SAFE

No specific threat detected

Established 16-year-old non-profit chess server with clean security scans and no scam indicators.

Security Review

Is lichess.org legit or a scam?

Established 16-year-old non-profit chess server with clean security scans and no scam indicators.

Lichess.org is a legitimate, non-profit chess platform. The domain is 16 years old, has clean security scans, and is operated by a registered French non-profit. User complaints focus on moderation issues rather than fraud.

Cross-checked against 9 completed checks — none raised a concern
lichess.orgScanned 1h ago
94/100
Trust score
0 = danger · 100 = safe
SAFE
Score breakdown
Heuristics 100·MT 94
Screenshot of lichess.orgSee the live page ↓
Positive signals (5)
Antivirus clearNot on major blacklistsDomain is 16 years oldEncrypted connectionClean server reputation

Analysis Summary

Threat Intelligence
0/92
All engines report clean
Domain Age
16 years old
Registered Jun 14, 2010

Website Preview

Screenshot of lichess.org
LIVE RENDER
lichess.org

Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site.

Visual analysis

We capture a fresh screenshot of the live page and ask a vision model to look for scam visual patterns — fake trust badges, countdown timers, overlay pop-ups, and visual clones of legitimate brands.

0
/ 100
No visual red flags

No scam visual patterns detected

The screenshot captures the authentic Lichess.org interface, which is a well-known, legitimate chess platform.

Visual risk0/100

What our vision model saw

3 signals

The screenshot displays the legitimate homepage of lichess.org

Standard navigation menu, game mode selection, and community features are present

No deceptive elements, fake security badges, or urgency tactics detected

Intelligence

Editorial security brief
Intelligence
Low observed risktrust94/100
95%
Confidence
The domain has been registered since 2010 and is operated by a registered French non-profit. Zero antivirus engines flagged the site, browser blocklists are clean, and the visual analysis confirms the authentic Lichess interface. The single Trustpilot complaint mentions cheating concerns rather than financial fraud or data theft. The site loads legitimate external domains for community features and shows no phishing forms or deceptive elements.
Risk Factors
2
  • No contact email address visible on the homepage
  • No postal address displayed on the main page
Positive Signals
5
  • Domain registered 16.1 years ago with consistent operation
  • Zero antivirus detections across 92 engines
  • Clean browser blocklist status
  • Registered French non-profit organization
  • Valid SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt
Investigation notes

Page Content

The captured page displays the standard Lichess.org homepage with navigation for games, puzzles, tournaments, and community features. The meta description accurately describes a free, ad-free chess server. No login forms, countdown timers, or urgency tactics appear on the page. The body text confirms the site's open-source, donation-funded model.

Infrastructure

The site runs on IP 37.187.205.99 with a clean abuse score of 0/100. SSL certificate is valid from Let's Encrypt with 39 days remaining. One redirect hop occurs within the same domain. External domains loaded are legitimate community platforms including GitHub, Discord, Mastodon, and YouTube.

Domain History

The domain was registered on 2010-06-14 through OVH sas, making it 16.1 years old. WHOIS privacy protection is disabled. The site ranks in the global top-100k for traffic. Business registration records confirm operation by a French non-profit organization founded by Thibault Duplessis.

Web Reputation

Zero of 92 antivirus engines flagged the domain. Browser blocklist feeds show no entries. One Trustpilot review mentions cheating concerns, while a YouTube review praises the platform's free chess bots. The 346 complaints found relate to moderation and account issues rather than financial scams or data theft.

What this means for you

This is a legitimate chess platform. You can safely create an account, play games, and use the site's features without financial risk. The platform is funded through voluntary donations rather than advertising or data sales.

Recommendation
You can safely use Lichess.org for playing chess. The platform is legitimate and has operated for over 16 years without security incidents.
Editorial assessment
SpecificEvidence-led

Web Research Findings

Independent findings for lichess.org, including public complaints, named review sources, registration records, and look-alike-domain evidence. A missing result is shown as unverified, never converted into a clean bill of health.

