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Keychron makes the keyboards most people buy first when they leave office hardware behind: hot-swap, widely stocked, properly supported, and unusual in this field for taking Mac layouts seriously. It is a mainstream manufacturer rather than an enthusiast one, and it sells directly as well as through retailers.
Official site: www.keychron.com
Keychron
A one-handed magnetic keypad at $59.99, tray mounted on an aluminium plate, 450 g, with QMK and VIA through Keychron's Launcher. It is a gaming pad rather than a keyboard, which is why it is filed as other. Hot-swap only takes Keychron's Ultra-fast Lime magnetic switches.
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Keychron
The cheapest TKL here at $54.99: wired, hot-swap, QMK, 8,000 Hz polling, OSA profile double-shot keycaps. Keychron does not publish a plate material for it, so that cell is blank. The C line is the plastic-cased range below the V boards, which is where the saving comes from.
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Keychron
A wired full-size at $64.99 with 8000 Hz polling, tray mounted, hot-swap, 975 g, on OSA double-shot PBT, with QMK and VIA through Keychron's Launcher. Keychron publishes no plate material for it, so that field is blank rather than assumed from the rest of the C range.
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Keychron
A gasket mounted magnetic board at $89.99 on Keychron's Lime switches, wired, 1125 g, Cherry profile PBT, QMK and VIA. Keychron's own page tags it 100% full size while its dimensions match the tenkeyless C3 Pro, so it is filed TKL on the measurements. Out of stock when checked.
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Keychron
A gasket mounted full-size magnetic board at $99.99, wired, 8000 Hz, 970 g, Cherry profile PBT, QMK and VIA. Its spec sheet claims 84 keys against a full-size tag and full-size dimensions, which reads as boilerplate, so the layout here follows the measurements. Out of stock when checked.
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Keychron
A gasket mounted 75% magnetic board at $99.99, wired, 8000 Hz, 780 g, on Cherry profile PBT with QMK and VIA. The key count line in its spec table says 84 keys at 100%, which contradicts both the photo and the layout tag, so the size here comes from those. Out of stock when checked.
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Keychron
The heavier J series 75% at 956 g, $99.99, gasket mounted, wired, 8000 Hz, Cherry profile PBT, QMK and VIA. Its spec table carries the same mistaken 84 key line as the J2, so the layout follows Keychron's own tag instead. Out of stock at that price when checked.
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Keychron
A 27 key number pad at $64.99, tri-mode, hot-swap, 176 g, on low-profile double-shot PBT with QMK and VIA. It is a pad rather than a keyboard, hence other. Useful beside a sixty percent if you spend time in spreadsheets. Keychron publishes no mounting style for it.
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Keychron
A full-size at $89.99, tray mounted, Bluetooth or wired, on double-shot PBT with QMK and VIA. Its product page renders no spec table at all, checked in a browser as well as a fetch, so weight, plate and the hot-swap claim are blank here rather than taken from a retailer.
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Keychron
A low-profile Alice board at $99.99, tri-mode, hot-swap, 700 g, on Gateron low-profile switches with QMK and VIA. The split and angle make it a commitment rather than a quick try. Configurations run to $119.99 and Keychron publishes no mounting style for it.
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Keychron
A low-profile 96% at $94.99, tri-mode, hot-swap, 750 g, on Gateron low-profile switches with QMK and VIA. Ninety-six percent keeps the numpad and loses the gaps, which no standard size slug covers, so it is filed as other. No mounting style is published.
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Keychron
The board that put Keychron on most desks: a 75% at $59.99, tray mounted, hot-swap, Bluetooth or wired, on ABS keycaps. Weight is blank because Keychron lists 794 g for the aluminium frame and 663 g for plastic without saying which ships at this price. Its firmware claims disagree across its own page.
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Keychron
A low-profile 75% at $84.99, tri-mode, hot-swap, 525 g, on low-profile double-shot PBT with QMK and VIA. Low profile means the keycaps and switches are not interchangeable with normal ones, which is the trade for a board you can carry. Configurations run to $99.99.
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Keychron
The original K8 tenkeyless at $59.99, tray mounted, hot-swap on the Gateron and Keychron Super versions, Bluetooth or wired, on OEM double-shot ABS. Weight is blank: 740 g plastic and 887 g with the aluminium bezel, with no way to tell which ships at this price. Configurations reach $89.99.
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Keychron
A tenkeyless at $74.99, tray mounted, hot-swap, Bluetooth or wired, on OSA double-shot PBT with QMK and VIA. The 1146 g figure is the aluminium frame, which is the only configuration in stock at this price; the plastic one is 990 g. No plate material is published.
