--- title: "Best Way to Train Chess? Chess.com vs Chessable vs More" description: "Chess.com Premium, Chessable, Chessly, Aimchess, Lichess and Goat Pass side by side: what each is best at, what it costs, and who it suits." canonical: "https://trychessgoat.com/improve/compare/" last_updated: 2026-10-09 --- # Six ways to train chess, side by side By Chess Goat · Updated September 27, 2026 The question isn’t which site has the most puzzles. It’s which one finds what you keep doing wrong and makes you fix it. Here is how six options answer that, checked against each company’s own pages in September 2026. ## What actually makes you better A 2026 study followed 44,213 chess.com players and measured what they did against how fast they improved. Most of their time went into playing games, yet focused practice was about 3.6 times more efficient for learning, and not every kind of practice worked equally well ([Southwick et al.](https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976261452568)). An earlier study of tournament players found serious study on your own was the strongest predictor of skill ([Charness et al.](https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1106)). So a bigger library doesn’t help if you drill the wrong things. What helps is knowing what _you_ get wrong, practicing exactly that, and coming back to it until it sticks. That is how we compare the options below. ## At a glance Product Finds what you do wrong? Brings back misses? Best at Price Chess.com Premium Reviews one game at a time; Insights (top tier) shows stats across games Not among its listed plan features Playing, and a large lesson and puzzle library Varies by country ([see chess.com](https://support.chess.com/en/articles/8701404-where-can-i-find-the-prices-for-the-different-levels-of-membership)) Chessable No, you pick the course Yes, spaced repetition ([MoveTrainer](https://www.chessable.com/movetrainer/)) Memorizing openings and course lines PRO subscription plus courses ([see Chessable](https://www.chessable.com/pro/)) Chessly Not described on its homepage Not described on its homepage 70+ courses from a popular YouTube teacher, with XP and achievements Subscription ([see Chessly](https://chessly.com/)) Aimchess Yes: skill scores from your online games, up to 1,000 on Premium Weekly plan and puzzles from your mistakes Drills and statistics Free tier; Premium $7.99/mo or $57.99/yr ([Aimchess](https://aimchess.com/)) Lichess Free engine analysis of any game you open; the puzzle dashboard shows weak themes No scheduled reviews Everything free: puzzles by theme, practice, analysis Free ([Lichess puzzles](https://lichess.org/training)) Goat Pass Yes: ranks what costs you games, in your own numbers, and orders the lessons by it Yes: misses return after 1, 3, 7 and 21 days Knowing what to study next, and making it stick $5/mo or $39/yr, every lesson included ([Learn](https://trychessgoat.com/learn/)) Sources: [Chess.com Help: What does each level of Premium get me?](https://support.chess.com/en/articles/8562418-what-does-each-level-of-premium-membership-get-me), [Chessable: About MoveTrainer](https://www.chessable.com/movetrainer/), [Chessly](https://chessly.com/), [Aimchess](https://aimchess.com/), [Lichess open database (CC0)](https://database.lichess.org/). Features and prices change; check each site before you buy. ## What each one is really for **Chess.com Premium** is the best place to play, and its tiers add unlimited lessons and puzzles (Gold), unlimited Game Review (Platinum), and coach explanations plus Insights (Diamond), per [its help center](https://support.chess.com/en/articles/8562418-what-does-each-level-of-premium-membership-get-me). The free account gets one review, three puzzles and one extra lesson a day. It gives you tools. Choosing what to study is up to you. **Chessable** is built for memory. Its [MoveTrainer](https://www.chessable.com/movetrainer/) quizzes you on course lines at growing intervals, and brings a line back sooner when you get it wrong. That is the strongest way to learn an opening repertoire. It doesn’t look at your games to tell you which course you need. **Chessly** is a course library from a popular YouTube teacher: 70+ courses, plus XP, achievements and leaderboards to keep you coming back ([Chessly](https://chessly.com/)). Great if you already like how he teaches. Its homepage doesn’t mention building a plan from your games. **Aimchess** is the closest to our idea: it analyzes your online games, scores six skill areas, and builds a weekly plan and puzzles from your mistakes ([Aimchess](https://aimchess.com/)). It is drills and statistics more than a taught curriculum. **Lichess** is free and excellent. Its open puzzle database has over six million rated, themed puzzles ([CC0 license](https://database.lichess.org/)), which is where our puzzles come from too. If money is tight, start there. **Goat Pass** is our course. It reads your chess.com games, tells you in plain numbers what is costing you games, orders the lessons by that, and brings back every puzzle you miss until it sticks. It is young: Level 1 (10 lessons, for 400 to 800) is live and four more levels are being written. It does not replace playing, videos, or a coach. ## How to choose - **You want to memorize an opening:** Chessable. - **You learn best from a teacher you like:** Chessly, or free YouTube courses. - **You want to spend nothing:** Lichess puzzles and practice, plus our free Goat Card. - **You don’t know what to work on:** find out from your games first, then study only that. That is what the Goat Card, the Goat Report and [Goat Pass](https://trychessgoat.com/learn/) are for. [What chess.com Premium doesn’t do](https://trychessgoat.com/improve/chess-com-premium-alternative/) explains the gap. Free · 5 seconds · no email ### Find out what your games say first Type your chess.com username. In five seconds you see your tilt, time trouble and weakest hours, free, before you pay anyone. Want every move of your games checked by an engine and turned into a ranked list of what costs you rating? The [Goat Report is $5](https://trychessgoat.com/buy), paid once. See [a blitz sample](https://trychessgoat.com/r/sample-blitz/) and [a rapid sample](https://trychessgoat.com/r/sample-rapid/) first. ## References 1. Southwick, D. A., Harwell, K. W., Wright, G., Olsen, J. A., & Ogles, B. M. (2026). Not all practice is created equal: Longitudinal evidence from over 40,000 chess players. Psychological Science. [https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976261452568](https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976261452568) 2. Charness, N., Tuffiash, M., Krampe, R., Reingold, E., & Vasyukova, E. (2005). The role of deliberate practice in chess expertise. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19, 151–165. [https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1106](https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1106) ## Keep going - [Beyond PremiumUnlimited tools, no plan: the gap in chess.com Premium and how to fill it.](https://trychessgoat.com/improve/chess-com-premium-alternative/) - [Adult improverThirty minutes a day, one teacher at a time, your own games first.](https://trychessgoat.com/improve/adult-improver/) - [Stuck at 1000Under 1000, the player who hangs fewer pieces wins. What to drop, what to drill.](https://trychessgoat.com/improve/stuck-at-1000/) - [Rating not going upIs it skill, noise or tilt? How to read a flat rating line.](https://trychessgoat.com/improve/rating-not-going-up/) Chess Goat is not affiliated with or endorsed by any coach, author, channel or site named on this page. We link to them because their free material works. Quotes link to their sources.