Switches
A linear switch has nothing in the way. The force rises smoothly from the top of the travel to the bottom, with no bump to tell you the key registered and no click to announce it. Nothing interrupts the press.
That makes linears the usual recommendation for gaming, where a bump is one more thing between intent and input, and the common choice for anyone who bottoms out every key anyway and so would never feel a tactile event in the middle. It is also where almost all the variety is: this is by far the largest group in the index, and the one where housing material and the gap between actuation and bottom-out do all the differentiating.
The figure worth comparing here is not actuation force but the spread between actuation and bottom-out. A narrow spread stays the same weight all the way down and feels flat and even. A wide spread firms up as it goes, so the bottom reads as a floor.
34 of the 48 switches indexed here, from 32 gf to 60 gf. 15 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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TTC
Very light at 39 gf, which puts it in the territory where typing feels almost weightless and accidental presses become a genuine consideration. TTC's P3 stem in a polycarbonate top and PA66 nylon bottom gives a softer, rounder sound than an all-PC switch. A good match for long typing sessions and a poor one for gaming, where a light linear rewards precision you may not have.
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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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Kailh
A 40 gf linear, factory lubed, bottoming out at 50 gf over 3.4 mm. The 10 gf spread between actuation and bottom-out is wider than the HMX linears in this batch, so the press firms up more noticeably as it goes down. No housing material is published by either vendor carrying it.
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Keygeek
A light 40 gf linear bottoming out at 45 gf, factory lubed, 2.0 mm and 3.5 mm. The bottom housing is nylon loaded with 30 percent fibreglass, which Keygeek uses to stiffen the shell and raise the pitch of the bottom-out. A polycarbonate top over a filled-nylon bottom is the pairing most of the Keygeek line uses.
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KTT
The lightest of KTT's Baby series at 40 gf, bottoming out around 45, so the whole press happens in a narrow band of force and feels almost frictionless. KTT's appeal is that this smoothness used to cost considerably more. Good for long typing sessions, and a poor match for anyone who rests their fingers heavily on the home row.
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HMX
HMX has spent the last few years making the switches that enthusiasts actually recommend, and this is a representative one: 42 gf, a POK stem in a PA12 top and fibreglass-loaded nylon bottom, on a 22 mm long spring. The material choice is the point. POK on nylon is what gives HMX switches their characteristically dry, clacky sound rather than the deeper tone of an all-nylon build. Factory lubed thinly, which is the right amount.
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Kailh
A 42 gf linear bottoming out at 50 gf, factory lubed, with a full 3.8 mm of travel. The housing is liquid crystal polymer top and bottom, a stiffer and more dimensionally stable plastic than nylon or POM, which is unusual at this price and is the reason to look at this switch. Kailh describes the stem only as running new moulds, so that field is blank.
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Keygeek
A 42 gf linear bottoming out at 50 gf, 2.0 mm to actuation and 3.6 mm total. Sits between Cheese V2 at 40 gf and Y2 at 48 gf in the Keygeek range, with a 40 percent fibreglass bottom housing between their 30 and the Full Nylon's 50. Neither vendor states whether it ships lubed.
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KTT
A silent linear built around a POM and TPE composite stem, where the TPE does the dampening rather than separate pads. 43 gf to actuate and 55 gf to bottom out, so the press builds noticeably towards the end instead of staying flat. The quietest category of switch there is, and priced low enough that silencing a full board does not become a project in itself.
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Owlab
A 43 gf linear bottoming out at 49 gf with an unusually short 1.9 mm pre-travel, in a polycarbonate top over Owlab's modified P1 bottom. Total travel is missing: the two shops quote 3.5 mm and 3.6 mm. A tenth of a millimetre is small enough to be a rounding difference and large enough that neither number is worth printing as fact.
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Cherry
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
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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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
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
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
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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HMX
One of three Retro switches indexed here, all 2.0 mm to actuation with the same polycarbonate top over a PA66 nylon bottom. The C is a 45 gf linear bottoming out at 50 gf, with 3.5 mm total travel. Retro C and Retro T share every published figure, so the difference between them is one HMX describes rather than specifies.
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HMX
Part of HMX's Retro line, which aims at the sound of older switches without the roughness that came with them. 45 gf over 3.5 mm, so it bottoms out slightly sooner than a standard 4 mm switch and feels a touch more immediate. A safe, unshowy linear: the kind that gets recommended when someone asks what to put in a first custom build and does not want to think about it further.
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HMX
A 45 gf linear bottoming out at 50 gf, 2.0 mm to actuation and 3.5 mm total, in an all-PA66 nylon housing. Nylon on both halves is the deeper, quieter choice against the polycarbonate top used on the Retro C. Every published number matches the Retro C, so pick between them on housing rather than on feel figures.
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KTT
A middleweight linear at 45 gf with a 50 gf bottom-out and 1.9 mm of pre-travel, which is a very ordinary specification and meant as a compliment. Nothing here is unusual, which makes it a sensible default when you want a board to feel normal rather than distinctive. The nylon bottom housing keeps the sound on the deeper side.
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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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Keygeek
The heaviest Keygeek linear indexed here: 48 gf to actuate, 53 gf at the bottom, factory lubed, 3.6 mm of travel. The stem is a UPE blend rather than POM, and hollowed at the tip, both choices aimed at the sound rather than the weight. PA12 housing top and bottom.
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KTT
A short-travel linear built for speed: 1.3 mm of pre-travel, so the key registers barely into the press, and 3.5 mm total. That combination is aimed at gaming, where the distance to actuation matters more than how the switch sounds. At 48 gf it is not light, which stops the short travel turning into constant mistypes. A specialist choice, and honest about it.
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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
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
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
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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TactileSilentFactory lubedLightHeavy All switches Sortable table
Brands represented here: Cherry, Gateron, HMX, KTT, Kailh, Keygeek, Owlab, TTC, Wingtree.