Free Chess Apps With No Ads
Genuinely free chess apps with no ads: Lichess, Listudy, Stockfish, SCID vs PC, ChessKid's free tier. Plus what Chess.com's free tier actually limits, and which 'free' apps are trials.
"Free" in chess apps means three different things. Free and funded another way, with nothing withheld. Free with ads, where the tier is real but rationed and interrupted. And free as in trial, where the download costs nothing and the app stops after three games. Most lists mix the three. This page sorts them, with the limits checked against each app's own pricing or support page.
The short answer: Lichess, and nothing else is needed. Play, puzzles, studies, opening explorer, engine analysis and endgame drills, with no ads and no paid tier, funded by donations. The one cap worth knowing: deep server analysis is rationed to 40 games a day, while analysis on the device's own engine is unlimited. Around it, four more free tools without ads cover the gaps: Listudy for spaced-repetition opening drills, Stockfish Chess or DroidFish for a bare engine on a phone, SCID vs PC for a desktop database. This page is part of the guide to chess apps that work offline, and the overlap is large, because most of the open-source tools below happen to be both; the two properties are separate, and Listudy is the exception, ad-free but web-only.
Free with no ads
Four of the five below withhold nothing. ChessKid is the exception, a rationed free tier that earns its row by being ad-free at every level.
| App | Platforms | What is free | How it is funded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lichess | Web, iPhone, Android | Everything: play, puzzles, studies, analysis, endgame drills, variants | Donations to a non-profit; AGPL open source |
| Listudy | Web | Spaced-repetition opening drills from any PGN or public study, blind tactics, endgame practice | Volunteer-run; AGPL open source |
| Stockfish Chess (iPhone) / DroidFish (Android) | iPhone / Android | Full Stockfish engine on the device, analysis and play | Open source; GPL |
| SCID vs PC | Windows, Linux, macOS (limited) | Chess database, engine analysis, opening explorer | Open source; GPL |
| ChessKid (Basic) | Web, iPhone, Android | Play against kids and the computer, 3 puzzles a day, beginner lessons, first bot levels | Freemium, but ad-free by design at every tier |
Lichess
Lichess is the reason this page is short. It is run by a French non-profit association, funded by donations, and its about page states it does not sell ads, does not sell data and does not use paywalls, and never will. The code is open under the AGPL. In practice that means unlimited games against humans and bots, unlimited puzzles with themes, Studies for building repertoires, the opening explorer over master and Lichess games, Stockfish analysis of every game, endgame practice, variants, and a mobile app that plays the computer and solves pre-loaded puzzles offline. The Patron badge buys a pair of wings next to the username, nothing more. What Lichess lacks is a graded lesson curriculum with a named author and a coach that explains in words. Free samples of both exist, ChessKid's beginner level, Chess.com's one lesson a day, Dr. Wolf's three coached games, but full access is paid everywhere.
Listudy
Listudy does one thing Lichess does not: it schedules the moves for review. A Lichess interactive study checks a move once; Listudy asks for it again in a day, a week, a month, the spaced repetition Chessable sells. Import a PGN, or pick a public study from its community library, and the drilling starts. It also has blind tactics and endgame drills. Free, open source under the AGPL, volunteer-run, web only, no app, no courses by titled authors. For a player with a repertoire in a Lichess study and no wish to pay for MoveTrainer, it is the free answer.
Stockfish on a phone
The engine is free and GPL; the apps that wrap it mostly are too. On iPhone, Stockfish Chess by Stockfish contributor Daylen Yang is free, with no ads and no account, and was updated in September 2026. On Android, DroidFish is the free, open-source analysis board that bundles Stockfish and CuckooChess, distributed through F-Droid and GitHub. The one paid option worth naming is SmallFish on iPhone, $4.99, which the Stockfish site recommends and which adds tablebases and opening books.
SCID vs PC
SCID vs PC is the free desktop database: millions of games indexed, any UCI engine for analysis, an opening explorer over local data, all under the GPL with a release in June 2026. It is the one tool here that replaces a paid product outright, ChessBase, for everyone below the level where named-opponent preparation matters. Windows and Linux first; macOS support is limited. Lucas Chess, GPL, Windows and Linux, with a release in September 2026, is the maintained free alternative for training rather than database work; it is not listed in the directory yet because it has not been through the review.
