Keyboard Builders' Digest / Switch trends

Best-selling keyboard switches of October 2025

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

KBD.news
Published November 6, 2025

(Cover: Gateron Weightlessness switches. Photo by Lume Keebs.)

TL;DR: The Gateron Oil King is back at the top, with the Type R following closely. :)

Well, Talpkeyboard is taking a short break, Ikasaya is closing the store (grab some switches at very good prices while the stock lasts!), still, a bunch of kind vendors got back to me with their sales volumes again. Let's dive into October'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: 17 contributors from all around the globe, representing slightly less than 1 million switches sold, with 103 switch models mentioned and 14 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

So my question in last month's article — whether the era of Oil Kings is really over — has been answered: no, not yet. :) The situation is a bit more complicated, though. I made a very slight update to the ranking algorithm, and without this tiny change, the Type R would’ve taken the top spot. More on this update in a later section, but I think the current logic makes more sense.

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. Not really this month, unfortunately. :) I mean, the numbers and per-shop changes are so mixed that it's hard to draw any conclusion.

What's pretty clear is the stagnation. While most shops reported higher sales in October – 10 out of 17 vendors –, the growth is largely symbolic, or even illusory. I mean, a 1% month-to-month increase in sales isn't bad at all, but if we consider the calendar effect from September to October (30 vs 31 days), anything below 3% is practically a decrease.

Last time, I speculated about delayed shipments from China due to their long October holiday – maybe that really did play a role.

The popularity and dominance of linear switches is undisputed. While the current top tactile Gateron Type R is in a tight race for the top spot, tactile switches account for 30% of the top 10 aggregated list positions – and about the same of the top100. As always: their smaller variety and greater concentration compared to linears may result in their overrepresentation.

Just like in September, 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 huge discounts. Keep this in mind 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), Delta Key Co. (FR), The Thocc Exchange (UK), UniKeys (CN), Coffeekeys (IT), Mechboards (UK), SerpentKeys (UK), BeaverKeys (CA), Clackify (US), Keebz N Cables (AU), Gateron (CN), Ikasaya (US), Mechanical Keyboards (US), AKKO EU (CN), StacksKB (IN), Yusha Kobo (JP).

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

Just a quick heads-up for DIY-minded creators: Cherry reached out to me to share that their ULP switches will soon be available in several shops – they're already listed on keeb.supply.

I also have to mention the awesome Glitter HE switches by MoeeTech. I received a bunch of full sets with the Glitter65 HE review units, and these switches are super smooth. My favorites are the 38gF pink ProSilk and the 52gF ProG, but there's also a silent alternative, the 46gF blue ProU (although with a bit more wobble in my experience).

Otherwise, 14 new switch models have recently been added to the database as a result of the incoming top lists – most of these are new, however, some rather old switches have been "hacked" into the list again – by stock clearances: Gateron Weightlessness, Cherry MX2A Purple, Gateron Cap V2 Milky Yellow, etc.

• The Cherry x Whiplash MX Firefinch – "Think MX2A Nixie mixed with MX black but with all the upgrades you would have wanted for them but minus the effort".
• HMX Yogurt V2 with the diffuser.
• The silent all-POM Gateron Mint Smoothie
• Keygeek Cheese V2
• BSUN Maple Sugar

• For tactile fans: the silent Kailh Midnight Silent V2, MMD Princess Tactile Ultra, the Invokeys Goji Reserve – a tactile with mandatory gold flakes –, Haimu x Geon HG White, and the Keylist Kitty with the paw-pattern light diffuser. Does this make any sense? I mean, covering the diffuser..

• Hall effect: HMX Crystal HE magnetic – HMX's answer to the HE magnetic switch trend.

Results

October'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 September to October:

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.

MMD Princess Tactile Ultra have been new in October – they are great :D – Michael.

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

I’ve noticed new factories gaining popularity lately – interesting to see how the landscape is shifting! – Emily.

