Simply Piano alternatives: apps like Simply Piano, and cheaper ones

Updated 2026-10-20 · 8 min read

The main alternatives to Simply Piano are flowkey (pop and classical songs taught with video of a pianist's hands), Skoove (a guided course with instructor support), Piano Marvel (a full method with a free plan, best with a MIDI piano) and PianoKite (the app this site is for: classical and traditional pieces with bar-by-bar feedback, with a free plan and a $7-a-month Library plan planned for the store launch). If price is the reason you're looking, Piano Marvel's free plan, flowkey's Classic plan, PianoKite's Library plan and Synthesia's one-time unlock all cost less than Simply Piano's monthly options.

Simply Piano is a good app for what it sets out to do. Below is why people still look elsewhere, a direct comparison with flowkey, and the alternatives with their prices as of October 2026 (US prices, from each company's own pages or store listings).

What Simply Piano does well

Simply Piano, by Simply (formerly JoyTunes), is built to get a complete beginner playing quickly. You put the phone or tablet on the music stand, and it listens through the microphone or over MIDI. Lessons are short and game-like, with personalised five-minute workouts, and its Google Play listing describes a library of more than 5,000 songs, from Imagine and Counting Stars to Bach and Mozart. Up to five family members can have their own profiles on one account, and a subscription also includes Simply Guitar.

For a beginner who wants to play songs they know from the radio and needs a nudge to practise every day, that's a strong combination.

Why people look for a Simply Piano alternative

The price

Simply's help centre says prices vary by country, platform and current offer, and are shown in the app. On the US App Store the listed purchases include 12-month individual plans at $119.99 and $149.99 (with a trial), plans at $19.99–$24.95 that look like monthly options, and a family plan at $179.99 a year. Yearly plans are paid up front. Compared with a weekly lesson with a teacher, that's cheap. Among the apps below it's mid-range: Skoove and flowkey Premium cost as much or more, while flowkey Classic, Piano Marvel and PianoKite cost less.

The subscription terms

The store listings state that subscriptions can be cancelled during the trial, but "cannot be canceled during the active subscription period": you can turn off renewal, but a year you've paid for runs to its end. Read that before choosing the yearly plan at the end of a free trial.

The song library is rented

Simply Piano's songs, including the licensed pop songs that are much of its appeal, live inside the app. Two courses are free; everything else needs the subscription. That's how most of these apps work, but it means that when you stop paying, your repertoire stays behind, and there's no listed way to bring in your own music.

Bluetooth MIDI on Android

Simply Piano works with MIDI by USB cable on iPhone, iPad and Android, but its Bluetooth MIDI guide covers iPhone and iPad only. If you have a Bluetooth piano and an Android phone, check this before subscribing.

You've outgrown it

Some learners find that after the beginner courses they want more: real scores, longer pieces, more detailed feedback on what went wrong. That's when a library- or method-based app starts to make sense.

Simply Piano vs flowkey

These two are the most common pair people compare. Both teach beginners, both listen by microphone or MIDI, and both have licensed pop songs. The differences:

Choose Simply Piano if you're a complete beginner who likes being guided step by step and kept motivated. Choose flowkey if you learn by watching, want to pick songs and learn them at your own pace, or mostly want classical music, where its Classic plan is cheaper. flowkey's prices are from its help centre, updated August 2026.

The alternatives

flowkey: songs with video

As above: video of real hands, Wait mode, four difficulty levels, microphone or MIDI (USB and Bluetooth). Suits: people who want to learn particular songs, pop or classical, by watching them played. Less good for: a fully structured path from zero to reading music fluently.

Skoove: a guided course with real teachers behind it

Skoove is course-first: over 400 lessons that build note reading, theory and technique around songs from The Beatles and Adele to Bach and Debussy, with instructional videos. Premium includes one-to-one support from Skoove's piano instructors. It listens by microphone, USB MIDI or Bluetooth MIDI, on iPhone, iPad, Android and the web. Per Skoove's help centre: $29.99 a month, $59.99 every three months, or $149.99 a year. Suits: beginners who want more teaching and theory than Simply Piano gives, and the option to ask a person. Less good for: anyone looking to pay less: at US list prices it costs as much as Simply Piano or more, monthly and yearly.

