Home › Blog › Chess.com vs Lichess for Over-the-Board Chess
For playing online, Chess.com and Lichess are both excellent, and Lichess gives you every feature for free. For a game across a physical board, neither one rates it: Chess.com requires games between players in the same location to be unrated, and your Lichess rating comes from games played on Lichess. Checkmate IRL is built for that game, with a chess clock that saves the result, an offline rating and a map of places to play.
I build Checkmate IRL, so weigh what I say about it with that in mind. The facts about Chess.com and Lichess come from their own pages, linked below.
Chess.com and Lichess are online chess platforms. You play on their servers, study with their tools, and your rating comes from the games you play there.
Both now touch in-person chess at the edges. Each has a mode for two players on one phone, both will analyze the moves of a board game you paste in, and Chess.com has Local Clubs, a map of clubs that meet in person.
Checkmate IRL works the other way round. It's a chess clock for the board in front of you that saves each result for your opponent to confirm, turns rated games into an offline rating when both players have accounts, and shows venues, players and events near you. It has no online play, engine analysis or lessons.
Use Chess.com or Lichess for the games on a screen and Checkmate IRL for the games at the table.
| Chess.com | Lichess | Checkmate IRL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free; paid Gold, Platinum and Diamond tiers, priced by country | Free, every feature | Free to download; optional Checkmate IRL Pro for supporters |
| Play online | Yes | Yes | No |
| Play in person | Play in Person mode: two players share one device as the board | Over-the-board mode: two players share one device as the board | On a physical board, with the phone as the clock |
| Chess clock | Separate free app, Chess Clock by Chess.com | Built into the app | Built in, with increment and simple delay; needs an account |
| Record or analyze an in-person game | Paste or enter the moves on the analysis board | Import the PGN for replay and computer analysis | Saves the result, move count and an optional board photo, confirmed by your opponent; no moves |
| Rating for in-person games | No: games between players in the same location must be unrated | No: the rating comes from games played on Lichess | Yes, Glicko-1, when both players have accounts |
| Find clubs, players or places nearby | Local Clubs map of in-person clubs | None found | Venue map, players nearby, events |
| Ads | On the free tier | None | None |
| Open source | Only the Android clock app | Yes, AGPL-3.0 | No |
Facts about Chess.com and Lichess were checked on 21 October 2026.
Chess.com's main draw is its size: more than 250 million members, according to its homepage. An opponent at your level is there at any hour, in any time control.
The free account covers unlimited games, tournaments, clubs and bots. The study tools are capped: 3 puzzles a day, 1 full Game Review a day and 1 lesson a day. Gold, Platinum and Diamond lift those limits step by step, and Gold also removes the ads.
For a game at home on one phone, its Play in Person mode turns the device into a shared board, with any live time control or none.
Its separate app, Chess Clock by Chess.com, is free and ad-free and covers Fischer increment, Bronstein delay, simple delay and multi-stage controls. If you only need a timer for tournament-style controls, it's hard to beat. It doesn't save the game.
Chess.com has also moved into local chess. Local Clubs finds clubs near you on a world map, and a club earns a green check by sending a street address, a link and a photo of a meeting with a Chess.com sign. The help article walks through it on chess.com in the browser.
Use it for: a huge pool of online opponents, guided lessons, and a pure chess clock with multi-stage controls.
Lichess is free, with no paid tier. Its features page puts it in one line: "All features are free for everybody, forever!" Donors become Patrons and get a badge, and no extra features.
It's run by a French non-profit association, shows no ads, and says it doesn't sell your data. The code is open source.
Analysis is where it shines. Local and cloud analysis are unlimited, and deep Stockfish 19 analysis on Lichess's servers runs on up to 40 games a day, the same limit for everyone.
That works for over-the-board games too: paste the PGN from your scoresheet for a replay, computer analysis (with an account) and a shareable link. Imported games are public, so use a study if you want to keep one private.
The app has an over-the-board mode for two players on one phone and a chess clock for games on a physical board, free with no in-app purchases. An account is optional, though a few features need one.
More than 5 million games are played on Lichess every day.
Use it for: free online play, engine analysis without a paywall, and studying the games you played in person.
Checkmate IRL is for the moment the other two step back, when two people sit down at the same board.
