The Quietest Mechanical Keyboards: Top Rated Silent Keyboards
Best Quiet Mechanical Keyboards
| Name | Backlit | Switches | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | CORSAIR STRAFE RGB | Yes | Cherry MX Blue | |
 | Logitech G413 Carbon | Yes | Romer-G | |
 | Cherry MX Black Silent | No | Cherry MX Black silent | |
 | Das Keyboard 4 Professional | No | Cherry MX Blue | |
 | Matias Quiet Pro | No | ALPS White | |
 | WASD CODE v2 | Yes | Cherry MX Clear |
CORSAIR STRAFE RGB Mechanical
- Excellent Construction
- Great lighting options
- Optional key caps for FPS and MOBA gamers
- Textured space bar
- No multimedia keys
Starting with the aesthetics of the CORSAIR STRAFE RGB, the keyboard looks a lot similar to the non-RGB versions of the series, although it has got some more extra features onboard.
After pushing the limits of innovation for about 20 years and creating milestones, with the power of Cherry MX, German Corsair Gaming takes engineering to the next level. Paired with over the top customization options and with the primary goal of providing pro-proven mechanical performance, STRAFE allows your skills to reach their satiate flair. Virtually limitless dynamic lighting configurations which amplifies ingenious backlighting, you have the power to design your own or pick from six different presets. Cherry MX mechanical keys with gold contact deliver an advantage in competition, and the paramount ranked for a fabrication-outstanding 50 million key thrusts; they assure a course of life consistency and healthy response.
STRAFE also allows you to use the power key actions such as individual key remaps, macros, combination key-press, and one CUE’s one-off feature which enables an on-time operation to occur that brings together sound playback and lightning to happen all at the same moment.
Additional Features
- CUE Integration – The silent keyboard comes with a customizable CUE with features similar to that of the regular keyboard with RGB. It allows us to fully customize the backlighting of the keyboard in Gradient, wave pattern, solid, rain or ripple and also to configure each key with backlight and all of this comes all set as soon as you install CUE to enhance user performance and aesthetics of the board. Advanced gamers will be able to design their foxy lighting patterns with the user-friendly software.
Logitech G413 Carbon
- Budget Friendly
- Comfortable Switches
- Slick Design
- Few lighting options
G413 Carbon is an entirely modern keyboard by Logitech outracing its design steered previous models by the company this one is a gaming oriented keyboard yet spectacular in aesthetics. The aircraft grade 505 - aluminum-magnesium external alloy shell adds to a remarkable final finish and polish and even makes it more sturdy. With a cool chromed Logistics logo on the top right corner, it looks even more classy to the user.
With decent, strong and the right amount of four level brightness backlit the keyboard misses the fully customizable RGB backlighting and features just a red backlit which bleeds out of the keys hovering over the base plate.
G413 Carbon features Logitech's in-house Romer-G switches which last for a while and delivers excellent performance for the price. Personally testing the keyboard we could not hesitate to categorize it as the quietest mechanical keyboard in this budget range.
However, the keyboard might disappoint with its slow USB2.0 connector with the other significant drawbacks being lack of onboard dedicated media keys and customizable RGB lighting, but this keyboard still stands as the best budget mechanical keyboard.
Additional Features
- Gaming Keycaps - The G413 Carbon comes with 12 additional keycaps for critical situations and enhanced gameplay. The box also comes with
Cherry MX Black Silent
- Cherry MX Black Switches
- Durable
- Minimalistic design
- Affordable
- Very large
- Not backlit
Cheery is one of the known names when it comes to mechanical keyboards. They are mostly known for the switches, but they also have their range of keyboards which come equipped with their patented switches. The Cherry MX Black Silent is a very minimalistic keyboard and which looks much like a traditional keyboard without any RGB lighting or fancy styling.
It is designed for particular kind of users who are looking for a minimalistic keyboard which features performance and feel of a high-end keyboard at an affordable price tag. It has an 18.5-inch footprint, which is quite big even for a full-sized keyboard. If you are concerned about the size and work with limited design space, refer to our 2018 roundup of Mini mechanical keyboards for gaming.
Features
- MX Black Silent Switches - These are one of the quietest mechanical switches, manufactured by cherry themselves, these have a long lifespan and estimated to stay fit till about 50 million keystrokes.
- Patented noise reduction technology - The keyboard design and switches have been designed to minimizing the noise for a better gaming experience. The technology these switches use is Cherry Patented and way ahead of the competition.
- USB Plug and Play - As mentioned, This is a very minimalistic keyboard with no backlit or RGB, and thus doesn't require any manufacturer developed drivers to operate properly. Just plug it in your computer, and it's ready to go.
Das Keyboard 4 Professional
- Bad-ass look
- Multi-Media buttons
- USB 3.0 pass-through
- Expensive
- No backlight
Das keyboards are one of the prioritized picks by gamers, thanks for the excellent build quality and great customer support. The Das 4 professional is a full-sized keyboard with a unique Das touch to it on the top right. The keyboard is a slightly expanded and features an elegant Das logo printed on the extended area. Under it, you will find the general indication lights.
This keyboard also features dedicated multimedia buttons which is a great addition and a very useful feature for gamers who like to listen to songs while playing.
