Great Pianos for Under $150

Keyscape is my go-to keyboard plugin. For $399 you get 36 instruments, from concert grands and uprights to electric pianos, clavinets and toy pianos, and if you play a lot of different keyboards it’s hard to beat. You can read more in our Addictive Keys vs Keyscape comparison.

But if you only need a good acoustic piano, though, you don’t have to spend that much. For songs, beats, film cues or practice, there are several pianos under $150 that forum users and reviewers rate highly.

This guide covers five of them: Addictive Keys Studio Grand, IK Multimedia Pianoverse, Universal Audio Ravel, Sonuscore CHROMA Grand and Modartt Pianoteq Stage. The picks come from piano threads on KVR Audio, VI-Control and Gearspace, and from the most-watched YouTube reviews of each one. Where reviewers disagree, you’ll see both sides. Each section also has the maker’s own demo video, so you can hear the piano before you click through.

Budget Piano Plugins at a Glance

Prices are list prices from Plugin Boutique’s US store and Modartt’s own site, checked October 2026. All of these go on sale often, so check the link before you buy.

1. Addictive Keys Studio Grand: The Value Pick

Studio Grand is one sampled Steinway Model D in a small, simple plugin. The whole piano takes up about 1.2–1.5 GB, it loads quickly and it runs on modest computers (XLN asks for 2 GB of RAM, 4 GB recommended).

Merriam Music’s roundup, one of the most-watched piano VST comparisons on YouTube, spent two months with ten piano plugins. They gave Addictive Keys their “best value” award ahead of far more expensive libraries. They pointed to its well-made presets and its mic mixer, which lets you blend three sets of microphone recordings to shape the tone. KVR forum users say much the same thing: cheap, good-sounding and easy to tweak.

Not everyone agrees. In Sanjay C’s blindfold test of ten popular pianos, Addictive Keys came last, just below Ableton’s free stock piano. Sanjay is a classically trained player, and he asked viewers to tell him why they like it so much. Put the two together and you get a fair picture. It’s a mix-ready piano with plenty of tone-shaping, rather than a concert instrument for classical players.

XLN Audio’s own walkthrough of the Studio Grand presets:

Good for: pop, songwriting, beats and anyone on an older laptop.
Watch out for: expressive solo playing; try the free trial with your own keyboard first.

You can read more in our Addictive Keys Studio Grand review. If you want more than one piano, the Trio bundle adds two more instruments for $199.

2. IK Multimedia Pianoverse: One Piano, Many Rooms

Pianoverse is sold one piano at a time. The range includes a 9-foot Yamaha concert grand, a New York Steinway, a Bösendorfer-style grand and a Yamaha upright, and each costs $99.99. A Pianoverse MAX bundle with all of them lists at $299.99.

IK recorded the pianos very dry, with almost no room sound. PraiseTracks (Simeon Amburgey) spent most of his review in the Space section, which places the piano in a studio, a palace, a desert or even under the sea. The rooms go well beyond a normal reverb, with optional sounds such as wind and an audience. With Space switched off you get a close, plain piano you can treat in your own mix.

There’s more to tweak than the rooms. You can adjust the lid position, release sounds, hammers and pedal noise, and half-pedaling and sympathetic string resonance are built in. Each piano has two mic positions.

The cost is size. Each piano needs about 30 GB of free space, and IK lists 8 GB of RAM as the minimum (32 GB recommended).

Gearspace users point out that single Pianoverse pianos have sold for as little as $29.99 in sales. IK has also given away a free Pianoverse piano to newsletter subscribers in the past, so it’s worth watching for offers.

IK Multimedia’s introduction to Pianoverse:

Good for: film and ambient music, and anyone who wants a piano that sits in an unusual space.
Watch out for: the download size, and RAM if your computer has 8 GB.

3. Universal Audio Ravel: Simple and Highly Rated

Ravel is a Steinway Model B. It was recorded at the studio formerly called Ocean Way in Los Angeles, using engineer Allen Sides’ vintage microphones. Universal Audio combines those samples with its own modeling, which you hear most in the room sound.

In a blindfold test by Andertons, keyboard player Dan Bingham played two software pianos and the built-in piano of a Nord Grand without knowing which was which. He ranked Ravel second of the three, with the Nord’s own piano first and Keyscape’s default C7 grand a close third. He said all three were of a very high standard and the order came down to personal preference. The presenter liked Ravel’s pedal noise and character. He also called it “pretty bare bones” in options. It has a small set of presets, a tone control, mic distance and a few settings.

The feature both Andertons videos picked out is the reverse piano. You can blend a reversed copy of each note into what you play, live, which makes swelling ambient sounds without bouncing audio.

