ChessChat vs Chess.com: Which is Right for You?
We get this question a lot, so let's just answer it directly: chess.com is much bigger than ChessChat, has more features, and has been around for over twenty years. We're not pretending otherwise.
But "bigger" doesn't mean "better for what you want to do." We built ChessChat for a specific use case that chess.com isn't really set up for. Here's the honest comparison.
Quick summary
Use chess.com if you want: A massive player pool, a strict rating system, puzzles, courses, tournaments, lessons, computer analysis, opening trainers, the full chess gym experience.
Use ChessChat if you want: To play face-to-face with another human on video, in a way that feels like sitting across from someone at a board.
You can — and probably should — use both. They solve different problems.
What chess.com does better
Let's be fair. Chess.com is excellent at a lot of things and it would be silly to pretend otherwise.
Player pool. Hundreds of millions of users. You'll always find a game in seconds, at any rating, at any time of day. We're growing but we're not there.
Rating system. Glicko-based, well-tuned, taken seriously by the chess community. Your chess.com rating means something.
Puzzles and training. Massive puzzle database, daily puzzle, puzzle rush, puzzle battle. If you want to grind tactics, chess.com is the place.
Lessons and courses. Structured curriculum from titled players. Chess.com has put serious money into educational content and it shows.
Tournaments. Daily, weekly, monthly tournaments at every rating level. Arena tournaments, Swiss tournaments, prize tournaments.
Computer analysis. Game review with engine evaluation, blunder detection, suggested improvements. ChessChat doesn't try to compete here.
Mobile apps. Polished native iOS and Android apps. We're browser-based.
If your goal is to get better at chess, chess.com is one of the best tools that exists.
What ChessChat does that chess.com doesn't
We're focused on one thing: making online chess feel like playing a real person, on a real video call, with the social part of chess intact.
Live video and audio with every match. Every game on ChessChat is a video call with your opponent. You see their face, hear their voice, watch them think. Chess.com has username-vs-username chess. We have human-vs-human chess.
No "open second app for video" workflow. The board and the video are in one interface, designed together. No screen-sharing, no two windows, no Zoom alongside chess.com.
Match strangers face-to-face. You can't do this on chess.com. Their matchmaking pairs you with anonymous usernames. We pair you with people you can see and talk to.
Private arenas for friends. Send a link, your friend signs in, and you're playing on video with a synced board. Chess.com makes friends add each other first.
It feels like a real game. The handshake at the start, the trash talk during, the post-game analysis where you both work through what happened — these are the parts of chess that chess.com doesn't try to capture and we do.
What ChessChat doesn't do (yet)
Honest list of where chess.com beats us, today:
- We don't have lessons or courses. Use chess.com for those.
- We don't have a puzzle database. Use chess.com or Lichess.
- We don't have computer analysis built in. Export your PGN to Lichess for free analysis.
- We don't have native mobile apps yet. Browser only.
- Our player pool is much smaller, so off-peak matchmaking takes longer.
- Our rating system is newer and matters less in the broader chess world.
We're working on some of this. The rest, we're not — chess.com is great at it and we'd rather be great at video chess than mediocre at everything.
When to use each
Solo training, puzzles, study: Chess.com or Lichess.
Anonymous quick games for ELO: Chess.com.
Tournaments and structured competition: Chess.com.
Learning chess from scratch: Chess.com or Lichess.
Playing your friend in another country on a video call: ChessChat.
Playing with your long-distance partner as a weekly ritual: ChessChat.
Teaching your nephew chess over video: ChessChat.
Meeting new chess players face-to-face from around the world: ChessChat.
Playing chess with a stranger and being able to actually talk to them: ChessChat.
Why we're not trying to replace chess.com
We get asked this sometimes: "Are you trying to be the next chess.com?" No. They're a 20-year-old chess gym with hundreds of staff and a huge user base. That's not a market we're trying to enter.
What we noticed is that even chess.com users — including very serious chess players — keep wanting the social part of chess that purely-online platforms don't capture. That's the gap we're filling. Not "online chess" generically, but specifically "online chess that feels like in-person chess."
Try both
The genuinely best setup, in our view: keep your chess.com account for puzzles, lessons, and quick anonymous games. Use ChessChat for video games with friends and matches with strangers where you actually want to meet them.