How we work

Every keyboard and part is added by hand. Each listing records the sources for its specs, the manufacturer's page wherever possible. You can open them from the “sources” link under any spec table.

Summaries are written by us, not copied from the manufacturer. When something is uncertain (a revision changed a part, sources disagree, the UK version differs) we add a note to the listing.

Products found by our automated discovery go into a review queue. Nothing is published until a person has checked it.

Each listing has one of three confidence levels, shown as a coloured dot under its specs:

• High. Specs confirmed from the manufacturer's own pages or manuals.
• Medium. Some specs come from reviews or retailer listings rather than the maker.
• Low. Parts of the spec sheet are unverified. Use them as a starting point and check before you buy.

Thocky, clacky, muted and crispy are editorial tags. They summarise what owners, reviewers and sound tests say about a board. They aren't measurements, and the same board can sound quite different with other switches, keycaps, foam or even a different desk.

The “Hear it” buttons play our own recordings, a few seconds of typing on one example board for each tag. They illustrate the words; the board you buy may sound different.

We don't have licensed product photos yet, so boards and parts are shown as illustrations drawn from their specs: size, layout and a rough colourway. Check the retailer's photos before you buy.

The builder checks each part against the rest of your build. The case, PCB and plate must share a mounting standard. Switches must suit the PCB's sockets (pin count, footprint, and for magnetic boards the switches the maker supports). Stabilisers must match how the PCB and plate take them. Keycaps must cover your size and layout.

These rules catch the common mistakes, but they are only as good as the specs behind them. For anything unusual, ask the retailer or manufacturer before you order.

UK and EU retailer prices include VAT, and US prices leave out sales tax, which is added at checkout. Where we don't have a live price from a retailer yet, we show the manufacturer's list price and label it. Prices set in another currency are converted to your region's currency at a rough reference rate and marked ≈, so treat them as a guide. List prices from a maker outside your region don't include import VAT, duty or shipping.

Live prices only come from retailers who allow it: by written permission, through an affiliate network's product feed, or from an official API. We don't scrape Amazon. An Amazon price only appears if it comes from Amazon's own API, with an “as of” time beside it; otherwise you'll see “Check price”. Shops outside your region are flagged because import VAT and duties may apply.

Where-to-buy lists are sorted by price, cheapest first. Commission has no effect on the order.

Prices from shops that have agreed to it are read by our checker, which identifies itself as ThokdBot. It only reads public product listings, follows each shop's robots.txt, waits a few seconds between requests and never adds anything to a basket or an account.

Shops that would rather it didn't visit can block ThokdBot in their robots.txt and it will stop.

• Shops are listed by price, cheapest first, in your region. Pick UK, EU or US in the top bar and the list changes to match. Shops we don't have a price for yet come after the priced ones, with shops in your own currency first, then in alphabetical order.
• Commission never affects the order. A shop that pays us nothing sits above one that pays us if it is cheaper.
• Products are sorted by the option you pick. Browse starts on Featured, which puts the keyboards whose specs we have confirmed first, then newer boards. You can switch it to price, newest or name. Quiz results are ranked by how well each keyboard fits your answers.

Thokd is free to use. It's paid for by affiliate links and a small number of ads.

Buy buttons go straight to the retailer. Where we have an affiliate agreement the link is tagged, so we may earn a commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you. Every where-to-buy list is marked Ad with a note about commission, and each button names the retailer. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. See the full affiliate disclosure.

Ads are labelled “Advertisements”, kept apart from prices and products, and never placed in the builder's part pickers, quiz questions or empty pages. Ads aren't live yet, so you'll see marked placeholders. Cookies and consent are covered in the privacy notice.