Comparison

MainLine vs OpeningBook

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

Head to head
About

MainLine

This app helps improve your chess skills by focusing on pattern recognition. It uses spaced repetition to reinforce tactical motifs and endgame ideas, allowing you to create interactive drills from your own games to remember what matters most.

Highlights
  • Spaced repetition for pattern recall
  • Interactive drills from own games
  • Import Chess.com & Lichess games
  • Tactics, endgame, and puzzle training
  • Daily reminders and progress tracking
  • Daily puzzle challenges
Features
Read full description

MainLine is a chess trainer built for pattern recognition. Use spaced repetition to remember tactical motifs, endgame ideas, and positions from your own games instead of rereading them and forgetting them. Import your Chess.com or Lichess games, find the mistakes and recurring themes that cost you points, and turn them into short interactive drills you can review in minutes. Why players use MainLine: - Spaced repetition that surfaces the patterns you're most likely to forget - Interactive drills that build fast recall on the board - Game import from Chess.com and Lichess for targeted review - Training for tactics, endgames, puzzle themes, and critical lines - Daily reminders, streaks, and progress tracking - Challenge yourself with daily puzzles Whether you're sharpening tactical awareness, improving pattern recognition, or making game review more useful, MainLine helps you remember what matters. Download MainLine and turn review into stronger chess instincts. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

OpeningBook

Features
Read full description

OpeningBook is a clean, offline reference and trainer for chess openings. BROWSE EVERYTHING • Thousands of named openings and variations, organized by ECO volume (A–E), family, and line — sourced from the open Lichess openings database. • Step through any line move-by-move on a real, playable board. • Read key ideas and classic traps for the major openings. SEARCH & FILTER • Find any opening by name, ECO code, or move sequence. • Filter by line length with a simple move-count slider. TRAIN YOUR REPERTOIRE • Add lines to your training set as White or Black. • Drill them in a play-your-side-vs-app loop. • Spaced repetition brings each line back for review at the right time. 100% offline. No account, no ads, no tracking.

Screenshots

MainLine4 screens
OpeningBook3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: OpeningBook at none against MainLine's shown. MainLine's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. MainLine sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and OpeningBook sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
MainLine versus OpeningBook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMainLineOpeningBook
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly—
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBenjamin BoucherZhenghong Peng

In-app purchases

2 purchases

MainLine

Subscriptions2
  • MainLine Pro (Monthly)7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • MainLine Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$69.991 Year
1 purchases

OpeningBook

One-time1
  • Training Mode$3.99

Questions

Is MainLine free?
MainLine is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is OpeningBook free?
OpeningBook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do MainLine or OpeningBook have ads?
MainLine shows ads; OpeningBook does not.

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