ChessPrep vs ChessMem
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ChessPrep
Enhance your chess strategy with a powerful companion app. Build your repertoire from grandmaster moves, analyze opponent responses, and master tactics using a strong chess engine and spaced repetition.
- Build repertoire from grandmaster moves
- Analyze opponent responses by elo
- Stockfish 16 chess engine
- Spaced repetition system
- Position analysis and variation calculation
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ChessPrep is the ultimate chess companion designed to enhance your strategic prowess and elevate your game. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned player, ChessPrep empowers you to: Build Your Repertoire: Choose from a curated list of masterful moves played by grandmasters. Opponent Insights: Analyze the most common responses from opponents in your elo range, giving you a strategic edge. Stockfish 16 with NNUE: Access a powerful chess engine directly within the app to analyze positions, calculate variations, and refine your understanding of the game. Spaced Repetition: Master your chosen moves through an intelligent spaced repetition system, ensuring optimal retention and application during your games. ChessPrep is not just an app; it's your key to unlocking a deeper understanding of chess and outplaying your opponents.
ChessMem
Master chess openings through spaced repetition and interactive practice. Learn curated lines, add your own, and discover tactical traps. Track progress and earn badges for your achievements.
- Spaced repetition for memorization
- Interactive move practice
- Add custom opening lines
- Learn tactical opening traps
- Curated opening collections
- AI-powered move explanations
- Progress tracking and badges
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One of the most versatile chess training apps there is: 162 openings, 27 traps, 44,000 rated tactics, your own lines, scanned book diagrams and any position you can set up, with spaced repetition to make the lines stick. Play a game or practice your openings with the AI Coach. ChessMem turns opening study into something you actually finish. Instead of watching videos and forgetting everything by your next game, you practice master-verified lines until they're automatic. HOW IT WORKS Pick an opening. Drag pieces to play the correct moves. Wrong moves show you the right answer. Score 100% and the line enters Mem Mode, where spaced repetition brings it back at increasing intervals — first after a day, then three, then a week, growing from there. By the time you sit down to play, the moves are automatic. PLAY AGAINST THE AI COACH Play a full game from any opening against five engine levels. The coach flags mistakes as they happen and reviews the game with you when it ends. NEW TO CHESS? START HERE A short guide on your first line covers the board, how moves are written (e4, Nf3, O-O), and what every control does. Reopen it any time from Help. TACTICS AND CHECKMATE PATTERNS 44,000 rated puzzles from the Lichess open database, served around your level, with your own puzzle rating that moves on your first attempt at each one. Drill the named checkmates on their own — smothered mate, back-rank, Anastasia's and more — until you see them on the board. ADD YOUR OWN LINES AND POSITIONS Your repertoire isn't only what we ship. Record moves on the board, paste a PGN or FEN, scan a page from a chess book with your camera, or set up any position in the board editor. Anything you add practices and memorizes exactly like a built-in opening, syncs across your devices, and exports as PGN to send to a friend, a coach or a student. OPENING TRAPS 27 traps built into the openings — lines that win games when your opponent walks into them. Learn the ones in your favorite openings, spot them when they're tried on you, and add a few sneaky weapons of your own. A REAL REPERTOIRE, NOT JUST A LIST • 162 curated openings, 12,700+ lines • Up to 15 moves deep on main lines • Every move verified against the Lichess Masters Database • A depth slider you control — main line only, then key lines, common deviations, or everything, one opening at a time A STARTER REPERTOIRE IN ONE QUESTION Not sure what to learn first? Answer one question about the kind of chess you want to play — Classical, Aggressive, Creative, Complex or Practical — and a White opening plus answers to both 1.e4 and 1.d4 go straight into your Favorites. AI EXPLANATIONS AND PLANS Stuck on why a move is the right one? Tap for a plain-English explanation of the idea behind it — the threat, the plan — demonstrated on the board, move by move. It works on tactics as well as openings. Every opening also comes with a plan: what you're aiming for, and what your opponent wants. LEARN FROM YOUR REAL GAMES Connect your Chess.com username and get a report on the openings that are actually costing you points, so you know which lines to drill next. TRACK PROGRESS, EARN BADGES Every opening fills in as you complete lines and variations. Hit 100% on every line and you earn a permanent badge — go gold by topping the leaderboard. Favorites, Mem Mode and progress bars keep you focused on what needs work. SYNC ACROSS DEVICES Sign in once and your progress, favorites and review schedule travel with you between iPhone, iPad and the web. FREE TO START Every day: five practices across openings, traps and Mem Mode, five tactics, three AI explanations and a coached game, with unlimited retries. Each month: three book scans. Premium removes the limits and adds unlimited AI explanations, more scans, the full opening tree and game reports. Stop reviewing the same openings and start memorizing the moves that win games. Terms of Use (EULA): https://chessmem.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://chessmem.com/privacy
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Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: ChessMem at 100% against ChessPrep's 33%. ChessPrep's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, update cadence, ads 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
Both are free to download. ChessPrep sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and ChessMem sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
ChessPrep ships an update every 3 days, ChessMem every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ChessPrep | ChessMem |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 33.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Every 5 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 109 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Stephen Papadatos | AVDCLtd |
Customer experience
ChessPrep
ChessMem
In-app purchases
ChessPrep
- ChessButler Monthly Sub$0.991 Month
- ChessButler Yearly Sub$9.991 Year
- ChessButler Lifetime Premium$19.99
ChessMem
- Premium Monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Premium Annual7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Lifetime Premium$49.99
Questions
Is ChessPrep free?
Is ChessMem free?
Do ChessPrep or ChessMem have ads?
Which is updated more often, ChessPrep or ChessMem?
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