Simply Piano gets beginners started. LumaKeys is for the pieces after that.
Simply Piano is one of the most popular beginner apps: structured courses, a song library, and a microphone that listens to your playing and moves you on when you get it right. It runs on iPhone, iPad, and Android. LumaKeys is a one-time Mac app for self-taught pianists who learn from falling notes: any piece, loop and slow-down, hands split, recording, piano-roll editing, audio-to-MIDI transcription, and video export.
Short version: if you are starting from zero and want a course on your phone, Simply Piano is built for that. If you want to learn any piece you choose, keep your own versions, and pay once on a Mac, pick LumaKeys.
| Feature | Simply Piano | LumaKeys |
|---|---|---|
| The basics | ||
| Price | Subscription, yearly plans | $69 for a limited time, then $99 |
| Subscription | Yes | None, pay once |
| Platforms | iOS, Android | macOS, Apple Silicon and Intel |
| Learn | ||
| Falling notes, no sheet music | Sheet music with guidance | |
| Structured courses | — | |
| Listens to acoustic piano | — | |
| Song library | Curated, licensed | Curated set, any MIDI or audio |
| Loop and slow down | ||
| Hands separate | ||
| Create and share | ||
| Record your playing | — | MIDI or computer keys, per hand |
| Piano-roll editing | — | |
| Audio to MIDI transcription | — | 5 on Free, unlimited on Pro |
| Video export | — | 4K, 60 fps, 16:9, 9:16, 4:5 |
| Repertoire library | — | |
Checked 2 September 2026: Simply Piano LumaKeys pricing
Any piece, not only the ones in a library. Loop, slow down, split the hands.
Heard a piece you want to learn? Drop in the audio and it becomes editable notes, on your Mac.
Your playing, in your colours, exported up to 4K for YouTube, TikTok, or Reels.
Simply Piano makes the first weeks easy. The courses are clear, the app listens and reacts, and it runs on the phone that is already on the music stand. For a beginner who has never touched a piano, that is a good start.
It has a large licensed library and a lot of people have learned their first songs with it.
Simply Piano is a course. It teaches its library in its order, with sheet music at the centre. It does not record your playing as something you keep, it does not edit or transcribe, and it does not export a video. When you outgrow the course, the app has nothing more to offer.
It is a subscription, and the songs stay inside it.
LumaKeys is for the pieces after the course. Bring in any MIDI, transcribe a piano recording on your Mac, or play it in yourself. Learn it from falling notes, record your version, fix it in the piano roll, keep it in your repertoire, and export a video in your colours.
It is Mac only and it is not a course. Free covers the full app with caps.
I learned piano the self-taught way: falling-note videos on YouTube, no sheet music, no teacher. Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, one bar at a time.
Beginner apps get people to the piano, and that matters. What I could not find was the app for the years after: the pieces I chose, the versions I recorded, the videos I wanted to share.
LumaKeys is the app I wished for back then: learn a piece, record it, fix it, keep it, and turn it into a video, all in one place, paid for once.
Weighing more options? See every alternative or talk to me.
For self-taught pianists who have moved past beginner courses and want to learn any piece, yes. For a first course on a phone, Simply Piano is the better fit.
No. LumaKeys works with a MIDI keyboard or your computer keys. Transcription listens to recordings, not to live playing.
Not yet. LumaKeys is a Mac app, on Apple Silicon and Intel.
Simply Piano is a subscription. LumaKeys Pro is $69 for a limited time, then $99, once, and Free never expires.
macOS 12 or later · On an Intel version?
Pro launches soon.
Get one reminder when it is ready.