Offline · Stockfish · No account
A Lichess alternative
for the work you do between games.
Lichess is free, ad-free, open source, and full of opponents. Chessful doesn't try to replace it. Import your Lichess games as PGN, and Stockfish checks every move on your device, with no internet and no account. Each mistake comes with a sentence that explains it, and the mistakes you make become your daily training. The same player can use both.
How does Chessful compare to Lichess?
The two overlap, but each solves a different problem.
Where the analysis runs
Chessful: Stockfish runs on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac and needs no connection, so it works on a flight or on the subway.
Lichess: Free and unlimited. The app runs Stockfish on your device or on Lichess's server (per its US App Store listing, checked 29 October 2026).
Lichess: Free and unlimited. The app runs Stockfish on your device or on Lichess's server (per its US App Store listing, checked 29 October 2026).
How mistakes are explained
Chessful: A card for each mistake: what you played, what was best, why, and the refutation line, worded for your coaching level and tagged with one of 10 mistake types.
Lichess: Evaluation graph and engine lines. Excellent and free, but reading them well takes practice.
Lichess: Evaluation graph and engine lines. Excellent and free, but reading them well takes practice.
Training
Chessful: Today's Training builds puzzles from your own mistakes, and spaced repetition brings misses back. The library adds 15,000 puzzles in 53 themes, drawn from the Lichess open puzzle database and bundled for offline use.
Lichess: Puzzle Storm, Puzzle Racer, and a large themed puzzle pool you can also solve offline in the app. The puzzles don't come from your own games.
Lichess: Puzzle Storm, Puzzle Racer, and a large themed puzzle pool you can also solve offline in the app. The puzzles don't come from your own games.
Live human play
Chessful: None. You play 40 built-in opponents from 400 to 2400 Elo, each with a play style, strengths, and weaknesses.
Lichess: Live games against people at any time of day, which is what it is best known for.
Lichess: Live games against people at any time of day, which is what it is best known for.
Account and privacy
Chessful: No account or sign-up. No ads, analytics, or tracking, and your games stay on your device.
Lichess: Optional account for rated play, minimal analytics, no ads. As good as it gets for an online platform, though it is still online.
Lichess: Optional account for rated play, minimal analytics, no ads. As good as it gets for an online platform, though it is still online.
Price
Chessful: Free with daily limits (2 analyses, 3 puzzles, 2 coach hints). Premium $2.99/mo, $17.99/yr, or $29.99 lifetime.
Lichess: Free, funded by donations to the non-profit.
Lichess: Free, funded by donations to the non-profit.
Which to use: both, for different jobs
Use Chessful for…
- Reviewing your Lichess games with each mistake explained in words
- Training built from your own mistakes instead of a general puzzle pool
- Playing and analysing offline, without an account
- 156 lessons and 96 endgames when you want structured study
- iPhone, iPad, and Mac with one Universal Purchase
Keep Lichess for…
- Rated live games against people
- Puzzle Storm, Puzzle Racer, and the full puzzle library
- The opening database, the study tool, and broadcasts
- Free unlimited Stockfish analysis, on your device or on the server
- Supporting a non-profit
About Chessful
Questions
FAQ
Is there a Lichess alternative that works offline?
Chessful works offline for everything you do with chess, though it has no live games against people. Lichess also works partly offline: its app runs Stockfish on your device or on its server, free and unlimited, and has offline puzzles, while its live games need a connection. Chessful goes further on feedback. It explains each mistake in plain language, sorts it into one of 10 mistake types, and builds your training from your own games, all with no account. Only purchases and Game Center need a connection.
Is Chessful a replacement for Lichess?
No. Lichess is the right tool for rated games against people, live matchmaking, Puzzle Storm, and its large opening database. Chessful has none of those. It is a training and analysis app to use alongside Lichess or Chess.com: play your games there, then bring them to Chessful to see what went wrong.
Can I import my Lichess games into Chessful?
Yes, as PGN files. Export your games from Lichess, then open the file in Chessful from Files, iCloud Drive, or AirDrop, or paste the PGN text. One import takes up to 500 games, flags duplicates, and lets you pick which side you played. Chessful doesn't connect to Lichess or fetch games by username.
Why use Chessful instead of just Lichess's free analysis?
Lichess's analysis shows an evaluation graph and engine lines. Chessful adds the words: each mistake card shows what you played, what was best, why the better move works, and the line that punishes yours, worded for the coaching level you pick. Your mistakes then become the puzzles in your daily training, and spaced repetition brings back the ones you miss. It all works offline, with no account.
Is Chessful free like Lichess?
Partly. Chessful is free with daily limits: 2 analyses, 3 puzzles, and 2 coach hints a day, plus all 156 lessons, every mistake explanation, and the first 10 opponents. Premium removes the limits and opens all 40 opponents and all 96 endgames for $2.99/month or $17.99/year, each with a 7-day free trial, or $29.99 once. Lichess is fully free and donation-supported.
Try it
Open Chessful
Bring your Lichess games and see each mistake explained, on your device.
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