The Edit — Tech
Mechanical Keyboard Switches, by the Numbers
Switches are specified in grams of force and millimetres of travel, and those two figures decide everything a review calls feel. The colour name is a convention, not a standard.
This guide is research-led: we have not handled these units ourselves. If you buy through our links we may earn a commission — it never changes a pick. How we choose
A mechanical switch is a spring, a stem and a pair of contacts. What separates one from another is how much force the spring needs, how far the stem travels before the contacts close, and whether anything interrupts the movement on the way down.
The quick list
Every pick, in order. Jump to the full test on any of them.
- Highest rated
GravaStar Mercury K1 75% Wireless Mechanical Keyboard
4.7 across 1,684 ratings, and the praise is for the two things a switch decides — the sound and the smoothness of the downstroke.
4.7from 1,684 verified reviews - Try before you commit
BlingKingdom MX Clicky Blue Switches, 10 Pack
Ten switches rather than a keyboard, which is how the decision below should actually be made — with your own fingers, for the price of a coffee.
4.6from 421 verified reviews - The hot-swap argument
AULA F99 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard, Hot-Swap
3,137 ratings on a hot-swap board with three connection modes, which turns the switch decision from permanent into reversible.
4.5from 3,137 verified reviews Akko V3 Creamy Blue Pro Switches
Loose switches with a dustproof stem, and owners describing them as smooth and quiet — which is a tactile switch doing the job a clicky one advertises.
4.5from 734 verified reviewsRisoPhy Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, 104 Keys
3,338 ratings on a full-size board, praised for the clicky feel and the price, with owners reporting it stopping after a few months.
4.5from 3,338 verified reviews
Three families, and the difference is mechanical
Linear switches move straight down with no interruption. The force rises smoothly to the bottom. They are the quietest of the three and the reason most gaming boards ship with them — nothing gets in the way of a fast repeat press.
Tactile switches have a bump on the stem that the housing has to push past. You feel the moment the keystroke registers, and the finger can stop there rather than bottoming out.
Clicky switches add a separate mechanism that produces the noise, usually a click jacket or a click bar. The sound is engineered rather than incidental, and it is loud enough to be a problem in a shared room.
Nothing about a family makes it better. Cherry named the 3 conventions and the rest of the industry copied them, so the same 3 choices appear on every board — they produce different feedback, and accuracy tends to favour tactile while sustained speed favours linear.
The two numbers that matter
Actuation force is the grams needed to register the keystroke, and it is what makes a board tiring or twitchy.
| Force | Feels | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| 35 to 45 g | Light | Long typing sessions, light touch |
| 45 to 55 g | The mainstream band | Most people, most uses |
| 60 to 80 g | Heavy | Heavy typists, fewer accidental presses |
Travel is measured twice: actuation distance, where the key registers, and total travel to the bottom. A standard switch actuates around 2 mm of a 4 mm total. Speed switches shorten actuation to roughly 1.2 mm, which is fewer milliseconds and more typos.
Those two figures are published for every real switch and are the only specification that transfers between brands.
Akko V3 Creamy Blue Pro Switches
Loose switches with a dustproof stem, and owners describing them as smooth and quiet — which is a tactile switch doing the job a clicky one advertises.
Current price shown on Amazon. We may earn a commission.
| Stem | Dustproof |
|---|---|
| Owners praise | Smooth, quiet, tactile |
| Watch | Reports of switches failing |
Owners describe these as buttery smooth, quiet, and tactile — which is worth reading carefully, because it is a tactile switch delivering what people often go to clicky switches expecting. Quiet and tactile is the combination that works in a shared room.
Reliability reports split, with some owners reporting switches failing one at a time. On a hot-swap board that is a 30-second repair with a spare rather than a dead keyboard, which is the argument in the section below.
Buy it if
- You want tactile feedback in a shared room
- You are rebuilding a board you already own
Don't buy it if
- You want the audible click
Colour names are a convention, not a standard
Cherry established blue as clicky, brown as tactile and red as linear, and the industry copied the convention without adopting the specifications behind it.
So one maker’s brown is 45 g with a soft bump and another’s is 55 g with a sharp one. The colour tells you the family with reasonable reliability and the feel with none.
Read the grams. A listing that names a colour and no force figure has given you a hint rather than a specification.
BlingKingdom MX Clicky Blue Switches, 10 Pack
Ten switches rather than a keyboard, which is how the decision below should actually be made — with your own fingers, for the price of a coffee.
