Your keyboard is the most direct line of communication between yourself and your computer —whether gaming, working from home, or doing anything else in front of a screen. Why not invest in one that’s reliable, fun, and enjoyable? I love mechanical keyboards—I even open up boards and tinker with them. Over the past few years, I have tested dozens, ranging from the fastest gaming keyboards to those offering elevated typing experiences. These are the best mechanical keyboards of the hundreds you can find online.

With keyboard advances over the past few years, you can’t go wrong with anything in this guide—everything I recommend is well-built, sturdy, and feels great to type on. That said, what I like might not be what you like—more than anything else, the “best” keyboard comes down to what features you want and what kind of feel you prefer when typing.

We have more PC peripheral guides, including Best Keyboards (which include styles like chiclet keyboards), Best Gaming Mice, Best Computer Speakers, and Best Computer Monitors.

Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting that’s too important to ignore for just $2.50 $1 per month for 1 year. Includes unlimited digital access and exclusive subscriber-only content. Subscribe Today.

First, Read Our Mechanical Keyboard Explainer

Things can get pretty in-the-weeds when shopping for a mechanical keyboard. You’ll probably come across terms like switches, PBT keycaps, hot-swappable, 75% keyboards, TKL, and so on. If you’re curious about what these mean, I recommend you read my comprehensive How to Choose and Customize a Mechanical Keyboard guide.

You do not need to understand all of these words if you want a fun, good, mechanical keyboard that just works—almost all of my recommendations below are fully assembled keyboards. They’re all hot-swappable, so you don’t have to feel locked to a particular type of switch. Spend some time with your new board, and if you want to make a tweak or try a new set of switches, well, that’s the beauty of mechanical keyboards—you can customize them whenever you’d like.