Lichess: free chess with puzzles and lessons, and no ads, says Lichess
Scoped recheck: 24 October 2026. The features page still lists everything as free, with zero ads and no tracking. It now names the deep analysis "Deep Stockfish 19" (still 40 games per day) and lists the mobile apps in 100+ languages. Original publication date unchanged.
Lichess says all its features are free for everybody, with no ads and no tracking. You can play, solve puzzles and learn chess.
What it is
Lichess is a chess website. Its About page calls it "a free/libre, open-source chess server powered by volunteers and donations". You can play games, solve puzzles, follow chess lessons and study your games with the Stockfish engine. It is not an AI chatbot, and it runs in a web browser. There are also iPhone and Android apps, which this post does not cover.
Is it free?
Yes, per Lichess. The About page says it is "remaining 100% free" and that it does not sell ads or user data or put "the good stuff behind paywalls". The Privacy Policy says "Use of the site is also completely free". The features page says "All features are free for everybody, forever" and that a free account and a Patron account have the same features. Donations are optional.
What you get, per the features page
- Standard chess and 8 chess variants.
- Tactical puzzles, with Puzzle Streak, Puzzle Storm and Puzzle Racer.
- Lessons in the basics of chess.
- Stockfish analysis. The page lists "40 games per day" for deep server analysis on both account types. The board editor and analysis board are listed as unlimited.
- Arena and Swiss tournaments, studies, a blog, forum and teams.
- "Available in 140+ languages" on the website.
Our advice
- Start with the Learn section and Puzzles if you are new to chess.
- After a game, ask for the computer analysis to see your mistakes.
Privacy and data
- The features page says "Zero advertisement, no tracking". The About page says it does not sell ads or user data.
- The Privacy Policy (last updated March 16, 2022) says that when you register it collects details such as your name, email address and username, and uses session cookies for sign-in. It says you can ask for your data to be deleted under conditions it lists.
- Lichess.org is an association based in France, per the policy. We did not check each rule in the policy beyond what is quoted here.
India
- We saw no region limit on the pages we read. We did not test it from India. There is no price to convert.
Source code
The GitHub project lichess-org/lila is under the AGPL-3.0 licence, per its GitHub page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Lichess free?
Yes. Lichess says all features are free for everybody, forever.
Does it show ads?
Lichess says no. Its features page says "Zero advertisement, no tracking".
Do I need an account?
We did not check which parts work without one.
Sources: About, Features, Privacy, GitHub. Checked 20 October 2026.
Scoped recheck: Lichess features, Privacy Policy. Checked 24 October 2026. Privacy Policy still shows "last updated March 16, 2022". We did not test the apps or the site from India.
Independent guide, not affiliated.