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Digital Piano Under €1000: Piano Made Affordable

  • If you want to buy a digital piano for under €1000, you have the choice between portable pianos and home pianos.
  • The quality of the keyboard and in particular of the built-in playback system increases with the price.
  • The €1000 limit is a hot number among manufacturers. Many digital pianos are listed just below that.
digitalpiano-for-under-1000-euro-image
(Image Source: Casio)
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If you want to buy a digital piano for under €1000, there is a diverse selection of portable pianos and home pianos. The closer your budget gets to the €1000 mark, the higher the quality of the keyboard and playback system.

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Digital Piano Under €1000 – For Home or Mobile Use?

If you want to spend up to €1000 on a new instrument, you have the choice between different models. If the future digital piano is to have a permanent place in the home, we recommend a home piano. Apart from a few low-budget exceptions, these instruments always come with a matching stand with a triple pedal and built-in key cover.

If you’re looking for an instrument to quickly take to a rehearsal, lesson, or gig, you’re better off with a portable piano. A universal stand will complete the instrument, and in many cases, the included standard sustain pedal will suffice for now.

digitalpiano-for-under-1000-euros-modern-design
Additional features cost: The fact that the back panel of the stand is not the same height as the instrument at the top, which leaves a gap, is common in this price range. (Image Source: Korg)

The appearance of inexpensive home pianos resembles that of a piano, but every extra drives up the price. Hence, manufacturing a digital piano for under €1000 means cutting costs – beginning with the body. Commonly, the back of the stand is not the same height as the top of the instrument, creating a gap between the stand and the casing.

You can generally expect satisfactory digital piano qualities if you spend a minimum of €650. These features characterize good equipment:

  • Convincing digital grand piano sounds
  • Weighted keyboards with hammer action and a surface coating for better grip (“Ebony/Ivory-Feel”)
  • Triple pedals (soft, sostenuto, sustain)
  • Key cover – part of almost all current entry-level home pianos in this price segment
  • Minimum of 10 sounds
  • Polyphony ranges from a decent 120 (Korg) to a lush 256 (Casio) voices, depending on the manufacturer
  • MIDI recorder with 2 tracks and practice songs
  • Availability in two to three color variants

For a digital piano at an even lower price point, there is also a selection of good instruments. Find out more about this in the PIANOO Buyer’s Guide: Digital Pianos for under €500.

Ebony and Ivory, Playing in Perfect Harmony…

Even with a digital piano for under €1000, you are getting features such as a surface coating. This makes the keys feel almost like a real piano. Not all models that we recommend here have this Ebony/Ivory feature, nor it is the only decisive factor for a good playing feel on a digital piano. Without a doubt, the hammer action mechanism deserves more attention in this regard. Here, all recommended models feature an 88-key graded hammer action keyboard.

Good Sound and Playability

The quality of keyboards in this price range is generally good. We can say the same about the sounds, of which the offer is improved compared to the class below €500. A digital piano for under €1000 not only comes with more sounds but also with more depth and expressiveness.

Basically, a digital piano between €500 and €1000 has a split or dual mode that lets you play two sounds simultaneously. The polyphony performance is correspondingly higher here, with at least 120 voices, often 192 or even more.

In addition, digital pianos of this price range usually offer a duet or duo function. This divides the keyboard into two identical areas—ideal for playing with four hands in piano lessons.

Learning and Practicing with a Digital Piano

Speaking of piano lessons – a digital piano for under €1000 frequently comes with helpful functions such as a metronome or a recorder. Furthermore, you’ll find rhythms and stored music pieces for learning and practicing.

Home Piano Design – Traditional or Modern?

In the case of digital pianos, the cabinets are relatively small but fully equipped with three pedals and a key cover. You can usually pull this out of the upper part of the case – at least of those in traditional digital piano design. Here, examples include the Yamaha Arius YDP-145 or the Casio AP-270. Opposing that, the Yamaha Arius S-35/55 or the Korg C1 Air are somewhat more compact and more modern in design: The key cover serves as a music stand when opened. This practical solution also looks a bit smarter overall. Matter of taste.

Made for Home Use: Digital Piano Under €1000

Manufacturers such as Casio and Yamaha offer different home piano models in this price range. You can choose between spending either around €700 or around €1000. If you go for the more expensive model, you will almost always get a more powerful built-in playback system. On the other hand, differences in keyboard or grand piano sound are less decisive. Further, some of the more expensive models have additional sounds such as strings and pads, B3 organ, or basses.

A weakness of almost every digital piano under €1000 is the reduced control panel.

A weakness of almost every digital piano under €1000 is the control panel, which is reduced to a few functions. Due to the few control elements, you almost always have to adjust settings using the keys of the instrument’s keyboard. An example would be switching sounds (with the “Function” button pressed simultaneously). Only a few recommendable home pianos, which are usually priced around €1000, offer more comfort.

