A good gaming keyboard can make the difference between a comfortable gaming marathon and one that leaves you with low scores, few kills, tired fingers and aching wrists. The best gaming keyboards help you play a bit faster and feature fun RGB lights and accessible media controls that can improve your overall gaming experience.
The Razer Huntsman V2 Optical is our pick for the best premium gaming keyboard.
Illustration: Forbes / Photo: Retailer
While you don't need to buy a high-end gaming keyboard to have fun playing your favorite games, especially if you often use one of the best gaming controllers, you owe it to yourself to invest in a keyboard that’s fun, easy and comfortable to use. Some of our picks, like our top choice, the Steelseries Apex Pro, offer adjustable actuation, so you can make your keystrokes as resistant or fluid as you like. You might want to consider matching your keyboard to your headset or your monitor, too, as some have the option of syncing settings and lighting effects between them. Here are the best gaming keyboards you can get right now.
Switch type: OmniPoint 2.0 magnetic | Size: Tenkey| Backlighting: Per key RGB | Connection: Wired
Best for: Gaming with all the bells and whistles at your fingertips.
The Steelseries Apex Pro stands alone as the best overall gaming keyboard with unique features, a distinctive look and some of the fastest switches ever made. At the heart of the Apex Pro are Steelseries' Omnipoint switches, which were the first to offer an adjustable travel distance for every single key. This feature makes it possible to dynamically decide whether you want deep and deliberate keystrokes to register, or light and near-touch-sensitive taps for faster actuation. Based on your personal gaming style and preferences, this feature can make a huge difference in how you interact with your favorite games, or how it feels under your fingers when you simply type.
On top of its super fast, durable and “next-generation” switch design, the Apex Pro features an OLED display for seeing real-time feedback related to the switches, your audio settings and your system performance while gaming. This setup makes it easier to adjust the customizable RGB lighting mid-game without alt-tabbing back to the desktop. The lighting is also per-key and fully adjustable, so you can turn your keyboard into a reactive flasher or a rainbow unicorn of color—it's all literally at your fingertips.
Pros:
Most adjustable mechanical switches of any keyboard
Excellent durability
Informative display for easy controls
Cons:
Expensive
Best Wireless Gaming Keyboard
Skip All The Extra Cables
Logitech
Logitech G915 TKL Lightspeed
Switch type: Clicky, linear or tactile | Size: Tenkeyless | Backlighting: Per key RGB | Connection: Wireless | Battery life: 40 hours
Best for: Ditching the cables with a low profile keyboard.
Logitech produces some of the best gaming keyboards hands down, but where it really shines is with wireless gaming keyboards. The pinnacle of those is the Logitech G915 TKL Lightspeed. Lightspeed connectivity offers 1ms response times, making the G915 Lightspeed not just competitive with wired keyboards, but one that can excel in some cases. The internal processing—combined with Logitech's super fast, low-profile GL mechanical switches—improves your reaction speed in games.
Alongside the wireless USB receiver, you can also connect this board to Bluetooth devices, letting you type at full speed on your phone or game competitively on your tablet as if it were a laptop. The RGB keyboard is programmable, and at its brightest, it can last up to 40 hours on a charge. If you turn the brightness down, it can last longer, and it recharges in about three hours. With its TKL design, what this keyboard lacks is a numeric keypad, but this allows it to take up less desk space.
What our writers say: PC expert Jon Martindale uses this keyboard as his daily driver and says, “The low profile switches on the G915 make it supremely comfortable and fast to type on. It's great for gaming too, with the Lightspeed wireless giving it a repsonse time that rivals some of the fastest wired gaming keyboards. The battery life isn't half bad either, lasting several days on a single charge, even with the RGB lighting on.”
Pros:
Extremely fast and responsive
Low profile design
Compact and versatile
Cons:
Expensive
Battery life could be longer
Best RGB Gaming Keyboard
Get Great RGB Lighting
Amazon
Corsair K100
Switch type: Corsair OPX optical switches, Cherry MX speed or Cherry MX ultra low profile switches | Size: Tenkey | Backlighting: Per Key and zoned RGB | Connection: Wired
Best for: Adding the most personalized RBG flair to your gaming setup.
The Corsair K100 not only has excellent industry standard switches and media controls, but it offers customizable RGB lighting that can be game-specific or designed by you to match your gaming room’s unique vibe. It employs not just per-key RGB backlighting, but a 44-zone customizable RGB "light edge." In short, it can light up the desk around it for more nuanced effects, going as far as relaying game information to you through its endlessly adjustable light show. To give you more intuitive control of your lighting, media and applications, the K100 employs a unique iCUE control wheel, giving you flexible control mechanisms that aren't available on many other keyboards.
Alongside its unique look and design, the K100 employs optical mechanical switches and Corsair's powerful Axon processor—with a 4,000Hz polling and key-scanning rate for faster inputs. This makes it a great keyboard for competitive gamers. Everything on this keyboard is backed up by the excellent Corsair iCUE software, offering advanced and intuitive control over everything the K100 has to offer.