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Keychron
A low-profile 60% at $99.99, tri-mode, hot-swap, 426 g, on Keychron's Milk POM switches with QMK and VIA. Only the Milk POM Banana configuration is in stock at that price. No mounting style is published, and low-profile keycaps do not interchange with ordinary sets.
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Keychron
A 75% gasket-mounted board in a full aluminium case, the Q1 Max is Keychron's wireless flagship: it keeps the QMK/VIA firmware of the wired Q series and adds Bluetooth plus a 2.4 GHz dongle with 1000 Hz polling. It ships hot-swappable, so it is an easy place to start experimenting with switches and keycaps, and because it runs VIA, every key and macro can be remapped without flashing firmware. If you want one board to learn the hobby on, this is a popular first 'serious' keyboard.
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Keychron
The 75 percent in the V line at $69.99: wired, hot-swap, QMK and VIA, steel plate, tray mount, double-shot PBT. It is the board most of the roundups point at, and the specification is deliberately plain. What you are buying is open firmware and a hot-swap socket rather than a mount or a material.
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Keychron
The V1 with an 8,000 Hz polling rate and a PC plate instead of steel, at $74.99, using Keychron's Super switches and OSA profile PBT. A PC plate flexes more than steel, so it reads softer than the standard V1. The polling rate matters for gaming and is invisible for typing.
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Keychron
An Alice layout at $59.99: the alphabet is split and angled so the wrists sit straighter, with a knob, hot-swap sockets, QMK, a steel plate and a tray mount. Alice layouts take a week or two to retrain on, and they keep the B key on the left half, which is the first thing most people mistype.
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Keychron
A TKL at $74.99, wired, hot-swap, 8,000 Hz polling, steel plate on a tray mount, Keychron Super switches and OSA profile PBT. A TKL keeps the function row and the navigation cluster and loses the numpad, which is the layout most people move to from a full size before going smaller.
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Keychron
A 60 percent wired board on QMK, hot-swap, with a steel plate and a tray mount. Double-shot PBT keycaps that are not shine-through, so backlighting glows around the legends rather than through them. At $59.99 it is the cheapest route into Keychron's open-firmware line, and the wired-only limit is what keeps it there.
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Keychron
A 96% wired board at $84.99 with 8000 Hz polling, tray mounted on a steel plate, hot-swap, 1080 g, on OSA profile double-shot PBT. Ninety-six percent has no standard size slug, so it is filed as other: it keeps a numpad while dropping the gaps. QMK and VIA.
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Keychron
A full-size QMK board at $74.99, wired, hot-swap, steel plate, tray mount, double-shot PBT. Full size is the only layout here with a numpad, and it is the one layout that is cheaper to buy than to make room for: measure your desk against the board before ordering.
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Keychron
The Alice layout gasket mounted on a PC plate at $99.99, tri-mode, hot-swap, 745 g, on Gateron Jupiter switches. Only the barebone version with a knob sits at that price: the assembled configurations cross $100, so check what is in the box before comparing it with anything here.
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Keychron
One tool for both jobs: a wire loop for keycaps at one end, a clamp that grabs the switch latches at the other. Fourteen dollars. The design point is real, since prying at a switch with a screwdriver is how people crack housings and lift sockets. The caveat is the price. Most hotswap keyboards ship a combined plastic puller in the box for nothing, and that one works.
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Keychron
The straight, non coiled option: a double sleeved USB-C cable at ten dollars, in four colours, listed as fitting most of the Q and V families. Keychron does not publish a length or a conductor gauge on the listing, so if cable run matters to your desk, measure before ordering. At this price it is a reasonable cosmetic upgrade over the bundled cable, and it is a third of what the coiled version costs.
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Keychron
A coiled cable with an aviator connector in the middle, from twenty five dollars. Be careful with the connector shape: Keychron lists the straight version and the angled version as fitting different keyboard families, and the wrong one fouls the case. A coiled cable is decoration. It carries exactly the same data as the plain cable already in the box, and the coil is one more thing to catch on the desk edge.
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Keychron
A poured resin rest that matches the length of a specific Keychron board, thirty dollars. Resin is heavier and more slippery than wood and, like wood, it does not compress at all, so it supports the heel of the hand rather than cushioning it. Keychron sells it by keyboard model rather than by measurement, so check that your board is on the list. Its cheaper silicone rest does the ergonomic part for ten dollars.
View →Keychron 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 Keychron. If you own this material and want it removed, email us and it will come down. Details last checked 2026-09-15.