Equipped with Cherry MX Brown switches, this is a very quiet keyboard. Note that no mechanical keyboard is completely silent, this is due to the switches design, a completely silent switches has not been introduced yet. This is as big of a problem as it might seem, for workplace environments you can use O-Ring, which will suppress the keyboard noise to almost nothing.
Features
- Dedicate Media buttons - Well placed media buttons are a great add-on to the keyboard, they are very accessible and blend in very well with rest of the keyboard.
- Dual 3.0 USB - These ports can transfer data at speeds of up to 5Gb/s, i.e., almost 10 times faster than a 2.0 port. Many people overlook USB ports on the keyboards because of external USB hubs easily available, but having these on the keyboard, not only saves a lot of space but also easy accessibility.
- Cherry MX brown - These switches are one of the quietest mechanical switches out there. Adding O-Rings on top of these can eliminate the keystroke noise.
- Foorbar Ruler - This is more of an aesthetics feature; The keyboard features a ruler-like footbar, which makes it a very uniquely designed keyboard.
Matias Quiet Pro
- Very quiet
- High-quality keycaps
- Excellent build quality
- Anti-ghosting
- Looks a little cheap
Moving on, we have a keyboard from Matias. Quiet Pro has 104 (+4) keys and features an N-Key rollover, making it a perfect choice for gamers. It also features dedicated volume controls for easy media accessibility while gaming.
The best part about this keyboard is its quiet natures; If you assumed it to be using Cherry MX switches, you'd be wrong; It uses Matias patented Quiet Click mechanical switches. These switches are not as popular as few other Cherry MX switches but compete with them very well.
Features
- Very comfortable - Keyboard features a slant and angled keys, which makes it very convenient to use for long hours. It is advertised as an office keyboard since it's silent nature is very much suitable for office use.
- Concave keycaps - These kind of keycaps are very comfortable to type on. They have a very different feel than a standard keycap; if you are currently used to the flat-styled keycaps, it can take a while to get used to them.
- Laser etched - The key prints are embedded and unlikely to ever wear off.
WASD CODE v2
- Comes with O-Rings
- No logo on the keyboard
- Excellent build quality
- Pricey
This keyboard has a very minimalistic feel and an elegant look. It is a Tenkeyless keyboard, i.e., it will save a lot of your desk space.
CODE v2 is the newer version of the CODE keyboard; there are a quite a few differences between both. Firstly, this keyboard is equipped with Cherry MX clear switches, these are quite rare and not seen in many keyboards. It's because of their stiffer nature; They require more pressed for registering a keystroke.
This keyboard is not the quietest when compared with the previously mentioned keyboards, but it has a far superior tactile.
Features
- LED backlit - The keyboard comes with a hefty price tag, which is well justified with the backlighting and other aesthetic features.
- O-Rings - To make a mechanical keyboard silent, O-Rings play an important role. Usually, you'd need to buy them separately, but they come completely free with the WASD Code.
- No-Logo - Most keyboard manufacturers like to put a big logo on the keyboard, which usually doesn't look good. WASD completely got rid of the Logo from this keyboard than forcing it on the keyboard.
How to Silence a Noisy Mechanical Keyboard
Mechanical keyboards are usually very noisy, and it's usually recommended to go with a membrane keyboard if noise emission is a critical factor for you.
In the past few years, mechanical keyboards have been continually evolving, making them more and quieter but they still don't seem to reach the noise levels of a membrane keyboard.
In a mechanical switch, the noise is produced by the sliding plastic underneath each key. When the key is pressed down, the spring depresses, which results in closing an electrical circuit and thus registering the keystroke. These kind of keys are very responsive but is considerable louder than membrane-based keyboards, which use a rubber membrane to dump the noise.
There is no doubt, it's been the priority problem of ever manufacturer to solve, but so far no one has been able to find an efficient solution. By far, cherry has been leading with their Cherry MX Silent Red switches, Which are not really "silent" but they claim to produce 30% lesser noise other mechanical switches.
Making your mechanical keyboard quieter
As mentioned, Mechanical keyboards are not that quiet; Even the quietest ones are quite noisy. It can be hard to bear a mechanical keyboard's noise especially at workplaces where there isn't much of consistent noise being made. You don't want people looking at you whenever you press a key on the keyboard. Also, it is not very healthy for an office environment.
Fortunately, there is a solution which doesn't include giving up on a mechanical keyboard.
What are O-Rings?
O-Rings are silicon-based rings which are to used to make any keyboard quieter. Installing these can prevent the bottoming-our noise that is produced by a mechanical keyboard. Note that it won't stop the "clicky" noise that is produced when a key is pressed but only reduce the noise of key bottoming-out.
In a mechanical keyboard, the majority of noise produced is when a key is pressed. Unfortunately, O-Rings make no difference to that. So, these won't make a keyboard completely silent, but you'd surely feel a considerable difference and hopefully making it good enough for your gaming or work sessions.
Which one do I pick? - Try Before you buy
So, we covered the quietest mechanical keyboards that you can use for gaming but still unsure of which one would be the best for you. Honestly, It can be hard to pick the right one when quietness is being referred to as dBA or by switch types.
You can make a better purchase by using a key sampler. These samplers come equipped with several kinds of key switches at a very low price. Videos and sound tests are very informative but completely relying might not be a great idea. With a key sampler, You will get introduced to the difference between each switch types and thus helping to make a better purchase.