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PianoFlex vs Addictive Keys

Addictive Keys is built for songwriters and producers who want to stay in the flow: recorded keyboards with lots of ready presets. You buy the instruments one at a time, from two acoustic pianos (a grand and an upright) to two electric pianos. PianoFlex is a modeled piano for Windows, with no recordings, 34 presets and every setting included for one price.

What they have in common

Made for working fast: plenty of presets ready to play, and deeper controls when you want them.
A grand and an upright. Addictive Keys sells both; PianoFlex has concert grands and an Uprights & Vintage group.
Their own engines. Neither needs Kontakt or another player. Both run as a program and as a plugin.
Choose how it's heard. Both let you pick where the microphones are.

Where Addictive Keys stands out

Buy just what you need. One piano for $99, or two, three or all four instruments in a bundle.
Electric pianos too. The Mark One and the Electric Grand sit beside the acoustic pianos in the same program.
Microphones to mix. The Studio Grand has six microphone perspectives and the Modern Upright seven, from close to distant, including vintage tube and ribbon mics, mixed and matched as you like.
ExploreMaps, a visual way to browse its presets, each one with a preview of its own.
Effects built in.
Mac as well as Windows.

Where PianoFlex stands out

Everything at once. $79 gets all 34 presets in eight groups, from concert grands to jazz and experimental pianos. One Addictive Keys piano is $99.
A demo that stays. PianoFlex's demo never expires. Addictive Keys' trial lasts 10 days, with the Studio Grand only.
The piano itself, shaped: the hammers, the strings, the soundboard and the room.
The Character generator. Generate gives the piano a new character, drawn from nearly a billion, and its Strength runs from a subtly different instrument to one unlike any real piano, suitable for film and cinematic music. Variation makes close relatives of one you like, and a preset keeps it.
Four pianos at once, as layers.
Song videos of your MIDI files, and MIDI files rendered to audio.
No internet needed to install or to unlock it.

Which to pick

For electric pianos alongside the acoustic ones: Addictive Keys.
If you want only one piano and lots of microphone choices for it: Addictive Keys.
On a Mac: Addictive Keys.
For many acoustic pianos in one purchase, and the freedom to shape them: PianoFlex.
If you want time to decide: PianoFlex, whose demo doesn't run out.

Owning both

Both are quick to reach for in a session, and they cover different ground: Addictive Keys' electric pianos and recorded microphone choices, PianoFlex's range of shapeable acoustic pianos. PianoFlex's demo is here, and XLN Audio offers a 10-day trial. This page doesn't compare how they sound. That's for your ears.

The facts side by side

Every fact about Addictive Keys is from XLN Audio's own pages, checked on 4 November 2026. Prices are list prices in US dollars; sales come and go.

	PianoFlex	Addictive Keys
How it makes its sound	Modeled. It computes every note as you play, from a model of the hammers, strings, soundboard and room. It plays no recordings.	Recorded instruments (sampled); each piano is sold on its own.
Price	$79, one-time	$99 a piano; $249 for all four instruments
Download and disk space	16.6 MB download, 34.5 MB installed	Not stated on the maker's pages
Memory the maker asks for	4 GB, with 4 cores or more and 100 MB of disk (the requirements)	Not stated on the maker's pages
Runs on	Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit	Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit; macOS 10.13 or later
Forms	Standalone and VST3	Standalone, VST, AAX; AU on Mac
Needs another program	Nothing else	Nothing else (its own engine); internet needed to install
Copy protection	A license key, entered once. No account and no online activation.	Online authorization through XLN's installer
Computers per license	No limit on your own computers	Not stated on the maker's pages
Demo	Free and never expires: 20 minutes a session, with eight keys silent; song videos are in the full version	Free for 10 days, the Studio Grand only
Pianos included	34 presets in eight groups, and four slots to layer pianos	Two acoustic pianos (a grand and an upright) and two electric pianos, sold separately

More: virtual pianos compared, a table of 28 pianos, and all about PianoFlex.

If something here is out of date, write to [email protected] and we'll correct it.

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