The 6 Best Mechanical Keyboards - Fall 2022 Reviews

Mechanical keyboards are becoming all the rage. They differ from the keyboards normally found in laptops or at department store checkouts as they use aptly named 'mechanical switches' to register keypresses. Mechanical switches consist of moving parts, often a spring and metal contact points, that complete a circuit, but not all mechanical switches are the same. There are many different types that offer different typing sensations and sounds, but most switches can be characterized as linear, clicky, or tactile, with tactile being the most common for typists and linear switches being the most common for gaming. Clicky switches are popular among enthusiasts as they offer a satisfying and distinct click that lets you know when a key's been registered. For more information on switch types and their properties, you can check out our article here.

Essentially, when choosing a mechanical keyboard, everything boils down to personal preference, and with so many options on the market, you're guaranteed to find a keyboard that checks all the boxes.

We've tested over 185 keyboards, and below are our recommendations for the best mechanical keyboards. If you're interested in a mechanical keyboard for a specific use, check out our recommendations for the best gaming keyboards and the best keyboards for typing. Otherwise, if you're on a tight budget, you can check out the article for the best budget mechanical keyboards.

The Best Mechanical Keyboards for Work and Play

There are few things as polarizing as PC keyboards. There are message boards and subreddits filled to the brim with opinions dissecting every aspect and component, from the virtues and vices of different switch mechanisms to the plastic used in the key caps.

There's good reason for that. You probably spend a lot of time on your keyboard, along with a (hopefully) comfortable mouse. You might as well make those hours as pleasant as possible, especially now that so many of us are working from home. Whether you own a great laptop or a game-ready desktop PC, we've tested dozens of mechanical keyboards from all ends of the price spectrum. These are our top picks for gaming—and all the other stuff.

Updated November 2022: We added the Logitech MX Mechanical and Roccat Vulcan II Mini.

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The Best Mechanical Keyboards

Every stroke of the keys on a well-made keyboard should bring a unique joy, as each clack provides your ideal tactile feedback, and each key is styled to match your aesthetic. If you spend most of your day typing, coding, or gaming, a mechanical keyboard can be a comfortable, customizable upgrade over the shallow, drab keyboard that came with your computer. After spending months testing the most promising mechanical keyboards, we like the Varmilo VA87M for its excellent build quality and its compact, minimalist design. It’s available with plenty of switch options and colorful high-quality keycaps to match your preference, too.

Some mechanical keyboards allow you to customize the keycaps, switches, and backlighting, and even the behavior of your keys.

Dimensions: 14.02 by 5.28 by 1.3 inches Connection: Removable Mini-USB Keycap material: PBT Backlight: None, white, or RGB

The Varmilo VA87M and VA87M Mac are available with a variety of Cherry switches; if you don’t already know what kind of switches you like, we recommend Cherry MX Brown switches because they offer a satisfying tactile bump without making too much noise for a shared space. Our pick comes with a removable Mini-USB cable that’s easy to replace and a wire keycap puller for replacing or cleaning keys. These Varmilo keyboards aren’t fully programmable, but they have clearly labeled media keys, and you can customize a couple of functions.

We recommend tenkeyless keyboards—that is, models without a built-in number pad—because they’re more ergonomic and because most people don’t use a number pad frequently enough to justify the desk space it occupies. If you do need a number pad, you can get a separate numpad, such as the Leopold FC210TP, which you can move out of the way when you’re not using it.

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Runner-up Leopold FC750R The next-best keyboard The FC750R has similarly excellent build quality and design, but it doesn’t offer as much switch or keycap variety as the VA87M does, and its media keys aren’t labeled. Buying Options $119 from

Dimensions: 14.25 by 5.51 by 1.3 inches Connection: Removable Mini-USB Keycap material: PBT Backlight: None

If the Varmilo VA87M is unavailable when you’re shopping, we recommend the Leopold FC750R. It has equally excellent build quality, and its minimalist tenkeyless design is similarly compact. It’s also available with all the most popular switch types. Leopold offers a few different tasteful, high-quality keycap sets, though it doesn’t provide as much variety as Varmilo does and has no backlight options. Like the VA87M, the FC750R has a removable Mini-USB cable and works on both Windows and Mac. But the FC750R’s media controls aren’t labeled on the keycaps (or explained in the manual), so you’ll have to memorize them.