Current price shown on Amazon. We may earn a commission.
| Family | Clicky |
|---|---|
| Quantity | 10 |
| Needs | A hot-swap board |
Buying 10 switches rather than a keyboard is the right way to answer this question, and it costs almost nothing. Owners report them easy to install and note the click is genuine, with the tactile bump present on the way down.
It only works on a hot-swap board. Check yours before ordering — a soldered board needs a soldering iron and a desoldering pump, which is a different afternoon entirely.
Buy it if
- You own a hot-swap board and want to sample a family
- You want the click without buying a whole keyboard
Don't buy it if
- Your board is soldered
Hot-swap is the specification worth paying for
A hot-swap board has sockets rather than solder joints, so a switch pulls out with a puller and a new one presses in. No iron, no skill, about 3 seconds per key.
That changes the nature of the decision. On a soldered board the switch choice is permanent and you have to get it right by reading. On a hot-swap board you can be wrong cheaply, sample a family for the price of a coffee, and repair a single failed switch instead of replacing the keyboard.
For anyone buying a first mechanical keyboard it is the single most useful feature on the sheet.
AULA F99 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard, Hot-Swap
3,137 ratings on a hot-swap board with three connection modes, which turns the switch decision from permanent into reversible.
Current price shown on Amazon. We may earn a commission.
| Sockets | Hot-swap |
|---|---|
| Modes | Bluetooth, 2.4 GHz, USB-C |
| Watch | Some report keys failing over time |
3,137 ratings on a hot-swap board with Bluetooth, 2.4 GHz and USB-C, which covers a laptop and a desktop without a second keyboard. Owners describe the sound as creamy and the typing smooth, and rate the build solid for the price.
Some owners report keys stopping over time. On this board specifically that is a smaller problem than it sounds — a hot-swap socket means a failed switch is replaced individually, which is exactly what the sockets are for.
Buy it if
- You are not sure which switch family you want
- You move between a laptop and a desktop
Don't buy it if
- You want one board that never changes
Layout is a separate decision
Percentages describe how much of a full keyboard survives. 100% is full size with a numpad, 80% or TKL drops the numpad, 75% compresses the function row and arrows into the same footprint, and 60% drops the arrows entirely.
75% is the current default for a reason: it keeps arrows and a function row while freeing desk space for a mouse. 60% requires a modifier key for arrows, which some people never adjust to.
GravaStar Mercury K1 75% Wireless Mechanical Keyboard
4.7 across 1,684 ratings, and the praise is for the two things a switch decides — the sound and the smoothness of the downstroke.
Current price shown on Amazon. We may earn a commission.
| Layout | 75% |
|---|---|
| Owners praise | Creamy sound, smooth feel |
| Connection | Wireless |
The highest-rated board here at 4.7 across 1,684 ratings, and the praise lands on the two things switches decide: a creamy typing sound and a smooth, responsive downstroke. The 75% layout is the sensible default.
Owners also single out the RGB implementation, including side lighting independent of the keys. Read the sound praise as the specification it is — the case, plate and foam matter as much as the switch for how a board sounds.
Buy it if
- You want the sound as much as the typing
- Desk space is tight
Don't buy it if
- You need a numpad
RisoPhy Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, 104 Keys
3,338 ratings on a full-size board, praised for the clicky feel and the price, with owners reporting it stopping after a few months.
Current price shown on Amazon. We may earn a commission.
| Layout | Full size, 104 keys |
|---|---|
| Family | Clicky, per owner reports |
| Watch | Reports of failure after months |
A full-size 104-key board with a numpad, praised for build quality and the clicky feel at the price, with the backlighting called out as a genuine extra rather than a gimmick.
Owners report it stopping after a few months, and it is not hot-swap, so a failed switch takes the board with it. It is loud, too — clicky switches in a shared office are a decision about other people rather than about typing.
Buy it if
- You need a numpad and a low price
- You want clicky without choosing switches
Don't buy it if
- You share a room or an office
How to choose without guessing
Decide the family from the room rather than the reviews. Shared office means linear or a quiet tactile; alone at home means whatever you like the sound of.
Then buy a hot-swap board so the decision is reversible, and order a 10-pack of a second family to try. The whole argument is the same one that runs through what the earbud spec sheet hides — the published number transfers between brands and the marketing word does not, which is equally true of panel labels on a television.