Gaming keyboards: Compare the best options in March 2021 | finder.com
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Compare gaming keyboards in The United States

Everything you need to know to find the right keyboard for your gaming needs and budget.

David Milner
David Milner

Updated

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gaming keyboard

Our top picks

Quick facts about gaming keyboards

  • Gaming keyboards can improve in-game performance through increased response times and better comfort levels, but much of the appeal is aesthetic.
  • There are numerous competitors in this space including Corsair, HyperX, Razer, Roccat, Logitech, Asus, Alienware and SteelSeries.
  • Prices range from around $35 up to $250.

Top picks

  • Redragon S101 Wired Gaming Keyboard and Mouse Combo: This #1 bestseller on Amazon comes with seven RGB lighting modes, four backlit brightness levels and whisper quiet keys. Bonus points: the wired mouse has five programmable buttons.
  • Corsair K55 RGB Gaming Keyboard: Messy gamers take note — this keyboard is spill and dust resistant. We also love it for its budget-friendly price point and comfy palm rest, which helps take the strain out of long hours at the computer.
  • KLIM Chroma Rechargeable Wireless Gaming Keyboard: Built with a noise reduction system, this keyboard is perfect for late-night gaming sessions. You can easily adjust the brightness and enjoy an energy-saving mode, which turns off backlighting after sixty seconds of being idle.

What's in this guide?

  1. Our top picks
  2. Top picks
  3. Why buy a gaming keyboard?
  4. Membrane vs. mechanical
  5. How to compare gaming keyboards
  6. Three things to consider
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Why buy a gaming keyboard?

If you’re serious about PC gaming, you’ll want to consider upgrading to a dedicated gaming keyboard. It shouldn’t be the first component you level up — that honor goes to either your graphics card or your monitor. But as your primary input device, your gaming performance could improve with the right keyboard.

Gaming keyboards are designed to have faster response times and extra gaming-specific features like customizable hotkeys. Plus they usually come packed with enough pulsing colorful lights to deck out a nightclub.

Membrane vs. mechanical

There are two main technologies in the gaming keyboard space, each with different tactile qualities.

Membrane keyboards tend to be found in cheaper standalone gaming keyboards or built into most laptops. Inputs are registered when an electrical current is passed between the rubber membrane attached to the underside of a key and the larger rubber membrane that sits beneath the entire keyboard. Keystrokes are logged slightly slower than on mechanical keyboards. Keys also don’t spring back up as quickly. So at an elite level of play, your potential actions per minute (APM) is lower. The upside, though, is that membrane keyboards are far quieter.

Mechanical keyboards function essentially like old typewriters, with springs and levers being depressed. They’re faster and more responsive. But the loud, constant clicking sound they make is borderline inconsiderate for office environments. However, if you’re at home and are more concerned about in-game performance, mechanical keyboards are arguably the better option.

How to compare gaming keyboards

Cost

If you’re after a top-of-the-line gaming keyboard, you could spend up to $250 on one. Premium models typically include ultra-responsive mechanical switches, ergonomic features that help with long play sessions by minimizing hand and finger cramps, and all the neon-drenched aesthetic bells and whistles you could ask for.

Most premium keyboards also allow for a high degree of customization, like optional textured keycaps for the all-important WASD keys. Some can even customize different actuation points — the amount of pressure that registers a keystroke — for each key. At lower price points, you lose many of these premium features, but you can still find a quality keyboard for less than $100.

Backlights

Let’s be honest: much of the appeal of a gaming keyboard is in the fancy backlighting that illuminates the keys and surrounding room. The cheapest keyboards probably won’t have this feature. But as soon as you move away from the budget tier, you’ll get single-color varieties (most often red), then RGB (red, green, blue), and then, at the top end, keyboards capable of displaying 16.8 billion colors. If this sounds ridiculously excessive, it is.

While it can look fantastic, make sure you can control the strobe pattern and turn lights off/down. Otherwise, the glare can be distracting in dark rooms.

Genre-specific features

If you’re mostly an MMO or MOBA player, consider a keyboard with easy-to-access programmable hotkeys, especially if you don’t own a gaming mouse with this feature. To program the commands assigned to each key (called macros), you’ll need to use the driver software that comes with your keyboard. It’s worth researching which of these programs people find easiest to use.

Comfort

Comfort is determined by the size of your hands compared to the size of the keyboard, your playstyle, any medical conditions you may have and ergonomic features like palm ramps and special key configurations. Although user and critic reviews are useful guides, what you find comfortable will come down to personal preference. So we’d simply recommend heading into a computer store and getting hands-on if you can.

Size

Gaming keyboards generally have larger footprints than standard keyboards because they’ve crammed in up to 15 extra keys and have ergonomic features like palm ramps. As a result, your desk real estate will be at a premium. If you know you don’t need those extra macro keys, or even the number pad that typically sits on the right side of a keyboard, leaner models are available.

You can usually find a keyboard’s dimensions on the manufacturer’s website. So measure your desk space and see what you can get away with.

Three things to consider

  • Compatibility. If you already own a gaming mouse and/or headset, there’s an advantage to sticking with the same brand for your keyboard. Doing so means you’ll only need to run one configuration program for all your customized settings across your devices.
  • Dedicated media keys. These are far from essential. But having the option to adjust the volume or skip to the next audio track without needing to exit your game or even remove your hands away from the keyboard is a nice touch — particularly if you’re playing online multiplayer and can’t pause the action.
  • Switch types. Mechanical gaming keyboards utilize switches manufactured by third-parties. These all have different profiles that impact tactile sensation, response time and noise generated. For example, Cherry MX Black switches are considered to be “quiet,” while Cherry MX Blue switches are classified as “loud.” If you’ve opted for a mechanical keyboard, you need to accept a certain amount of noise. But there is a spectrum, and slightly quieter switches might make all the difference to you.

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