Open source alternative to Chess.com and Internet Chess Club
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Host a free, open source chess server with realtime play, Stockfish analysis, tournaments, a tactic trainer, and no subscriptions; licensed under AGPL-3.0.
A club or regional chess federation that wants rated games, tournaments, and training for its members can deploy Lila and own the data, user accounts, and access rules. The tournament suite handles Swiss and arena formats natively without additional configuration.
The club lacks staff to manage a multi-service backend. The public lichess.org server is a better fit for casual club play without operational overhead.
The publicly downloadable PGN database contains over 12 billion rated games. Researchers training chess engines, studying opening theory at scale, or building AI systems can download the full dataset without a subscription or data license.
Your research only needs a small sample. The Lichess API and Lichess Opening Explorer are simpler entry points for smaller queries and do not require self-hosting.
Lila's production architecture shows how a high-traffic realtime game server is built in Scala 3 with Play, Redis, MongoDB, and Elasticsearch. The codebase and architecture diagram are a reference for building any realtime, high-concurrency server at this scale.
You need a simple chess widget or embed. External board libraries are far simpler for that use case and do not require running a full server.
The Lichess API provides endpoints for games, user data, puzzles, and broadcast management. Applications built on the API can reach the lichess.org user base without running their own server.
You need a fully independent, self-contained server. API-based applications depend on the lichess.org service and cannot operate on a private network or offline.
The dominant online chess platforms charge for the features players care most about. Chess.com, the most popular, requires a paid membership to unlock full computer analysis, engine-assisted game reviews, and advanced puzzle training. The Internet Chess Club has charged monthly subscription fees since the late 1990s. Free tiers on both platforms are designed to push upgrades rather than serve serious players.
For developers and organizations who want to run a community chess server, commercial platforms offer no self-hosting path. The code is proprietary, the hosting is theirs, and any club or community using these services has no say in future pricing, access restrictions, or feature changes.
Lila handles real-time chess via a dedicated WebSocket server (lila-ws) backed by Redis, keeping game state and move delivery separate from the main Scala application. The architecture lets the server handle thousands of concurrent games without blocking the main application process.
Computer analysis runs on a crowd-sourced cluster of donated servers running the fishnet client. When a player requests a game analysis or uses the analysis board, the work is distributed across the cluster. The main server offloads all chess computation to this separate AI tier.
Lila includes a puzzle database and tactic trainer where players solve chess puzzles rated by difficulty. Puzzles are sourced from real games played on the server, giving the trainer an organic dataset rather than a hand-curated one. The trainer tracks a separate puzzle rating per player.
The server supports Swiss, arena, and team tournaments, plus simultaneous exhibitions (simuls) where one player faces many opponents at once. Operators can configure time controls, start dates, and access restrictions per tournament.
All rated games played on lichess.org are published in a freely downloadable PGN database at database.lichess.org. The database contains over 12 billion games and is updated monthly. Researchers and database tools can use it without a subscription or data license.
The interface is translated into more than 140 languages through a community Crowdin project. Every string in the UI is translatable, making the server accessible across language communities. New translations or corrections can be submitted without core-team involvement.
Chess.com and lichess.org are the two most-used online chess servers, but they operate on different models. Chess.com is a commercial platform; full computer analysis, advanced puzzle training, and game review depth require a paid membership. Lichess.org runs Lila and makes all features free.
| Feature | Lila (lichess.org) | Chess.com |
|---|---|---|
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary |
| Self-hosting | Yes | No |
| Computer analysis | Free, Stockfish-powered | Paid membership required |
| Puzzle training | Free, unlimited | Free tier limited |
| Game database | 12B+ games, free download | Not publicly downloadable |
| Subscription required | No | For full features |
Lila is the better fit when you need full analysis at no cost, want to download game data for research, or want to run your own chess server. Chess.com is worth the subscription if you need its structured video lesson library or official rating integration with over-the-board federations, which lichess.org does not match at the same depth.
The Internet Chess Club has operated as a subscription-based chess service since the 1990s. ICC is known for hosting strong players and titled-player events. Lila targets the same audience without the paywall.
| Feature | Lila (lichess.org) | ICC |
|---|---|---|
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary |
| Self-hosting | Yes | No |
| Free access | Full features, no limit | Trial only |
| Computer analysis | Free, Stockfish-powered | Paid membership required |
Lila is the stronger choice for players who want free access to a competitive player pool and open game data. ICC has a historically strong titled-player community; it is worth the membership cost if access to live titled-player games and commentary is the deciding factor for you.
Self-hosting requires cloning the repository and running the included setup script.
```bash
git clone https://github.com/lichess-org/lila
./lila.sh
```Lila is the name of the open source codebase; lichess.org is the public server that runs it. You can self-host Lila to create your own chess server, or use lichess.org directly without any installation. The two names refer to the same software at different levels.
No. Running Lila in production requires setting up MongoDB, Redis, Elasticsearch, a Scala 3 build environment, and the lila-ws WebSocket server. The GitHub wiki covers the development environment setup in detail, but the stack is complex. This is best suited for developers or teams with backend operations experience.
Lichess.org is free to use with no subscription required. Every feature, including full computer analysis, puzzles, tournaments, and the study board, is available at no cost. The service is funded by donations through a non-profit structure. There is no paid managed version of Lila.
Chess.com requires a paid membership to unlock full computer analysis and advanced puzzle training. Lichess.org, running Lila, provides all of these features free. Chess.com offers structured video lessons and a larger lesson library, which lichess.org does not match at the same depth. For pure play and analysis without a subscription, lichess.org is the stronger choice.
You can run Lila on your own servers for your community at no licensing cost, including for internal organizational use. If you modify Lila and run the modified version as a public network service, AGPL-3.0 requires you to publish those changes under the same license. You cannot offer Lila as a proprietary managed service and keep your modifications private.
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