Switch types explained: linear, tactile, clicky and magnetic

A linear switch moves in a straight line from top to bottom with no bump and no click: the same resistance the whole way down. That makes it quiet and predictable, which is why linears are the usual pick for gaming and for typists who don't want anything interrupting a keystroke. Cherry's current MX2A Red, for example, actuates at 45 cN after 2.0 mm of pre-travel, out of 4.0 mm total^[1], figures that are typical of a medium-light linear.

Within “linear” there's still a wide spread. Budget linears like Gateron Milky Yellow Pro come factory-lubed straight out of the packet, which smooths out the scratchy feel that used to need modding by hand. Heavier, tighter-tolerance linears such as Gateron Oil King need more finger force to bottom out and tend to feel more deliberate under fast typing.

• Gateron Milky Yellow Pro: a cheap, lightly lubed linear and a sensible first switch to try
• Cherry MX2A Red: the current standard-weight Cherry linear, used across a lot of stock boards

A tactile switch adds a bump partway through the stroke, so you can feel where actuation happens without a click. Cherry's MX2A Brown keeps that bump small and near the top of the travel^[2], which is why some typists find it barely different from a linear. Other makers go the other way: Gazzew Boba U4T has a much larger bump that starts right at the top of the press, and is a common pick for people who want tactility they can't miss.

Bump shape, size and position vary a lot between manufacturers, and none of it is standardised, so “tactile” on a spec sheet tells you less than it looks like it should. If tactility matters to you, it's worth trying more than one switch before committing to a full set of eighty-odd for a board.

• Cherry MX2A Brown: a light, subtle bump near the top of the stroke
• Gazzew Boba U4T: a large bump at the very top of the press

Clicky switches add an audible click on top of a tactile bump, produced mechanically rather than by amplifying the sound of the switch bottoming out. Kailh's Box switches do it with a click bar: a thin metal bar that's pulled back as you press and released once the stem clears it, so it clicks on both the way down and the way back up^[3]. That gives a sharp, repeatable click rather than the softer, less consistent click of older click-jacket designs.

Kailh Box White uses a thinner click bar for a lighter, higher click, while Kailh Box Jade uses a thicker one for a louder, heavier click. Both are a lot louder than a linear or tactile switch bottoming out, so they're worth avoiding in a shared office.

• Kailh Box White: a lighter, higher click
• Kailh Box Jade: a thicker click bar for a louder, heavier click

Magnetic, or Hall-effect, switches replace the metal contacts inside a normal mechanical switch with a magnet in the stem and a sensor in the PCB. Instead of registering only “pressed” or “not pressed”, the sensor reads how far down the switch is at any moment. That's why Hall-effect boards only work with switches built for them, and why they don't hot-swap with ordinary MX switches even when the socket looks the same.

Because the keyboard already knows the exact travel distance, its software can set the actuation point anywhere along that travel rather than at one fixed depth^[4]. Set it shallow for the fastest possible response, or deeper to avoid accidental presses. Rapid Trigger goes a step further: instead of waiting for the key to return to a fixed reset point before it can fire again, it resets as soon as the key has travelled back up by a small distance you choose, so you can tap the same key faster than a fixed reset point allows^[5]. Both features are set in software, not in the switch itself, so they only work on boards built around Hall-effect sensors.

Wooting Lekker L60 V2 is the stock switch in several Wooting boards, and Gateron Magnetic Jade Pro is a Gateron alternative. Magnetic switches aren't interchangeable the way MX switches are: the magnet's polarity and strength have to suit the board^[6].

• Wooting Lekker L60 V2: Wooting's own light magnetic linear; actuation and Rapid Trigger are set in Wootility
• Gateron Magnetic Jade Pro: a lighter magnetic linear from Gateron; check the board supports it before buying

Topre switches work on a different principle entirely: a rubber dome sits over a conical spring, and a capacitive sensor in the PCB detects the change in capacitance as the spring compresses, registering the press without the dome or stem ever touching a contact^[7]. The result is a heavier, cushioned feel with a deep, muted bottom-out that a lot of people find hard to compare to a mechanical switch at all. HHKB (PFU) HHKB Professional HYBRID Type-S uses a silenced version of Topre, which dampens both the top-out and the bottom-out further.

Optical switches use a beam of light through the stem instead of metal contacts: the stem blocks or unblocks the beam to register a press. They're mechanically similar to a normal switch in feel, since it's only the contact method that changes. The catch is that optical switches are specific to the brand: the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Tenkeyless 8KHz uses Razer's own, and you can't fit ordinary MX switches in their place.

None of this tells you what you'll like: the only real way to know if a bump feels right, or a click is fun rather than annoying, is to try one. If you'd rather narrow things down first, our quiz asks what you'll use the keyboard for and how you want it to feel and sound, and the builder checks that the switches you pick fit the board before you buy. If sound is what matters most to you, see what makes a keyboard sound thocky or clacky, which covers the rest of the parts that shape it alongside the switch.