Piano Marvel: a full method, with a free plan

Piano Marvel is the most thorough of these: a long method of lessons and exercises, a library of more than 25,000 songs on Premium, uploading your own music, and a standardised sight-reading test. Its free plan includes 150+ songs, 200+ exercises, 25 video lessons and scoring; Premium is $17.99 a month or $129.99 a year. It's built around a MIDI keyboard and works best in Chrome on a computer; microphone input is iPhone and iPad only, and the Android app is in beta. Suits: serious learners with a digital piano who want to read music properly, and teachers. Less good for: acoustic pianos away from iPhone and iPad, and Android phones.

PianoKite: classical pieces with feedback on every bar

PianoKite is the app this site is for, made by an independent developer. Its library is about 2,150 public-domain pieces, many in several versions from easy to original, from Minuet in G major to Moonlight Sonata, 1st movement, plus a 53-lesson beginner course that teaches reading music from the first note. It connects to a digital piano over Bluetooth MIDI (inside the app, on Android too) or USB, or listens to any piano through the microphone.

The learn screen shows the score, falling notes and the keyboard together, with Wait mode, play-along at 50, 75 and 100%, and hands separately. After each run, every bar is scored per hand, and a review tells you what went wrong in it. You can also import your own MIDI files.

The free plan includes the first two course units, a 20-second sample of every piece and all the practice tools. The Library plan, with every piece and lesson, is $7 a month or $4 a week (planned prices for the store launch), with no yearly commitment (pricing). Right now it runs in the browser (Chrome or Edge connect to a piano over Web MIDI; Safari on iPhone uses the microphone), with the Android and iPhone apps on their way to the stores.

Suits: learners who want classical, folk and traditional music, a Bluetooth piano on Android, or a lower monthly price. Less good for: pop songs (there are none; the library is public domain only) and anyone who wants video lessons.

Playground Sessions: pop songs with video lessons

Co-created by Quincy Jones, Playground Sessions has video lessons and more than 2,000 songs (Disney, Queen, Adele, Taylor Swift and more) in beginner, intermediate and advanced arrangements, on iPhone, iPad and Android. A MIDI cable gives the most accurate feedback; the microphone is in beta. Prices are shown in the app rather than on its website. Suits: pop lovers with a digital piano who want a video teacher.

Piano by Yousician: the most game-like

Missions, exercises, hundreds of video lessons and a weekly challenge. It listens by microphone and supports MIDI keyboards. The US App Store lists Premium at $19.99 a month or $119.99 a year, about the same as Simply Piano. Suits: people who enjoyed Simply Piano's game side and want more of it.

Synthesia: pay once

Synthesia plays any MIDI file as falling notes, waits for the right note and splits the hands. It's a one-time unlock, not a subscription: $7.99 on the US App Store (iPad only) or a website key for Windows, Mac, iPad and Android. There's no course and no microphone. Suits: people with a MIDI keyboard who already have the music they want as MIDI files. More in Synthesia alternatives.

Which apps are cheaper than Simply Piano?

Comparing US list prices as of October 2026:

• Free to use, with limits: Piano Marvel's free plan and PianoKite's free plan both include scoring; Synthesia's free version has 20+ songs.
• One-time: Synthesia, $7.99 (App Store) or a website key.
• Monthly, lower than Simply Piano's monthly options: PianoKite Library at $7 (planned), flowkey Classic at $16.49, Piano Marvel at $17.99.
• Yearly, lower than $119.99: flowkey Classic at $99.99. (PianoKite has no yearly plan; twelve months of the Library plan comes to $84.)

Price isn't everything: the cheapest options are cheap partly because they don't license pop songs. If those songs are why you play, flowkey Premium or Playground Sessions are the like-for-like alternatives.

How to choose

• You want pop songs and video: flowkey Premium or Playground Sessions.
• You want a teacher-like course: Skoove or Piano Marvel.
• You want classical music for less: flowkey Classic or PianoKite.
• You have an acoustic piano: flowkey, Skoove, Yousician or PianoKite, which all listen by microphone on phones; see learning with an acoustic piano.
• You have a Bluetooth digital piano and Android: flowkey or PianoKite (Skoove documents Bluetooth MIDI for iPhone and iPad). Connecting a piano to Android shows how.

For the full side-by-side, including platforms and how each app hears you, see the best piano apps for a digital piano. Whatever you try next, use the free plan or trial with your own piano and a piece you want to play, and set a reminder before a trial turns into a yearly charge.