Brand
Gateron is the largest of the Cherry MX clone manufacturers and the one most people meet first, partly because it makes switches under its own name and partly because it produces them for other brands too. Its catalogue is unusually wide: budget lines sold by the thousand, the Smoothie and fruit series aimed at enthusiasts, low-profile KS-33 switches that are not MX compatible at all, and magnetic Hall effect switches that need a board built for them. That breadth is why Gateron accounts for more of this index than any other brand, and why two switches with its name on them can have almost nothing in common.
| Type | Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Country | China |
| Also known as | Gateron Electronic, Huizhou Gateron |
| Indexed here | 21 entries |
| Force range | 40 to 60 gf |
Official site: www.gateron.co
11 of the 19 entries have specifications confirmed by more than one independent retailer. The other 8 rest on a single source. Any figure the sources disagreed on was left blank rather than averaged.
Gateron
The heaviest tactile in the Smoothie line at 55 gf, with an all-POM housing and POM stem. POM against POM is the self-lubricating combination, which is why the Smoothies are usually sold on smoothness rather than on a sharp bump. Bottom-out force is not published for this switch.
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Gateron
Gateron's EF line builds the silencing into the switch rather than adding pads after the fact, which is why it stays firmer at the bottom than most silent switches manage. 50 gf on a full 4 mm of travel. Worth considering if you have tried silent switches and found them too soft: this is the version that keeps some definition, while staying quiet enough for a shared room.
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Gateron
A tactile from Gateron's drinks series, light for a tactile at 40 gf and short overall at 3.4 mm. The polycarbonate housing runs top and bottom with a POM stem, the pairing Gateron reaches for when it wants a brighter sound than nylon gives. Two figures are missing on purpose: no vendor publishes a bottom-out force, and the pre-travel both of them quote is shorter than an MX tactile bump can physically sit, so it is left out rather than repeated.
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Gateron
The lighter sibling of the G Pro 3.0 Yellow, and the better first switch for anyone who finds most keyboards tiring. It actuates at 45 gf and bottoms out around 50 gf, so the press is short on resistance from top to bottom: fast to type on, and easy to rest your fingers on without triggering a key. Same construction as the rest of the G Pro 3.0 line, a POM stem in a polycarbonate top and nylon bottom housing on a stainless steel spring, and factory lubed before it ships. Pick the Red over the Yellow if you type all day, or if a heavier switch has ever made your hands ache.
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Gateron
Gateron's third revision of the G Pro Yellow, and the switch most often recommended as a first upgrade from whatever came in the box. It is a plain linear: no bump, no click, 50 gf to actuate and 67 gf to bottom out, which is light enough to type on all day and heavy enough not to trigger by accident. The interest is in what Gateron does before it ships. The stem is POM in a polycarbonate top and nylon bottom housing, the spring is 15.4 mm stainless steel, and it arrives factory lubed, so it feels smooth out of the packet rather than after an evening with a brush. That combination is why it turns up in so many builds: it is the closest thing the hobby has to a default.
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Gateron
The Ink housing is Gateron's own plastic blend, and it is the reason this switch sounds the way it does: deeper and fuller than a standard nylon build, with almost none of the scratchiness a heavy linear usually develops. At 60 gf it is the heaviest switch in this index. That suits people who rest their fingers on the keys and hate accidental presses, and frustrates anyone hoping for a light, fast board.
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Gateron
A low-profile clicky, which is an unusual thing to want and a very specific thing to enjoy. Total travel is 3.0 mm rather than the usual 4.0, so everything happens sooner, and at 60 gf the press is firm. The POK top and POM bottom housing give the click a harder, drier sound than a standard-height clicky. Only relevant if your board takes Gateron low-profile switches, which is worth checking before you buy.
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Gateron
A low-profile tactile on Gateron's KS-33 platform, so it is not an MX switch and will not fit MX keycaps or a standard hot-swap socket. Everything is shorter than MX: 1.7 mm to actuation and 3.0 mm to the bottom, against roughly 2.0 and 4.0 on a full-height switch. At 50 gf it is the middle weight of the three KS-33 flavours indexed here, and it ships factory lubed.
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Gateron
The linear member of the KS-33 low-profile family, 45 gf with 1.7 mm of pre-travel and 3.0 mm total. Low profile means a different mount and different keycaps: KS-33 switches do not accept MX caps. POK on top is Gateron's harder, higher-pitched top housing material, and the switch is factory lubed.
