Comparison

Gambito Puzzles vs PGN Chess Recorder

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

Head to head
About

Gambito Puzzles

Enhance your chess skills with a dedicated tactics trainer. Solve puzzles from an offline database, track your progress with a rating system, and improve retention through spaced repetition. Offers six distinct puzzle modes for varied training.

Highlights
  • Offline puzzle database
  • Glicko-2 rating system
  • Spaced repetition
  • Six puzzle modes
  • No internet required
  • No account needed
Features
Read full description

Gambito is a focused chess tactics trainer built for practical improvement. Solve puzzles from an offline database, track your progress with a Glicko-2 rating system, and develop mastery through spaced repetition — no internet connection or account required. Choose from six distinct puzzle modes to match your training goal: - Unlimited: solve at your own pace with no time pressure - Streak: keep a correct-answer streak alive - Storm: race the clock to solve as many as possible - Thematic: focus on specific tactical motifs - Blind: train calculation by hiding the board - No Tactic: practice recognizing when there is no winning combination Your Glicko-2 rating adjusts dynamically to reflect your true tactical strength. Spaced repetition surfaces puzzles at the right time to reinforce long-term retention. Terms of Use (EULA): https://gambitochess.com/terms

About

PGN Chess Recorder

Record chess games by speaking moves. The app updates the board live and builds a move list, which can be exported as PGN. It's useful for older devices, over-the-board play, training, and analysis.

Highlights
  • Voice dictation for chess moves
  • Live board updates
  • PGN export
  • On-device engine analysis
  • Move quality assessment
  • Interactive board with navigation
Read full description

Chess Recorder lets you record chess games by speaking your moves. Say square names, pieces, captures, castling, and undo in plain language — the board updates live, the move list builds as you play, and you can export everything as PGN. Built to capture PGN from games on older chess computers and devices that don’t offer export capabilities— and just as useful for over-the-board play, training, and quick analysis on iPhone and iPad. VOICE DICTATION • On-device speech recognition tuned for chess moves • Support for English and German language dictation • Live transcript while you record • Teach custom phrases when recognition misses something • Optional touch input when you prefer to tap moves instead BOARD & NOTATION • Clear interactive board with move navigation and scrubbing • ECO code and opening name as you play • Browse opening continuations from the current position • Multi-game archive with PGN copy and export • Flip the board and customize colors, coordinates, piece size, and many more ENGINE ANALYSIS • On-device Stockfish analysis via LucidEngine • Evaluation, win probability, main line, and best-move arrow • Each display option can be turned on or off MOVE QUALITY • Background assessment of played moves • Inaccuracy, mistake, blunder, and miss marks in the move list • Accuracy summary with charts for White and Black • Optional assessment symbols in exported PGN When supported, speech recognition runs on your device. Microphone access is used only for move dictation. Chess Recorder is free and open source (GPLv3).

Screenshots

Gambito Puzzles4 screens
PGN Chess Recorder4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PGN Chess Recorder at none against Gambito Puzzles's 2. PGN Chess Recorder also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 6 days) and ratings volume (6 vs 1). Gambito Puzzles's advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.5). On price, rating 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Gambito Puzzles sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. PGN Chess Recorder asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Gambito Puzzles against 5.0 for PGN Chess Recorder. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PGN Chess Recorder has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gambito Puzzles ships an update every 6 days, PGN Chess Recorder every 2 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Gambito Puzzles versus PGN Chess Recorder: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGambito PuzzlesPGN Chess Recorder
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings16 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.5
Further details — not scored
Size106 MB126 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperDynadelPhilipp Guntermann

Customer experience

Gambito Puzzles

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

PGN Chess Recorder

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Gambito Puzzles

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Premium Annual7 Days trial$4.991 Year
None

PGN Chess Recorder

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Gambito Puzzles free?
Gambito Puzzles is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PGN Chess Recorder free?
PGN Chess Recorder is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Gambito Puzzles or PGN Chess Recorder?
Gambito Puzzles and PGN Chess Recorder are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 6 ratings respectively.
Do Gambito Puzzles or PGN Chess Recorder have ads?
Neither Gambito Puzzles nor PGN Chess Recorder shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Gambito Puzzles or PGN Chess Recorder?
Gambito Puzzles ships an update every 6 days, and PGN Chess Recorder every 2 days. Most recently, Gambito Puzzles was updated on October 31, 2026 and PGN Chess Recorder on October 31, 2026.

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