Free chess game analysis, and where the limits are
Free chess analysis is widely available: Lichess offers unlimited server-side analysis, Chess.com caps free reviews per day, and Stockfish compiles to WebAssembly so any site can run a full-strength engine in your browser at no server cost.
Use real games
Check whether your history has enough signal
Enter a public username. We read up to 80 recent standard games and show a factual sample before you create an account.
Server-side versus in-browser
Server-side analysis runs on the site's hardware, which is why it gets rationed — every evaluation costs the operator money. In-browser analysis runs on your machine through WebAssembly, so the cost to the site is zero and there is no reason to limit it.
The trade is that in-browser analysis uses your CPU and stops when you close the tab. For reviewing a handful of games, that is not a real constraint.
- Lichess — unlimited, server-side, free
- Chess.com — limited free reviews, deeper analysis paid
- In-browser Stockfish — unlimited, uses your machine
Importing games
Both Chess.com and Lichess expose public APIs that return a player's games without authentication, so any analysis tool can fetch your history from a username alone. PGN import covers everything else, including over-the-board games you entered by hand.
If a tool asks for your account password rather than a username, that is a reason to stop. Neither platform requires one for public game history.
Frequently asked questions
Can I analyse chess games for free?
Yes. Lichess is unlimited and free, and any site running Stockfish in the browser can offer the same without a server cost.
Do I need an account to analyse a game?
Not for PGN import. Fetching your history by username needs no password on either major platform.
Is browser analysis as strong as server analysis?
It runs the same engine. It is slower on weak hardware, which affects depth reached per second rather than the quality of the evaluation itself.