Keyboard Builders' Digest / Switch trends

Best-selling keyboard switches of November 2025

Here are November’s top mechanical switches, the community’s favorites based on vendor sales data.

KBD.news
Published December 5, 2025

(Cover: HMX Firecracker switches. Photo by UniKeys.)

I'm still waiting for 2-3 regular contributor shops to get back to me but wanted this write-up out before the weekend. To be updated if I get more data. That said, a bunch of kind vendors got back to me with their sales volumes again. Let's dive into November's best-selling switches and continue this series highlighting the community's most favored switch models! Discussion over at r/mk if you'd like to share your experiences or opinion.

Summary: 15 contributors from all around the globe, representing slightly less than 1 million switches sold, with 98 switch models mentioned and 16 new switch models appearing first in the top lists.

The article is quite long, feel free to jump to the list of contributors, to my quick market overview, the aggregated top10 list, the shooting stars, newly added switches, the detailed results by shops, or to the disclaimer, aggregation rules used by the algorithm, and my closing thoughts with new features and developments. Finally, search and filter the mechanical switch database for your favorite switch types or specific models.

General market trends

Thanks to this compilation being fairly representative — we have data coming from the US to China, Japan to France, Germany to India, and Australia to the UK –, and based on the sales volumes reported by all the participating shops, I can usually spot some interesting trends.

This month's trend clearly shows a significant increase in sales. Twelve out of fourteen shops reported gains at various levels, with only two stagnating.

Sure, the growth is largely due to the Black Friday sales, but many of the shops didn’t even bother organizing BFCM sales. Additionally, the calendar effect worked against the increase as well (31 vs. 30 days).

The linear vs tactile ratio is 70:30 in the top 10 and 64:36 in the top 100. The current top tactile Gateron Type R is in a tight race for one of the top spots again. However, keep in mind that the smaller variety and greater concentration of tactiles compared to linears may result in their overrepresentation.

In addition, silent switches account for 40% of the top 10 and 20% of the top 100 now.

Just like in October, looking into the per-shop lists may reveal the effect of stock clearances: Some older switch models appear in the individual Top 10 lists as customers snap them temporarily at discounts. Keep this in mind as well while evaluating the rankings.

For first-hand insights, shared by shop runners, check out the detailed lists below.

Contributors

Many thanks to all the shops who are contributing their detailed stats to this series. Exact sales volumes (rather than mere rankings) make the aggregated list more accurate. Thank you for your confidence on behalf of the community – we all know how sensitive this data is.

Clicking the links takes you to the individual top lists:

MonacoKeys (DE), Lume Keebs (US), BeaverKeys (CA), The Thocc Exchange (UK), Keebz N Cables (AU), Clackify (US), Mechboards (UK), Gateron (CN), SerpentKeys (UK), UniKeys (CN), AKKO EU (CN), Coffeekeys (IT), Yusha Kobo (JP), StacksKB (IN), Mechanical Keyboards (US).

Switch testers

Many of you asked for switch testers. While I'm not a merchant myself, Clackify (US) specializes in exactly that – custom switch testers. Give them a shot. Or there's also Monacokeys (DE) and CoffeeKeys (IT) in the EU, Thocc Exchange in the UK, while Unikeys (CN) is revamping their tester page. Other shops offer more specific switch testers too, e.g. Beaverkeys (CA) or Keebz N Cables (AU).

Novelties & Database updates

One of the most innovative designs this month has been GravaStar's UFO HE model. Matching their Mercury V75 Pro HE's alien theme for sure.

I haven't had the opportunity to try these, but received some other switch samples from Clackify's Calvin, along with his keyboard stand. I was especially happy about the Firecrackers.

Otherwise, 15 new switch models have recently been added to the database as a result of the incoming top lists – some of these are new, however, some rather old switches have been "hacked" into the list again – by stock clearances.

Some variants of the ancient Cherry MX Red (PCB-mount), Black, Blue (Plate-mount RGB), Greetech Brown, also the Zuoce Bubble Gum from 2023, and the Akko Stellar Rose or Gateron Unicorn aren't new either. No problem, these anomalies don't really mess up the overall top list.

Some more interesting new additions:

• The uniquely strange Kailh Calligraphy. Kailh created customized stem and housing molds just for the rather uncommon MF and LCP materials used to manufacture this switch.
• The clacky linear HMX Crisp with HMX's newest light diffuser.
• HMX Hydra – a tactile with a D-shaped bump – and glitter!
• Keygeek Little Elf – a deep and thocky linear.
• HMX Blue Star – allegedly a "silent tactile switch engineered for a deep thock" – isn't this an oxymoron though? Idk, I have yet to try this one.
• HMX Firecracker by Yowzers – I like the bump of this tactile.
• Gateron POM Chocolate Smoothie. An all-POM tactile.

Results

November's Top 10 – aggregated

Beside this Top10 feel free to check out the Top 400+ list too. (About the ranking: switch models appearing in multiple shop lists are prioritized over high sales in a single shop.)

As you'll see, there's not much overlapping in the individual shop lists, because of the relatively few repetitions. It's no surprise that the well-known, widely available, recurring models made it into the aggregated list above.

Anyway, here is a more interesting list: the shooting stars.

Shooting stars

These are the switches with the highest gain in rank from October to November:

And now let's take a look at the individual lists.

MonacoKeys (Germany)
[5% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

Here is the collection of Monaco's best sellers so you can find them all at once.

Keygeek currently is the best address for thock with the Y2, Neo Oat and Neo Rye switches. The HMX Bad Sweetheart are also quite nice as the new Wingtree 277 which are not in the Top10 but definitely worth checking out – they are significantly better than the "first generation" Wingtree switches i'd say – Michael.

