LinkedMusicians Best List: Free Virtual Pianos – Reviewed and Recommended (2026)

Does the web really need another list of the best virtual pianos? Check Google and you’ll find that there’s no end of those lists. However, when you dig deeper, you’ll find that the quality of the virtual pianos on these lists tend to be all over the board, from good to poor / amateur quality. Here’s the secret: Most of those lists aren’t really about helping you find the best virtual piano. They’re done for search engine rankings and they’re not worth your time. They’re almost always assembled as a search engine optimization (SEO) tactic to grab top positions in search engines and with AI search. They’re almost always filled with both good and bad, to the point where it’s very clear they weren’t put together by someone who took the job seriously; they’re put together by people trying to get traffic from search engines to sell your sample libraries or plugins. The virtual pianos on these lists span the gamut, from very good to low-end amateur libraries and plugins that often don’t sample every note or have more than a couple of velocity layers or round robins. The fact is, if you’re willing to put in the time, you can find some incredible, completely free virtual pianos. But you’re going to have to sift through a great deal of mediocre virtual pianos in order to find the best — and a lot of pretty subpar lists. Or, I can save you the time.

More than 100 free virtual pianos were considered in the making of this list. Free sample libraries and plugins commonly have far less detailed samples, velocity layers, and round robins than paid versions. That’s true of most of the picks on this page. However, there is one major exception to the rule, 8Dio’s / SoundPaint’s 1928 Scoring Piano. It contains a level of detail that goes beyond many paid sample libraries, including real sustain pedal samples. 8Dio once sold the Kontakt version of their 1928 Scoring Piano, a beautiful Steinway grand piano with a lot of personality, for $249 and it was quite well-liked among composers. However, when they launched their SoundPaint line, the developer started giving away the SoundPaint version free, and later made the Kontakt version free too. For several years, the other choice was SonicCouture’s Hammersmith FREE, which had 21 velocity layers,  however, the developer has discontinued the free version.

The lesson? Don’t sleep on great free virtual instruments. Several free sample libraries that have made LinkedMusicians Best lists are no longer available or no longer available for free.

NOTE: This list covers acoustic pianos. We’ll soon be adding another list cover electric pianos.

The 1928 Scoring Grand is a beautiful sounding, highly detailed sample library with extensive velocity layers, round-robin based sustains and round-robin based staccatos, two mic positions, some very nice convolution reverb IRs,  23 presets — and the presets are really good and include other samples that it layers with the piano that sound excellent including a marimba, a Rhodes electric piano, glasses, glockenspiel and more. There’s a sound design patch and a lite version patch too.  There’s really not another piano library for free comparable to this one, and I suppose that’s because 8Dio took a piano library they had priced at $249 US (but I’ve seen it on sale for as low as $49 prior to their making it free). Normally commercial sample developers free pianos are cut down versions of one for sale. That’s not the case here. This library is also available for SoundPaint, but that version doesn’t include the additional samples for layering and the sound design patch. If the piano takes a long time to load, I’d strongly recommend doing a batch re-save in Kontakt.
FORMAT: Kontakt (full version) or SoundPaint (FREE)

https://8dio.com/products/1928-scoring-piano
https://soundpaint.com/products/1928-vintage-grand-steinway

There is a gorgeous sounding Steinway B grand piano that has a great deal of character. Whereas a huge 9-foot Model D concert grand like the one sampled for SonicCouture’s excellent Hammersmith has deeply resonant low-end that fits well for classical pieces, Ratio is a 6’11” parlor grand that has more of a punchy character that is well suited for busy mixes.
FORMAT: Orchestratools Sine Player (FREE)

https://www.orchestraltools.com/ratio

The Experience (Mason and Hamlin Grand Piano) 

Dore Mark has made a series of detailed piano sample libraries available on Pianobook that are at a very high quality level. The character of this piano really just connects with me more than any of his others.

FORMAT: Kontakt (full version) or Decent Sampler (FREE)

The Experience Yamaha S6 Grand Piano

A beautiful sounding, well-sampled Yamaha S6 grand piano that will do a great job cutting through a wide range of mixes. I find it works well in rock settings.

https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/the-experience-yamaha-s6/

 

There are plenty of character upright virtual pianos available, but finding a great sounding, versatile upright piano is challenging. Enter Cinesamples’ Musio version of their Kontakt upright piano sample library.

Cinesamples has a history of making gorgeous sample libraries. While Musio libraries have less detail than the Kontakt libraries they’re derived from, it’s solid. This is a very good sounding upright that you can use in a lot of different situations.

https://musio.com/marketplace/session-piano-upright

 

A beautiful character piano. A Yamaha Upright piano with 4 articulations: normal, felt, muted and plucked.

FORMAT: Full version of Kontakt required.

https://www.ockpii.com/instruments/woodland-piano

Dan Keen The King’s Upright

Another beautiful character piano. A lovely, soft upright piano. Candidly, when I see Dan Keen was involved in a sample library, I know it’s going to be special. This piano library is no exception.

FORMAT: Kontakt (full version), Decent Sampler (FREE), SFZ

https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/the-kings-upright/ 

A Piano with a Built-in Arpeggiator

https://heavyocity.com/products/foundations-piano 

Soft Piano / Felt Piano

Splice Originals: Soft Piano

A beautiful felt piano that has found its way to numerous movie and TV soundtracks.

FORMAT: Splice Instrument Player (FREE)

https://splice.com/instrument

This is a gorgeous Bösendorfer Imperial grand piano sample library that I would have been happy with had I paid for it. It is an intimate piano meant for softer playing.

FORMAT: VSL Synchron Player (FREE)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xiw3QydqaNE

https://www.strezov-sampling.com/products/view/the-felt-seiler-free-edition.html

I put this last because it requires the full, paid version of Kontakt. But if you own the full version of Kontakt, the only good reason for not downloading this is because you already have it or own the full version, because it’s exceptional. It lets you build your own sounds using the two specific acoustic techniques left unlocked from the full library, tremolo and brushes rub.

 

FORMAT: Kontakt (full version required)

https://www.xperimentaproject.com/preparato-piano-free