The Alesis Recital Pro is the cheapest honest route to a full set of 88 hammer-weighted keys: £279 buys a real weighted action, 20 W speakers and a built-in lesson mode. It is not as refined as a £600 piano, but as a first instrument on a tight budget it removes every excuse not to start.
Alesis built its name on affordable music gear, and the Recital Pro is its answer to the question every parent and beginner asks: what is the least I can spend and still get proper weighted keys? The answer here is £279, which is roughly half the price of our value pick. We were sceptical going in, but after six hours at the keys we came away clear that this is a genuine starter piano, not a toy, provided you understand exactly what you are and are not getting.
| Model | Price | Keys | Key action | Sound engine | Rating | Link | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ★ Top pick Alesis Recital Pro Digital Piano | £329.99 | 88, hammer-action weighted | Full-size hammer action, adjustable touch | Premium voices, 128-note polyphony | ★ 4.1 | View → |
£329.99
88, hammer-action weighted · Full-size hammer action, adjustable touch · Premium voices, 128-note polyphony
The verdict from Anaya Iyer, pianist and keyboard reviewer
The best budget pick. The Alesis Recital Pro is the cheapest way to get a full set of 88 hammer-weighted keys, and for a complete beginner it removes every excuse not to start. The 20 W speakers go surprisingly loud and at 7.5 kg it is the easiest to carry. The action is not as refined as a Casio or Roland twice the price, so committed players will outgrow it, but as a first piano on a tight budget it is excellent.
The keys feel lively rather than weighty, and the speakers are louder than the price suggests.
| Keys | 88, hammer-action weighted |
|---|---|
| Key action | Full-size hammer action, adjustable touch |
| Sound engine | Premium voices, 128-note polyphony |
| Speakers | 2 x 10 W (20 W total) |
| Voices | 12 |
| Bluetooth | No (USB-MIDI only) |
| Weight | 7.5 kg |
| Price | £279 |
| Display | 1-line backlit LCD |
| Lesson mode | Yes, split keyboard for teacher and pupil |
The Recital Pro is for the complete beginner, or the parent of one, who wants to spend as little as possible while still getting a real weighted action. At £279 it costs less than the stand for some pianos, yet it gives you all 88 keys with hammer weighting, an LCD screen and a lesson mode that splits the keyboard so a teacher and pupil can play the same notes side by side. It is the lightest unit here at 7.5 kg, so a child can move it. It is not the right choice for a committed player who will progress quickly: the action is lighter and less even than a Yamaha P-145 or Casio PX-S1100, and such a player will outgrow it within a year or two.
Best for: the budget-first beginner who wants real 88 weighted keys for the least money, and is happy to upgrade later if they stick with it.
The Recital Pro has a full-size 88-note hammer action with three adjustable touch-response settings, and that it exists at all at this price is the headline. The keys do push back like a piano rather than a synth, which is the whole point and the thing cheaper 61-key keyboards cannot offer. Be realistic, though: side by side with the £419 Yamaha, the action is lighter, a little springier and slightly less even from note to note. It builds the right basic habits for a beginner, but a grade-three or grade-four player will feel its limits. Within its budget brief, it does the essential job.
You get 12 voices, including a decent acoustic grand, plus electric pianos, organ and strings, and 128-note polyphony, which is genuinely generous at this price and more than the 64 notes of the far pricier Yamaha P-145. In practice that means the sustain pedal will not cut notes off during normal beginner repertoire. The grand voice is pleasant rather than rich, clearly a step behind the sampled grands of the £600 pianos, but perfectly good for learning scales, hymns and early pieces.
The twin 10 W drivers give 20 W in total, which is genuinely loud for the money and beats both the 16 W Casio and the 14 W Yamaha on paper. They fill a bedroom or a small living room easily. The tone is less refined than the pricier units, with a little less warmth at volume, but for a beginner practising at home the output is more than enough, and there is a 6.3 mm headphone socket for silent practice.
For £279 the feature list is surprisingly full: a one-line backlit LCD, the split lesson mode, record and a metronome, plus a USB-MIDI port to connect a computer or tablet for learning apps. The build is where the savings show, with a more plasticky cabinet than the heavier units, and there is no Bluetooth, so app connection needs a cable. Setup is quick, and a basic sustain pedal is included in the box, which keeps the total starting cost low.
The Recital Pro's compromises are exactly what you would expect at the price. The action is the main one: it is real and weighted, but lighter and less even than the £400-plus pianos, so a fast-improving player will want to upgrade. The cabinet feels budget, there is no Bluetooth, and the sampled grand lacks the depth of a Roland or Kawai. We would never recommend it to a serious player, but as the cheapest way to begin on proper weighted keys it earns its budget crown.
For a complete beginner on a tight budget, yes. At £279 it gives you 88 hammer-weighted keys, a built-in lesson mode and an LCD screen for the price of a toy keyboard. The action is lighter and less even than a £600 piano, so a committed learner will outgrow it, but it is a genuine starting instrument.
Yes. It has a full-size 88-note hammer action with adjustable touch response, so the keys push back like a piano rather than a synth. It is not as refined as the Casio or Roland actions, but it is a real weighted bed and a big step up from a semi-weighted keyboard.
Yes, over USB-MIDI to a computer or tablet, which lets you use learning software and notation apps. It does not have Bluetooth, so you will need a cable, and there is no Bluetooth audio streaming as on the Roland FP-30X.
Just 7.5 kg, which makes it the lightest piano in our comparison and easy for a child or a student to move and store. The trade-off for that light weight is a cabinet that feels more plasticky than the heavier, sturdier units.
The Alesis Recital Pro is our best budget pick because, for £279, it gives a beginner everything that genuinely matters to start: 88 hammer-weighted keys, 128-note polyphony, loud-enough 20 W speakers and a lesson mode, at half the price of our value choice. Just go in with clear eyes: the action and the sound are a clear step behind the £600 pianos, and a committed learner will outgrow it. If you can stretch to £419, the Yamaha P-145 is a meaningfully better first piano; if budget is firm, this is the one. Read more in our best digital piano for beginners guide and our buying guide.