On November 3, 2026, Thomann had these keyboard instruments in stock, not counting bundles and accessories:
| Type | Models | Median price | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| MIDI keyboard (no sounds of its own) | 151 | $196 | $44 |
| Arranger keyboard | 56 | $296 | $37 |
| Synthesizer | 202 | $829 | $28 |
| Digital piano | 180 | $1,457 | $122 |
| Stage piano | 85 | $1,906 | $178 |
| Synth workstation | 14 | $2,704 | $467 |
| Arranger workstation | 13 | $4,295 | $2,118 |
Arranger keyboard: a band in a box
Casio CT-S200, $144
61 light keys, 400 sounds and 77 rhythms. Play a chord with the left hand and the keyboard adds drums, bass and backing. It's number one of 62 home keyboards in our ranking. #1 of 62 home keyboards.
Arrangers are for playing songs at home, learning, and entertainers who play solo with a full backing. The top end, Yamaha's Genos 2 and Korg's Pa series, is what wedding and hotel musicians use. We compared Yamaha and Casio in Yamaha vs Casio keyboards.
Digital piano: a piano first
88 weighted keys, a few excellent piano sounds, speakers and usually a cabinet with three pedals. It has fewer sounds than an arranger, and it doesn't need more: everything goes into the key action and the piano sample. If you want to learn piano, this is the type to buy.
Stage piano: a digital piano for gigs
The same weighted keys, but built to be carried and plugged into a PA, with electric pianos and organs added. The difference to a digital piano is mostly the body, as we explained in stage piano vs digital piano.
Synthesizer: build your own sounds
A synthesizer creates sounds from oscillators and filters instead of playing back a piano. You shape the sound with knobs, and most have fewer keys, 25 to 61. Arturia's MicroFreak at $324 ranks third of 211 synths. We covered how to choose one in first synthesizer: mono, poly or groovebox.
Workstation: everything in one
Korg Nautilus 61, $1,633
Nine sound engines, from acoustic pianos and organs to MS-20 and Polysix models, up to 200 voices, a 7-inch touchscreen and a sequencer, on 61 semi-weighted keys. #3 of 11 workstations.
A synth workstation combines piano, synth, organ and sampled instruments with a sequencer, for keyboard players who cover every part in a band or compose without a computer.
MIDI keyboard: no sounds at all
Native Instruments Kontrol S61 MK3, $756
61 semi-weighted Fatar keys with polyphonic aftertouch and controls mapped to thousands of software instruments. It's number one of 23 controllers with up to 61 keys. #1 of 23 master keyboards (up to 61 keys).
A MIDI keyboard makes no sound on its own: it plays the instruments in your computer, tablet or another synth. It's the cheapest way to a huge sound library if you already make music on a computer, and useless without one.
Which type?
- Learning piano: a digital piano.
- Playing songs for fun, a child's first keyboard: an arranger.
- Playing in a band: a stage piano, a synth or a workstation, depending on the music.
- Producing on a computer: a MIDI keyboard.
- Sound design and electronic music: a synthesizer.
Where the numbers come from. Every keyboard instrument Thomann had in stock on November 3, 2026, from its partner feed, sorted by Thomann's categories, without bundles, cases and stands. Places are from our rankings. Prices are Thomann's US-dollar prices.
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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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