Business registration
Active · France
Site traces back to an actively registered business.
Clone check
Not a clone
No well-known site's layout or branding detected here.
Typosquat check
No look-alike match
The domain doesn't resemble any well-known brand's spelling.
Web mentions
1 scam report · 346 complaints · 1 positive
Key findings
5 headline facts from open-web research
  • Lichess.org is a widely recognized, non-profit, open-source chess server launched in 2010.
  • The platform is free, ad-free, and does not utilize paywalls for its core features.
  • It maintains a high global traffic rank and is considered a legitimate service by major security analysis tools.
  • User complaints primarily focus on moderation issues, such as perceived cheating, account closures, and limited direct customer support.
  • The site is funded through community donations and is not a commercial entity selling user data.
Scam reports (1)
Direct quotes from public scam databases, forums, and news.
  • Trustpilotopen

    "Cheating and site manipulation Lichess is accepting cheaters en masse on its platform. Lichess doesn't show transparency about who is banned from the site for using cheats"

Positive reviews (1)
Public quotes that support the operator's credibility.
  • YouTubeopen

    "I'm really happy with what Lichess has to offer. ... these bots are fantastic. they're free they're not made with the sole intention of marketing purposes."

Business registration
Status: active · France

Operated by a non-profit organization of the same name, founded by Thibault Duplessis.

Research summary
Editorial synthesis of the sourced facts above

Trustpilot contains one review complaining about cheating and site transparency regarding banned accounts. A YouTube review expresses satisfaction with the platform's free chess bots. Business records confirm Lichess operates as a registered French non-profit. The 346 complaints found relate to moderation and account management rather than financial fraud or data theft.

Domain Timeline

  1. Jun 14, 2010
    Domain registered

    First appeared in WHOIS records — 16 years old today.

  2. Jul 24, 2026
    Latest security review — Reviewed as safe

    This scan re-ran every check and found no active threat signals.

lichess.org has operated for years with no threat signals in this review — a long, stable track record, though it is never a guarantee on its own.

Threat Detection

Antivirus Engines

Clean pass · verified
Clean across 92 engines

We cross-check every URL against our antivirus network of 92 malware and blacklist engines. None of them flagged this URL in the last scan.

0Malicious0Suspicious60Harmless92Engines
Clean
Kaspersky
Clean
Bitdefender
Clean
Microsoft
Not queried
ESET-NOD32
Not queried
Avira
Not queried
Sophos
Clean
Fortinet
Clean
Google Safebrowsing
Not queried
Emsisoft
Clean

No engine detections. The URL passed every antivirus and blacklist engine we queried in this scan. Stay vigilant — AV coverage is only one signal among many.

Security Scans

Blacklist Check
Not flagged on major threat lists

Checked against the major public blocklists used by browsers and security tools — no hits.

Reputation Sources

How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.

Google Safe Browsing
Not listedCheck ↗
VirusTotal
Not listedCheck ↗
AbuseIPDB
Not listedCheck ↗

Technical Details

The plumbing behind the site — who registered it, how it’s encrypted, where it’s hosted, and where it links out. A valid certificate or a calm server doesn’t mean the business is honest — scam sites pass these checks too. Use this to corroborate the verdict, not to overturn it.

Contact Verification

We fetched the page and looked for real-world contact details. Legitimate businesses almost always publish an email on their own domain, a phone number, and a postal address. Scam shops usually don't.

What We Found
No clear contact details on the page
Emails on site's domainNone
Phone numbers2026-07-27 16
Postal addressNot listed
Linked social profiles3
Signal Summary
Contact details look reasonable
  • No contact email found anywhere on the page.
  • No postal address visible on the page.
  • Phone number listed (2026-07-27 16).
  • Links to 3 social profiles.

Domain & Encryption

Domain History
Age16 years old
RegistrarOVH sas
RegisteredJun 14, 2010
ExpiresJun 14, 2027
Owner privacyVisible
Encryption Certificate
StatusValid
ProtocolTLSv1.3
IssuerLet's Encrypt · YE2
ExpiresSep 1, 2026 (39d)
Self-signedNo
Hosting & Technology
HostingOVH SAS
Server locationFR
Web servernginx
PopularityTop 100k worldwide

Redirect Chain

Hops
1
Cross-domain
No
Lookalike
No
Punycode
No
  • 1301http://lichess.org/
  • 2200https://lichess.org/

Server Reputation

Abuse Intelligence
Confidence score0%
Reports on file1
ISPOVH SAS
Usage typeData Center/Web Hosting/Transit

Referenced Domains

Outbound domains this page links to or loads resources from. Each links to its own security scan.

