About Chess.com
Chess.com is a website and set of mobile apps for playing chess online. Visitors can play against other people, challenge computer opponents, study with lessons, solve puzzles and follow live events with move-by-move analysis. The site presents itself as a large worldwide chess community and also publishes chess news.
For solo practice it offers bots with different playing personalities and skill levels, and the Learn and Train sections provide short lessons and thousands of puzzles for players of all levels. There are apps for iOS and Android, so a game can continue between devices. It is a commercial, hosted service from Chess.com, LLC, with no self-hosted option.
Key features
- Live online chess against other players
- Bots with different skill levels and styles
- Short lessons for all player levels
- Thousands of tactical puzzles
- Live event coverage with analysis
- iOS and Android apps
Good fit for
- →Playing casual or rated games online
- →Learning chess openings and tactics through lessons
- →Following top-level tournaments
- Tags
- chess
- online-games
- puzzles
- learning
- community
- mobile-app
- tournaments
Chess.com: questions and answers
- What is Chess.com used for?
- Chess.com is an online chess platform where people play live games, practice against bots, take lessons, solve puzzles and watch tournaments. It is a good fit for playing casual or rated games online, learning chess openings and tactics through lessons, and following top-level tournaments.
- Is Chess.com free?
- Yes. Chess.com has a free plan.
- Is Chess.com open source?
- No. Chess.com is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Chess.com include Lichess.
- What are some alternatives to Chess.com?
- Other SaaS products in the Games & Emulation category include Chess It Up, Chessigma and ChessUnlock. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Chess.com alternatives.
Open-source alternatives to Chess.com
See all
Lichess
Games & Emulation
♞ lichess.org: the forever free, adless and open source chess server ♞
AGPL-3.0vs Chess.com★ 19k
Stockfish
Games & Emulation
A free and strong UCI chess engine
GPL-3.0★ 17k
Sunshine
Games & Emulation
Self-hosted game stream host for Moonlight.
GPL-3.0vs GeForce NOW★ 42k
Proton
Games & Emulation
Compatibility tool for Steam Play based on Wine and additional components
OSS★ 33k
RPCS3
Games & Emulation
PlayStation 3 emulator and debugger
GPL-2.0★ 20k
Moonlight
Games & Emulation
GameStream client for PCs (Windows, Mac, Linux, and Steam Link)
GPL-3.0vs GeForce NOW★ 19k
SaaS alternatives to Chess.com
See all
Chess It Up
Games & Emulation
Chess game review platform with Stockfish engine analysis to help players improve
SaaS
Chessigma
Games & Emulation
Chess game analysis and review powered by Stockfish 17 with no daily limits
SaaS
ChessUnlock
Games & Emulation
Shows a chess puzzle each time you unlock your computer to build a practice habit
SaaS
ChessCopilot
Games & Emulation
Chess app that scans positions and analyzes them to help players improve
SaaS
ChessLair
Games & Emulation
Chess opening repertoire builder with variation folders, quizzes, Stockfish and line analytics
SaaSMedal.tv
Games & Emulation
Game clip recording and sharing platform
SaaS

