Comparison

OpeningTree vs Chessify

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

Head to head
About

OpeningTree

Explore chess openings with an extensive opening book and engine analysis. Analyze your games, create custom lines, and study moves from high-rated players. Accessible for visually impaired users.

Highlights
  • Extensive opening book
  • Crafty engine analysis
  • Load and analyze PGN games
  • Create custom move lines
  • Accessible for visually impaired
  • Mark moves with colors
  • Save board to PGN
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

OpeningTree is a chess openings book based on high rated over the board games that lets one explore the tree of openings and engine analysis is available. Chess game files can be shared with the app to check against the book or to just view. Users can make their own side line moves and back up to return to main line. Also includes ten classic game collections and users can import their own games into the app. Game list are also searchable by tags. The updated opening book is compiled from 640,000 high rated games from recent years with both players rated 2300 and over. Just touch moves in the list or make moves on the board to see what the response is. The numbers next to moves indicate how many games resulted in wins-draws-losses. The idea comes from computer opening books as if we can open up the book and see what those moves are that people play in response to opening positions. Users do not pick an opening to study but start with the full tree. The analyze button on bottom right of board is to flip between viewing the openings move table or seeing Crafty engine analysis. +1.00 score means white is ahead a pawn. -1.00 score means black is ahead a pawn. There is a move now button to make the engine play the current best move if the users wants to try playing a position out against the engine. OpeningTree's board is accessible to the blind and visually impaired using Voice Over. With Voice Over enabled in device settings, tap on a square for info, double tap to select. Or choose from three move methods. When going forward in a loaded PGN game, moves will be announced on each tap of the forward button. Moves can be marked with colors(red, green, yellow) and colorizing a move at the end of a line will extend the line i.e. add move so it shows later. There is also an option to make a note on a position using the control bar. In the Actions menu if the user has imported a chess games file to the App, for example by opening a PGN file with OpeningTree from a mail attachment or download(long touch on the attachment/download for this option), a game from a PGN file can be loaded and checked against the book. If a user makes a new move, back up to the main line to return to the game. To ensure speed, it will only read/load a max of 5000 games. With bigger files users will only see first 5000 games. There is a Save Board to PGN option on the Actions menu. It saves the current moves to openings-user-games.pgn, a file OpeningTree will create on first save. Games are saved with opening name as white and black name to spot the lines in each game. This allows the users to export data out of the App such as favorite lines with the mail games option when looking at a game list. The App comes with six PGN game files that can be optionally installed when no PGN files have yet been opened by the App or the user has deleted their PGN files previously opened and likewise has none to access. If this is the case, this option shows when going to Actions -> load PGN. The files contain a mix of famous classical games, collections of former world champions Gary Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen's games and more recent games from two top ranked international tournaments. PGN stands for portable game notation. It's a file extension that can be used with text files that contain chess games in the PGN format. PGN files can be read by apps to display the games in them. If a game is loaded in the App one can then go to 'Actions -> show game data' to view the raw PGN text.

About

Chessify

This app offers advanced chess analysis tools, including a real-time chessboard scanner, powerful cloud-based engines, and a unique video finder. Analyze games, puzzles, and learn chess theory with comprehensive features for players of all levels.

Highlights
  • Real chessboard scanner
  • Superfast cloud chess engine analysis
  • Video finder for chess positions
  • Offline play against Stockfish
  • Opening Explorer with Lichess database
  • Import/export FEN/PGN
  • Online real-time Blitz
Features
Read full description

Chessify is an all-in-one chess platform built for players who want to improve with professional-level chess tools. Analyze with powerful cloud engines running on servers up to 1024 threads and 1 Billion NPS speed, explore databases of 12 million+ professional games, scan real chessboards and books, prepare openings, and review games from anywhere. Features that once required heavy desktop software are now available in a single mobile app designed for players of all levels. Whether you’re solving puzzles, training openings, or analyzing tournament games, Chessify combines advanced chess tools into one fast and easy-to-use experience. Features: - Powerful Cloud Engine Analysis Analyze with Stockfish 18, Lc0, Berserk, Caissa, Crystal, Patricia, Viridithas, AsmFish, ShashChess, Koivisto, RubiChess, and Sugar AI chess engines on cloud servers with up to 1024 threads, reaching up to 1BN/s speed. - Mega Database Search through 10 million+ professional FIDE-rated games with move statistics, player ratings, and opening trends. - Correspondence Chess Database Study the 2 Million+ official ICCF database games played with deep engine-assisted preparation. - Scan 2D & 3D Chessboards Scan real boards and diagrams from books or screens with high accuracy and instantly analyze the position with Stockfish 18. - Chess PDF Scanner Import chess PDF books and scan positions directly from pages for quick analysis and study. - Play Against Stockfish Challenge one of the world’s strongest chess engines with adjustable strength settings. Play from initial or any given position. - PGN & Move Notation Create analysis files with multiple variations and comments or import your existing files and review them with your phone at any time. - Save Games & Analysis Store your games, analysis, and studies locally or in the cloud and access them anytime. - Import, Export, and Share PGN/FEN Easily import your games or export positions and analysis to share with chess friends or students. Whether you’re a beginner, club player, coach, or grandmaster, Chessify provides powerful analysis and training tools for every stage of your chess journey. Privacy Policy: https://chessify.me/privacy-policy Terms of Use / End User License Agreement (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

