lichess is goated. maybe I'll even end up running your stockfish analysis.

I've used lichess exclusively for a few years now. I've never looked back. I was a diamond subscriber on chess.com for a long time because I wanted access to game analysis and unlimited puzzles. I get that for free on lichess, and as you mentioned, they're a more ethical org.

I feel like chess.com is always trying to sell me stuff it's annoying

I honestly can't imagine why anyone would ever use anything but lichess except for ignorance or because they're literally being paid to use chess.com.

Lichess is great. My recommendation would be to switch over a month so you can see if it has everything you want. You can always use both depending on what tools you like more, i know some people who have a casual account on lichess and another on chess for more serious matchmaking.

As for chessdotcom, i don't really have an opinion since i have not used it much, they are a for profit but that doesn't mean is unethical per se.

What i do know it's that what licches offers is a great contribution to the chess world, and for those who have the means, it's worth to support it. They offer a complete platform for free. This is huge for people without the means to afford a subscription since it lowers the entry to new and young players.

As i say before since one is free, you can use both depending the use case! I hope this helps you, i have to thank you tho, since i stopped playing chess a few months ago and now i itch to go at it again. Cheers!

I always feel chess.com is too much a for profit. Yes, it has many features, but you have to be a subscriber to access those (especially game analysis which can be quite useful while you're starting to understand chess). I've played for a few months on chess.com before moving permanently to Lichess which has almost the same features and the missing ones (such as theoretical level of your game and move ratings) can be added via browser's ads-ons.

Lichess has way more puzzles, and IIRC from some youtube I watched a while ago, lichess has other things chess.com does not.

So it's not as clear cut, even if you forget the insane price for chess.com.

chesscom bad lichess good

I love lichess. It’s a brilliant platform and easily the most ethical online chess platform alternative out there.

That said, I’m really not a big fan of Danny Rensch, so I kind of see chess.com as the evil option.

I think personally both are great, and both are great for the community; in different ways. Chess.com is a bit “pay pay pay please” for my taste but they do host a ton of events and sponsor many things. The interface is quite good and the cheating control is quite good.

Lichess is better though, in my view. It is much more open, the interface is lightyears better in my view and the study / analysis tools are better too. However, reporting is much more cumbersome, because on mobile for example, you have to get a share link to the game, then use the website to report and actually explain in prose why you suspect foul play, even though simple click reports should be at least partially useful for trend analysis. However, their actual detection seems good too.

All told, both are great ways to play chess, both use good rating systems (Glicko 1 and 2), both control cheating pretty well, and both suck the life out of me one bullet game at a time.

Both have/had their issues with cheaters. I personally have a bad experience with chess.com's costumer support (paid for but didn't receive the membership). So when I want to play online casually lichess is my first choice. You can use both at the same time and see how they differ when it comes to puzzles, ratings, and all the extra content.