Comparison

ChessHut vs OpenChess

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

Head to head
About

ChessHut

Features
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Chess for everyone. No account, no ads, no internet needed. ChessHut is a complete chess game that runs entirely on your device. Pick an opponent, choose a clock, and play. Every game, puzzle and rating stays private on your phone. EIGHT OPPONENTS WITH CHARACTER Face Pip the Hatchling (rated 400) through to Ember, the Hut Master (1900). Each one plays in its own style — attacking, defensive or unpredictable — and has plenty to say about your moves. A COACH THAT WATCHES EVERY MOVE After each of your moves you get instant feedback: Best move, Great, Good, Not the best, Mistake or Blunder, plus the move that would have been stronger. Finish a game to see your accuracy and a breakdown of how you played. 3,700+ PUZZLES THAT MATCH YOUR LEVEL Rated puzzles from the Lichess open database, from beginner to master. Your puzzle rating adjusts as you solve, so the puzzles keep pace with you. Choose Easier, My level, Harder or Hardest, practise a single idea (forks, pins, sacrifices, discovered attacks, endgames, defence) or solve today's puzzle to build a streak. CHESS JOURNEY Beat the eight opponents in order to unlock the next. Win without take-backs or hints to earn all three crowns. EVERYTHING ELSE - Full rules: castling, en passant, promotion with your choice of piece, stalemate, repetition, the 50-move rule and insufficient material - Rating, rank titles, win streaks and 13 achievements - Hints, take-backs and a move list, in every game - Clocks from 3-minute blitz to 30-minute classical, including added time per move - Drag or tap to move, with smooth animation, sound and vibration - Two-player mode on one device - Four app themes, including a light one, and five board styles - Continue an unfinished game whenever you come back - iPhone and iPad, with VoiceOver support No sign-in. No ads. No tracking. No data ever leaves your device. Puzzles come from the Lichess.org open puzzle database, released into the public domain. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

OpenChess

Master chess openings by playing against a specialized AI. Explore specific defenses or move sequences, and gain insights into positional advantages and piece values. Improve your game from the very first moves.

Highlights
  • Learn specific chess openings
  • Play against AI focused on opening lines
  • Analyze positional advantages
  • Evaluate piece values and mobility
  • Understand pawn structure
  • Track defended and attacked pieces
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Learn chess openings with OpenChess: An Opening Explorer. Play against the computer, or play as both sides, and be shown the lines that are within any opening that you are interested in learning. Want to learn the Sicilian Defense or the Queen’s Gambit? Choose that category and play against that a computer that only follows lines within that opening category. Wany to focus on learning all of the openings that start with a specific move, such as pawn to “e4”? This category can also be selected, and you can play against a computer that only plays lines that start with “e4”. The chess engine in this app is not Stockfish, and it does not look very far ahead. It is meant to provide a decent base evaluation and allow the majority of the reason behind the evaluation of the current position to be shown to the user. The following information can be shown to the user: • Positional advantages for each piece type (pawn, knight, bishop, rook, queen and king) • Piece value advantages for each color • Mobility scores for each piece where mobility plays a big role (bishop, rook, queen, king) • Pawn advantages and disadvantages (passed pawns, isolated pawns, backwards pawns, doubled pawns) • Total value of pieces attacked by each color as well as total value of pieces defended by each color A lot of chess games are won and lost within the opening moves, this app was designed to help players learn solid openings that either help them gain a winning advantage out of the opening, or at the very least help them not lose due to the opening moves played. Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

ChessHut4 screens
OpenChess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ChessHut at none against OpenChess's 10. OpenChess's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 15 months) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. OpenChess sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. ChessHut asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ChessHut ships an update every 15 months, OpenChess fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
ChessHut versus OpenChess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChessHutOpenChess
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 15 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB57 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDharmaraju PilliDavid Bryant

In-app purchases

None

ChessHut

No in-app purchases

10 purchases

OpenChess

One-time10
  • Tarrasch Defense Opening$0.99
  • Trompowsky Attack Opening$0.99
  • Scandinavian Defense Opening$0.99
Show 7 more
  • Three Knights Opening$0.99
  • Zukertort Opening$0.99
  • Van't Kruijs Opening$0.99
  • Vienna Game Opening$0.99
  • Ware Opening$0.99
  • Opening Explorer$4.99
  • OpenChess Premium$19.99

Questions

Is ChessHut free?
ChessHut is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is OpenChess free?
OpenChess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ChessHut or OpenChess have ads?
Neither ChessHut nor OpenChess shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ChessHut or OpenChess?
ChessHut ships an update every 15 months, and OpenChess fortnightly. Most recently, ChessHut was updated on October 17, 2026 and OpenChess on October 15, 2026.

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