Comparison

Chessful vs Chess DNA

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

Head to head
About

Chessful

Analyze your chess games to identify and understand your mistakes. Practice specific error types, solve puzzles, study lessons, and play against AI opponents. Offers offline capabilities and a private, ad-free experience.

Highlights
  • Move-by-move game analysis with explanations
  • Personalized training based on your mistakes
  • 15,000+ puzzles in 53 themes (offline)
  • 156 interactive lessons
  • 40 AI opponents (400-2400 Elo)
  • Import up to 2,000 games via PGN
Features
Read full description

You lost the game, and you can't tell which move did it. Chessful can. Stockfish checks every move on your device, and each mistake comes with an explanation in plain language. Then those mistakes become your training. Chessful builds practice from the errors in your own games, so your time goes to the moves that cost you. Know what went wrong Every mistake is sorted into one of 10 types, such as Missed Back-Rank Mate, and explained. You see what kind of error it was and what to practice next. Bring your game history Import up to 2,000 games from one PGN file. If the file holds more, Chessful brings in your newest 2,000. Analyze All then works through every game you haven't analyzed yet, one after another, so a whole archive gets reviewed without opening each game. More to practice 15,000 puzzles in 53 themes work offline. 96 endgames let you play out the technique against Stockfish until it sticks. Learn at your own pace Study with 156 interactive lessons, one topic at a time. Play someone your level Choose from 40 opponents rated 400 to 2400 Elo, and move up when you're ready. Earn 59 achievements in 8 groups along the way. Private and calm Your games stay on your device. You don't need an account, and Chessful has no ads. It doesn't collect analytics or track you, and it won't send you notifications. Made for iPhone, iPad, and Mac On the Mac, Chessful needs Apple silicon. It speaks 32 languages and works with VoiceOver and Voice Control. Free and Premium Chessful is free to download. The free plan includes: • The first 10 opponents • The first endgame in each category • 2 game analyses, 3 puzzles, and 2 coach hints every day On the free plan, Analyze All stops after your 2 daily analyses. Premium lifts the daily limits and opens all 40 opponents and all 96 endgames. Choose monthly or yearly, each starting with a 1-week free trial, or buy lifetime access once. Family Sharing is included with all three. Play one game and see what Chessful finds. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Chess DNA

This app analyzes your chess games to identify recurring mistakes and weaknesses. It provides personalized training drills based on your actual gameplay, helping you understand and improve your strategic patterns. Track your progress across various skill dimensions to focus your learning effectively.

Highlights
  • Game analysis for progress tracking
  • Identification of recurring mistakes
  • Personalized training drills
  • Skill radar for openings, tactics, and more
  • Import games from chess.com and Lichess
  • Share game insights with others
Features
Read full description

Chess DNA turns every game you play into progress. Connect your chess.com or Lichess account and Maya, your AI chess coach, reviews each game seconds after it ends: the moment it turned, why it happened, and the move that would have saved it. YOUR CHESS DNA Eight skills scored from your real games: Openings, Tactics, Defense, Positional play, Endgames, Calculation, Time management and Resilience. See your strengths, your leaks, and exactly what to fix first. EVERY MOVE, EXPLAINED Stockfish finds the best move. Maya tells you why, in plain words, in your language. Key moments, missed tactics and the patterns that keep costing you games are marked for you. REPLAY YOUR MISTAKES Step back into your own lost positions, rewound to the move before it broke, and find the save this time. Every drill comes from a game you actually played. A TRAINING PATH BUILT FROM YOUR LEAKS Maya turns each weakness into a five-minute drill and re-orders your path after every game, so today's step is always the one that matters most. PLAY THE COACH WHO KNOWS YOU Play a full game against Maya at your own rating. She flags every move that drops material, live, while you play. SHARE YOUR BEST MOMENTS Biggest scalp, longest streak, cleanest win. Every milestone becomes a card you can share in one tap. IN YOUR LANGUAGE Chess DNA is available in 13 languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Arabic and Hindi. You can set the coach's language separately from the app's. Free to start. Bring your games, and see who you really are at the board. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://chessdna.app/privacy

Screenshots

Chessful4 screens
Chess DNA4 screens

Verdict

The call

Chessful and Chess DNA both sit at 4.3 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of Chess DNA's written reviews are positive against 67% of Chessful's. Chess DNA also leads on monetization model (free vs freemium) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). Chessful's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, ratings volume 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. Chessful sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Chess DNA sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for Chessful against 4.4 for Chess DNA. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 7 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 67% of Chessful's written reviews are positive against 100% of Chess DNA's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chessful ships an update every 5 days, Chess DNA every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 13, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Chessful versus Chess DNA: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChessfulChess DNA
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (3 ratings)4.4 (7 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings37 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size167 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAntti AittamaaYuval Incze

Customer experience

Chessful

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Chess DNA

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Chessful

Subscriptions2
  • Chessful Pro Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Chessful Pro Yearly7 Days trial$17.991 Year
One-time4
  • Support the Developer Coffee$1.99
  • Support the Developer Supporter$4.99
  • Support the Developer Huge Support$9.99
Show 1 more
  • Chessful Pro Lifetime$29.99
3 purchases

Chess DNA

Subscriptions1
  • Pro Monthly$8.991 Month
One-time2
  • 90-Day Pass$19.99
  • Founder$79.99

Questions

Is Chessful free?
Chessful is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chess DNA free?
Chess DNA is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chessful or Chess DNA?
Chess DNA is rated higher. Chessful averages 4.3 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Chess DNA averages 4.4 from 7 ratings.
Do Chessful or Chess DNA have ads?
Neither Chessful nor Chess DNA shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chessful or Chess DNA?
Chessful ships an update every 5 days, and Chess DNA every 2 weeks. Most recently, Chessful was updated on November 13, 2026 and Chess DNA on November 5, 2026.

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