Best for: Upgrading your gaming setup on a budget.
Redragon might not be quite the household name of its competitors, but at around $40, you'll find few keyboards that can measure up to its excellent K552 mechanical design. It features real mechanical switches, colorful backlighting and a compact (ten-key-less) design that makes it ideal for most gamers.
Available in black or white, the Redragon K552’s backlighting supports six different colors and gives you two user defined modes overall, letting you tweak brightness and lighting effects and easily flip between them depending on your mood and preference. It has full n-key rollover support across all 87 keys, so there's no chance of a press not registering, even if you're sharing the keyboard during a hot seat retro game. The Outemu switches are also designed to mirror Cherry MX Red linear switches, offering a relatively quiet and fast operation with a 2 mm travel and 45 g actuation force.
Pros:
Very affordable
Plenty of features for the price including RGB and a decent actuation force
Cons:
Lacks per-key RGB
Not as responsive as more expensive boards
Best Ergonomic Gaming Keyboard
This Keyboard Splits Apart For Added Comfort
Amazon
Kinesis Gaming Freestyle Edge
Switch type: Cherry MX, Brown MX, Blue MX or Silver MX | Size: Tenkeyless | Backlighting: Per-key RGB | Connection: Wired
Best for: Gaming—and typing—in comfort.
While ergonomic keyboards can help reduce wrist pain and improve posture, most aren’t designed with gaming in mind. For gamers who want a true ergonomic keyboard design, the Kinesis Edge is your answer. This keyboard combines high-end Cherry MX mechanical switches with a split ergonomic keyboard that’s designed for the best of both worlds. It offers high-speed responsiveness for gaming, and its split design features versatile positioning so you can be as comfortable as possible.
The keyboard’s built-in lighting is top notch; there are tons of effects and near-infinite colors to pick from. Also solid are the media controls, and the backend software powering it all is intuitive. The switches aren't exotic, but you can pick from the full complement of Cherry MX options—of which, there are many and their availability is plentiful—so there's something for everyone.
What our editors say: Tech editor Rebecca Isaacs has tested this keyboard and says, “The Kinesis Gaming Freestyle Edge keyboard can be shifted around to benefit your posture, which is nice for those that need versatile work space. A cable attaches the two halves, and I like that I can place the mouse in the middle for a more ergonomic setup.”
Pros:
Available with a range of Cherry MX switch options
If you're looking to change up the way you interact with your favorite games, the Razer Tartarus V2 is a one-handed keyboard with 32 programmable keys and visually stunning Chroma RGB lighting. The high-performance Mecha-membrane switches provide nice tactile feedback when you press each mechanical key.
The keyboard includes an eight-way, ergonomic thumb pad for natural movement control, and each key can be remapped and programmed to meet the needs of each unique gaming experience. The RGB backlit keys sync up with other Razer gaming hardware and Philips Hue smart lighting, to provide an enhanced, visually immersive gameplay experience.
Pros:
Great alternative to full-size gaming keyboards
Unique input options
Comfortable wrist rest
Cons:
Not a replacement for a full keyboard
Only comes designed for left hands
Best Premium Gaming Keyboard
Near-Zero Latency With A Great Polling Rate
Amazon
Razer Huntsman V2
Switch type: Razer linear optical or clicky tactile optical switches | Size: Tenkeyless | Backlighting: Per-key RGB | Connection: Wired
Best for: Enjoying a premium feel and finish during your gaming.
The Huntsman V2 optical gaming keyboard offers near-zero latency, along with all of the popular features that make for an all-around fantastic gaming keyboard. When purchasing this keyboard, you can choose between Razer’s famous linear or clicky switches based on your preference.
What you can expect, however, are switches that are three times faster than mechanical switches, offering a 0.2 millisecond response time, as well as sound dampeners (linear optional switches only) that provide a quieter typing and gaming experience. Plus, the keyboard features an 8,000 Hz polling rate for lower input latency. For the clicky optical switches, it has snappier keystrokes that feel a bit lighter than traditional mechanical switches with the same 8,000 Hz polling rate.
To help keep things even quieter when you’re gaming, this keyboard includes an internal layer of acoustical foam inside its casing that absorbs any pinging noises that sometimes occur when you bottom out your keys. Included with the keyboard are an ergonomic wrist rest, built-in multimedia keys, a digital dial and internal memory that’ll store up to five on-board memory profiles.
At Forbes Vetted, we’re seasoned gamers, having extensively tested hardware like gaming headsets and gaming mice to boost your gameplay. As such, we’re fully invested in finding the absolute best gaming keyboards for long, comfortable hours of play. We combined our first-hand knowledge of a wide range of gaming keyboards, with the opinions of our fellow tech writers here at Forbes, thoughts of colleagues throughout the industry and robust research.
We've have hands on time with many of the models listed here, and so we’re familiar with their build quality and features. Additionally, we've performed extensive comparisons between third-party and user reviews, to find the best gaming keyboards that everyone says are great; not just the professionals.