One thing has changed since those videos. In 2020 Ravel needed Universal Audio hardware. Today it’s sold as a UAD Native plugin (VST3, AU and AAX) that runs in any DAW on a normal computer, with an iLok license and UA’s free Connect app. Universal Audio offers a free 14-day demo of it, as it does for all its native plugins.

Universal Audio’s Ravel sound examples:

Good for: pop and ambient producers who want a good Steinway without lots of menus.
Watch out for: if you like to fine-tune every detail, Ravel gives you fewer controls than the others here.

4. Sonuscore CHROMA Grand Piano: A Grand With a Cinematic Side

CHROMA is a Yamaha C3 sampled with 23 velocity layers. It runs in the free Kontakt Player, so you don’t need to buy full Kontakt.

Composer Kevin Kuschel summed it up as “hybrid done right” in his review. On the natural presets it’s a balanced, playable grand that he found easy to play quietly or hit hard. On top of that you get five extra articulations (brushes, muted strings, mallets, chains and an E-Bow) and an effects engine that turns the piano into pulses, pads and textures. You can stack the articulations, and the engine’s settings work separately from the piano.

There are four mic positions, including a “rumble” mic under the piano that thickens the low end. In PraiseTracks’ video the plugin used about 25–30% CPU on the busier engine presets.

Sonuscore’s playthrough of the CHROMA presets:

Good for: film, game and trailer music, and lo-fi or ambient producers who want more than a plain piano.
Watch out for: if you only want a straight piano, you’re paying for an engine you won’t use.

We’ve also covered CHROMA Grand Piano on its own.

5. Pianoteq Stage: A Piano With No Samples

Pianoteq is the piano forum users mention most. It doesn’t use recordings at all. Modartt models the strings, hammers, soundboard and room with math, so the whole program is about 50 MB. It loads quickly and leaves your drive free for everything else.

Stage, the cheapest edition, costs €139 and includes two instrument packs of your choice from a range that covers Steinway, Blüthner, Bechstein and Grotrian grands, uprights and electric pianos. Reviewers like the “condition” slider, which ages the piano from showroom new to tired and slightly out of tune. Dave Rich said in his review that setting it just a notch off new adds realism.

Opinion is split on the sound. Venus Theory said he isn’t sure he could tell it from a real piano. SamTheBeardGuy said the common complaint, that it sounds a little “tinny”, is fair. In Sanjay C’s blind test of ten pianos it came fifth.

The free trial lets you play every instrument with a few keys disabled, so you can judge it yourself. Standard (€269) and PRO (€399) add deeper editing, such as changing the piano model itself and placing the microphones.

Pianoteq isn’t sold through Plugin Boutique. You can buy it from Modartt.

Modartt’s short Pianoteq 9 demo:

Good for: players who care about feel, laptops with small drives, and anyone who likes to tinker.
Watch out for: some people don’t like its tone. Try the trial before paying.

Which Budget Piano Should You Buy?

• Tight budget or an older computer: Addictive Keys Studio Grand.
• Film, ambient or lo-fi textures: CHROMA Grand for its effects engine, or Pianoverse for its rooms.
• A quick, good Steinway with few settings: Ravel, especially when it’s on sale.
• Feel, small size and endless tweaking: Pianoteq Stage.

Before you buy anything, try the piano that came with your DAW. In Sanjay C’s blind test, Ableton’s free stock piano scored higher than Addictive Keys.

If you’d rather start with something free, forum users often recommend Ivy Audio’s Piano in 162 and the free version of Soniccouture’s Hammersmith grand (a Steinway Model D, 4.8 GB), which runs in the free Kontakt Player.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best cheap piano VST?

For most people starting out, Addictive Keys Studio Grand at $99. It’s small, easy to use and has a free trial. If you want the most realistic feel for the money, try Pianoteq’s trial as well.

Do I need Kontakt for these pianos?

Only CHROMA Grand runs in Kontakt, and the free Kontakt Player is enough. Addictive Keys, Pianoverse, Ravel and Pianoteq are their own plugins.

How much disk space does a piano plugin need?

It varies a lot. Pianoteq is about 50 MB, Addictive Keys Studio Grand about 1.5 GB, CHROMA 11 GB and each Pianoverse piano about 30 GB.

Is a modeled piano better than a sampled one?

Neither is better in every way. Sampled pianos such as Addictive Keys or Pianoverse play back recordings of a real instrument, so the tone is captured as it was. Modeled pianos such as Pianoteq calculate the sound as you play, so they’re tiny and very adjustable, but some players hear them as less natural.