Anything Piano vs Simply Piano: Which is better in 2026?

Anything Piano is our product. We put it first where it’s the right tool, and we say plainly where another tool fits better.

The verdict in one table

Simply Piano details were checked on November 10, 2026, on Simply Piano’s own pages, listed under How we compared.

The real difference: who picks the song

Simply Piano is course-first. Its songs come from its own library, its help center says they’re all adjusted to your playing level, and they need a subscription. If the song you want isn’t in that library, Simply Piano’s pages describe no way to add it. Its PLAY mode, the interactive sheet music, stays locked until you finish 80% of the Essentials III course.

Anything Piano starts from your song, and there’s no course to finish first. The song a friend sent you, the theme from the show you’re watching, or the track that’s all over TikTok this week goes straight into the app. Our guide to piano apps that let you practice any song covers the other apps that work this way.

How Anything Piano turns your song into a lesson

1. Bring the song. Search YouTube inside the app, paste a YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram link, upload an audio file, record the song playing in the room, or scan a song shared from Songscription. Not sure what it’s called? Ask Annie, your AI practice companion, and describe the song or quote a line of the lyrics.
2. Get your lesson. Anything Piano builds a piano roll of the song in about a minute and splits it into parts. It runs on Play Anything’s own music transcription model. In our October 2026 benchmark, Songscription, built on that model, ranked first in transcription and piano arrangements against Klang.io, Mirelo, and five open-source models. See how Anything Piano makes tutorials for any song.
3. Play it on your piano. Learn each part right hand, then left hand, then both. Like a tutor at your side, the app listens, shows every right and wrong note, and in Wait mode holds the song until you play the right one. More on what an AI tutor does in our roundup of AI piano tutor apps.

Practicing: what you get in Anything Piano

• Wait mode. The song holds until you play the right note, then moves on.
• Playback speed and looping. Slow a part down, loop it until it sits, then bring the speed back up.
• Difficulty levels. Where a song has more than one version, pick the one that fits your hands today and move up later.
• Transposing. Shift the notes up or down by semitones to a key that suits you. Finger numbers are hidden while a song is shifted.
• Finger numbers. Shown on the notes in the song’s original key. Not every song has fingering yet.
• A scored Mastery run. Play the full song for a score, with every note rated Perfect, Great, Good, or Miss and a combo that builds as you hit them.

Simply Piano lets you slow down its library songs, but only the songs in its library. Its one real edge is a structured course that teaches reading sheet music, and it runs on Android. Anything Piano shows a piano roll, not sheet music, and it’s on iPhone and iPad, with Android on a waitlist.

Annie, your AI practice companion

Annie is the feature our team is proudest of. She’s Anything Piano’s AI practice companion: tell her how a song goes or type a line of the lyrics, and she finds it, so even a song you can’t name becomes a lesson in about a minute. She also guides you through getting started and sends practice reminders. Simply Piano’s pages describe nothing like her; its AI feedback is only in its Vision Pro app.

What players say

From Anything Piano’s App Store reviews:

• “I can practice songs I actually want to learn” (Arvindp44, a beginner)
• “I uploaded a pretty obscure track and the app did a flawless job transcribing it.” (xcrispynorix)
• “love how it waits for you to play” (an intermediate player)

Your piano

Both apps work with an acoustic piano through the microphone, and both connect to a digital piano or keyboard over MIDI.

Anything Piano connects over Bluetooth MIDI, paired inside the app, or over USB with no pairing. You set your keyboard’s lowest and highest note once, so a 49-, 61-, 76-, or 88-key instrument lines up on screen, and it works with the light-up PartyKeys keyboard. Simply Piano takes USB MIDI on iOS and Android, but its help center says it doesn’t support Bluetooth MIDI on Android. On iPhone and iPad, it needs app version 9.4.35 or later and a keyboard with Bluetooth MIDI built in. Our guide to which piano learning apps work with your digital piano compares the connections across seven apps, and Do I need a MIDI keyboard? covers playing without one.

Price

Anything Piano is free to download. The free plan includes free song conversions and the free Public Library, with every practice tool unlocked. Pro adds unlimited songs for $19.99 a month or $143.99 a year. See Is Anything Piano free? for what each plan includes.

Simply Piano’s US App Store listing shows 12-month Premium with a trial at $119.99 or $149.99. Its free tier is two courses, and its library songs need a subscription.

Which one should you pick?

Pick Anything Piano if you already know the songs you want to play: pop songs, game music, a song from a show, or anything you heard on YouTube or TikTok. It’s also the pick if you want to start playing your song today instead of working through a course to reach it.

Pick Simply Piano only if you need a structured course that teaches reading sheet music, or Android.

New to piano? Our guide to the best piano app for beginners covers where to start, and Anything Piano vs flowkey compares the other big library app. We compared more apps in the best Simply Piano alternatives.

How we compared

We read Simply Piano’s website, App Store listing, and help center on November 10, 2026, for song source, practice tools, platforms, connections, and price. Anything Piano’s features come from the app itself. We didn’t run a side-by-side test of note detection or time either app, so this comparison makes no claim about which detects notes more accurately. Review quotes are copied word for word from the App Store.

Simply Piano sources, checked November 10, 2026: website, App Store listing, song library, PLAY mode, Bluetooth MIDI, Simply Piano XR.

Get Anything Piano and start with the song you actually want to play.

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