Chess Hotel vs Lichess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chess Hotel
Engage in live chess matches with players globally. Track your progress with a personal account, rating, and game statistics. Features include timed games, a chat function, and league play for competitive engagement.
- Live games with time controls
- Personal account with rating and statistics
- In-game chat function
- Fast opponent matching
- League games
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Play chess online with players around the world. Join a live game, take your time with daily chess, or sharpen your skills with puzzles. PLAY YOUR WAY • Play live chess with your preferred time control. • Make moves at your own pace in daily games. • Challenge a friend or share an invite. • Join Chess Hotel league games. LEARN AND IMPROVE • Solve chess puzzles and the daily puzzle. • Review your games and track your rating and results. • Choose your favorite board and chess pieces. STAY CONNECTED • Use your existing ChessHotel account on iPhone, iPad, and the web. • Get notifications for daily moves and challenges. • Chat with your opponents during games. Optional memberships unlock more league games, game reviews, and game history. Subscription details and prices are shown in the app before purchase. Terms of Use: https://www.chesshotel.com/termsofservice Privacy Policy: https://www.chesshotel.com/privacypolicy
Lichess
Play chess online with millions of users, participate in tournaments, solve puzzles, and analyze games. This free and open-source application offers a comprehensive chess experience for players of all levels, with features for learning and casual play.
- Real-time and correspondence chess
- Arena tournaments
- Chess puzzles
- Game analysis with Stockfish
- Interactive study feature
- Chess clock
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Lichess is a free/libre, open-source chess application powered by volunteers and donations. Today, Lichess users play more than five million games every day. Lichess is one of the most popular chess websites in the world while remaining 100% free. The following features are available right now: - play real time or correspondence chess - play arena tournaments - play against online bots - solve chess puzzles from a wide variety of themes, online or offline - race against the clock in Puzzle Storm - analyse your games with latest Stockfish locally or on the server - board editor - study chess with a collaborative and interactive study feature - learn board coordinates - play over the board with a friend - watch live chess broadcasts from all major chess tournaments - watch Lichess TV and online streamers - use a chess clock for your over the board games - many different board themes and piece sets - custom background themes - translated into 55 languages
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Chess Hotel at 5.0 against Lichess's 4.1. Lichess's advantage is review sentiment (53% vs 13%) and in-app purchases (none vs 4). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. Chess Hotel sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Lichess asks for nothing beyond the download.
Chess Hotel holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lichess has 813 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 13% of Chess Hotel's written reviews are positive against 53% of Lichess's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Chess Hotel ships an update every 7 months, Lichess fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chess Hotel | Lichess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.1 (813 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 12.5% of reviews | 53.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 813 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #39 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 21 MB | 109 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Foggy Media | LICHESS.ORG |
Customer experience
Chess Hotel
Lichess
Bugs and requests
Chess Hotel
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Lichess
Reported bugs
1 issue- Swipe-to-go-back gesture interferes with piece placement
Requested features
3 requests- Name of opening in opening explorer
- Ability to add and subtract additional things on the homepage
- Reset/replay button on puzzles
In-app purchases
Chess Hotel
- Chess Hotel Basic$2.991 Month
- Chess Hotel Regular$3.991 Month
- Chess Hotel Unlimited$7.991 Month
- Premium Membership - 1 Year$6.99
Lichess
No in-app purchases
