An upright piano makes sound with hammers, strings and a wooden soundboard; a digital piano plays recorded or modeled piano sound through speakers or headphones, with weighted keys that imitate the acoustic action. For serious classical study, nothing fully replaces an acoustic piano. For most homes, a good digital piano is the more practical choice.
Upright vs digital at a glance
| Upright piano | Digital piano | |
|---|---|---|
| Sound | Real strings and soundboard | Sampled or modeled |
| Touch | Real hammer action | Weighted imitation, good ones are close |
| Volume control, headphones | No (unless silent system) | Yes |
| Tuning | Once or twice a year | Never |
| Weight | About 200 kg | Usually 20 to 60 kg |
| Models at Thomann | 145 | 318 |
| Median price | $10,567 | $1,349 |
Prices are Thomann's on October 19, 2026. The upright weight is a typical one (the Yamaha B10 weighs 200 kg).
The middle way: silent pianos
A silent (or hybrid) upright is a real acoustic piano with a mute system: flip a switch and the hammers stop before the strings while sensors send the playing to a digital sound in headphones. By our count, about a third of the uprights at Thomann have one, at a premium.
Picks
Casio AP-S200, $960
A digital piano with 88 weighted hammer-action keys, 192-note polyphony and recording. The highest-ranked home digital piano we track: #1 of 49 general digital pianos.
Kawai CN-201, $1,384
Kawai's Responsive Hammer III action and 192-note polyphony in a home cabinet. #2 of 49 general digital pianos.
Yamaha B10, $5,307
Yamaha's entry acoustic upright with three pedals and a soft-close lid. #3 of 48 pianos.
Kawai K-200 AURES 2, $10,267
An acoustic upright with a built-in silent system: practice in headphones, perform on the real strings. #2 of 48 pianos.
Questions
Is a digital piano as good as an acoustic one?
For learning and most home playing, a good digital piano is enough. Advanced classical pianists still need regular time on an acoustic.
Is an upright piano worth the extra cost?
If you have the space, the budget for tuning and neighbors who don't mind, yes: the touch and sound are richer. Otherwise, a digital or a silent piano.
How we measured. Every upright (145) and digital piano (318) Thomann listed as in stock on October 19, 2026, converted from euros at the European Central Bank rate. Silent pianos counted by model name. Products show today's price and rank, updated every night.
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Denis Kataev runs AudioFu. Every night the site records the prices of more than 38,000 instruments and studio tools at Thomann, and he writes about what those numbers show: what got cheaper, what just arrived, and which discounts are real.
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