Mechanical keyboards don’t usually come cheap. Most keyboards from well-known brands, easily surpass the $100 mark — especially wireless models. And mechanical keyboard enthusiasts are willing to pay much more for limited-run, luxury custom kits.
But not everyone can — or wants to — spend hundreds on a keyboard, particularly with the price of so many essentials creeping higher. Luckily there are plenty of budget-friendly mechanical keyboards that will give you a very good typing experience and that oh-so-satisfying click for less than $80. And if you end up buying a less-than-perfect mechanical keyboard, you can always try your hand at some custom keyboard modifications.
Before we get to our best budget mechanical keyboards picks, here are some things to consider while you’re shopping around:
Choose your form factor: Keyboards come in several sizes, but the first distinction is full-size, which has a dedicated number pad, or tenkeyless (TKL) which doesn’t. (There are some smaller keyboards that have number pads but these are exceptions — the majority of keyboards with number pads are full-size.) While number pads can be useful for data entry or just as extra keys that can be customized, many people just can’t spare the desk space.
Choose your switch type: All mechanical switches aren’t created equal. Different switch types feature varying actuation points, travel distances, and types of feedback. There are three main categories of mechanical switches you should know:
- Linear switches are easy to depress because there’s no tactile bump along the way to bottoming out. Many gamers prefer linear switches because they’re easy to press repeatedly quickly and tend to be quiet. These are often Red or Black.
- Tactile switches feature a noticeable bump that offers clear feedback before bottoming out and, in many cases, increase the required actuation force. Many typists prefer tactile keyboards because they make it easier to feel each keypress. Common examples include Brown and Clear switches.
- Clicky switches are tactile switches but also make noise when they hit the tactile bump in the keypress. These are preferred by people who a) work alone and love the sound of typing, b) assume the people around them love the sound of typing, or c) don’t really care about the people around them. These are often Blue, Green, or White.
There are a range of options within each category, but manufacturers are often kind enough to break down their switches into those categories, and they’re usually color-coded as well.
Consider a switch tester. The variety of mechanical switches available can make buying a keyboard seem daunting. Although it’s possible to change mechanical keyboard switches, it can be a hassle (not to mention, expensive). Luckily, there are many switch testers on the market that make it easier to experiment with a variety of switches — the exact mix depends on the tester — before committing to a specific one. It’s an added up-front cost but cheaper than replacing a keyboard that features switches you don’t like.
Best Budget Mechanical Keyboard You Can Buy Today
The Cooler Master CK552 is the best budget mechanical keyboard for most. It’s a full-sized gaming keyboard with RGB backlighting, an aluminum top plate, and a 5.9-foot (1.8m) USB 2.0 cable. It includes a good selection of switch types: Gateron Brown (tactile), Blue (clicky) and Red (linear), which are all said to be able to withstand up to 50 million key presses without failure.
My review unit came equipped with Gateron Red switches that proved responsive during gaming–so much so that I occasionally pressed a key I didn’t mean to. That also means it stumbled a bit during heavy typing sessions. Choosing a different switch type could help, and Cooler Master makes the keyboard with tactile Brown or clicky Blue switches too, but they aren’t as easy to find online as of writing.
Good for gamers and enthusiasts, the CK552 features on-board memory that can store up to four profiles and on-the-fly controls that make it easy to record macros and control the backlighting. It’s also compatible with the Cooler Master Portal utility, which offers more granular controls over many of the same areas but isn’t as robust as rivals, such as Razer Synapse. Still, this dual approach should appeal to people who don’t like to install a bunch of software and those who want greater control over their peripherals.
The HyperX Alloy FPS Pro (currently going for $70 (opens in new tab)) was made with eSports in mind, making one of the best budget mechanical keyboards for gamers. It features a compact TKL design, a detachable USB cable and solid steel construction that should allow it to travel well. Those features alone would allow it to stand out from other keyboards on this list, but HyperX didn’t stop at the Alloy FPS Pro’s portability.
The Alloy FPS Pro is available with Cherry MX-branded linear Red or clicky Blue Switches, and that also helps it stand out from other budget mechanical keyboards. There’s nothing wrong with most manufacturers’ switches, but Cherry’s are still seen as the best of the best–at least in the mainstream consumer market. (Don’t worry, enthusiasts, we wouldn’t besmirch your Zealios or the new Panda switches from the Glorious PC Gaming Race.)
HyperX also decked out the Alloy FPS Pro with n-key rollover and 100% anti-ghosting as well as red backlighting with a variety of effects. All of these features combined led to some of the best and most comfortable gaming sessions I had during the course of preparing this round-up. The Alloy FPS Pro was responsive, fit perfectly with the rest of my setup and felt like the natural choice for gaming.
It would be nice to see RGB backlighting and some dedicated media keys, but from a pure gaming standpoint, it’s hard to beat the Alloy FPS Pro at this price point.
Logitech’s K845 replaces our previous budget productivity pick the K840. It costs about $10 more, but adds white backlighting to the keys, which you can configure in one of five patterns, and adjust to three levels of brightness (plus off). For a street price of $59.99, you get a full-sized mechanical layout with an aluminum top plate and your choice of red (linear), blue (clicky tactile) or brown (quiet tactile) switches made by TTC. For $20 more, you can opt for one of the 845ch models, which use Cherry switches (red or blue). The company sent us an 845 with TTC blue switches, and we found them a satisfying substitute over the Cherry MX Blue switches in our Das Keyboard daily driver.