Lume Keebs (US)
[5% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

We’re noticing a growing demand for silent switches lately, as more users look for quieter, smoother typing experiences – Emily.

BeaverKeys (Canada)
[5% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

We had a great time at the Toronto Keyboard meetup this November!

The Thocc Exchange (UK)
[5% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

November was a month with an incredibly strong bench - largely due to the strength of October releases. We saw a broad lineup of performers across Huano, TTC and Keygeek with Unity delivering consistent great results. Then suddenly Firefinch, Oil King and Bad Sweethearts saw a resurgence along with an amazing portfolio of clickies which had my workshop crackling and clicking with pre-Christmas cheer. Thanks for your support this year everyone and Happy Christmas – Matty.

Keebz N Cables (Australia)
[5% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

Tactiles reign supreme in November making the Top 3 and 60% of the Top 10. We're noticing a trend in light tactile releases across manufacturers. I think it's a moment a lot of us have been waiting for – Jason.

Clackify (US)
[5% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

(Oh, wait, the illustration is not a switch, but the stand is great too.)

Pretty minor changes this month, but the HMX Blue Star is climbing the ranks! I find it strikes a nice balance, being a relatively quiet switch without being mushy like many other silent options. I'd highly recommend them for anyone looking for a nice silent tactile – Calvin.

Mechboards (UK)
[5% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

Twilight Chocs remain our king switch. Jupiter Bananas are blowing all our MX switches out of the water at the moment. Although we've been sold out of Oil Kings for a while. It will be interesting to see those two go up against each other when both are back in stock – Ben.

Gateron (China)
[10% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

SerpentKeys (UK)
[5% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

My top 10 was Invokeys & Gateron heavy this month, demonstrating the quality and depth of their range. Matcha Reserves came in at number 1 and Azure Dragon V4’s snuck in at the back of the list. Thanks to BFCM sales, we’ve also got room for a bunch of new switches currently on the way, so keep an eye on our New Arrivals section! – Ollie.

UniKeys (China)
[7% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

AKKO EU (China)
[10% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

We had a buy-one-get-one promotion on switches this month, so not all of the sets delivered were actually paid sales – Albert.

Coffeekeys (Italy)
[5% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

Below is the November switch sales analysis. Gateron Oil King continues to lead as our top-selling switch, while others such as WS and Morandi have shown weaker performance compared to previous months. We’re planning to introduce new switch options in December, so keep an eye on our website for upcoming updates – Riccardo.

Yusha Kobo (Japan)

Our custom switch - Yushakobo Fairy is still popular and again ranking 1st. Silent switches really are selling fast among our Japanese community. We also added some new switches by the end of the month - Invokeys Hojicha Reserve V2 and HMX Snowfall – Sabrina.

StacksKB (India)

HMX sales have split further across new SKUs, and we are still out of stock for the popular Gateron switches, resulting in total Akko domination. I wrote a pretty funny blog post on keyboards – Aditya.

Mechanical Keyboards (US)
[5% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

Disclaimer

Keep in mind that most of the time I'm not in a position to verify the validity and accuracy of the data provided by shop runners. Some of these lists come automatically from their databases, with screenshots, however, some were put together manually. I asked for the numbers of the previous month, but some shops query the past 30 days, etc.

That said, take everything with a grain of salt, but I hope this compilation will still hold some value, highlighting trends, giving you some tips, and as a snapshot of the zeitgeist it will be also interesting to look back at on the long run.

About the algorithm

While contributors provide exact numbers, standardization, normalization, and other techniques remain essential to come up with a ranked list due to some remaining inconsistencies, unfortunately.

The current system:

• incorporates sales volume as a percentage – to mitigate the dominance of a single huge vendor
• rewards switches present in multiple lists – to compensate the effect of some switches being offered in a single shop only, thus reflecting availability
• incorporates the previous month to break ties.

As with all such statistical methods, if we were to tamper with the algorithm, it would produce completely different results. As already mentioned, the small tweak above reversed the order of Oil King vs Type R.

Another source of confusion and inconsistency is the arrival of belated lists. When such datasets come in, I update the database but often not the already published article. While I add the specific list to the database, I don’t update the overall rankings in the write-up.

Final thoughts & Developments

Hey, I hope this write-up was useful to some of you because it took me a lot of time to complete it again, despite the heavy automation wherever possible. Thankfully, I'm closer to 10 hours this time, instead of the usual 15-20 hours. This is not the result of my efficiency but simply less new switches and contributors. :)

Developments

Hm. The days and months blur together, but I can remember any new feature I've done recently. Many small tweaks here and there, some improvements in the admin scripts, and of course the maintenence of the databases (switches and offers) is getting major tasks on their own as well.

As always, creating the entries and tagging the new switch models was the most challenging part when working on the current list: researching these new switches, and often diving into desperate investigations about missing actuation forces, pre-travels and whatnot. It's very time-consuming, just like looking for usable photos sometimes.

That said, feel free to use and reference this post and the switch database. Spread the word so it makes sense for me to invest all this time and effort.

• Check out the switch database – with 400 switch models – with specs, photos, vendors, prices, typing tests.
• Some features: Search by keyword, filter by tags. You can order the list by price and release date now, as well as filter switches by color. Use permalinks to custom lists like silent tactiles or light, lubed linears with dust-proof stem and light diffuser. ;)
• Finally, the archive of all the monthly switch compilations is available too, e.g. the previous, October top list as a reference.

Thanks for reading this far, see you next month!

Published on Fri 5th Dec 2025. Featured in KBD #203.

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