Comparison

ChesSpire vs Chess Reflex

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

Head to head
About

ChesSpire

Features
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Master chess openings move by move - no ads, no paywall. ChesSpire helps you build, train, and share opening repertoires with an interactive board. Whether you're a beginner learning the Italian Game or an advanced player drilling the Sicilian Defense - ChesSpire adapts to your level. KEY FEATURES - Train openings with guided move-by-move practice - Create your own openings and share them with the community - Works fully offline - train anywhere, anytime - AI-powered move comments explain the why behind each move - Track your progress with detailed statistics - Dark mode for comfortable study sessions - Available in 8 languages BUILT FOR LEARNING Unlike databases that overwhelm you with variations, ChesSpire teaches one move at a time. Visual arrows show key squares, tips explain strategic ideas, and the spaced repetition system focuses on your weak spots. COMMUNITY Share your favorite openings with other players. Browse community repertoires, leave comments, and build your chess knowledge together. OPEN FOR EVERYONE No subscriptions, no ads, no premium tiers. Every feature is available to everyone.

About

Chess Reflex

Features
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Chess Reflex teaches you to beat a player who has never taken a lesson. Not to become a grandmaster โ€” to stop losing to careless mistakes. Everything is built on six rules. Six, not sixty. Develop your pieces in the right order, check what the opponent's last move threatens, count before you capture, count the attackers and defenders of a square, hold an endgame, and never answer in three seconds. These six rules are enough to beat the vast majority of casual players. SIXTEEN ANIMATED LESSONS Each rule is explained on the board, sentence by sentence, with arrows showing exactly what's being discussed. Two minutes per lesson. A voice reads them aloud โ€” a real built-in synthetic voice, not the system's robotic one. 581 EXPLAINED POSITIONS Which piece is hanging? Where's the pin? Mate in one? Every position comes with a written explanation: why this answer, and why not the other one. None is left unexplained. SPACED REVIEW THAT LASTS Cards come back just before you'd forget them. The grade isn't set by hand โ€” it's worked out from your answer and how long you took. PLAY, THEN UNDERSTAND A game against the app, at three levels. At the end, the board stays and you replay your game move by move, with what each move did underneath โ€” what it captured, what it threatened, and where you went wrong. A button jumps straight from one mistake to the next. AND A FULL PATH Eleven drills in the order of a real game: the opening, checking before each move, counting, the four tactical motifs, the endgame, checkmate. OFFLINE, FOR REAL No account. No ads. No trackers. The app never connects to a server: lessons, positions, voice and the artificial opponent all work on a train, on a plane, or deep underground. IN THIRTEEN LANGUAGES French, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi. Translated, not machine-run: piece names follow each country's usage, and so does the notation. HOW MUCH IT COSTS Seven days, everything unlocked, no account or card. After that, the theory and the basics stay readable for free, with no time limit. For the rest: $4.99 a month, $29.99 a year, or a one-time $49.99. The first month of the subscription is free. Terms of Use: https://abventis.fr/chessreflex/cgu.html Privacy Policy: https://abventis.fr/chessreflex/confidentialite.html

Screenshots

ChesSpire4 screens
Chess Reflex4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ChesSpire at none against Chess Reflex's 3. On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Chess Reflex sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. ChesSpire asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 4 level
ChesSpire versus Chess Reflex: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChesSpireChess Reflex
PriceFreeFree
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 โ€” better17.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size9 MB343 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMarkus GlockAlexandre ABELLO

In-app purchases

None

ChesSpire

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Chess Reflex

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Yearly$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$44.99

Questions

Is ChesSpire free?
ChesSpire is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Reflex free?
Chess Reflex is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ChesSpire or Chess Reflex have ads?
Neither ChesSpire nor Chess Reflex shows ads.

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