The Logitech K845 also sports an aluminum top plate that both looks good and delivers a more premium feel than you might expect from a keyboard in this price range. That said, if you’re used to pricier keyboards with lots of heft, the 1.72-pound weight and plastic shell don’t exactly scream ‘high-quality keyboard.’ Still, the switches are rated to 50 million clicks, and the moulded keycaps mean you don’t have to worry about the labels fading–though we’re not a huge fan of the chunky font.
There are no dedicated macro or media keys, included software, or detachable cable. And the white backlight isn’t as snazzy as RGB. But we also wouldn’t expect all that in this price range. The flip-up plastic feet at the back do feel a bit more substantial and durable, though, than many other keyboards we’ve tested with higher price points. If you’re after a simple, no-fuss entry level mechanical clacker for productivity purposes (and perhaps some occasional gaming), the Logitech K845 is a great option–especially if you see it on sale for below its $59.99 MSRP.
The Havit KB487L doesn’t fit neatly into any other category, but it’s such an interesting keyboard that we had to include it here. It’s a standard TKL shape, but instead of having the usual cluster of shortcut keys along the right-hand side, it has a number pad. This leads to a ‘have your cake and eat it too’ design that offers the space-saving advantages of a TKL keyboard but doesn’t actually consign spreadsheet lovers to using the number row. I didn’t notice the difference during everyday use–I rarely use either the shortcut cluster or the number pad–but it’s almost certain to throw off anyone who’s used to a more traditional layout.
Havit also equipped the KB487L with durable PBT keycaps that felt nicer than any of the other keycaps I poked, prodded and pressed in the course of preparing this round-up. They also boast a unique black, white, and orange color scheme that allow the KB487L to stand out among the sea of monochromatically faced keyboards currently available. This doesn’t look or feel like a budget mechanical keyboard.
Luckily the KB487L’s beauty is more than skin deep. I didn’t notice any mis-pressed keys throughout multiple days of playing Valorant or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and those games make it pretty easy to tell when you’re doing something wrong with the keyboard, namely by making what should have clearly been a headshot fly off somewhere between the lost cities of Atlantis and Narnia. It still wasn’t my preferred experience, but I liked it more than most linear switch-equipped options.
The MSI Vigor GK50 Elite (along with the low-profile version also on this page) is a great keyboard for typing. It’s a cheaper alternative (opens in new tab) to other favored typing clackers, like the Hexgears Impulse (currently $100 (opens in new tab)). Like the Impulse, the Vigor GK50 Elite offers the excellent Kailh Box White switches. You can also get this keyboard with Kailh Blue switches, so it’ll be loud and clicky no matter what.
While the plastic keycaps here aren’t fancy, they did a great job of fighting off fingerprint smudges during our testing. MSI also included a premium top plate, but skimped a bit on the cable, which is rubber that doesn’t have much reinforcement for durability. But this is still a well-priced, albeit simple, keyboard with a premium typing experience.
Gamers will miss out on lavish premium features, like bonus macro keys or onboard memory. Additionally, the Vigor GK50 Elite is only available with clicky, tactile switches that can be exhausting to hit rapidly and repeatedly.
Read: MSI Vigor GK50 Elite review
The Aukey KMG14 ($50) (opens in new tab)was the only clicky budget mechanical keyboard I tested that didn’t make me want to “accidentally” spill something on top of it. The clicks are still pronounced, sure, but they’re closer to the pleasant pinging end of the spectrum than the “unbearable clacking” end. Pretty much everything else about the keyboard was also a welcome surprise, given its price.
Aukey equipped the KMG14 with RGB backlighting and full n-key rollover. It also used double-shot ABS keycaps, which is surprising given how cheap this mechanical keyboard is. Still, the KMG14 comes with a keycap puller to make it easier to swap out the keycaps with something a little snazzier, which was a nice touch and something I wish some other manufacturers had thought to include with their more-unfortunate-looking keycaps.
While this is marketed as a gaming keyboard, I’m recommending it for typing, simply because the clicks proved to be distracting to me and my teammates while I played games like Valorant and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. There are no tactile or linear switch options here that would be less distracting. People who prefer single-player games–or who don’t mind grieving their teammates every time they press a key–will find a fine gaming keyboard here as well.
Mechanical keyboards with low-profile switches can come at a premium, but the MSI Vigor GK50 Low Profile (along with the full-sized switch version on this page) offers one of the best budget mechanical keyboard experiences and is on sale right now for about $45 (opens in new tab). It competes well against pricey keyboards and particularly excels in typing. Its low profile Kailh Choc switches bring back memories of typewriters with its shamelessly loud clicks. We also liked the fast response, which made our fingers want to get moving even faster.
It’s not the perfect keyboard. In fact, we found the stiffer shift key to be a hindrance and the stiffer spacebar to affect our ability to use it rapidly while gaming. On top of this, the accompanying software doesn’t download properly at the moment, so RGB and other customization is limited.
However, this clacker has the speedy switches that gamers need with a design they like, plus a typing experience that made us feel nostalgic and eager to get to work.
Read: MSI Vigor GK50 Low Profile review
Finding Savings on the Best Budget Mechanical Keyboards
Whether you’re shopping for the one of the best budget mechanical keyboards or a different model, you may find savings by checking out our lists of the latest Newegg promo codes or Best Buy promo codes.
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