Comparison

Chess Openings vs ChessFlow

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

Head to head
About

Chess Openings

Features
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Chess Openings โ€” learn the 113 most important chess openings with a beautiful, focused app. โ€ข 113 opening lines classified by ECO codes, with first-move and attack/defense filters โ€ข Interactive replay โ€” move by move, auto-play โ€ข Continue an opening vs the robot โ€ข Play vs Robot โ€” 8 difficulty levels (800-2400 ELO) โ€ข Robot (non-Stockfish) fully customizable โ€ข Opening quizzes โ€” test your knowledge โ€ข Practice mode โ€” move-by-move learning with feedback โ€ข Stockfish game analysis โ€” accuracy, blunder detection, best move โ€ข Live evaluation bar โ€ข 27 languages No ads. Anonymous usage analytics only. Works offline. Perfect for beginners and amateurs looking to build a solid repertoire. Free version and Premium (optional in-app purchase) Free: play vs the robot, plus a limited number of opening lessons, quizzes, Stockfish analyses and "Continue vs Robot" sessions every day. Premium removes all daily limits: unlimited opening lessons, unlimited quizzes, unlimited Stockfish analysis, unlimited "Continue vs Robot" and full progress tracking. Premium requires a purchase inside the app โ€” an auto-renewable annual subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. The price is shown in the app before any purchase. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

ChessFlow

Features
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ChessFlow is the training app built for tournament players - openings, middlegames and endgames - and the only one that lets you drill them on a real electronic chessboard. Train your lines on screen, or connect your Chessnut board over Bluetooth and practice with real pieces in hand, guided by the board's LEDs. Then let spaced repetition bring each line back right before you'd forget it, so your prep actually sticks. TRAIN ON A REAL ELECTRONIC BOARD Connect your Chessnut (Go, Air, Air+, Pro) and train with the pieces in your hands. The LEDs guide you - steady light for your opponent's move, a blink for a hint, a fast blink when the app plays the move for you. Make a mistake? Retry, ask for a hint, or let the app show you. REMEMBER YOUR OPENINGS WITH SPACED REPETITION ChessFlow uses an SM-2 algorithm adapted for chess openings: every line returns right before you're likely to forget it. Only a perfect run speeds up the schedule; anything shaky comes back tomorrow. No line ever disappears for months. A seven-day forecast shows how many lines come due each day, so you always know when a backlog clears. DRILL YOUR WEAK SPOTS ChessFlow tracks the positions where you go wrong most often and serves them back as targeted puzzles. Turn on Drill random positions for an endless stream of positions from the lines you've trained in the open repertoire - a fast way to keep it sharp. PRACTICE ANYWHERE ON THE VIRTUAL BOARD No hardware needed. Train on screen with tap-to-move and premove, just like chess.com and lichess. Your iPad becomes a training station; your iPhone keeps your repertoire in your pocket. PLAY IT OUT AGAINST STOCKFISH Stop anywhere in a line and play the position out against Stockfish 19, at a strength you choose. Explore variations in free analysis, with a slim evaluation bar beside the board, and export them. With ChessTools, our free clock app, on your iPhone, ChessFlow presses the clock for you. YOUR REPERTOIRE, FROM ANY SOURCE Keep building your repertoire in the chess app you already use - Chess Studio, for example. Link its iCloud folder and ChessFlow reads those PGN files without ever changing them: you study and edit there, you train here. Add a variation there and it's waiting the next time you open the file, with all your progress kept. You can also import single PGN files or paste FEN positions. Attach a course PDF or your notes to any repertoire; PDFs even reopen at the page you left, on every device. BUILT TO KEEP YOUR DATA SAFE Everything syncs across your iPhone and iPad via iCloud - lines, progress and colors. Training progress is merged across devices, never overwritten. Automatic daily backups, plus manual export and import. EXPORT & SHARE Copy or share your lines as PGN for lichess and chess.com. Export your games versus the computer as PGN or a tournament-style PDF scoresheet. Free to try, with a 14-day full-access trial. Subscriptions unlock unlimited training on the virtual board, or everything including the physical board. Requires iOS 17 or later. iPhone and iPad, one app. Questions or feedback? developer@chesstools.it Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.chesstools.it/chessflow/privacy.html

Screenshots

Chess Openings4 screens
ChessFlow4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: ChessFlow at every 3 days against Chess Openings's every 9 days. Chess Openings's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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 Openings sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.00 per year and ChessFlow sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Openings ships an update every 9 days, ChessFlow every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Chess Openings versus ChessFlow: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess OpeningsChessFlow
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysEvery 3 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 โ€” better17.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size29 MB202 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGanSoft SARLGiorgio Donnoli

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Chess Openings

Subscriptions1
  • Premium Annual$9.001 Year
One-time1
  • Premium Lifetime$45.00
4 purchases

ChessFlow

Subscriptions4
  • ChessFlow Virtual$4.991 Month
  • ChessFlow Premium$8.991 Month
  • ChessFlow Virtual$29.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • ChessFlow Premium$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Chess Openings free?
Chess Openings is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ChessFlow free?
ChessFlow is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Chess Openings or ChessFlow have ads?
Neither Chess Openings nor ChessFlow shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chess Openings or ChessFlow?
Chess Openings ships an update every 9 days, and ChessFlow every 3 days. Most recently, Chess Openings was updated on October 6, 2026 and ChessFlow on October 24, 2026.

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