Where to play Go online: an honest comparison
There is no single best Go server — it depends on whether you want the biggest player pool, the best mobile app, or an AI that works with no internet. Here is what each one is actually good at.
The short version
| Where | Best at | Weak spot | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| OGS (online-go.com) | Largest free Western pool, correspondence games, browser-first | AI analysis is limited on the free tier | Free / optional supporter |
| Fox Weiqi | Huge Chinese player base, very strong opposition | Interface and support are Chinese-first | Free |
| Tygem | Strong Korean pool, fast live games | Dated client, rank inflation debates | Free |
| Pandanet IGS | Long-running, calm community | Smaller and older | Free |
| KGS | Teaching games, rooms, reviews | Much quieter than it was | Free |
| TseGo | Offline 9-dan AI on the phone, rank-realistic bots, 15,000 puzzles | New — the human player pool is small | Free |
Pick by what you actually want
"I want a human opponent right now"
OGS, or Fox/Tygem if you are in Asia or want the strongest opposition. Player pool beats every other feature when you want a live game at 2 a.m. This is where a new app cannot compete, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
"I'm learning and want to lose less painfully"
A rank-matched AI is better than a human here — no pressure, no waiting, and you can replay the same position. The problem is that most apps' "easy" bots are a strong engine with its thinking cut down, so they play dan-level moves punctuated by random blunders.
TseGo uses KataGo's human-imitation network conditioned on a rank, so an 8 kyu opponent plays like an 8 kyu. That is the main reason to start here rather than on a big server where your first 50 games are losses to strangers.
"I play on the metro / plane"
This is the clearest split. Almost every strong Go AI is server-side, so no signal means no game. TseGo runs the network on the device — full-strength AI, puzzles and tutorial with airplane mode on. See how that works.
"I want to study, not just play"
Tsumego is what moves your rank. Any of the servers plus a dedicated problem set works; TseGo bundles 15,000 problems with escalating hints, offline.
"I want deep AI analysis of my games"
Desktop KataGo with a GUI such as Lizzie or KaTrain, on your own machine, is still unmatched — it is free and uses your GPU. Server-based analysis on any platform is a convenience layer over the same engine.
Ranks are not comparable between servers
A 5 kyu on Fox, a 5 kyu on OGS and a 5 kyu on KGS are three different strengths — Fox ranks are generally considered the harshest, KGS historically the softest. Do not be discouraged when your rank drops several stones after switching servers; nothing happened to your skill.
Our honest position
If your goal is a live human game against a large pool at any hour, use OGS or Fox. If your goal is to learn Go, to have a believable opponent at your level, to study puzzles, and to do all of that without an internet connection or an account — that is what TseGo was built for, and you can try it in the browser without installing anything.
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