How we compare chess AI
We compare published features, pricing and rules. We do not run lab tests or invent scores. This page explains what we look at, where facts come from, and how we handle the fact that ChessHelper (chesshelper.ai) is our own product.
Two categories, two scales
We do not rank engines and learning tools on one list. Engines are judged on strength, which has an objective yardstick: published engine championships such as TCEC. Learning tools are judged on how well they help a player improve, which depends on the features below.
Criteria for learning tools
| Criterion | Question we ask |
|---|---|
| Level matching | Can the tool pitch suggestions or opponents at your rating? |
| Explanation | Does it say why a move is good or bad, not just that it is? |
| Memory | Does it track your games and show patterns over time? |
| Where it works | Which platforms and devices does it support? |
| Price | Is there a useful free tier, and what do paid plans cost? |
| Fair-play framing | Does the company tell users to keep it out of games against people? |
Sources
For every competitor we cite, prices, plans, platforms and features come from that company's official website, checked in November 2026. Engine history comes from primary sources where they exist (the Stockfish blog, the AlphaZero paper, IBM's Deep Blue history, lczero.org), with competition results from TCEC reporting. Rules come from the published Chess.com and Lichess fair-play pages, the FIDE Handbook and the US Chess rulebook. If we could not confirm a detail, we left it out.
Chess accuracy
Every move, line and evaluation printed on the site is checked with Stockfish before publication, and we note the search depth where we quote an evaluation.
The ChessHelper conflict of interest
ChessHelper is made by the same team as this site. We handle that in four ways. We disclose it on every page. We rank it first only for learning and analysis at your own level, the job it was built for, and we name the tools that beat it in other categories. We describe its features from its own website, as we do for everyone else. And we exclude any feature that could be used during a game against another person from our reasons for recommending it.
What we do not do
No paid placements, no affiliate links, no star ratings, no user reviews, no testimonials, and no fake testers.
Update policy
We review prices and features when companies announce changes and at least every few months. Every page shows its last updated date. Corrections from readers go to [email protected].