Lichess has one quality nobody can argue with: it’s free, open, and ad-free, full stop. Its studies and its opening explorer are among the best tools of their kind, and they cost you nothing. So why reach for anything else to learn your openings? Because having access to everything and knowing what to do with it aren’t the same skill.

Here’s where each one shines, and where each one leaves you stuck.

What Lichess does

Lichess is a fully free, open-source playing platform, and for openings it hands you two standout tools. The studies come first: interactive lessons anyone can build, with a board, variations, and comments, on just about any topic you can name. Then there’s the opening explorer, backed by millions of games, which shows you the most-played moves and how they scored in whatever position you land on.

For a curious, self-directed player, that’s a wonderful playground. You can dig deep into a line, see what the strongest players pick, build your own study, and never spend a cent.

What Prologue does

Prologue comes at the problem from the other end. Instead of handing you tools and wishing you luck, it gives you a marked trail: you replay an opening move by move, in three passes, guided at first and from memory by the end. Every move gets an explanation, so the logic lands as you go.

The catalog runs past 300 sourced openings, the Italian family is free, and the intention is narrow on purpose: get the opening into your hands by playing it, instead of leaving you alone in front of an ocean of options.

Freedom versus a guided path

That’s the real divide. Lichess gives you freedom and tools, and the route is yours to trace. Prologue gives you a route and walks it with you from the first move to mastery.

That freedom is a strength once you know what you’re after, and a trap when you don’t. Put a beginner in front of the explorer and they’ve no idea which move is worth learning, how far to follow a line, or how to hold on to what they just saw. Study quality swings too, since they’re community-made: some are excellent, some were thrown together in ten minutes, and nothing points you toward the good ones.

Prologue settles that upstream. The content is sourced and structured, and the method makes you play instead of skim. You don’t pick your own path, but you’re never left wondering whether you’re making progress.

Exploring versus retaining

There’s a difference of purpose too. The Lichess explorer is great for reading a position and checking the numbers. But looking something up isn’t the same as remembering it. You can spend an hour deep in a line and have lost it by the next morning, because you studied it without ever playing it yourself.

Prologue is built for the step after that: turning what you’ve grasped into a reflex. The three passes make you reproduce the line until it comes out on its own. If you want to get into how the memory side actually works, read how to memorize an opening.

How to combine them

The natural pairing: explore and fact-check on Lichess, learn and lock in on Prologue. You spot a line that grabs you in the explorer, you see why one move dominates, then you go drill it on Prologue until it’s yours. One feeds the curiosity, the other makes it stick.

If you’re self-directed, patient, and free is non-negotiable, Lichess on its own can carry you a long way. If you’d rather have a clear trail and retain quickly without drowning, Prologue gets you there more directly. To place both in the wider picture, take a look at the best apps for learning openings.

Frequently asked questions

Is Lichess really 100% free?

Yes, genuinely. It’s free, open source, and ad-free, funded by donations, with studies and explorer included and nothing paywalled. If a zero budget is the whole point, nothing beats it, and I get into that in learning openings for free.

Are Lichess studies enough to learn an opening?

They can be, on two conditions: you land on a good one, and you’re disciplined enough to replay it yourself instead of nodding along. The two risks are skimming without retaining and not knowing which study deserves your time. A guided path takes both off the table.

Is Prologue free too?

The whole Italian family is free, which is a complete opening for White you can learn without paying. The rest of the catalog is freemium. That’s plenty to put the method through its paces before you decide anything.

For a true beginner, which one to choose?

Prologue, most of the time. A beginner needs a trail, not an open ocean. Lichess comes into its own later, once you want to explore on your own and check your lines against real games.