ChessKid, free tier
ChessKid is freemium, and it is the only freemium app among the ad-free picks, because it is ad-free at every tier, by design, for children. The free account plays against other kids and the computer, serves three puzzles a day, opens the beginner lesson level and the first bot levels, and keeps the last 30 days of games. Gold unlocks the rest. For a child, that free tier is enough for months; for an adult it is the wrong app.
Free with ads: what the tier actually gives
| App | Free tier | Ads | Paid tier removes them? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chess.com (Basic) | Unlimited play; 3 puzzles a day plus 1 Puzzle Rush and 1 Battle; 1 Game Review a day; 1 extra lesson a day | Yes, third-party ads | Yes: Gold and above are ad-free, with occasional Chess.com house promotions |
| Chess King Learn | The app, and a preview of each course | Yes, declared in the store listing | Courses are bought one by one; the app stays free |
| Chess by AI Factory (Android) | The whole game against the engine | Yes, the listing says the free version is ad-supported | A paid Pro version exists |
| Really Bad Chess | The randomised-army puzzle game | Yes | A one-time unlock removes them |
Chess.com's free tier is real and generous where it matters most, unlimited games against the world's largest pool of players, and rationed everywhere else: three puzzles a day, one Game Review a day, one extra lesson a day, with third-party ads throughout. Gold, the cheapest paid tier, removes the ads and lifts the puzzle and lesson limits; Platinum adds unlimited Game Review. Chess.com's own support pages note that even paying members may see promotions for its other products. For a player who wants the Chess.com pool without the ads, Gold is the price; for a player who mostly wants to train, Lichess costs nothing and rations only its deep server analysis.
Free in name only
- Dr. Wolf. Free to download, three coached games, then a subscription. A good beginner coach, not a free app.
- Chessable. The account is free and community-made courses stay free. The Short & Sweet series by titled authors, which made it a free resource, went PRO-only in January 2025, and offline downloads are PRO too. For the authored content it is known for, treat it as a paid tool.
- Magnus Trainer. Free lessons gated by lives that refill with time or money, and most of the 250 lessons behind the subscription. Also unchanged since 2021.
- Most "AI coach" apps. A free download and a server-side model that stops answering when the trial does.
How to use the free stack
One account and two installs. Lichess for everything daily: games against bots or humans, fifteen themed puzzles, a look at each loss on the analysis board. Listudy once the repertoire exists, to make it stick. Stockfish Chess or DroidFish for the position from the book or the board at the club. SCID vs PC on the laptop for the player who wants to study a database. Total cost: zero, with no ads. Part of the stack also works on a flight: Lichess computer games and pre-loaded puzzles, the Stockfish apps, SCID vs PC. Games against humans and Listudy need a connection. The offline half is what the offline chess apps guide is about.
FAQ
- Is Chess.com free?
- The Basic tier is free with ads, and it rations: three puzzles a day plus one Puzzle Rush and one Puzzle Battle, one full Game Review a day, one extra lesson a day. Unlimited play against humans and bots is free. Gold, the cheapest paid tier, removes ads.
- Is Lichess really free with no ads?
- Yes. Lichess is run by a non-profit association, funded by donations, licensed under the AGPL, and states it will never sell ads or put features behind a paywall. The Patron badge is cosmetic.
- Best free chess app for kids with no ads?
- ChessKid's free tier. The whole app is ad-free by design; the free account limits puzzles to three a day, bots to the first levels and lessons to the beginner level. Lichess with kid mode switched on is the ad-free alternative for older children.
- Is there a free Stockfish app?
- On iPhone, Stockfish Chess by Daylen Yang is free and maintained. On Android, DroidFish is free, open source and bundles Stockfish. SmallFish, the iPhone app the Stockfish site recommends, costs $4.99.
- Free chess app for iPhone without ads?
- Lichess for play, puzzles and analysis; Stockfish Chess for a bare engine. Both free with no ads. Chess.com's free tier shows ads on iPhone as everywhere else.
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