Learn
Intro to Mechanical Keyboards Keyboard Sizes and Layouts Choosing a Keyboard Size Switches ANSI vs ISO Keyboard Layouts: What Actually Changes? Linear vs Tactile Switches Switch Anatomy Keycaps North-Facing vs South-Facing LEDs: Which Is Better? Stabilizers Keyboard Latency Explained: Polling Rate, Scan Rate and Input Lag Keyboard Mounting Styles Plate Materials and Sizes Switch Lubes How Group Buys Work What Makes a Switch Thocky What Makes a Switch Clacky What Makes a Switch Creamy Lubing Your Switches Fitting and Tuning Stabilizers Remapping a Keyboard with VIA How to Clean a Mechanical KeyboardShops
All shopsSwitches
Everything here registers below 40 grams-force. For comparison, the weight most people settle on without thinking about it is somewhere between 45 and 55 gf, and a Cherry MX Red is 45.
Light switches ask less of your fingers over a long day, which is the reason people move to them, and they are quick, because less force means less time. The threshold worth knowing is around 40 gf: below it, resting your hands on the board can be enough to trigger a key, and below about 35 gf that stops being a theoretical risk.
If you have never used anything light, this is a group to try before committing a full board to. Preference here is unusually strong in both directions.
11 of the 94 switches indexed here, from 32 gf to 37 gf. 3 have at least one force figure left blank, because the sources disagreed or published something impossible.
Keygeek
At 32 gf this is the lightest switch in the index, light enough that resting your hands on the board can press a key. Factory lubed, 2.0 mm to actuation, 3.8 mm total, with a spherical stem tip. Bottom-out force is blank because both shops print 32 gf for it as well, and a spring cannot weigh the same at the top of its travel as at the floor.
View →
HMX
A very light tactile at 35 gf that still bottoms out around 52, and that wide gap is the whole point: the bump arrives early and gently, then the press firms up underneath it. Unusually forgiving for a tactile, where the common complaint is that the bump costs too much effort. HMX's material choices give it a dry, sharp sound rather than a muted one.
View →
Wingtree
A silent linear at 35 gf actuation and 45 gf bottom-out, factory lubed, 3.8 mm of travel. Silencing is done with silicone on the stem, so both the bottom-out and the return are damped, and the switch gives up some of the crispness a non-silent linear has in exchange. Light and quiet is a shared office combination rather than a sound-test one.
View →
HMX
The tactile of the Retro set and the odd one out: 36 gf to actuate but 55 gf at the bottom, a 19 gf climb that is the steepest in this batch, over only 3.0 mm of travel. A light bump followed by a firm floor. Pre-travel is 2.5 mm, deeper than the 2.0 mm its linear siblings use.
View →
HMX
A light linear at 37 gf actuation and 42 gf bottom-out, so only 5 gf separates the two: the press stays close to the same weight all the way down, which is what people mean when they call an HMX switch flat. PA12 nylon on both halves is denser than the PA66 HMX uses elsewhere. Travel is 2.0 mm and 3.5 mm.
View →
Keygeek
A 37 gf linear bottoming out at 42 gf, factory lubed, with a nylon stem rather than the usual POM. The bottom housing carries 50 percent fibreglass, the highest fill in this batch. Total travel is left out: one shop says 3.8 mm and the other 3.4 mm, and a 0.4 mm disagreement is too large to average.
View →
TTC
A five-pin linear with a published 37 gf operating force, 2.0mm pre-travel and 4.0mm total travel. TTC specifies a POM bottom housing and dust-proof POM stem, with factory lubrication. The checked text does not identify the top-housing material or bottom-out force, so neither is inferred from appearance. Compare this exact V3 listing when shopping; the Golden Pink name also appears on earlier revisions.
View →
Wingtree
A light, short linear built for fast typing: 1.4 mm to actuation, 3.4 mm in total, 37 gf actuation and 43 gf bottom-out. PC top, a PA66 bottom with fiberglass, and a UPE stem, designed by Ruben Studio. The 1.4 mm actuation point is shallow enough that resting fingers can trigger keys, so heavy-handed typists may be better served by the 277 or the VDV.
View →
Wingtree
A tactile with a light-to-medium bump and a lightly grainy feel, according to the one shop checked that sells it. Nylon top and bottom, 37 gf actuation and 3.8 mm of travel, factory lubed. Bottom-out force, pre-travel and stem material are not published there, so those fields are blank rather than estimated. Among the shops checked for this index, only one US retailer stocks it.
View →
Wingtree
A tactile with a gentle bump, a textured, grainy feel and a full 4.0 mm of travel, with a light 37 gf actuation and 46 gf bottom-out. Nylon top and bottom, factory lubed. Pre-travel and stem material are not published by the one shop checked, so those fields are blank. A German retailer sells a 4 mm Wingtree Purple Sprout Tea that may be the same switch; that could not be confirmed.
View →
Wingtree
A Chiikawa-themed linear with a PC top, a PA66 microfiber bottom, 1.8 mm to actuation and 3.6 mm in total, and 37 gf actuation with 43 gf bottom-out on a 20 mm KOS spring. Light and short, so it will feel quick and easy to trigger. Stem material and lubrication are not stated by the only shop found selling it, in Indonesia, and no US-dollar price was found.
View →LinearTactileSilentFactory lubedHeavy All switches Sortable table
Brands represented here: HMX, Keygeek, TTC, Wingtree.