Best Beginner Digital Pianos | Electric Pianos

UPDATED Report & Review – July 2, 2026 – Best Beginner Digital Pianos & electric pianos – Important Shopping Info HERE – People from across the US and around the world ask us all the time what we think the best beginner piano-keyboards are in a lower price range under $1000. My answer is that they should first have 88-keys piano type fully weighted keys to truly be a “piano” keyboard and the sound and key action need to be at a reasonable quality level that helps the student play better, instead of hurts them and cause bad playing habits. There are a lot of “cheap” keyboards and digital pianos in many brands out there (including the off-brands). But when you boil it all down, there are really 5 brands that we recommend right now that are acceptable in the lower price range and those brands are Yamaha, Casio, Roland, Kawai, & Korg.

In the under $1000 price range for beginner digital pianos (aka: electric pianos), Casio offers 9 current models for beginners including the Casio PX-S3100 at $999 and the AP-S200 at $1099. Yamaha offers 5 models including the basic P45 ($449), the P225 ($699) – left pic), DGX670 ($1049), YDP105 cabinet piano ($999), and the newer YDPS36 ($1399 price). I recommend all of the Casio’s and Yamaha’s mentioned here. Korg offers 1 current digital piano model under $1000 called the B2+ at $599.

The Korg company primary makes pro keyboards and other digital music products and although those products are overall quite good, these lower priced Korg digital pianos are, in my opinion, out in front of Yamaha and close behind or equal to Casio in terms of good key actions and piano sound in beginner digital pianos. Roland produces 3 beginner models in this price range which is called the RP102 ($999US internet price), FP30X portable $699 internet price), and FP10 (499 price). Kawai produces 2 models called the ES120 at $899 internet price.

Kawai ES120

All of these brands & models have the 88-key piano style weighted actions although the key action movement and touch weight will be different from one model to another. They all have built-in speakers although the power and quality vary, and the piano sound itself will be better from one model to another, but overall, all of these recommended pianos are acceptable depending on your musical goals and experience, and budget. Stands, benches, pedals, etc are usually optional for some of these models. There are also off-brand models out there in the lower price ranges as well, but I recommend against them because they are not up to student practice or playing standards for key action, piano sound, and pedaling or they are much too complex and not meant for students. Those brands would include Williams, Artesia, Suzuki, and others.

I have done reviews on my blog on many of these models mentioned here so you can look them up in the search area on my blog to learn more about them including Yamaha, Casio, Korg, Kawai, & Roland. When it comes to the all important piano key action, I believe Casio offers a more noticeably realistic piano playing experience than Yamaha, Korg, Roland, and Kurzweil in this lower price range, although Yamaha has some very good models with regard to key action starting at $1300. I do like the Kawai ES120 at $899 and the higher priced ES920 piano at $1699 internet price. If you don’t mind getting above the $2000 range then the Kawai CN201 natural key movement digital piano at $2499 internet discount price is an exceptional buy in my opinion for people who don’t mind spending the extra money for an upgraded instrument in a furniture cabinet that they want to keep for many years.

But ultimately, most of these models I mentioned here could work fine except some would offer better key actions, piano sound, and pedaling control along with more educational features. If you want good info on digital piano technology and how it works with music education, as well as wanting to be sure you’re getting the right digital piano, please contact us and We’ll be happy to answer your questions. Be sure you check out my reviews on these individual models in the “search models” area on this blog.

If you want more info on these and other pianos and lower prices than internet or store discounts, please email me at… tim@azpianowholesale.com or call me direct at 602-571-1864