Read full description

The Pulsar Chess Engine plays Chess and six variants all with multiple levels. The variants are Chess960, Crazyhouse, Loser's, Atomic, Three Checks and Giveaway. Rules included in-app. In addition, there is also a review mode to look at the user's log file with analysis available for non variants. 10 game collections of classic and modern master games are included to look at including Kasparov, Fischer, Carlsen, Capablanca and Morphy 1858 collections. These collections and the log file are searchable. Pulsar values mobility and active positions. In app there is an article with more on its playing style and how to train against it. With the variants, each has its own style. Chess960, Three Checks and Crazyhouse are the more chess like variants and adoptable to learn to play for anyone with interest. The rules of all games are in app. Pulsar has levels of play from beginner too advanced. Games with a time control are the hardest though Pulsar doesn't call the player's time. The time is more to handicap Pulsar's strength, but users will have a clock and can see if it's gone negative if they want to play the time control. The game button - configure game menu item, lets the user control the variant and difficulty. It defaults to Chess at Easy(lowest level) but remembers the current settings when the App restarts. There are choices of pieces and board color schemes. The Pulsar program was originally developed by me for computers starting in 1998 and came to mobile for the first time in 2014. Pulsar's board is accessible to the blind using Voice Over, a screen reader. Tap on a square and it will say whats on it and double tap to move or choose from three move methods. A screen reader can normally read anything with text like a button, but a board is a collection of images. To make it accessible, text must be returned to Voice Over when a tap is in the area of a square. Pulsar began as a chess program and later learned variants. It ran extensively on two servers for many years both at chess and variants. The ratings on the board reflect strength I saw in rated play on handicapped bots. They are not 100% exact but generalizations I made from the various bots I ran at different settings. If in the new game selector, Play vs. Computer is unchecked the user can move for both sides. This is to allow two people at same location to use the App as a board for a game and have the app enforce move legality and results for whatever variant is selected.

Screenshots

Next Chess Move4 screens
Pulsar Chess Engine4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pulsar Chess Engine at none against Next Chess Move's 1. Pulsar Chess Engine also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and price ($1.99 vs $2.99). Next Chess Move's advantage is ratings volume (133 vs 12) and chart position (#46 vs unranked). On rating, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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

Next Chess Move costs $2.99 and Pulsar Chess Engine $1.99 up front. Next Chess Move sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Pulsar Chess Engine asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Next Chess Move holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Next Chess Move has 133 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of Next Chess Move's written reviews are positive against 70% of Pulsar Chess Engine's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Next Chess Move ships an update monthly, Pulsar Chess Engine every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Next Chess Move versus Pulsar Chess Engine: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNext Chess MovePulsar Chess Engine
Price$2.99$1.99 — better
Rating4.5 (133 ratings) — better4.3 (12 ratings)
Positive reviews76.3% of reviews — better70.0% of reviews
Number of ratings133 — better12
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank#46 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size143 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNext Chess Move LLCMichael Adams

Customer experience

Next Chess Move

All ratings129 ratings
Positive89.1%
Neutral0.8%
Negative10.1%
Written reviews76 reviews
Positive76.3%
Neutral1.3%
Negative22.4%

Pulsar Chess Engine

All ratings12 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral8.3%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive70.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative20.0%

Bugs and requests

Next Chess Move

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • Critical bugs that break the game (e.g., same color pieces moving consecutively)
  • App doesn't turn on
  • Update has challenges
  • Cannot play anything
  • LC0 version 0.30 with Networks Family T81 causes 'engine disconnected' error
Show 13 more
  • App is pretty buggy
  • App decides to delete a piece randomly
  • Subscription is gone after payment
  • No option to restore purchase
  • Every move suggested is a blunder
  • Error response most of the time
  • App crushes when copying or pasting PGN
  • Illegal move issues with PGN/FEN
  • Castling not handled correctly in PGN
  • Algorithm inconsistency (doesn't play the same move for the exact same play)
  • Login doesn't work for extra servers
  • UI could be better
  • Cannot find an option to delete saved games

Requested features

34 requests
  • Fix critical bugs
  • Update UI
  • Release a proper update
  • Maintain the app properly
  • Update to current stockfish 17
Show 29 more
  • Add self-play mode with different engines
  • Add Komodo latest version
  • Fix LC0 issues with T81 network family
  • Show a few candidate options
  • Add feature to use screenshot/photo of board
  • Add arrow or directional lines for best move
  • Make it more didactic
  • Add premium features for paid users
  • Add option to play engine vs engine
  • Add some themes
  • Add analysis arrows
  • Copy full PGN when playing engine vs engine
  • Add database for openings for free
  • Add iPad version
  • Allow landscape format on iPad
  • Increase analysis time beyond 30 seconds
  • Add option to switch turns after calculating a move
  • Improve ergonomics
  • Name boards and show names
  • Add instructions on how to use
  • Option to delete saved games
  • Improve UI
  • Handle illegal moves and castling correctly in PGN/FEN
  • Allow castling
  • Add feedback and suggestions
  • Cut and paste FEN
  • Automatic play of calculated move
  • Print positions after moves or games
  • Flip board only for current board

Pulsar Chess Engine

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Next Chess Move

One-time1
  • NCM Pro$18.99
None

Pulsar Chess Engine

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Next Chess Move free?
Next Chess Move costs $2.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Pulsar Chess Engine free?
Pulsar Chess Engine costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Next Chess Move or Pulsar Chess Engine?
Next Chess Move is rated higher. Next Chess Move averages 4.5 out of 5 from 133 ratings, while Pulsar Chess Engine averages 4.3 from 12 ratings.
Do Next Chess Move or Pulsar Chess Engine have ads?
Neither Next Chess Move nor Pulsar Chess Engine shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Next Chess Move or Pulsar Chess Engine?
Next Chess Move ships an update monthly, and Pulsar Chess Engine every 2 months. Most recently, Next Chess Move was updated on October 24, 2026 and Pulsar Chess Engine on October 22, 2026.

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