Free forever for up to 30 students

Is Chess Nexus free for coaches?

Yes — free forever for up to 30 students. The free coach plan on Chess Nexus has no trial period, no expiry date and no card requirement. It is not a limited demo: assignments, courses, the class schedule, attendance, fee tracking, parent progress reports and the built-in live classroom are all included at no cost.

Paid plans exist for coaches who outgrow it — more students, longer live classes, more classes per day, and bigger live rooms — but nothing forces you onto one. A coach with 30 students or fewer can use Chess Nexus indefinitely for free.

What free chess coaches get

Everything below is included on the free plan, permanently.

• Up to 30 studentsYour roster can hold 30 active students at once, free forever. There is no trial clock and no card on file.
• Unlimited batchesGroup those students into as many batches as you like — by level, age or class time. Assignments, courses, schedules and activities can target a whole batch at once.
• All 7 assignment typesPuzzle topics, a whole study, a single study chapter, timed Puzzle Rush, arena tournaments, play-vs-Stockfish positions built on a visual board editor, and custom tasks. Solve rate and accuracy are recorded per student automatically.
• 30 courses, 3 lessons eachBuild up to 30 ordered courses with up to 3 lessons in each. Lessons can be your own studies, built-in Nexus studies, videos, master games or endgame positions.
• The live classroomOne live class per day, up to 40 minutes, with up to 4 students plus you. HD video, screen share, one shared board, board control, drawing, waiting room, raise hand, and one-click homework — the same room paid coaches use, just smaller.
• Class scheduleSet weekly class slots per batch. You enter the time in your timezone and every student sees it converted to theirs. Change it and students are notified automatically.
• AttendancePresent, Absent and Catch-up, exported as CSV for any period. Attendance is written automatically when you admit a student to a live class.
• Parent progress reportsOne shareable link per student showing rating over time, puzzles solved, assignment completion, attendance and recent games — including their Lichess and Chess.com games. Parents need no account.
• Fee & payment trackingRecord enrollment, the monthly fee, classes per month, currency and class type per student, and mark payments — so attendance and fees stay in step.
• Coach ↔ student chatA dedicated space to message students one-to-one or as a group, with automatic notices when the schedule or activities change.
• Private class activitiesCreate arena races and tournaments only your own students can join. They never appear on the public Arena, so no outside player can enter your class session.
• Premium tools for 90 daysPremium endgames and the opening repertoire trainer are free for your first three months as a coach. After that they can be unlocked with XP earned by playing.

What the free plan does not include

Stated plainly, so there are no surprises. These are the only limits — everything not listed here is included.

• 31st studentThe roster stops at 30. To add more you move to a paid plan — Pro raises it to 70 and Coach to 150.
• A second live class in one dayFree coaches run one live class per calendar day. The plans that include the live classroom lift this to unlimited classes a day.
• Classes longer than 40 minutesA free class is capped at 40 minutes. Paid plans raise this to 60 minutes, and the top live plan to 120.
• A 5th student in the live roomA free live room holds 4 students plus the coach, 5 people in total, enforced by the server. Live plans raise this to 10 students plus the coach, and the top live plan to 25.
• A 31st course, or a 4th lesson in oneFree coaches get 30 courses with up to 3 lessons each. Paid plans make both unlimited.
• Team Race & Monthly Focus eventsCreating these unlimited is an elite-coach perk on the plans that include the live classroom. Any coach may still create one Monthly Focus once, as a free trial.

Going over a limit never deletes anything. You are held at the free plan's limits and every student, course and record stays in place.

The free plan at a glance

Frequently asked questions

Start free

Create a coach account, add your students and run your first class today. If you later need more than 30 students or longer classes, the paid coach plans start from $29/month, and academies with several coaches are billed together on one plan.