Best free harp VST plugins & sample libraries to download in 2026 Auditory Repository

The following is a carefully chosen list of quality free harp VST plugins, instruments and Kontakt libraries. The list consists of mostly classical harps (orchestral concert grand pedal harps) but also some folk orientated ones like the Celtic lever harp.

I wanted to include not only playable harps, but also some phrase-based harp sample packs and libraries for a bit of diversity. So, here we go.

Irish Harp

Irish Harp by Native Instruments is one of the most complete and expressive free harp libraries you can get your hands on. Even though it’s a no‑cost instrument, it delivers the kind of detail and musical responsiveness you’d normally associate with a paid, commercial‑grade harp. The download comes in at just under 1GB through Native Access, yet it manages to feel surprisingly substantial.

This 34‑string Celtic harp is genuinely enjoyable to play. The Key Mode system – especially the White Keys layout – makes glissandos and ornamentation feel intuitive, even if you’re not a harp specialist. NI also included a generous set of articulations and keyswitches, giving you a wide range of plucks and techniques to shape realistic performances.

The sampling work is thoughtful: the upper register uses four round robins across two velocity layers, while the lower octaves rely on two round robins per note. There’s also a modwheel‑driven tremolo option. It’s not the most natural effect in the library, but it doesn’t detract from the overall quality or usefulness of the instrument.

All of these elements – the articulation variety, the responsive playability and the overall sonic depth – make this one of the strongest free harp options available today. It runs inside the free Kontakt Player and is included with Komplete Start, so it’s accessible to anyone without additional purchases.

The Free Orchestra 2 Concert Harp

The festive December edition of The Free Orchestra 2 from ProjectSAM offers a great-sounding concert harp. This Kontakt Player-dedicated sample library series is known for its high-quality instruments, and this one is no exception.

In terms of sound quality and usability, the TFO 2 harp is one of the more “whole package” options on this list. While it lacks a rich variety of articulations, it’s a great sketching, all-around harp with a session-ready, cinematic sound.

This instrument provides both a natural-sounding classical harp and an audio-manipulated one. Its “Winter Magic” functionality lets you blend or transition between the original harp sound and an ambient texture layer, which is a time-stretched recreation of the original samples.

This harp is the fifth installment in ProjectSAM’s ongoing and developing The Free Orchestra series, which first saw light in August 2023.

BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover Harp

Another collection of sounds that also happens to feature a decent sounding harp is the one that’s included in the free edition of BBC Symphony Orchestra – also known as BBCSO Discover by Spitfire Audio.

Released in 2022, the BBCSO Discover concert harp is a very wet sounding harp – but don’t let it affect your judgment. Yes, it is a quite (heavily) reverberant instrument which is also somewhat “limited” in terms of the amount of samples that it uses (with only 1 velocity layer to offer and no round robin variations). However, it is still a very quality, workable VST instrument that never disappoints.

VSL Harp Glissandos

Yet another 2022 release, the Harp Glissandos sample set, orchestrated by the Vienna Symphonic Library, is a free Synchron Player-compatible collection of sounds.

Differing from the others, this harp library is a rather phrase-based one and as a result – does not offer a playable instrument to go along with it. What it does provide is a variety of pre-recorded, articulated pedal harp glissandos that are divided into a couple of different tonal-based sections.

Using the Major and Minor dedicated categories you are able to navigate between the different harmonic options which are all presented in this organized list, showing all the notes in the chromatic scale.

Now, by choosing, say, the C Major scale, the harp will only play an harmonious gliss that fits with the musical scale of choosing – in accordance with the triggered note on the keyboard.

VSL Harp Glissandos is an excellent option for anyone that’s looking for some quick, impressively sounding “baked” harp phrases without the hassle of manually programming sequential MIDI notes.

Etherealwinds Harp II CE

Etherealwinds Harp 2 by Versilian Studios presents a lite VST plugin version of a fully released commercial library under the same name.

This sampled 34-string Iona Celtic harp has 2 velocity layers and 2 round robins, and unlike most of the harps presented here is individually sampled, note after note.

One of the more balanced harps in this list and the most quality ones available for free, the EW’s Harp provides a warm and slightly wet sounding instrument that is generally more on the dry side.

Tone-wise, the “Celtic charm” is completely present with this one, making this particular harp quite full of character and also one of my personal, all-time favorites.

In a dedicated folder which is separate from the VST plugin, Versilian Studios also managed to include some bonus glissandi audio clips and a few miscellaneous vocal phrases in Wave format.