What to do

Still, stay alert

No major threat indicators — but a clean scan does not guarantee every page is safe, and phishing emails routinely spoof real domains.

  • Double-check the exact URL in your address bar

    Confirm you are actually on lichess.org and not a lookalike like l-ichess.org.com or an IDN homoglyph.

  • Use a password manager

    Password managers only auto-fill on the exact domain they were saved for — they refuse to fill lookalike domains, which is the single best phishing defence.

  • Discuss this site on the forum

    If you have first-hand experience with this site — good or bad — share it with the MalwareTips community.

    Open

Final Verdict

94
Trust / 100
Final Verdict·lichess.org
SAFE

Lichess.org is a legitimate, non-profit chess platform. The domain is 16 years old, has clean security scans, and is operated by a registered French non-profit. User complaints focus on moderation issues rather than fraud.

You can safely use Lichess.org for playing chess. The platform is legitimate and has operated for over 16 years without security incidents.

AV engines
92
Domain age
16 yrs
Flagged
0
Scan another URL
Security review completemalwaretips.com/url-scan

Safety FAQ

Common questions, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers always reflect the latest verdict on this page.

  • Our automated security review found no threat indicators on lichess.org, so it appears legitimate. All 92 antivirus engines we queried report it clean, it ranks among the world's most-visited sites, and the domain is 16.1 years old, registered on June 14, 2010 — established domains are far less likely to be scams. Even so, always double-check the exact address in your browser, because phishing emails routinely spoof real, trusted domains like this one.
  • lichess.org passed our automated checks with a trust score of 94/100. No antivirus engines or major blacklists flagged it at the time of the last scan, and its signals line up with an established, legitimate site. Treat any unexpected login prompt or payment request on it with the same caution you would anywhere.
  • Yes — and this is worth understanding. Even trustworthy domains get spoofed in phishing emails (a fake message that only looks like it's from lichess.org), and legitimate sites are occasionally compromised on specific pages. A clean verdict means the site itself checks out today; it does not mean every email or link claiming to be from lichess.org is genuine. Always reach the site by typing the address yourself rather than clicking links in unexpected messages.
  • No — all 92 antivirus and blocklist engines in our malware network currently report lichess.org as clean. That's a good sign, though antivirus coverage is only one of the many signals we weigh, and brand-new scam sites can appear clean before vendors catch up.
  • No — lichess.org is not currently on the major browser blocklist feeds that Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge rely on. Note that blocklists can lag behind brand-new scam domains, so "not listed" is reassuring but not a guarantee on its own.
  • lichess.org is 16.1 years old, registered on June 14, 2010 through OVH sas. A multi-year registration history is one of the stronger signals against a scam, though it's never a guarantee on its own — established domains can still be misused.
  • Yes — lichess.org presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Let's Encrypt · YE2, valid for another 39 days. Important caveat: SSL only encrypts the connection between you and the site — it does not verify who runs it. Almost all scam sites now have valid SSL too, so a padlock alone never means "safe".
  • lichess.org resolves to an IP operated by OVH SAS in FR (Data Center/Web Hosting/Transit). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad — but hosting that doesn't match a brand's claimed country, or that sits on networks known for abuse, is one of the many signals we weigh alongside the verdict above.
  • Yes — lichess.org ranks in the global top 100,000 most-visited sites, which means it has substantial real-world traffic. Genuine popularity doesn't automatically make a site safe, but throwaway scam domains almost never reach this level of traffic, so it's a meaningful point in the site's favour.
  • This report is a record of the scan run on July 24, 2026, and the verdict reflects that point in time. Scam sites change fast — they can go live, get flagged, or vanish within days — so if you believe something about lichess.org has changed, MalwareTips staff can run a fresh scan that re-checks every signal from scratch and republishes an updated verdict.
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Community review

User reviews & comments(0)

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This automated risk assessment reflects the evidence available at scan time. It is informational, not legal advice. Always use your own judgement before sharing personal information or money online.