You can rest assured, these are the best gaming keyboards you can buy in 2024.
Why Trust Forbes Vetted
The Forbes Vetted tech team is well-versed in all things digital, having written hundreds of articles in the category. A couple of staffers, including Dave Johnson, our deputy editor, have even authored a number of books on the subject. The tech vertical is overseen by Rebecca Isaacs, the consumer tech and electronics editor at Forbes Vetted.
Jon Martindale, the writer of this story, is a regular Forbes Vetted tech contributor. He has bylines in digital publications including Digital Trends and US News & World Report and formerly ran his own PC hardware review website. We’ve collectively conducted extensive research and testing on the best Chromebooks to create this extensive list.
Are Gaming Keyboards Actually Better For Gaming?
Gaming keyboards can make you a faster and more responsive gamer. They tend to use mechanical, or faster membrane switches, which register inputs faster than most non-gaming keyboards. That means that if you and your opponent press a key at the same time, yours will register first, giving you a few milliseconds advantage. The fastest gaming keyboards increase that difference even further, potentially giving you a real edge in your games.
Even the ones that aren't designed for speed are more comfortable to use, though. Over long sessions this can help ward off RSI and carpal tunnel, and additional features like media controls and RGB lighting can make the board easier to use when adjusting music, or when playing in the dark.
What Is A Tenkey-Less (TKL) Keyboard?
A ten-key-less (or TKL) keyboard looks just like a traditional QWERTY keyboard, but it lacks a 10-key numeric keypad on the right side. This type of keyboard takes up less room on a desk, for example, but if your favorite games require continuously pressing the numeric keys (or you need to crunch numbers when working with a spreadsheet or bookkeeping application), this probably is not the keyboard style for you.
Do You Need A Matching Mouse With Your Keyboard?
Many specialty gaming keyboards have an optional and matching mouse available, but it’s sold separately. In many cases, the keyboard/mouse combo is designed to work together to enhance your overall gaming experience and improve your interaction speed with whatever game you’re playing.
This is particularly useful when playing multi-player games, where a fraction of a second could mean life or death for the character you’re controlling. It’s also ideal to use one app to control both your peripherals, especially if they both feature similar RGB lighting and sync options. And, if you’re set on ditching all your cables, you can check out a wireless gaming mouse to find the perfect partner for your new keyboard.
What Are Mechanical Keyboards, And Do You Need One?
Strictly speaking, the answer is no, you don’t “need” a mechanical keyboard. But if you don't have one and you consider yourself to be a serious gamer, you're missing out.
Traditional membrane keyboards are cheap, but inaccurate, spongy and quite slow when it comes to their reaction time. Mechanical keyboards, however, offer a notable advantage in responsiveness, durability and accuracy. This makes them better for touch typing and gaming.
Laptop-style scissor keys are an alternative option, and they often offer shorter travel distances which can improve actuation time. It's rare to find them used in the best gaming keyboards, since mechanical switches are far more durable and are higher quality.
As the mechanical switch market has broadened in the last decade, you can now find exceedingly affordable mechanical keyboards for under $50, making it even harder now to recommend a membrane keyboard for gaming—or for any other use for that matter.
Which Mechanical Switch Should You Pick?
The answer to this question is very much dependent on what type of gamer you are, but there are three major things to consider. Do you want a switch that is fast, tactile or "clicky"? If actuation time (speed) is all that matters, the latest optical switches from Razer and Corsair are among the best, though SteelSeries' adjustable Omnipoint switches are really good too.
Tactile feedback is that little bump you get when you're about to actuate the switch. It's particularly good for typists and gamers who want to feel when the keypress is going to be registered by the keyboard. It often works with a lighter touch, which can improve both responsiveness and typing speed.
Switches that are marketed as "clicky" tend to be the noisiest and offer what some gamers consider a satisfying sound when pressed. It's not for everyone, however. These keyboards can be particularly aggravating for those around you, especially if you’re engaged in an intense action game and continuously pressing the same keys repeatedly. If you play alone and enjoy a louder keyboard, however, then a clicky switch might be for you.
Wired Versus Wireless Gaming Keyboards
Traditionally, wired gaming keyboards offered better performance than their wireless counterparts—and you don’t have to worry about battery life. While that latter point still stands with contemporary gaming keyboards, wireless options have come a long way, making them easily comparable to the best wired counterparts. However, if you’re going wireless as a gamer, you need to focus on the communication speed between the keyboard and your computer.
Wireless keyboards give you a lot of unique advantages over their wired contemporaries, like portability and a tidier desk (with fewer or no wires). In short, you’re buying a wireless keyboard more for convenience and style than performance, but with many of the latest wireless options, you don’t necessarily have to compromise on either.
If you’re going with a wireless gaming keyboard, you might also opt for a wireless gaming mouse, although most gaming mice also come in a wired version as well for those serious gamers who don’t want any lag whatsoever caused by a slower or unstable wireless communication with their computer.