Also great Leopold FC900R The best full-size keyboard The Leopold FC900R is almost identical to the FC750R, and we recommend it if you need a full-size keyboard with a built-in number pad. Buying Options $124 from

Dimensions: 17.32 by 5.51 by 1.3 inches Connection: Removable Mini-USB Keycap material: PBT Backlight: None

If you do need a built-in number pad, the Leopold FC900R is the best option. It’s nearly identical to our runner-up, the Leopold FC750R, as it offers equally excellent build quality, it’s available with all the most popular switch types, and you can choose from a few different PBT keycap sets. Like the tenkeyless model, this keyboard has a removable Mini-USB cable and works on both Windows and Mac, but—also like the tenkeyless model—it has no labels on its media controls. (We don’t recommend the Varmilo VA108M, the full-size version of our top pick, because its case is significantly different and not as good as that of its tenkeyless sibling.)

Dimensions: C1: 14.06 by 5.12 by 1.5 inches

C2: 17.15 by 5.12 by 1.57 inches Connection: Removable USB-C Keycap material: ABS Backlight: White or RGB

If I were getting into mechanical keyboards for the first time today, I’d buy the tenkeyless Keychron C1 or the full-size Keychron C2. Both models offer surprisingly good build quality, provide an enjoyable typing experience, and have an attractive minimalist design—all uncommon features in this price range. Their lower-quality ABS keycaps feel thinner and more brittle to type on and are likely to wear out faster than the thicker PBT keycaps on our top picks, but keycaps are easy to replace if you want to do so. Both models are compatible with Windows and Mac, and they come with replacement keycaps for both operating systems. Another benefit: Swapping out switches on most mechanical keyboards requires equipment, expertise, and time to desolder all the old switches and solder in new ones, but if you want to try new switch types without soldering, Keychron will upgrade the standard circuit board in the C1 or the C2 to a hot-swappable version for $10. With a hot-swappable board, you can simply pull the switches out and snap new ones into place. At this writing, shipping from Keychron’s website starts at $20, but even with that added cost, the C1 and C2 are better than any similarly priced keyboards. (Certain models are also available from Amazon with Prime shipping.)

Dimensions: 14.37 by 5.39 by 1.65 inches Connection: Removable USB-C Keycap material: PBT Backlight: RGB

If you’re willing to pay more for a keyboard that you can tinker with, get the Keychron Q3. The Q3 nails the basics—its heavy aluminum case and customizable RGB backlighting look snazzy, and it feels wonderful to type on. It works with Windows and Mac, and it comes with extra keycaps for both operating systems. But the main attraction for the price is the Q3’s additional features: full programmability with the easy-to-use VIA software, an optional knob that controls the volume by default, and hot-swappable switches, which allow you to swap new switch types in and out without soldering. The Q3 is available with a variety of switch and keycap options, and Keychron also sells a barebones version if you already have switches and keycaps or prefer to buy them separately. But the Q3 is taller and takes up a bit more room on a desk than our other picks, and you can’t customize the slope.

How to Shop for a Mechanical Keyboard Most keyboards suck. Upgrading to a mechanical one might be the right move. Here’s how to find the perfect mechanical keyboard for your needs.

Unfortunately, availability is an issue with most great mechanical keyboards. Most are made in Taiwan or China and shipped to the United States in batches to be sold by specialty retailers. If our picks aren’t available with the switches or keycaps you want, you can preorder at keep an eye on that seller’s incoming-shipments page, or set availability alerts on Amazon using a price tracker such as CamelCamelCamel or Keepa. We tested our picks against more readily available options and found that these models were of significantly higher quality and worth the effort to track down, but if you can’t wait that long, the other good keyboards we found during testing may be more readily available.