OpeningTree4 screens
Chessify4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Chessify at Free against OpeningTree's $0.99. Chessify also leads on ratings volume (397 vs 31). OpeningTree's advantage is review sentiment (83% vs 46%) and in-app purchases (none vs 15). On rating, update cadence, ads and device support 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

Chessify is free to download; OpeningTree costs $0.99 up front. Chessify sells 15 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. OpeningTree asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.4 for OpeningTree against 4.4 for Chessify. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chessify has 397 ratings behind it against 31, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of OpeningTree's written reviews are positive against 46% of Chessify's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

OpeningTree ships an update every 2 months, Chessify monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
OpeningTree versus Chessify: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOpeningTreeChessify
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating4.4 (31 ratings)4.4 (397 ratings)
Positive reviews82.6% of reviews — better46.2% of reviews
Number of ratings31397 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#198 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB139 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMichael AdamsChessify Inc.

Customer experience

OpeningTree

All ratings31 ratings
Positive83.9%
Neutral6.5%
Negative9.7%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive82.6%
Neutral4.3%
Negative13.0%

Chessify

All ratings397 ratings
Positive85.4%
Neutral2.8%
Negative11.8%
Written reviews78 reviews
Positive46.2%
Neutral10.3%
Negative43.6%

Bugs and requests

OpeningTree

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Chessify

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • Black screen in camera view during scanning
  • Scanning omits first or last rank of board
  • App crashes when loading images
  • Buttons not clickable on certain iOS versions
  • Position not recognized from screenshots
Show 7 more
  • App closes immediately after opening
  • Board rotation lock resets to landscape
  • Analysis not visible unless switching apps
  • Scanning fails 3 out of 5 times
  • Subscription billing issues (wrong tier shown)
  • App doesn't load past starting screen
  • Photo library order reversed for board photos

Requested features

12 requests
  • Add move comments and annotations capability
  • Board flip option during gameplay
  • Auto-save functionality to prevent position loss
  • Ability to edit and extend saved games
  • Tactics puzzle mode with move verification
Show 7 more
  • Automatic analysis on position scan
  • Lc0 engine option
  • iPad version support
  • Lichess app integration
  • Move sound toggle persistence
  • Better indication of which side has advantage
  • Depth control for analysis (stop at specific depth)

In-app purchases

None

OpeningTree

No in-app purchases

15 purchases

Chessify

Subscriptions10
  • Bronze 1 Month$0.991 Month
  • Silver 1 month$2.491 Month
  • Gold 1 Month$7.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • Bronze 12 months$7.991 Year
  • Amateur$12.991 Month
  • Silver 12 months$14.991 Year
  • Gold 12 months$49.991 Year
  • Master$59.991 Month
  • Amateur Yearly$129.991 Year
  • Master$559.991 Year
One-time5
  • SuperFast analysis - 1000 sec.$0.99
  • SuperFast analysis - 10000sec.$3.99
  • SuperFast analysis - 30000sec.$5.99
Show 2 more
  • SuperFast analysis - 100000sec$13.99
  • SuperFast analysis - unlimited$34.99

Questions

Is OpeningTree free?
OpeningTree costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chessify free?
Chessify is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, OpeningTree or Chessify?
OpeningTree and Chessify are both rated 4.4 out of 5 on the App Store, from 31 and 397 ratings respectively.
Do OpeningTree or Chessify have ads?
Neither OpeningTree nor Chessify shows ads.
Which is updated more often, OpeningTree or Chessify?
OpeningTree ships an update every 2 months, and Chessify monthly. Most recently, OpeningTree was updated on September 22, 2026 and Chessify on September 24, 2026.

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