I get this question constantly and the answers online are, frankly, a mess of affiliate links and opinions masquerading as expertise. So let me tell you what I actually tell the parents of my students, in plain language.
The first thing I tell them is this: the instrument matters less than you think and more than you think, depending on which aspect you are asking about. Let me explain.
Walk into any large retailer and you will find a keyboard for fifty dollars. It has sixty-one keys, built-in demo songs, and a carry handle. Parents buy these all the time, thinking they are being sensible. They are making a mistake.
The problem is not the sound quality or the number of keys. The problem is the keys themselves. Cheap keyboards have what is called unweighted keys. They feel like pressing buttons. They offer no resistance, no touch sensitivity, no dynamic response.
When you press a piano key harder, it plays louder. This is called velocity sensitivity, and it is fundamental to how music works. A child who spends a year playing on unweighted keys develops finger habits and a sense of touch that will have to be completely retrained when they move to a real instrument. I have seen this happen. It is genuinely harder to undo than it is to do correctly from the start.
"Buying an unweighted keyboard for a child learning piano is like buying training shoes with wheels on them. They will get around, but they will not be learning to walk properly."
This is the non-negotiable. Before anything else, confirm that the keyboard has weighted or at minimum semi-weighted keys. Weighted keys feel closer to an acoustic piano. They have a heavier touch and respond to how hard you press them. Semi-weighted keys are a middle ground, lighter than a real piano but still velocity sensitive. Both are acceptable for beginners. Unweighted keys are not.
A full piano has 88 keys. Most beginner repertoire lives in the middle range. For the first year of learning, 61 keys is completely adequate. If budget allows, 76 or 88 keys give more room to grow, but 61 is a genuine minimum, not a compromise.
This is related to weighted keys but worth mentioning separately. Touch sensitivity means the keyboard registers how hard you press each key and adjusts the volume accordingly. Without this, you cannot learn dynamics, which are a fundamental part of music. Check the product description explicitly. It should say "touch sensitive" or "velocity sensitive."
The gold standard. Nothing else replicates the sound, the feel, and the physical experience of playing an acoustic instrument. If you have an acoustic piano at home, use it. If you are considering buying one, know that they require tuning twice a year (cost: roughly $100-$150 per tuning), are large, heavy, and difficult to move, and are sensitive to humidity and temperature.
For a child who is just starting, an acoustic piano is wonderful but not necessary. Many excellent pianists learned on digital instruments and upgraded later.
This is what I recommend for most families. A good digital piano has weighted or hammer-action keys, is touch sensitive, sounds reasonably good through headphones, requires no tuning, and can fit in most homes. Prices range from $200 to $800 for good beginner to intermediate models. Brands to consider: Yamaha P-45, Roland FP-30, Casio PX-S1100. Any of these will serve a beginner well for several years.
These are the instruments marketed with "500 sounds" and "300 rhythms" on the box. Some are velocity sensitive. Most at the budget end are not. If you go this route, verify the key action explicitly. The extra features are largely irrelevant for a beginner learning classical or contemporary piano.
Our recommendation: Budget $150 to $300 for a beginner's first instrument. Look for: weighted or semi-weighted keys, velocity sensitivity, at least 61 keys. Yamaha and Casio both make excellent instruments in this price range. Avoid anything described only as a "keyboard" without specifying key action.
Second-hand digital pianos are excellent value. The key action does not wear out the way acoustic piano mechanisms do. A five-year-old Yamaha P-45 in good condition plays exactly as it did when new. Check the keys for consistent response (press each one gently to check sensitivity), ensure the power adapter is included, and test the headphone output.
Avoid second-hand acoustic pianos unless you can have them inspected by a piano technician first. An acoustic piano that has been poorly maintained or stored in a damp environment can be an expensive problem.
Whatever you buy, put it somewhere visible and accessible. Not in a spare bedroom or a corner. In the living room, in the hallway, somewhere the child walks past it every day. The piano that gets played is the right piano. The perfect instrument in an inconvenient location will be practiced less than a decent instrument in a prominent one.
I have had students make extraordinary progress on modest instruments. I have had students with beautiful grand pianos who practiced rarely. The instrument is one part of the equation. Access, consistency, and motivation matter more.
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