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Gateron
Gateron's silent linear at a light 45 gf, and one of the easier ways to make a loud board quiet without rebuilding it. Silencing a switch means putting rubber where plastic would otherwise hit plastic, and that always costs a little crispness: the bottom-out feels slightly cushioned rather than firm. The KS-9 3.0 handles that trade better than most, helped by a dual-stage spring that keeps the press from going mushy near the end. A sensible pick for an office, or for anyone typing next to someone else.
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Gateron
The tactile version of the same silent housing, at 55 gf with a short 1.5 mm pre-travel, so the bump arrives early and the key registers soon after it. Tactile and silent is a harder combination than either alone, because the dampening that kills the noise also blunts the bump. This keeps enough of it to feel deliberate. Heavier than the Pink, and the right choice if you want feedback from a switch nobody else can hear.
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Gateron
A 45 gf linear with a polycarbonate top and a nylon bottom, the mixed housing that gives a fuller sound than an all-PC switch without going as deep as full nylon. Travel is 2.0 mm to actuation and 3.6 mm to the bottom, slightly shorter than the 4.0 mm MX standard. No bottom-out force is published.
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Gateron
Named after the tea, and part of the run of Gateron switches aimed at enthusiast taste rather than the retail shelf. 48 gf with a bump leading into a 55 gf bottom-out, on the full 4 mm of travel, so it feels roomier than the shorter-travel tactiles here. Middleweight, unfussy, and easy to live with over a long day.
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Gateron
One of the switches that built Gateron's reputation with enthusiasts rather than manufacturers. A heavy linear at 55 gf that bottoms out around 80, so it takes deliberate pressure and returns firmly, and the ink-style housing gives it the deep sound the hobby spent years chasing. Not a beginner switch: if you have only used a stock keyboard it will feel like hard work. If you already know you type heavily, this is the reference everything else gets compared to.
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Gateron
At 59 gf this is one of the heavier tactiles in the index, in an all-nylon housing with a POM stem. Nylon on both halves is the quietest and deepest of Gateron's common housing choices. Total travel is 3.4 mm, noticeably short, so the switch reaches the bottom sooner than an MX-standard 4.0 mm. Bottom-out force is unpublished.
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Gateron
The heavier linear Smoothie at 48 gf, all POM housing and POM stem, 2.0 mm to actuation and 3.7 mm total. Sits between Strawberry Smoothie at 40 gf and the tactile Chocolate at 55 gf if you are comparing within the line. Bottom-out force is not published.
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Gateron
A speed linear: 1.2 mm of pre-travel against the usual 2.0 mm, so it registers roughly a third of the way sooner than a standard MX switch. That is the whole point of the switch and the reason it is sold for gaming rather than typing, where a short pre-travel makes accidental presses easier. Weight is 45 gf and total travel 3.4 mm. Vendors describe the stem only as a proprietary material, so the field is blank here.
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Gateron
A 40 gf linear, factory lubed, 2.0 mm to actuation and 3.6 mm total. Light enough to sit at the bottom of the usable range for typing without being a speed switch. Both vendors carrying it describe the housing with a template placeholder rather than a material, so housing and bottom-out force are blank rather than guessed.
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Gateron
The lightest linear in the Smoothie line at 40 gf, and the only one indexed here that keeps the full 4.0 mm MX travel. All-POM housing with a POM stem, the self-lubricating pairing the line is built around. No bottom-out force is published.
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Gateron
Nylon housings and silver-plated wire, screw-in and PCB mount, with eight 2u wires and two 6.25u in the kit, which is roughly twice the spares most sets give you. Worth knowing before you pick a color: the listing splits the colorways by travel, 4.0 mm on most of them and 3.4 mm on the black and silver version, so that one is for short-pole switches and the others are not. Nothing says they are pre-lubed. One shop of the six stocks it, so there is nothing to cross-check the travel figures against.
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Gateron
A switch opener is a jig that pops the top housing off a switch so you can lube or film it, which is otherwise a two-thumbnail job that snaps latches. Gateron gives the material only as metal, the length as 126mm, and states it fits Cherry MX style switches but not BOX switches, so check what you own before ordering. At thirty dollars this is one of the more expensive openers in the index, and cheaper aluminum ones open the same housings.
View →Gateron and its logo are the property of their owner and are used here only to identify the brand. Thockery is not affiliated with, endorsed by or partnered with Gateron. If you own this material and want it removed, email us and it will come down. Details last checked 2026-09-12.