I tested the best gaming keyboards, and there was a clear winner

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So, you’ve built yourself a fancy gaming PC. You sifted through all the specs, stressed over snagging your dream graphics card, and painstakingly obsessed over what kind of cooling system you’ll use. Congrats! You did it.

OK, now that we’ve celebrated your triumphs, it’s time to get real. In truth, you’re really only getting started, because now you have to worry about all of your peripherals: Monitors, mice, gaming headsets, and more. Even if you already have all those things, until you’ve got yourself an elite gaming keyboard, your setup just ain’t all that. Sorry, I don’t make the rules!

Luckily, you’ve got yourself a lifelong gaming hobbyist here to help you pick one out. Trust me, it can get super complicated without some guidance (compared to building a gaming rig, this will be a cinch, champ). Over the past month, I went hands-on with the best gaming keyboards so that you could spend less time researching and more time gaming.

We’ll get into my top picks below, but let’s go over a few things first.

What are the most important specs?

At a glance, the specs you’ll want to pay most attention to while shopping for a gaming keyboard are:

Size/layout

Switches

Backlight/RGB lighting

Connectivity

Customization

Scroll to our “How we tested” section for more detail on our testing process in each of these categories.

SEE ALSO:

Asus ROG Ally X review: 3 ways it beats the Steam Deck

What size gaming keyboard is best?

The size (or layout) of the gaming keyboard you choose comes down to your preference. For me, Tenkeyless (or TKL) is best, because without arrow keys, I just don’t know what to do with myself. Every time I need to move my cursor while typing, I just kind of freeze. Super normal stuff. That might not be you, though. Maybe you’re able to adapt all the way down to 60% — arrow keys and number pads be damned!

Here are the main types of gaming keyboards you can expect to see while shopping:

Full-size: As big as it gets. A full-size keyboard will have somewhere between 104 and 108 keys, including arrow keys, a number pad, and maybe even some dedicated macro keys. I personally don’t think this size keyboard is necessary unless you often find yourself crunching numbers in Excel sheets.

96%: Ditches some of the extra macro and navigation keys but maintains the number pad.

Tenkeyless, or TKL: Gets rid of the 10-key number pad (thus, ten-key-less) but keeps the arrow, function, and navigation keys. This is my personal favorite.

75%: Similar to a TKL but sacrifices a few of the navigation keys.

70%: This is the same layout as the 75%, but it doesn’t have any function keys.

65%: You’ll find various configurations for these compact keyboards — some have arrow keys, function keys, or a mixture of both.

60%: As compact as it gets. Also referred to as “mini” keyboards, a 60% layout chops off any extra keys. They can be super portable and great for remote gaming.