Best Online Chess App To Play With Friends in 2024

Are you looking for the best online chess app to play with your friends? You are at the right place.

I’ve played chess on at least 10 platforms over the years, and I can confidently say that I’ve been an online chess addict for quite some time.

Learning to play chess is one thing; looking for ways to play online to see how good you are is quite another. There are various apps that allow you to play chess not only with your friends but with anyone in the world.

Before I go over the best platforms or apps on my list for playing chess online with friends, let’s talk about chess time controls.

Chess Time Controls

Chess time controls specify how much time each player has to finish a game. We have the Blitz Time Controls, Bullet Time Controls, Rapid Time Controls, and Classical Time Controls.

Blitz Time Controls

Blitz time controls range from three to five minutes per player. The most common time controls for blitz are 3|0 and 5|0. FIDE’s World Blitz Championship time control is currently 3|2.

Bullet Time Controls

Bullet time controls are any time controls that are less than three minutes per player. These are the quickest time controls. The most common bullet time controls are 1|0 and 2|1.

Rapid Time Controls

Rapid time controls are any time controls that last more than 10 minutes per player. The most popular rapid time controls are 30|0 and 15|10.

Classical Time Controls

Classical time controls are typically used for over-the-board tournaments and refer to longer time controls.

Best Online Chess App To Play With Friends

In no particular order, here’s a breakdown of the platforms on my list.

Chess.com (Desktop, iOS, Android)

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This is undoubtedly the most widely used chess website and app. Chess.com works on Desktop, iOS, and Android mobile apps.

They also have an excellent on-site and in-app user interface for simple navigation. In addition, you can customize the playing field to your preferences.

They have arguably the best playing field available. This is primarily because of its popularity and domain name.

Chess.com also offers a variety of chess variants, including chess960, king of the hill, and crazyhouse.

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Cheating is a common issue in online chess, but chess.com does an excellent job of catching the vast majority of it.

In terms of in-game features, chess.com was the first to use the pre-move and auto-queen features effectively.

Subscriptions

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Subscriptions are priced at $5, $7, and $14 per month, or roughly half that if you pay for a year in advance.

All Premium Plans Include: Endgames, Daily Puzzle Explanations, Video Library, Opening Explorer, Custom Flair, Drills, Club Management, and Time-out Protection for Daily Games.

Every tier also removes all ads, unlocks all bots, and grants unlimited access to its game analysis tool.

Lichess (Desktop, iOS, Android)

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Lichess is a non-profit chess website with an easy-to-use app that has almost all of the features of Chess.com and, yes, no ads!

Lichess works on Desktop, iOS, and Android mobile apps.

Daily tactical puzzles, videos, game analysis using the latest engines, and other materials to help you improve are all available for free.

As if that wasn’t enough, you have access to a much larger number of variants than chess.com. It also supports blindfold chess.

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Lichess can still be played on slower connections without taking too much time.

Also, Lichess has a lower level of competition than chess.com.

Does Lichess have subscriptions?

No, Lichess does not have a premium subscription.

Chess24

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Chess24 is ideal for chess enthusiasts.

Chess fans are people who enjoy playing the game as well as watching it at the highest level. This is in terms of the most recent chess news and ongoing tournament specials.

Chess24 also provides its users with a variety of entertaining videos (banter blitz, for example), instructional materials, and exclusive coverage of live events. It is home to a number of chess media personalities and grandmasters.

Chess24 also detects and bans cheating effectively, and its response time to reports is reasonable.

Subscriptions

You do, however, have access to a wealth of useful materials and videos on chess24. Like chess.com, the most useful content is not accessible without payment or a premium upgrade.

Wrap Up

Unfortunately, Chess24 appears clumsy and frequently lags while playing a game. Other chess variants are not available on Chess24.

If you’re looking for the best online chess app to play with friends, both Chess.com and lichess.org are better options.