Simply Pianovs
Flowkey
Flowkey: If you want a comparable piano-only, microphone-based app with a different song catalogue and lesson style
Simply Piano
Piano-only learning app from JoyTunes using microphone listening, no MIDI keyboard required
As of 1 September 2026, Simply Piano has a free plan and paid plans start at $119.99/year. A piano-specific subscription app that listens through your device microphone to any acoustic or digital piano and scores your playing, aimed squarely at beginners who want structured lessons without buying a MIDI keyboard. Softwr lists it under Education. Simply Piano is made by JoyTunes, available on iOS, Android, Web.
Overview
What Simply Piano does
Simply Piano, made by JoyTunes, teaches piano through a structured beginner-to-intermediate curriculum covering reading notation, chords, hand independence and popular songs, using microphone listening to detect the notes played on any piano or keyboard, acoustic or digital. It does not require a MIDI connection, so it works with an acoustic piano at home as easily as a digital keyboard. The distinguishing detail against Flowkey is emphasis and curriculum structure rather than technology, since both use microphone listening on piano specifically. Simply Piano leans further into a gamified, song-driven path with heavier use of popular music arrangements, while positioning itself as accessible to complete beginners including children through a companion kids product. Against Yousician, which spans five instruments with one shared method, the entire Simply Piano curriculum is built around piano technique specifically, including finger numbering and hand position guidance a multi-instrument app does not go as deep on. Buyers are complete beginners and families wanting a self-guided piano start without lessons or MIDI hardware, and parents choosing between this and Flowkey mostly on trial experience and song catalogue preference, since the core mechanic is similar. The trade-off against Melodics is the same one Yousician has: microphone listening cannot track fast or dense playing as precisely as a MIDI keyboard connection can, so it plateaus before advanced classical repertoire.
What people use it for
- A complete beginner who owns an acoustic piano and wants structured lessons without a MIDI connection
- A parent choosing a self-guided piano app for a child who does not yet take private lessons
- Someone who wants heavily song-driven practice using popular music rather than only classical exercises
- A household deciding between this and Flowkey based on trial experience and song catalogue fit
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Simply Piano.
- Microphone-based note detection is less precise than MIDI input for fast or dense passages, so advanced players eventually outgrow its accuracy ceiling.
- Its curriculum is piano only, so anyone wanting to learn a second instrument needs a separate subscription to Yousician or another app.
- The free trial is limited, and meaningful progress requires the paid annual subscription at around $120 a year.
- Background noise and an out-of-tune acoustic piano can degrade the accuracy of the microphone-based scoring.
- It does not go deep into music theory or advanced classical technique, so a serious student will eventually need a human teacher alongside or instead of it.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Simply Piano
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- Simply PianovsYousician
Yousician: If you want one subscription covering piano alongside guitar, bass or ukulele
- Simply PianovsMelodics
Melodics: If you want MIDI-precise feedback for fast or complex piano and keys playing rather than microphone listening
Pricing
What Simply Piano costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Simply Piano
Free
- Limited introductory lessons
Premium
$119.99 /yr
- Full lesson path and song library
- Progress tracking
- Family plan options available
Capabilities
Features
Microphone-based listening
Detects notes played on any acoustic or digital piano, no MIDI required
Structured curriculum
Progressive lessons covering notation, chords and hand independence
Popular song arrangements
Simplified versions of chart and classic songs matched to skill level
Kids mode
A separate, simplified experience aimed at younger learners
Practice feedback
Real-time accuracy scoring and error highlighting during play
Offline practice mode
Some lesson content available without an active connection
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Do I need a MIDI keyboard for Simply Piano?
No, it listens through your device microphone and works with any acoustic or digital piano.
How is it different from Flowkey?
Both use the same microphone-based, piano-only approach; the difference is mainly curriculum style and song catalogue, worth comparing via free trials.
Is there a kids version?
Yes, a simplified kids-focused mode and companion product exist for younger learners.
Keep looking
Where to go from Simply Piano
- Simply Piano alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Simply Piano pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Simply Piano badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Education softwareThe full category
- Best Education softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Education software for
Compare Simply Piano with
- Flowkey
- Yousician
- Melodics
- Merlin Bird ID
- PictureThis
- Memrise
- Busuu
- Photomath
- Rosetta Stone
- Securly
- Sky Guide
- Elevate
- Infinite Campus
- Pl@ntNet
- Pluralsight
- Bark for Schools
- eBird
- Memrise
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Simply Piano, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
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