The Checkmate IRL chess clock covers bullet to classical and custom time controls, with increment and simple delay. It has no Bronstein delay, multi-stage controls or hourglass. You need an account to use it.
When the game ends, it saves the result, the move count and an optional photo of the board, and your opponent confirms the result. The clock and game saving work with no signal and sync later. It doesn't record the moves, so for analysis you still need a scoresheet. The chess clock comparison puts it next to 7 other clock apps.
Rated games feed an offline rating that runs on Glicko-1. That's the same family of systems as Chess.com, which says it uses Glicko, and Lichess, which uses Glicko-2.
A rating only moves when both players have an account, and it updates once the game syncs. New players start from the rating they enter when they sign up, or 650 if they skip it. After 3 rated games it's established. Your profile can show your Chess.com, Lichess and FIDE ratings next to it. How it works has the details.
The venue map lists 4,600+ places to play across 100+ countries, from cafés and bars to clubs and park tables, and you can browse it on the web without an account. In the app, a map-first Nearby tab shows players near you, and Down to Play lets you flag that you're up for a game at a venue.
Player density is highest in Munich and Berlin so far. In other cities, the venue map does more of the work.
For the social side, there's a directory of social chess clubs and a list of upcoming chess events. The app also runs clubs, Swiss tournaments with automatic pairings and casual events, and those games count toward your rating.
Checkmate IRL is free to download and shows no ads. Creating clubs and running chess nights are free too; Checkmate IRL Pro is an optional plan for supporters.
Use it for: café blitz, club nights and the long-running score against a friend.
Yes. They cover different parts of the same week.
Play blitz on Chess.com or Lichess on the train home. On Thursday, start the Checkmate IRL clock at a chess night across town, write the moves on a scoresheet, and let the result go on your record. The next morning, paste the moves into Lichess and find the move where it turned.
For where a study app like Chessable fits in, read the four apps every chess player needs.
Is Chess.com or Lichess better? They're strong at different things. Chess.com has a huge player pool, with more than 250 million members according to its homepage, plus lessons and Game Review, with the daily limits lifted on paid tiers. Lichess is free and open source, with no ads and generous engine analysis. Plenty of players keep both.
Is Lichess really free? Yes. Lichess has no paid tier, and its features page says every feature is free for everybody. It's run by a French non-profit association and funded by donations, which earn a Patron badge and no extra features.
How much does Chess.com cost? The Basic account is free. Paid tiers are Gold, Platinum and Diamond, and prices vary by country. Checked from Germany in October 2026, Gold came to about €6.99 a month or €49.99 a year and Diamond to about €17.99 a month or €124.99 a year, including 19% VAT.
Can I play over the board with the Chess.com or Lichess app? Yes, in part: both apps have a mode where two players share one phone as the board. For a game on a physical board, the Lichess app has a built-in chess clock, and Chess.com's clock is a separate free app. Neither app rates a game played on a physical board, and the Chess.com clock saves nothing.
Do over-the-board games count toward my Chess.com or Lichess rating? No. Chess.com's help center says games between players in the same location must be unrated. Lichess lets you import an over-the-board game for analysis, and its import page doesn't mention a rating. Checkmate IRL gives those games an offline rating when both players have an account.
How do I track my over-the-board games? Use a scoresheet for the moves and Checkmate IRL for the result and rating. For the moves, write them on a scoresheet and paste the PGN into Lichess or Chess.com afterwards. For results and a rating, Checkmate IRL saves each game, your opponent confirms it, and rated games build a history and a head-to-head record.
How do Chess.com and Lichess ratings compare to FIDE ratings? There's no official conversion. Lichess's FAQ advises against comparing its ratings with other organizations, and we found no Chess.com help article that converts its ratings to FIDE. Checkmate IRL can show your FIDE rating next to your offline one.
Can I find chess players or clubs near me on Chess.com or Lichess? Yes on Chess.com: its Local Clubs feature shows clubs that meet in person on a map, and verified ones get a green check. We found nothing similar on Lichess's own pages. Checkmate IRL maps cafés, bars, clubs and park tables, and shows players near you in the app.
Checkmate IRL is the companion app for over-the-board chess: a chess clock that saves your results, an offline rating, and a map of places to play near you.