Delta Key Co. (France)
[5% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

Gateron Lanes are extremely popular. And new switches should come such as Catmints V2 Unlubed in the future – Guillaume.

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

October was a great month for switches. The Keygeek Y2 has turned heads thanks to its deep sound while the brand new Cherry MX Firefinch has made stock nixie-like experiences more accessible. Our Unity silent tactiles (charity driven) are back in stock and flying off the shelves now which is great to see. Wingtree continues to be a strong performer across the range. Much love everyone and thanks for shopping with me – Matty.

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

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

The best-selling switches in October were the Gateron Oil King, Gateron Milky Yellow Pro, and Gateron Baby Kangaroo 2.0, together representing nearly half of total switch sales. Compared to September, their overall volume increased substantially, with top performers gaining momentum, demonstrating a clear improvement across Gateron’s lineup. Meanwhile, previously high-ranking models such as WS Silent Tactile and WS Quartz dropped sharply, suggesting a month-over-month shift in customer preference within the top 10 sellers – Tommaso.

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

Two new switches to our line up (Bokeh and Rosewoods) are performing well. Also interesting to see a surge in G Pro Brown switches, making it our best selling MX switch of the month – Ben.

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

Lots of our newer switch releases featured in the top 10 this month, as well as the fan favourites from Gateron. Just narrowly missing the top 10 spot was the Summertime V2s and XCJZ Chocolate Ball Bearing switch – Ollie.

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

The new Outemu and TTC stock was very well received this month. We also stocked some nice and unique BSUN switches this month but they have yet to gain the same level of attention that the other new products are getting =) Toronto will have it's big keyboard meetup on November 15, we will be there and are looking forward to meeting as many people as possible =) – Peter.

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

This month there have been a lot of new HMX added, including lots of tactile options. I'd highly recommend checking out the HMX Firecrackers, as they're one of my new favorites – Calvin.

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

October was dominated by the release of unlubed Cherry MX2A switches including the new Whiplash MX Firefinch linear switch. Keys in Cheese Studio are back with their latest switch Keygeek Cheese V2 which was released in late October and made it to the 9th spot. Notable mention goes to Zuoce Studio Cheese Grape which comes in at the 11th spot, a tactile which one of our resident tactile enthusiasts in the community describes as one of the best tactiles this year with a sweet little bump and sound profile to match – Jason.

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

Ikasaya (US)
[10% off with the KBDNEWS coupon code]

Hi! We're closing up shop, the website will be up until everything is sold out! Use kbdnews for an additional 10% off! – Ivan.

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

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

StacksKB (India)

We are now completely out of stock for budget gateron switches, which has lead to total Akko domination in the charts. HMX sales splinter across the dozen varieties of very similar switches – Aditya.

Yusha Kobo (Japan)

Our custom switch - Yushakobo Fairy Silent is still leading the ranking followed by a bunch of other silent switches. They stay popular among our Japanese community. We also added the community popular switch Sillyworks X Gateron Type R to our lineup recently and people are loving it! – Sabrina.

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 (this has been updated recently, as I used decaying weights of previous months to rank the switches earlier). Basically, on a pseudo-code level: order by score_this_month, score_prev_month instead of order by (score_this_month+score_prev_month/2).

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 12 hours this time, instead of the usual 15-20 hours. This is not the result of my efficiency but simply less new switches I had to process and add to the database.

Developments

Lots of small tweaks, but I'd like to highlight some changes.

• More caching: Serving the full switch list should be 2x quicker now.
• Switches that haven't been mentioned for three months don't get a ranking. They are still displayed at the end of the main list but no position is indicated. That's half of all the switch models currently.
• The order by popularity option was messed up weeks ago I guess. Just found it out and fixed it.
• And of course the small tweak of the way I incorporate previous months to break ties, as already mentioned. Potentially resulting in slightly different rankings.

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, September top list as a reference.

Thanks for reading this far, see you next month!

Published on Thu 6th Nov 2025. Featured in KBD #201.

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