Brand
Cherry
Cherry designed the switch everything else copies. Its MX line has been in production since the 1980s, and when the design patent expired, every other manufacturer was free to build the same shape, which is the single event the custom keyboard hobby is built on. Cherry now competes with an industry its own expired patent created, and its MX2A generation is a genuine redesign of the classic rather than a relabel.
| Type | Manufacturer |
|---|
| Country | Germany |
|---|
| Founded | 1953 |
|---|
| Also known as | Cherry MX, Cherry Corporation |
|---|
| Indexed here | 4 entries |
|---|
| Force range | 45 to 45 gf |
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What to know
- Makes
- Switches, Keyboards
- Known for
- The MX mount and the cross stem that every compatible keycap fits. Consistency and longevity rather than novelty.
- Worth knowing
- Cherry is the reference point, not the current performance leader. Enthusiast manufacturers have spent a decade optimising smoothness and sound in ways Cherry, which sells to office and industrial buyers as well, has not chased.
- Who it suits
- Anyone who wants a known quantity, and anyone who wants to understand what other switches are being compared against.
- Availability
- Widely stocked
- Relationships
- The MX patent expiring is why Gateron, Kailh, TTC, Outemu and most others exist in their current form. Cherry also manufactures switches for OEM keyboard makers under contract.
Official site: www.cherry-world.com
Related brands
- Gateron · The largest MX clone maker, and the usual alternative
- Kailh · The other long-established clone manufacturer
Indexed under Cherry
All 3 entries rest on a single retailer, with nothing to corroborate the figures. Any figure the sources disagreed on was left blank rather than averaged.
Cherry
Linear45 gfSilent
An MX2A-generation silent linear with an RGB-friendly clear housing, aimed at boards with per-key lighting where a milky housing would muddy the colour. 45 gf, 1.6 mm pre-travel, and an extra-polished top housing that Cherry uses to smooth the stem's travel rather than relying on lubricant. The vendor lists a 100 gf bottom-out force, which is implausible for a switch that actuates at 45 gf and is almost certainly a typo, so that figure is deliberately not recorded here.
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Cherry
Linear45 gf
The MX2A Red is Cherry's current take on the classic MX Red: the linear switch most beginners meet first. It presses straight down with no tactile bump and no click: smooth, light (45 cN) and quiet compared to a clicky switch. The MX2A generation is factory-lubed and uses a dust-proof stem for smoother travel. Reds are a sensible default for typing and gaming alike, and because the MX cross stem is the hobby's universal standard, they fit almost any keycap set and hot-swap board.
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Cherry
Tactile45 gfSilentFactory-lubed
Cherry's silent tactile, and a departure from the company's reputation for restraint: 45 gf with a 1.9 mm pre-travel and a bump you can actually feel. Cherry's silencing is built into the stem and housing rather than added as pads, which is why it does not feel as damped as most silent switches. Factory lubed. If Cherry MX Brown always felt vague to you, this is the same idea done properly and quietly.
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Cherry
PCB clip-in
Genuine Cherry clip-in housings, PCB mount with no screws anywhere, four 2u and one 6.25u in the base kit. KeebsForAll states outright that they will not go into a plate mount board and CannonKeys lists them as clip-in only, which is the compatibility trap to check before ordering rather than after. Wire material is blank because both shops describe the wires only by color, and on the long sizes at least one of them substitutes its own wire built to Cherry spec instead of Cherry's, so the component that decides whether a set rattles is the component nobody specifies. Prices differ between the two and the kit contents differ with them, so no price is recorded.
View → Cherry and its logo are the property of their owner and are used here only to identify the brand.
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Details last checked 2026-09-12.
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