The short version: if you want to learn piano but don't want Simply Piano's subscription, there are real free alternatives. Which one fits depends on whether you want structured lessons, to play songs right away, or to make your own music. Here's the honest landscape.
Why people look for an alternative
Simply Piano is good at what it does, but two things send people looking. The first is the price: the free version is a short trial, and the real product is a yearly subscription. The second is the format. It's a lesson course, and not everyone wants to be walked through a curriculum. Some people just want to play.
So the right alternative depends on what you were actually after.
If you want to play songs without lessons
This is the biggest group, and the best free option is a falling-note app. Notes drop down the screen and you press the matching key, so you learn songs by pattern and timing instead of by reading music. It feels like a game, and you can play a real song in your first sitting.
Piano Aura does this with its Piano Game mode, free to download and play, with no sheet music required. You can slow a song down while you learn it and speed it back up once your hands know the way. How to play piano without reading sheet music goes deeper on this.
If you want to make your own music, not just follow lessons
Lesson apps rarely let you create anything. If you want to compose or record, you need a different kind of app. Piano Aura's Freestyle keyboard and Create Music let you play freely, build chord progressions with the Chord Builder, record in layers, and share what you make. None of that sits behind a course.
If you just want free tutorials
Worth saying plainly: YouTube is the most-used free piano teacher on the planet, and it costs nothing. The trade-off is that it's unstructured, so you're on your own to find a path through it. It pairs well with an app you actually play on.
A word on the word "free"
Most piano apps, the alternatives included, are free to download and then ask for money. Be a little skeptical of any "100% free" claim. The honest question is how much of the thing you came for stays free once you start. With a play-and-record app you can usually do the core loop, playing and recording, without paying, and only pay later if a specific instrument or song is locked.
So is there a genuinely free alternative to Simply Piano?
Yes, with one caveat. If you mainly want to play songs and make music, a free play-and-record app like Piano Aura covers most of it with no subscription. If you specifically want a guided, graded lesson course that corrects your hand position, that is exactly what Simply Piano, flowkey, and Yousician sell, and the free alternatives trade that structure for more freedom and a lower price. Pick based on which one you actually wanted.
If you're weighing free apps more broadly, the best free piano apps for iPhone breaks down how to choose.
Piano Aura is free on the App Store if you want to start playing without a subscription.