A good solution if you already have a smartphone or tablet: Almost every manufacturer is offering piano apps for their digital pianos – these make operation much more convenient. Further, the apps often add interesting features. For example, the Casio Music Space app focuses on learning functions, and Kawai’s Virtual Technician on adjusting the sounds. Yamaha offers the apps Digital Piano Controller and Smart Pianist for the Arius series.

roland-digital-piano-piano-partner-app
Manufacturers' own-brand apps make controlling a piano much more convenient - given you can connect to a smartphone or tablet. In this class, this feature is mostly available with the more expensive instruments. (Image Source: Roland)

With their Privia and Arius home piano series, Casio and Yamaha in particular are targeting the price range up to €1000. However, Kawai, Korg, and Roland also offer models that fit into the budget.

Yamaha Arius YDP-145

While almost identical to its predecessor YDP-144, the YDP-145 offers improvements in piano sound.

Pros and Cons

  • Solid entry-level piano
  • Good piano sound
  • USB audio/MIDI function
  • Keys without Ivory feel

Henrik Bruns

→ REVIEW

No compromises in terms of intonation and feel–in these crucial points, the current small Yamaha Arius YDP-145 is top of its class, and beginners as well as advanced players will enjoy this instrument for years to come.

YDP-145 B Arius :   868,00 €

TO THE OFFER

YDP-145 R Arius :   859,00 €

TO THE OFFER

YDP-145 WH Arius :   859,00 €

TO THE OFFER

Kawai KDP-120 – A Proper Piano

Solid piano qualities and well-thought-out lesson functions characterize the Kawai KDP-120. Besides a MIDI and Bluetooth interface, it offers voicing and tuning functions for the grand piano sound.

Jörg Sunderkötter

→ REVIEW

Small price, big sound. The playability, sound quality, and range of features are all impressive—plus, the affordable price makes this a top choice for beginners and newcomers to digital pianos.

KDP-120 B :   925,00 €

TO THE OFFER

KDP-120 W :   929,00 €

TO THE OFFER

KDP-120 R :   925,00 €

TO THE OFFER

Casio Celviano AP-270 – Solid Low-Cost Piano

Casio’s classic Celviano home piano line is just above the Privia series in terms of performance. For around €800, the AP-270 is thus an in-house price sensation.

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Casio AP-270 BK Celviano
Casio AP-270 BK Celviano
Customer rating:
(17)

Casio Celviano AP-470 – All About Design

The Casio AP-470 offers the best price/performance ratio just below the €1000 mark – given case design is important in addition to playing feel and sound.

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Casio AP-470 BK Celviano
Casio AP-470 BK Celviano
Customer rating:
(25)

Yamaha Arius YDP-S35 – Sleek Design, Full Sound

A budget of just under €1000 gets you the Yamaha Arius YDP-S35, which features a sliding key cover.

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Yamaha YDP-S35 B Arius
Yamaha YDP-S35 B Arius
Customer rating:
(8)

Thomann DP-51 – Best Price/Performance Ratio

The Thomann DP-51 offers a lot of digital piano for little money: Classic home piano design with a high-gloss finish, hammer action keyboard with an Ivory Feel surface.

Pros and Cons

  • Very reasonable price
  • Ivory Feel
  • Let-off-simulation
  • Mediocre additional sounds

Jörg Sunderkötter

→ REVIEW

A well equipped high-gloss polished case at this price point - that's absolutely top!

DP-51 B :   619,00 €

TO THE OFFER

DP-51 BP :   759,00 €

TO THE OFFER

DP-51 WH :   629,00 €

TO THE OFFER

Thomann DP-140B U – Upright Digital Piano

With the Thomann DP-140B U, you get a lot of piano for a small price. At first glance, the upright digital piano looks confusingly similar to an acoustic piano.

Pros and Cons

  • Upright piano design at an entry-level price
  • Synthetic ivory keytops
  • Great speaker system
  • Appealing piano sound
  • Mediocre additional sounds

Jörg Sunderkötter

→ REVIEW

With its upright design, the Thomann DP-140B U stands out amongst other digital pianos. Thanks to the well-dimensioned speaker system the instrument also convinces in terms of sound.

DP-140B U BK :   879,00 €

TO THE OFFER

DP-140B U BK Set :   959,00 €

TO THE OFFER

DP-140BP UW :   999,00 €

TO THE OFFER

Korg C1 Air – Classy Look, Powerful Sound

A more elaborately designed case with additional front legs. Two grand piano sounds and a wide selection of additional sounds, MIDI as well as Bluetooth interface. The playback system is among the most powerful in this class.

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Korg C1 Air BK
Korg C1 Air BK
Customer rating:
(12)

Portable Pianos between €500 and €1000

If you want to buy a digital piano for under €1000, you should take a look at portable pianos: While their compact design makes portable pianos suitable for mobile use, they also excel as home pianos. In most cases, manufacturers offer a stand and pedal unit as optional accessories.

With this equipment, a portable piano looks just like a home piano. After all, portable pianos are more similar to home pianos in terms of sound selection and functions such as metronome and recorder. However, due to their construction, music stores list them as “stage pianos.” Accordingly, we summarized them in a separate guide, “Best Stage Piano Under €1000.

*Affiliate link. These “advertising links” help us finance our website. If you buy a product through such a link, we receive a small commission – at no extra cost to you. The PIANOO.com team says thank you for your support!

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