The brands

Below you will find a list of the most popular keyboard switch brands in the market, each with a short story of their history.

Cherry MX

Cherry Corporation started out as an American company dedicated to electronic switches for automotives. In 1984, they received a patent for a new keyboard switch that ultimately defined the Cherry name, the Cherry MX.

In 2008, Cherry Corp merged with German company, ZF Electronics. This led to the refocus of the Cherry brand into soon becoming the leaders in the keyboard switch market.

Cherry MX switches are known for their unique cross-shaped stem often called the "Cherry MX mount". They have been regarded as being the best mechanical switches due to their quality and durability. But in 2004 their patent expired and their monopoly ended. Many manufacturers such as Kaihua, Gateron, and Outemu copied the design and produced their own line of switches.

Now Cherry is competing with more affordable switches – some are better, some aren't. Despite the competition, Cherry is still doing their best to be the best. Because of complaints from customers of the ‘scratchy’ switches, Cherry did a retooling of their switches to get the super smooth feeling that everyone wanted. Now that's taking customer feedback seriously.

We are lucky to witness this rapid expansion and innovation of mechanical switches, with Cherry on top. Pun intended.

Cherry's MX switches are widely considered to be the gold standard of PC-keyboard switches, and they come in several kinds (designated by “color”) with distinct pressure, texture, and audio-feedback characteristics.

-Computer Shopper, USA

You can learn more about Cherry on his website. Average price: $5.50 - 10 pack.

Kailh

In 2009, Kaihua Electronics started manufacturing Cherry MX’s current rival, Kailh switches.

In the beginning, Kailh switches were simply regarded as copycats of Cherry MX. To put it bluntly, they were crap.

They only got their big break when they, along with other switch manufacturing companies, partnered with Razer and created the Razer switches. After several years, they started improving and innovating and made a name for themselves.

Besides the Kailh Traditional switches, they now offer Kailh Speed switches, Kailh Box switches, Kailh Low Profiles, and many others. Kailh Speed switches are known for their shorter activation points and light pressure force. Kailh Box switches feature a boxed stem, designed to be dust and water resistant.

Although Kailh’s research in technology has won them a spot among the hearts of keyboard enthusiasts, they’ve also had their fair share of disreputability. Last year in 2018, they were called out by Novelkeys for having a 1.32mm (+- .02mm tolerance) X axis on their Box switches, when most keycaps need the stems to be 1.3mm (+- .02mm tolerance). The .02 addition caused some irreplaceable damage to some keycaps and left some customers with unusable switches.

Nevertheless, Kailh switches are still well-known across the world and continuously exceed many expectations.

We were very fortunate to visit Kaihua Electronics in Dongguan, China. And we couldn’t have been more amazed. Who would’ve known this so-called “copycats” would have one of the most sophisticated factories that we’ve ever seen! The quality control facilities were first-class and their standards didn’t tolerate anything less than perfect. How they operated was mind-blowingly impressive. True enough, their regard for high quality is very much reflected in their products.

You can learn more about Kailh on his website. Average price: $3.50 - 10 pack.

Gateron

Gateron switches are common among keyboard enthusiasts, especially in Europe. They are manufactured by Huizhou Gateron Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., which was established in 2000.

Gateron switches also have the MX stem. Some people prefer them over the arguably “scratchy” Cherry MX switches. Because of Gateron's popularity in the community, they even produced another line of exceptional switches, Zealio, dedicated for Zeal PC.

Gateron was one of the switches that we were thinking of shipping with the Dygma Raise. But when we visited their factory during our trip to China, we weren’t that impressed. They lacked the high quality control that we saw in Kaihua. So it was after that trip that we decided to sell the Raise with Cherry MX and Kailh switches.

But you never know. We haven't closed our doors yet and if the time comes that we get a lot of people asking for Gateron switches, we will consider paying their factory a visit next time.

Gateron website. Average price: $3 - 10 pack.

Matias

Matias was founded in 1989 in Toronto. They’ve always been in the business of manufacturing keyboards both for Mac and PC. But it wasn’t until 2004 that their Tactile Pro 3 got recognized in Macworld as the “Best Old-School Keyboard”. The switches they used were Alps switches.

In the late 80’s and through the 90’s, Alps Electric Co. was regarded as how we see Cherry Corporation today. Most keyboards then used Alps switches. Now, Alps Electric no longer produces keyboard switches but the Alps name is still used to denote the stem type on the switch.

Today, Matias switches are globally recognized as a recreation of Alps. They are available in 3 types such as the Quiet Click, Click, and Quiet Linear.

Matias website. Average price: $5 - 10 pack.

Outemu

Outemu switches are made by Dongguan Gaote Electronics Co. Their switches are the most identical to Cherry MX. They even have the same characteristics corresponding to the same color schemes as the MX ones. But like any other key switch manufacturer, Outemu also has its own line of switches such as Outemu Ice, which also has a transparent base like the Zealio switches.

Outemu website. Average price: $3 - 10 pack.

Razer

Razer Inc. is an American gaming hardware manufacturing company established in 2005. It’s almost impossible to search for any gaming peripheral without bumping into Razer.

In 2014, Razer teamed up with Kaihua, Greentech, and TTC to develop the Razer mechanical switches, which were then installed on the Razer BlackWidow series. Since then, Razer has also developed their own production lines of gaming switches and introduced hybrids such as the Razer Opto-Mechanical switches and Razer Mecha-Membrane.

Razer switches are only available in the Razer keyboards and cannot be bought off-the-shelf.

Romer-G

Logitech International is an established electronics company that provides computer and mobile peripherals. After seeing a lack of mechanical switches specifically designed for gaming, they decided to develop their signature switch, the Romer-G.

The Romer-G design is different than the common MX switches. It has the shortest total travel distance, 3.2mm, among all its competitors. It features dual contacts to register actuation and has a lifespan of 70 million keystrokes. Also, the stem of the key goes around the metal spring rather than inside it. This allows the entire top of the key to be brightly lit up.

Similarly to Razer, Romer-G switches cannot be bought off-the-shelf.