ChessBased vs ChessFlow
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
ChessBased
Analyze chess openings with millions of games and advanced engine evaluations. Prepare like a grandmaster with a seamless interface, win-loss statistics, and move-by-move exploration. Save your favorite lines for later study on your iPhone or iPad.
- Millions of games database
- Stockfish 18 engine evaluations
- Win-loss statistics
- Move-by-move exploration
- Save favorite lines
- Seamless UI
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Now with Stockfish 19!! The only chess app with the strongest chess player on the planet in your pocket. ChessBased:Stockfish 19 takes opening analysis to a whole new level. At a glance, users see a seamless UI of openings databases with millions of games, win-loss statistics, and depth 60+ (!!) Stockfish 19 evaluations. That's right. With trillions of positions in the engine database, we did the hard work for you when it comes to looking at evals in your favorite chess openings. Now you can prepare like Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, without having to spend thousands on expensive hardware. Explore openings move by move, compare master-game trends, review engine-backed recommendations, and save your favorite lines in Lichess-like fashion for later study. ChessBased is built for fast, focused preparation on iPhone and iPad, whether youโre checking a tournament line, building a repertoire, or just curious what a depth 60+, 192 core engine thinks. Simple UI. Powerful data. Better prep.
ChessFlow
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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. 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, at a strength you choose. Explore variations in free analysis and export them. YOUR REPERTOIRE, FROM ANY SOURCE Import from PGN files, paste FEN positions, or link an iCloud folder from another chess app - ChessFlow reads your files and never changes them. 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
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: ChessFlow at every 2 days against ChessBased's monthly. 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
Both are free to download. ChessBased sells 1 one-off in-app purchase 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.
ChessBased ships an update monthly, ChessFlow every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on September 13, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ChessBased | ChessFlow |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 2 days โ better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | โ |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 86 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ENVISIONAIRY LLC | Giorgio Donnoli |
In-app purchases
ChessBased
- ChessBased: Stockfish 18$4.99
ChessFlow
- ChessFlow Virtual$4.991 Month
- ChessFlow Premium$8.991 Month
- ChessFlow Virtual$29.991 Year
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- ChessFlow Premium$49.991 Year
Questions
Is ChessBased free?
Is ChessFlow free?
Do ChessBased or ChessFlow have ads?
Which is updated more often, ChessBased or ChessFlow?
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