Lichess icon
Lichess icon

Lichess

 145 likes

Lichess is the most complete chess experience, with a simple interface that focuses on the game, a massive array of game related tools and a huge, worldwide community.

Home page, light background

License model

  • FreeOpen Source

Application type

Country of Origin

  • FR flagFrance
  • European Union flagEU

Platforms

  • Online
  • Android
  • iPhone
  • Android Tablet
  • iPad
  • F-Droid
4.8 / 5 Avg rating (19)
145likes
14comments
0news articles

Features

Suggest and vote on features
  1.  Ad-free
  2.  Multiplayer
  3.  Lessons
  4.  Study Mode
  5.  Single player
  6.  Patron
  7.  Online Gaming
  8.  Chess Training

Lichess News & Activities

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Recent News

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Recent activities

  • AnTony426 and Jqri liked Lichess
    14 days ago
  • App icon
    mehdibh added Lichess as alternative to Chessigma
    30 days ago
  • nu1iess3, GuessWhatBBQ and master34413 liked Lichess
    about 1 month ago
  • App icon
    aiden076 added Lichess as alternative to Chessis
    2 months ago
  • App icon
    rosalee added Lichess as alternative to Chessvia AI
    2 months ago
  • alternativeto-dingo898 and 1sfasak liked Lichess
    3 months ago
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Lichess information

  • Developed by

    FR flagLichess
  • Licensing

    Open Source (AGPL-3.0) and Free product.
  • Written in

  • Rating

    Average rating of 4.8 (19 ratings)
  • Alternatives

    64 alternatives listed
  • Supported Languages

    • English
    • Russian
    • German

AlternativeTo Categories

GamesSocial & Communications

Apple AppStore

  •   Updated Dec 6, 2022
  •   3.86 avg rating
View in AppStore

GitHub repository

  •  16,757 Stars
  •  2,419 Forks
  •  1095 Open Issues
  •   Updated Jun 21, 2025 
View on GitHub

Our users have written 14 comments and reviews about Lichess, and it has gotten 145 likes

Lichess was added to AlternativeTo by hexluther on Mar 20, 2015 and this page was last updated Apr 17, 2023. Lichess is sometimes referred to as lichess.org.

Comments and Reviews

   
 Post comment/review
Comment summary: Lichess is widely praised for being a free and open-source chess platform with a sleek, fast, and user-friendly interface. It is appreciated for its transparency, lack of ads, and excellent cheat detection. Users highlight its comprehensive features such as online play, lessons, tournaments, and mobile app availability. While it stands out against alternatives like Chess.com in certain aspects, some note its lower popularity might affect ELO comparisons. Overall, it is regarded as an outstanding platform for chess enthusiasts.
Top Positive Comment
vondelphia
Oct 14, 2017
11

A superior alternative to Chess.com!

lichess.org is awesome, it's transparent too and there doesn't seem to be any ego's involved. It's just a great platform to have rapid games of chess. You can also analyze, study and play in tournaments.

The mobile app is friggin' awesome too!

openlibrary
Aug 31, 2024
0

I like Lichess because it's a fast, privacy-friendly, sleek, customizable, and open-source platform with an intuitive UI, a high degree of functionality in regards to collaboration, and allows no-sign-up playing. All of which is especially noticeable when compared to Chess.com.

An issue is that platform is way less popular - meaning - when comparing ELOs with people it can be harder to tell what your ELO means to others. This is an unsolvable issue unless Lichess gets more traction. Another issue is the harsh treatment against email aliasing, at the very least allow aliasing after someone inputs an actual email. Other than that, Lichess is probably one of the most user-friendly chess platforms in the world while maintaining a substantial degree of popularity.

nolaray
Mar 7, 2024
0

Whether you want to play online, solve puzzles, watch live games, or learn from the masters, Lichess is great.

Paul
Mar 3, 2024
0

The best chess platform out there. It's 100% free and open source, there are no ads, and the platform offers everything for playing, learning, training, etc. It's available online or as a mobile application, and it's even in F-Droid!

smartgrg
Mar 3, 2024
0

The interface is sleek and responsive. It meets all my expectations and needs. I have no complaints about it at all.

arsCynic ??
Jul 29, 2023
1

The best chess website on the Web. No ads as a core principle and super fast. The interactive chess lessons and tactics are a godsend as well.

Dino C
Mar 13, 2023
0

This is THE best online chess app & mobile app you can get!

Unlike its alternative chess.com, Lichess allows you to play lessons for free for as long as you want to play it.

Also it has much better cheat detection which can detect cheats almost instantly and ban you for good.

If you are a serious chess player, consider playing on Lichess if you want most fair experience.

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7 of 14 comments

What is Lichess?

Lichess is the most complete chess experience, with a simple interface that focuses on the game, a massive array of game related tools and a huge, worldwide community.

The Lichess covenant:

  • lichess.org will always be free.
  • lichess.org will never contain advertisements.
  • lichess.org will always be open source.

FEATURES

  • Two-player games between humans
  • Single-player games (versus Stockfish, the most powerful open-source engine)
  • Spectator mode
  • Premoves
  • Support for moretime
  • Resignation and draw offers
  • Ability to abort uninitiated games
  • Ability to force resignation
  • 'Arena' style tournament feature

Customization

  • Time controls for chess clocks, including Fischer delay
  • Optional Black and White player randomization
  • Ability to request a player to take back a move
  • Support for variants: Chess960, King of the Hill, Three-check Chess, Atomic chess, Antichess, Horde chess
  • User-defined restriction of who can join games, based on player rating
  • Board editor to set up and practice positions against players or people.

Learning

  • Opening puzzles to learn good continuations
  • Tactics puzzles
  • Coordinate trainer to train the locating of chess squares
  • Curated library of publicly available chess videos
  • PGN import and ability to load positions from FEN

Technology

  • Mobile app for iOS and Android
  • Works in any modern web browser (except Internet Explorer 8 and lesser versions), with no plugins such as Flash or Java needed
  • Availability in over 80 languages
  • Ability to toggle the overall theme of the website between black and white
  • Basic chess set and background theme switching
  • Ability to invite friends to a game via unique links created for every game
  • Optional username and password registration
  • Option for users to close their accounts

Official Links