Because the concertina was developed nearly contemporaneously in England and Germany, systems can be broadly divided into English, Anglo-German, and German types.

Both systems generally play a chromatic scale and are unisonoric, with each key producing the same note whether the bellows are being pushed or pulled.

In the United States, particularly in the Midwest where there are many German and Central European descendants, the term concertina often refers to the Chemnitzer concertina, which is bisonoric and closely related to the bandoneon, but features a different keyboard layout and decorative style, including a few mechanical innovations pioneered by German-American instrument builder and inventor Otto Schlicht.

The bandoneon (also rendered bandoneón, bandonion) is a German concertina system with an original bisonoric layout devised by Heinrich Band.

[8] Though the typical bandoneon is bisonoric, the 1920s saw the development of unisonoric variants such as the Ernst Kusserow and Charles Peguri systems, both introduced around 1925.

Within a few years of its invention, the German concertina was a popular import in England, Ireland, and North America, due to its ease of use and relatively low price.

The "Franglo" system concertina was developed by the luthiers C & R Dipper, in cooperation with Emmanuel Pariselle, known for his expertise as a professional player of the two-and-a-half row diatonic melodeon.

In the 1850s, the Anglo-German concertina's ability to play both melody and accompaniment led English manufacturers to start developing the various duet systems.

The popular Maccann system was developed towards the end of the century; meanwhile, German manufacturers were producing concertinas with more than 20 keys for local sale.

In the early 20th century, the concertina's popularity rapidly declined as demand for the accordion increased, along with mass production of other instruments such as the piano which are more suited to chromatic forms of music like blues and jazz.

By the middle of the century, few concertina makers remained, and most of those used accordion reeds and inexpensive, unreliable keyboard mechanisms.

Concertinas are mass-produced in Italy and China, and are produced by individual workshops in Europe, South Africa, Australia, and North America.