Comparison

Notation vs Stockfish AI Chess

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

Head to head
About

Notation

This app provides in-depth chess coaching by explaining the 'why' behind moves, not just the 'what'. It uses advanced on-device analysis and multiple coaching frameworks to offer personalized game reviews, player profiles, and opponent scouting.

Highlights
  • On-device chess analysis with Stockfish 18
  • Multiple grandmaster-level coaching frameworks
  • Detailed game reviews and player profiles
  • Opponent scouting and matchup reports
  • Play with physical chess boards via Bluetooth
  • Privacy-focused design with no tracking
Features
Read full description

Notation is a chess coaching app that teaches you why — not just what. Every chess evaluation comes from Stockfish 18, running entirely on your device. Every pattern, weakness, and tactical motif is detected by hand-tuned on-device classifiers built on decades of coaching theory. The language model's only job is the last step: explaining what the analysis found, in plain English, like a coach sitting next to you. The chess is never generated. It's explained. THREE COACHING FRAMEWORKS Notation is the first chess app to operationalise multiple grandmaster-level coaching frameworks as deterministic measurement: • Dan Heisman's seven positional elements — Mobility, Vulnerability, Centre Control, Coordination, Speed, Time, Flexibility — measured per-position with super-GM baselines • Jeremy Silman's coaching emphasis frames — fifteen frames choosing what to teach at each moment • Jacob Aagaard's positional predicates — Where are the weaknesses? Which is the worst-placed piece? What's the opponent's plan? All computed on-device. All deterministic. The same principles human coaches have used for decades, encoded into classifiers that run before the language model ever sees the position. GAME REVIEW Every game gets a coherent on-device review — no API key needed, no internet, no cost. Template-driven narrative against the full coaching substrate. When you want depth, upgrade once with your own Anthropic or OpenAI API key, o ruse the On Device LLM with no additional costs and the richer review becomes the permanent artefact for that game. Nadia comments on at most six moments — only the ones worth learning from. PDF export of every review. PLAYER PROFILE Style axes — Aggression, Tactical Alertness, Positional Play, Endgame — derived from the substrate with confidence bands. The seven Heisman elements sit below as evidence. Full-screen iPad dashboard. PDF coaching report you could hand to a human coach. OPPONENT SCOUTING & MATCHUP REPORTS Scout reports surface the full eight-axis substrate on any opponent. How-to-play-against framing with concrete suggestions. Player-vs-opponent comparison across all axes with weakest-phase detection. SHADOW — YOUR CHESS TWIN Shadow learns how you play and saves checkpoints. Play yourself from six months ago. See how far you've come. Coming soon: calibrate Shadow to your real-life rivals by importing their games. PLAY ON YOUR PHYSICAL BOARD Pair with Chessnut Air, Pro, Go, Air+ and Move over Bluetooth. Notation tracks every move on real wood while Nadia coaches. PRIVACY BY DESIGN Stockfish on-device. All coaching classifiers on-device. Cohort baselines on-device. Optional cloud AI is bring-your-own-key — your Anthropic or OpenAI API key, your account, your data. We never see it. Leave the field blank and Notation works fully without it. IMPORT YOUR GAMES Connect Lichess or Chess.com. Import PGN files. Nadia analyses everything in the background. £2.99. One-off. No subscription. No ads. No tracking. Yours forever.

About

Stockfish AI Chess

Play, learn, and analyze chess games offline with powerful AI engines. Practice against 19 difficulty levels, explore openings, and get feedback on your moves. Convert board photos into playable positions for analysis.

Highlights
  • Offline play with AI engines
  • 19 difficulty levels
  • Chess Coach feedback
  • Game Review for mistakes
  • Board photo to position analysis
  • PGN/FEN import/export
  • Engine matches and tournaments
Features
Read full description

Play chess, analyze your games and practice on iPhone and iPad with Stockfish 19 and 10 engines running on your device. Choose among 19 difficulty levels in Stockfish, explore openings, or arrange engine matches and tournaments. Enable the optional Chess Coach for feedback on your moves. Use Game Review to study mistakes and suggested continuations. Evaluations are engine estimates, not official player ratings. Turn a board photo into a position for analysis; check and correct the recognized pieces. Physical-board recognition is experimental. Save, import and export PGN games, and copy FEN positions. Play, analysis, coaching and photo processing work offline without uploading games or photos. Public-game imports and optional endgame database downloads require internet access. Independently developed by Tughan Y. Karsli. Not an official app of the Stockfish project.

Screenshots

Notation4 screens
Stockfish AI Chess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Stockfish AI Chess at 100% against Notation's 0%. Stockfish AI Chess also leads on price (Free vs $2.99) and update cadence (daily vs every 5 days). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

Stockfish AI Chess is free to download; Notation costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Stockfish AI Chess holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 18 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Notation's written reviews are positive against 100% of Stockfish AI Chess's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notation ships an update every 5 days, Stockfish AI Chess daily. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Notation versus Stockfish AI Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotationStockfish AI Chess
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (6 ratings)5.0 (18 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings618 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size563 MB702 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDarren CoxTughan Yusuf Karsli

Customer experience

Notation

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral33.3%
Negative66.7%

Stockfish AI Chess

All ratings18 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews18 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Notation

No in-app purchases

None

Stockfish AI Chess

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Notation free?
Notation costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Stockfish AI Chess free?
Stockfish AI Chess is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Notation or Stockfish AI Chess?
Stockfish AI Chess is rated higher. Notation averages 4.7 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while Stockfish AI Chess averages 5.0 from 18 ratings.
Do Notation or Stockfish AI Chess have ads?
Neither Notation nor Stockfish AI Chess shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Notation or Stockfish AI Chess?
Notation ships an update every 5 days, and Stockfish AI Chess daily. Most recently, Notation was updated on October 31, 2026 and Stockfish AI Chess on October 31, 2026.

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