Lotus Chess vs ChessFlare
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Lotus Chess
Master chess with interactive lessons, personalized opening courses derived from your games, and instant analysis. Improve your endgame skills and build a daily habit with tailored puzzles and training plans. Suitable for all levels, from beginners to advanced players.
- Personalized opening courses from your games
- Learn 150+ chess openings
- Interactive lessons for beginners
- Instant game analysis with mistake identification
- 60+ endgame lessons and 180+ positions
- Daily workout with 100,000+ puzzles
- Offline opening and endgame lessons
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Learn chess the fast way. Lotus Chess teaches you 150+ openings, analyses your games instantly and shows you how to close out endgames, in just a few minutes a day. From complete beginners to 2300 Elo players. Rated 4.8/5. Most apps teach engine-perfect theory. Lotus Chess teaches the lines that win against real people. OPENINGS, BUILT FROM YOUR GAMES • Connect Chess.com or Lichess and get a personal opening course from your own games • Learn 150+ openings for White and Black • Train every line hands-on until it becomes natural • Lines picked from 100,000,000+ games for the best winning chances against real players FOUNDATIONS: LEARN CHESS FROM SCRATCH • New to chess? Start with the rules and basic ideas, step by step • 150+ short, interactive lessons, no experience needed INSTANT GAME ANALYSIS • See your accuracy for every game • Find your mistakes and blunders, move by move • Understand exactly where you lost the game ENDGAMES • 60+ lessons, from basic checkmates to advanced techniques • 180+ positions to play out against a human-like engine • Learn to close out winning positions DAILY WORKOUT • A personal training plan, ready every day • Build a daily chess habit with streaks • 100,000+ chess puzzles that match your level • Opening and endgame lessons work offline FREE AND PRO Start for free: • The first section of Foundations and Endgames • The first 2 sections and 2 crushing lines of every opening • 10 puzzles and 1 game analysis per day Lotus Chess Pro unlocks everything: • All openings, sections and crushing lines • The full Foundations and Endgame courses, with all training positions • Unlimited puzzles and game analysis Pro is available as a monthly or yearly subscription. Payment is charged to your Apple ID account. Your subscription renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel it anytime in your App Store account settings. BUILT BY CHESS PLAYERS Lotus Chess was created by two brothers who started playing chess at age four. After building Math42, a math learning app with over 6 million downloads, they set out to build the best way to learn chess. Privacy Policy & Terms of Use: https://www.lotus-chess.com/privacy-policy
ChessFlare
Master chess openings, endgames, and strategy with structured courses and personalized learning. Organize your repertoire, memorize lines with spaced repetition, and analyze your games to identify and fix mistakes. Improve your chess skills with a comprehensive workflow.
- Structured chess courses
- Opening repertoire management
- Spaced repetition memorization
- Game analysis and review
- Detailed progress statistics
- Interactive move tree exploration
- Cross-device synchronization
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Learn chess in depth with complete COURSES on openings, endgames, strategy, and the key concepts of the game. Improve step by step with structured content tailored to your level, helping you better understand and apply the right ideas in your games. CREATE AND ORGANIZE YOUR REPERTOIRE Easily build and manage your opening and study database: import and edit PGN files, organize your lines into clear variations and chapters, and add annotations and comments. Everything is gathered in one powerful and intuitive space. MEMORIZE FASTER WITH SPACED REPETITION Turn your lines into lasting reflexes with a smart spaced repetition system based on SM2. Reviews are automatically scheduled at the right time and adapt to your performance, helping you learn efficiently without overload and retain key openings over time. ANALYZE YOUR GAMES AND FIX YOUR MISTAKES Turn every game into an opportunity to improve by syncing your games from Chess.com and Lichess. Identify key moments, spot important mistakes, and focus on what truly helps you progress. GAME REVIEW After each game, get a clear and useful summary: key moments, decisive mistakes, and practical suggestions for improvement. Quickly understand what made the difference and adjust your play. DETAILED STATISTICS Track your progress with precise data: success rate by opening, types and frequency of mistakes, and performance trends over time. Clearly identify your strengths and areas for improvement. TRAIN ON YOUR WEAKNESSES Stop wasting time on generic exercises. Work directly on your weak points with targeted sessions and a personalized approach tailored to your level. EXPLORE YOUR LINES WITH AN INTERACTIVE TREE Visualize and understand all your lines with a clear interface featuring an interactive move tree, built-in Stockfish analysis, and easy exploration of key positions. Make better decisions by truly understanding your openings. SYNC ACROSS ALL YOUR DEVICES Work anytime, anywhere, on desktop or mobile. Your data is synchronized in real time in the cloud, allowing you to switch seamlessly between study and training. Your progress is always up to date and accessible. PLAY MODE Practice directly on the board with a dedicated Play mode designed to help you apply what you learn in real game situations. Train against positions, test your understanding, and turn theory into practical chess skills. A COMPLETE WORKFLOW TO IMPROVE Unlike traditional tools, ChessFlare brings everything together in one system: repertoire creation, learning, review, analysis, and progress tracking. Improve faster with a clear and efficient workflow. WHO IS CHESSFLARE FOR? ChessFlare is designed for beginners and advanced players, competitive players who want to structure their preparation, coaches and students, as well as anyone passionate about openings and game analysis. Terms of Use : https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Lotus Chess at 1.1K against ChessFlare's 4. Lotus Chess also leads on review sentiment (86% vs 76%). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. Lotus Chess sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and ChessFlare sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $8.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Lotus Chess against 4.8 for ChessFlare. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lotus Chess has 1.1K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 86% of Lotus Chess's written reviews are positive against 76% of ChessFlare's.
Lotus Chess ships an update weekly, ChessFlare every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lotus Chess | ChessFlare |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (1.1K ratings) — better | 4.8 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 86.4% of reviews — better | 75.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.1K — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 10 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 230 MB | 123 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Lotus Chess UG | Anakyos |
Customer experience
Lotus Chess
ChessFlare
Bugs and requests
Lotus Chess
Reported bugs
2 issues- Login screen freezes
- Incompatible with older devices
Requested features
4 requests- Library to explain the WHY behind the moves
- Link to an online library
- Ability to remove pre-selected openings
- Review of daily correspondence games
ChessFlare
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Lotus Chess
- Lotus Pro · Monthly7 Days trial$7.991 Month
- Lotus Pro · Monthly7 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Pro Subscription - 1 Year7 Days trial$49.991 Year
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- Pro Subscription - 1 Year1 Year trial2 variants$69.991 Year
- Pro Subscription - 1 Year7 Days trial$69.991 Year
ChessFlare
- Pro Monthly$8.491 Month
- ChessFlare Creator Referral -50%1 Month trial$24.991 Year
- ChessFlare Pro Yearly$33.991 Year
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- Pro Yearly7 Days trial$69.001 Year
- ChessFlare Pro Family$109.001 Year
- 100 couronnes$0.99
- 500 couronnes$3.99
- 1 200 couronnes$6.99
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- 2 500 couronnes$12.99
- Pro Lifetime$144.99









