ChessDirSubmit
L

Lichess

Free, open-source chess. Forever.

FreeWebiOSAndroid 4.8 (140,000 reviews)
Visit site

About Lichess

Lichess is the largest free and open-source chess platform, funded by donations. Feature parity with Chess.com on most core surfaces — play, puzzles, studies, analysis, tournaments, variants — without ads, paywalls, or dark patterns. The reference ethical alternative.

Pros

  • Completely free — no ads, no paywalls, no upsells
  • Stockfish engine analysis available to everyone
  • Excellent Studies feature for coaches and collaborative analysis
  • Large library of variants and unrated training modes
  • Open-source and privacy-respecting

Cons

  • Smaller video-lesson/course library than Chess.com
  • Community larger but still second on matchmaking volume for some time controls
  • No AI coach equivalent

Features

Play onlinePlay botsTactics puzzlesOpening trainerEndgame trainerEngine analysisCloud syncTournamentsRating systemCorrespondence chessChess variantsStudy & shareGame databaseStreaming-ready

Pricing

100% free.

Best for

Audience: Beginner (0 – 1200), Intermediate (1200 – 1800), Advanced (1800 – 2200), Expert (2200+)
Languages: EN, ES, FR, DE, PT, RU, IT, TR, ZH, JA, AR, NL, PL

Use cases

Learn chess from scratchDaily tactics trainingTools for chess coachesCasual playDeep game analysis

Similar apps

Chess.com
The default home of online chess.
Chess King Learn
Huge Convekta course catalog in one app.
Chess Tempo
The serious puzzle grinder's tool.
All alternatives to LichessLichess vs Chess.com

Last reviewed April 20, 2026 · First launched 2010