Desktop vs browser vs mobile chess analysis

Where you analyze shapes how you analyze. Browser tools are quick and free to start, desktop programs are built for databases and deep preparation, and phone apps are for a quick look on the way home. This guide compares the three on the things that matter for reviewing your own games. Our own tool, ChessHelper (chesshelper.ai), is a browser tool: a Chrome extension that works on Chess.com and Lichess, plus a web dashboard for your game history.

Browser analysis

Browser tools need no install and sit next to the games you play. The Lichess analysis board runs Stockfish inside your browser through WebAssembly; its engine menu offers several builds, including Stockfish 19, so the computing happens on your own machine. You can also request a full computer analysis of a finished Lichess game, which Lichess runs on its servers. Chess.com Game Review runs on Chess.com's servers and appears right after your game. DecodeChess is a web app. ChessHelper runs as an extension on the Chess.com and Lichess pages and keeps your games on its dashboard.

The trade-off is control and storage. You get fewer engine settings than in desktop software, and your games live in each site's account rather than in one place you own. For most players reviewing online games, that is a fair trade.

Desktop analysis

Desktop programs keep games and engines on your own disk and give you full control of the engine. ChessBase is the long-standing standard: its shop lists ChessBase '26 packages from €249.90, which bundle the program with game databases, and a separate ChessBase for Mac at €9.95 a month or €99.95 a year. Fritz 21, ChessBase's engine-and-playing program, is listed at €69.90, with an upgrade price for owners of Fritz 18 to 20. The Mega Database 2026 is listed with over 11.7 million games.

En Croissant is the free, open-source alternative. It is licensed under GPL-3.0, its latest release (0.16.1) was published on November 10, 2026, and it ships builds for Windows, macOS and Linux. It imports your Lichess and Chess.com games into a local database, downloads engines through a built-in manager, and produces reports with an evaluation graph and a board heatmap. Browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox send finished games from those sites to the app.

Desktop wins when you keep thousands of games, build opening files, search positions across a database or prepare against a named opponent. It is more than most players need for a weekly review of their own games.

Mobile analysis

Both big playing sites have phone apps with review built in. The Lichess app for iOS and Android lists game analysis among its features, and Chess.com's apps include Game Review, including the option to retry your mistakes by playing a different move at each flagged error. ChessHelper is a desktop Chrome extension and lists no phone app; En Croissant is desktop only.

A phone screen is fine for one job: checking a single critical moment. It is poor for comparing several engine lines or reading a long variation. Use it for the quick look, and do the full routine at a desk.

A position a phone handles fine

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This is the classic Legal's mate pattern. With 5.Nxe5 White offers the queen: Stockfish at depth 18 gives +2.04. If Black takes with 5...Bxd1?, the engine shows mate in two, 6.Bxf7+ Ke7 7.Nd5#. Black's best is 5...dxe5 6.Qxg4, still about a pawn and a half down after White wins the pawn back. One line and one number tell the story, so a phone review is enough. A middlegame with three plausible plans is a different matter and deserves a bigger screen.

Offline use and where your data lives

If you analyze on a train or keep games you do not want on a server, the split is simple. Desktop programs work offline once the engine and databases are installed, and your games stay in files on your own disk. En Croissant stores the games it imports in a local database; ChessBase works with its own database files, with optional online storage if you sign in.

Browser tools need a connection to load, even when the engine itself runs on your machine, as it does on the Lichess board. Your game records live in the account of the site you played on. ChessHelper adds a dashboard that keeps the games you analyze on Chess.com and Lichess together in one history. Phone apps sit in between: they are built around your account on one site.

None of this changes the quality of the analysis itself. Stockfish evaluates a position the same way in a browser tab or a desktop window; the differences are speed, settings and storage.

Side-by-side

Which setup fits which player

If you play online a few times a week and want to improve, a browser setup is enough: ChessHelper for analysis pitched at your level with your history kept for you, and the Lichess board for free full-strength checks and the opening explorer. Add a phone app for quick looks after a game on the go.

If you play over-the-board tournaments, prepare openings or coach, add desktop software. Start with En Croissant if you want free and open source, or ChessBase if you need its databases and preparation tools.

Whatever you choose, the routine matters more than the platform. Our guide on how to analyze your chess games works on all three, and the analysis board guide explains the controls you will meet.