I'm getting back into chess after years and trying to pick between the two. Chess.com feels more polished but the premium subscription costs money, while lichess is free but I'm not sure if the interface is as good for someone learning. Which one would you recommend for casual play and maybe some puzzle training?
What kind of experience are you after - do you care about having a sleek interface, or is learning the most important part? Lichess is genuinely solid for getting back into chess, especially for puzzles and casual games, and the fact that it's completely free means you can dive in without commitment. Chess.com does feel more polished and has more active players, but you don't *need* the premium version to learn and play casually - the free tier is decent. If you're just relearning, I'd honestly start with lichess since there's zero barrier to entry and the puzzle training there is excellent; you can always switch to Chess.com later if you want that premium experience or prefer the community there.
Lichess is totally fine for learning and casual play - the interface is cleaner than people think once you spend five minutes with it, and the puzzle training is legitimately excellent. Chess.com's polish is real, but you'll hit a paywall pretty fast if you want analysis tools and the better features, which gets annoying when you're just trying to improve.
One thing nobody mentions: Chess.com's servers can get sluggish during peak hours, so if you're playing blitz or bullet and care about smooth performance, that matters more than you'd expect.
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