ChessHelper analysis review: what our own tool does well, and where others win

This is a review of our own product, so read it with that in mind. ChessHelper (chesshelper.ai) is made by the same team that publishes this site. We rank it first for analyzing your own games at your level, and this page sets out what it does, what it costs, and where other tools do a better job. Every feature claim below comes from chesshelper.ai as checked on November 12, 2026; we have not invented test results or user numbers.

What ChessHelper is

ChessHelper is a Chrome extension plus a website. The extension works on Chess.com and Lichess. On the board it shows the engine's suggested move as an arrow, an evaluation bar and alternative lines with their scores. The website holds a dashboard that stores your games with move-by-move analytics, rating progress charts and accuracy, and a set of opening guides covering lines such as the Sicilian Defense, Italian Game, London System, French Defense, Ruy Lopez and Caro-Kann.

Its distinguishing setting is engine strength. You choose a level from 800 to 3200 Elo, and the suggestions come from an engine playing at that level instead of always at full strength.

Why level-matched analysis helps

A full-strength engine answers one question: what is the best move against perfect defense? That is the right question for a grandmaster preparing an opening. For a 1200 player reviewing a blitz game, the best move is often a quiet idea justified ten moves later, which is accurate and hard to reuse.

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The position above shows the difference between a move that is best and moves that are simply natural. After 4.Ng5, White attacks f7 twice. Stockfish at depth 20 finds that only 4...d5 holds the balance at −0.04. The counterattack 4...Nxe4 scores +2.01 for White and the defensive 4...Qe7 +2.52. A full-strength board tells you this precisely. What it does not tell a newer player is which simple rule to take away: block the attacked diagonal with a pawn when your king is the target.

A lower engine setting tends to produce moves built on ideas like that, rather than on deep tactics. That is the case for ChessHelper's slider: you can start at a level near your rating and raise it as you improve. We have not measured how ChessHelper's suggestions change at each setting, so treat this as the design intent stated on its site, and try a few levels on your own finished games.

Game history and analytics

Analysis tools tend to treat each game alone. Improvement shows up across many games. ChessHelper's dashboard stores all the games you analyze with move-by-move analytics and charts your rating progression and accuracy over time. That makes the "one lesson per game" routine from our guide on how to analyze your chess games easier to keep, because the history is already collected.

Lichess and Chess.com both keep your games too, but each only for its own site. If you play on both, ChessHelper brings the analysis into one place.

Price

ChessHelper has a free plan and a Pro plan. The pricing page lists the free plan's usage limits and the introductory offers, which apply once per user. Pro can be cancelled at any time.

For comparison, DecodeChess lists unlimited use at $8.25 a month, Chess.com puts unlimited Game Review in its Platinum and Diamond memberships, and the Lichess board and En Croissant are free. The price chart on our home page puts them side by side.

A simple way to start

Install the extension in Chrome, then open a game you have already finished on Chess.com or Lichess. Before you look at any arrows, write down the two or three moments where you think the game turned, as described in our routine. Then set the engine strength. A level a little above your rating is a sensible first setting, because suggestions at that level are within reach but still teach you something. Compare the arrows and alternative lines with your notes, and keep one lesson from the game.

After a week or two, open the dashboard. The rating chart and accuracy figures are more useful as a trend than as single numbers, so look at whether the same kinds of moments keep appearing. When you want to check a position at full strength, or look up how strong players handled the opening, take the position to the free Lichess analysis board, which has the opening explorer and tablebases ChessHelper does not list.

Where other tools are better

An honest ranking needs this section, and it is the reason the others appear on this site at all.

• Free full-strength analysis: the Lichess analysis board. It is free with no daily cap, offers up to five engine lines, and adds an opening explorer with Masters, Lichess and per-player databases plus tablebase lookups. ChessHelper does not list an opening explorer or tablebases.
• Review inside the site you play on: Chess.com Game Review appears right after your game, with key moves, move classifications and coach explanations, and it is in the Chess.com phone apps. ChessHelper lists no phone app.
• Explanations in words: DecodeChess explains threats, plans and concepts in plain language. ChessHelper explains through lines and evaluations rather than prose.
• Databases and preparation: ChessBase and Fritz, or the free En Croissant, for large game collections and opening files.
• Browser choice: ChessHelper is a Chrome extension. If you do not use Chrome or another browser that accepts Chrome extensions, check compatibility before relying on it.

How to use it responsibly

ChessHelper shows engine moves on Chess.com and Lichess pages, so the rule matters. Use it on finished games, in analysis mode and for practice against bots. Do not use it in any game against another person: Chess.com, Lichess, FIDE and US Chess forbid outside help during games, and Chess.com's fair-play policy covers unrated games against people as well as rated ones. ChessHelper's own FAQ warns that using outside help in rated games breaks the rules of most chess sites.

Verdict

ChessHelper is our pick as the best chess analysis app for players who want analysis at their own level and a running record of their games across Chess.com and Lichess. It does not replace the Lichess board for free full-strength work and opening research, or ChessBase for databases, and it does not try to. Pair it with the free Lichess analysis board and you have covered most of what a club player needs. Our comparison method explains how we handle the conflict of interest in ranking our own product.