What's the best: Lichess or Chess.com? And why is chess.com?

I never had any problem with the adds on chess.com but when I started a game and there was this red blinking add that looked like a scene from Lord of the Rings taking 1/4 of the screen on the right side, I found it very disturbing. I resigned the game on second move because it was getting on my nerves and canceled my account there.

About the pool of players, it`s better here, and getting better each day.

It's pretty clear that Lichess is the best multiplayer chess website in the world. I recommend it to anyone who asks for a site to play against other people.

1. No ads (!!!)
2. Open source development - as a result, features are pushed out often and user feedback is incorporated rapidly
3. Usable UX/UI, looks like it was built in the 21st century
4. Better community

My main problem with Chess.com is that the ABORT ON MOVE ONE feature can only be used a few times, and then it's taken away from you. I always like having the option to get out of a game if my opponent seems to be away from the computer, or if I accidentally accept a challenge I do not want to play.
I still use Chess.com on my phone for 2 days/move games and the like, but for quick games when I have an hour to spare, Lichess wins hands down.
I've used many servers. I spent years using FICS, but have recently gotten away from it, and I can say that there is much to offer with Lichess that makes the game very enjoyable online.

I prefer chess.com, I really love the interface there, very smooth, and a lot stronger players, lichess often feels a bit jolty, but honestly both sites are very enjoyable, and lichess responds to feedback very well and has a good community!

I've tried chesscube - it's made in flash and crashes quite often.

chess.com - too much of ads and it's messy.

lichess is my winner - simple interface, nice community and it's open source.

what could be better is its design and also nobody can find it by googling... I was maybe on 5th page and found lichess...

Chesscube is nice with so many different piece sets, but the downside is needing to pay with "cubits". It also has a lot of ads.

Chess.com is only nice because it is a good domain name that is also top ranked on Google. Maybe their articles and posts are also nice. But the popups, and needing to pay for certain features are a big drawback.

lichess.org is a site that after the first time I played on it, I've always been coming back. The design is very aesthetic and the light/dark background is a huge plus for when I play at night. Like was mentioned, the only downside is that it's not rated very high on search engines which also limits the number of players playing on here. Maybe it needs more seo or backlinks?

It certainly needs more backlinks. Can you do something about it?

Also forgot to mention the ease of registration. It will surely makes this a more popular site than the others in the long run.

What about adding the buttons to post a newly played lichess game to the social media sites?

Maybe something could be done in collaboration with chessgames.com and link to this site placed over there.

I think lichess is the best for all the reasons mentioned by NM matetricks and may be many more reasons. I used to play often on chess.com, but the moment I found out about lichess.org, my number of games played on chess.com has dropped >99%. That's how good I find lichess.

There is only one issue I have with lichess, that the wait time to find a match is a bit longer than chess.com, and the solution to that is to encourage all your friends and everyone to play here.. the more players we have on lichess at any point in time, the less the wait time.

please no "social"(=spying) buttons here...
I have better idea -everyone lichess player who have also FICS account should in his profile there mention about lichess.org
Example "I play also on lichess.org" or I recommend playing....