ChessNotes vs Chessable
Chessable is built around
other people's courses. ChessNotes around yours.
Chessable is a great product, with curated courses, a wide community and an established brand. It is built around a different idea: studying courses written by others. ChessNotes is built around the repertoire you write yourself. Here is the comparison, with sources.
Feature by feature
Comparison, row by row.
| Feature | ChessNotes | Chessable |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, no paid plan today | Free account; paid courses and an optional PRO subscription |
| Review scheduling | FSRS-5 (open-source algorithm): stability and difficulty per position | MoveTrainer®: fixed levels, from 4 hours up to 6 months |
| Your own repertoire | A visual tree you grow by playing moves | Private courses you create yourself |
| Import | Lichess studies (search or link) and PGN files | PGN import into your own courses |
| Engine analysis | Stockfish 19 running in your browser (full build on computers, lite build on phones) | Stockfish 17.1 analysis board |
| Learning from your games | Repertoires built from your Chess.com and Lichess games; where you leave your lines; habitual opening mistakes checked by Stockfish | PuzzleConnect: puzzles from mistakes in your Chess.com or Lichess games (10 free, up to 1,000 with PRO) |
| Export | PGN export of any repertoire, any time | PGN export of private courses; purchased courses cannot be exported |
Chessable information checked on 1 October 2026 on Chessable's own website and help centre. Features and prices can change: please check chessable.com for the current offer.
Sources
- Chessable support: “Are Chessable accounts really free?”
- Chessable support: “How does the spaced repetition scheduling work?”
- Chessable support: “How do I create a course?”
- Chessable: Course Creation Guide (PGN import)
- Chessable blog: “Stockfish 17.1 now on Chessable” (29 May 2025)
- Chessable support: “Puzzle Connect”
- Chessable support: “Can I export my course as PGN?”
Chessable® and MoveTrainer® are trademarks of their owner. ChessNotes is not affiliated with or endorsed by Chessable or Chess.com.
Why we're different
Not a free version. A different product.
Build vs consume. Two opposite philosophies.
Chessable makes sense if you want a GM-built course, already packaged, ready to use. It's valid: you save build time, you get a line curated by an expert. Chessable also lets you create private courses, but the product is centred on its catalogue: the lines are chosen by the author, and when you leave them you are on your own. ChessNotes starts from the opposite idea: you know what opening you want to play, you know what style fits you. We give you the tools to build your own tree and memorize it better than you ever have.
FSRS-5 vs MoveTrainer. The algorithm matters.
Chessable's MoveTrainer® moves each move through fixed review levels, from 4 hours up to 6 months, and a wrong answer sends it back to the start. ChessNotes uses FSRS-5, an open-source spaced repetition algorithm that Anki has offered as an option since 2023. FSRS estimates the stability and difficulty of each position separately, so a hard line comes back sooner and an easy one less often — useful for chess variations, whose difficulty varies a lot.
Free on principle, not as an acquisition strategy.
A Chessable account is free; its business is paid courses and the PRO subscription. ChessNotes is free not as bait, but by choice: the project is independent, self-funded, with low operating costs. There's no need to monetize you. The entire core — editor, FSRS drill, Stockfish, Lichess import, repertoires from your games — is free today, and I intend to keep it that way.
Integration with your real game, not just with courses.
Chessable connects to your games through PuzzleConnect, which turns tactical mistakes into puzzles. ChessNotes looks at your games from your repertoire's side: it reads your Chess.com and Lichess games, can build your repertoires from them, shows where you left your lines, finds the mistakes you repeat and lets you turn the fixes into lines in your repertoire. Same for Lichess: one-click study import, in-browser Stockfish analysis, cloud eval when available. Your study and your play become the same thing.
We're not saying Chessable is a bad product. It's a great product, for those who want to consume quality courses. ChessNotes is for those who want to build their own path — we don't compete on the same problem, we compete on different problems.
Tables get read.
Products get used.
Open a free account, import your first study in ten seconds, run five minutes of drill. You'll figure out in an evening whether the method is for you better than any written comparison.