This harp plugin is available in VST as well as an SFZ compatible instrument.

Closet Harp (Pianobook)

The next instrument in this list is a Pianobook community submission. Closet Harp by developer Kalen Smith features a deeply sampled Celtic style lever harp.

This harp offers 3 dynamic layers and 3 round robins with each. The sound is quite soft and intimate, being recorded inside a bedroom closet.

The Closet Harp sample pack is available for Native Instruments Kontakt (full version is required) and also as a free Decent Sampler instrument.

Now, for some reason, the DS version is much heavier size-wise, and comes as a 6GB (zipped) and 12GB uncompressed. The Kontakt version on the other hand is around 1GB (compressed) and 1.5GB (unzipped).

Pianobook Live Tour Harp

Another download worthy Pianobook submission, fresh from August 2025, features a neatly sampled pedal harp. The recorded model is a 40-string Chicago Petite harp, made by Lyon & Healy.

Captured and developed by longtime Pianobook contributor Cordaro Rodriguez, known for the popular Micah’s Choir (among other successful libraries), the NI Kontakt Full instrument – which is a streamlined version of a commercial sample library – presents a smaller-scale neoclassical harp that is bright enough to cut through a mix, yet also warm and characterful with natural noise textures reminiscent of the raw acoustic recordings.

The name Live Tour Harp describes the origins of this particular harp, which has been used by the samplist’s quartet music group Sons of Serendip (America’s Got Talent Season 9 finalists) during their performances.

Library size is only 50MB or so, and it contains 104 samples (105 including a soundproof isolation booth Impulse Response, used for the on-board reverb effect). In terms of playability, it features a series of multi samples, providing 3 velocity layers of sustain Attack triggers that range dynamically from mezzo piano (moderately quiet) and mezzo forte (medium loud) all the way to a “very loud” fortissimo. There are also sampled Release triggers, which of course helps with authenticity when playing shorter notes (staccatos).

Navia Harp Free

The Sonic Atoms Navia Harp Free, also labeled as Navia Harp FE (Free Edition), is a classic orchestral concert harp sample library released by Steinberg on May 2024. This is one of the lightest harp VST plugins in the list (under 100MB after installation).

This release features a Steinberg HALion Sonic 7 free sample player-compatible instrument, offering a standard playing technique that is a basic plucked articulation, with a single round robin, one velocity layer and one output signal (which is a stereo mix of Close, Main and Room microphone setups).

Navia Harp was captured and recorded in traditional orchestral seating, so the sound of it leans more toward the left side of the stereo field to fit with other orchestrally aligned instruments.

An excellent all-around classical harp, it features a pliable instrument that can rely on built-in coloring and lo-fi style manipulations – like retro, analog sounding tape delays and gritty distortion modules. The Navia Harp interface also allows for more conventional audio effects like standard delay, reverb and multiband filtering for balancing the tone.

Navia Harp Free by Steinberg and Sonic Atoms is compatible with 64-bit Windows PC and macOS environments and supports VST2, VST3, AU and AAX formats – as well as standalone.

The Vintage Harp Free

One of the newest VST plugins in this list is The Vintage Harp Free by developer Straight Ahead Samples – a Kontakt (full) sample library released in late 2024.

A personal favorite, The Vintage Harp Free Kontakt library provides a very bright sounding classical harp featuring 5 microphone positions, 3 dynamic velocity layers and 2 round robins.

More free harps (VST plugins & sample libraries)

• Sonatina Harp by Bigcat Instruments – classical harp VST plugin, also available for download as an SFZ soundfont

Deep Harp is a small harp library I created myself for Decent Sampler, built around a focused two‑and‑a‑half‑octave range. It includes 32 individually sampled notes from G2 up to D5, giving it a clean, direct tonal footprint that works well for intimate lines, ambient layers or simple melodic phrases.

The samples in Deep Harp are fully synth‑generated, shaped in Vital to create a soft, plucked character that still feels convincingly harp‑like. After plenty of experimenting and refining, this approach became the foundation of the library’s final sound.

Alongside the main harp tone, I added two additional mixable variations – one built from a time‑stretched layer, and another using reversed playback – that you can shape depending on the atmosphere you’re aiming for. The idea was to keep the instrument lightweight and approachable, while still offering enough flexibility to adapt to different production styles.

Even though it’s a compact harp library, I designed it to feel musical and easy to drop into a track without much effort. If you’re already using Decent Sampler, it’s a straightforward way to add a gentle, characterful harp texture to your toolkit.